Coca Cola 600 Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service A late caution set Brad Keselowski up for victory in NASCAR’s longest race—and set Chase Elliott up for a second straight crushing disappointment. In Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600, which went to overtime for the second time in its history, Keselowski surged ahead after a restart on Lap 404 and beat Jimmie Johnson to the finish line by .293 seconds to win a race that stretched to 607.5 miles, longest in NASCAR history. Elliott led Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford by 1.6 seconds beforeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Chase Elliott was just two laps away from doing something his father Bill never accomplished in his NASCAR Hall of Fame career — winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron happened. Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE had his eye on a seventh career Cup Series triumph set in stone with a comfortable 1+ second lead over Brad Keselowski. That was until Byron’s left rear tire cut down and spun in Turn 2, bringingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The Bowtie Brigade showed up during Sunday’s Busch Pole Qualifying for tonight’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as they occupy the first three rows with Kurt Busch being the top Chevrolet driver. Busch earned his 28th NASCAR Cup Series pole after clocking in at 29.790 seconds (181.269 mph) to dethrone eight-time Charlotte winner Jimmie Johnson off the top spot. Not only it’s the 2004 Cup Series champion’s first pole with Chip Ganassi Racing, it’s also his first since the 2018 fall race at Talladega. FollowingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a successful week to reopen the 2020 season at Darlington, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to home base at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 61st running of the Coca-Cola 600. Sunday should have been a day full of racing with the Formula 1 race at Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 preceding Sunday night’s race, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only NASCAR will be in the spotlight, with both qualifying (2:00 pm ET) and the race (6:00 pm ET) taking place in oneRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since the sports world went dark due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, it has been a waiting game to see which sport would be the first to make its return. As of Thursday afternoon, it appears NASCAR will be the first out of the gate to start competing again, as the sanctioning body announced races, without fans, are scheduled to begin on May 17 with a visit to Darlington Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series. Over the next 11 days, all three NASCAR national seriesRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The road towards a return for NASCAR saw an encouraging turn after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper made several announcements for the state regarding COVID-19 Thursday. Although the stay-at-home order has been extended from April 29 to May 8, Gov. Cooper stated that race teams can indeed work on their cars at their race shops after being the sport was considered “essential business” just as long as social distancing practices are followed at all times. According to FOX 46 Charlotte’s Will Kunkel, Gov. Cooper also providedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASCAR’s workhorse Ross Chastain will reunite with Chip Ganassi Racing for two NASCAR Cup Series races, beginning in the 62nd Daytona 500. Like last year with Jamie McMurray, Ganassi will be preparing Chastain’s No. 77 AdventHealth Chevrolet, but it’ll technically be listed under the Spire Motorsports banner. Spire are the most recent race winning team at the “World Center of Racing” when Justin Haley won last July’s rain shortened race. Thursday’s announcement was part of a major unveil by primary sponsor AdventHealth, taking place at DaytonaRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Motorsports Christmas shouldn’t be taken away from the fans, who have a day to celebrate their favorite sport. There’s an outlandish statement Ken Willis from The Daytona Beach News-Journal made about the Indianapolis 500 should be moved to Saturday and the Coca-Cola 600 staying on Sunday or even moved to Memorial Day. It’s a joke and who can blame the people who feel this way. I understand the earlier days of the Indy 500 had the “Never on Sunday” rule, but we’re beyond past thoseRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Martin Truex Jr. survived an early brush with the outside wall and a frenetic restart with five laps left to win Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On a race that featured 16 cautions—most since the record 22 in 2005—Truex made a four-wide pass to the inside coming off Turn 2 on Lap 396 of 400 at the 1.5-mile track and beat runner-up Joey Logano to the finish line by .330 seconds. The victory was Truex’s third of theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A bid for the historic 1100-mile sweep by Team Penske wasn’t meant to be. Epecially for Brad Keselowski, who finished 19th in Sunday’s 60th Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina after leading 76 of 400 laps. Coming into the grueling 600-mile contest that was slowed down 15 times, Keselowski was the most recent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner after winning at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. Also coming into the race, Roger Penske’s three-car effort had the chance of becoming theRead More