Practice #1 : Charlotte Motor Speedway

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  • Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service -
Coca-Cola 600 sells out for third consecutive year

The 65th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is sold out, Charlotte Motor Speedway officials announced this week. This marks the third consecutive sellout for the legendary test of man and machine at America’s Home for Racing, with fans attending this year from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, plus 14 foreign countries including Australia, Tanzania and the Czech Republic.

Like the drivers at the end of 600 miles, reserved grandstand and premium seating, standing-room-only ticket and reserved camping inventory is exhausted.

“For more than six decades, the Coca-Cola 600 has long been a crown jewel event for our sport,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Outstanding on-track action, combined with a full weekend of music and patriotic military salutes on the eve of Memorial Day make this a bucket-list event for so many.

“Fans from around the world continue to make Charlotte their destination not only to take in the grand finale of the greatest day in motorsports, but to enjoy the NASCAR Hall of Fame, motorsport charity activities and the many fan days at the race shops across the region. May in Charlotte and Concord is a motorsports celebration and we’re honored to be a part of it.”

Matchbox Twenty to rock NASCAR fans prior to Coca-Cola 600 –Cranking out hit after hit for more than three decades, the multi-time GRAMMY Award-nominated band,Matchbox Twenty, is set to rock the infield ofCharlotte Motor Speedwaywith an electric pre-race concert on Sunday, May 26. The platinum-recording band will rev up America’s Home for Racing before the green flag falls on the historic 65th running of theCoca-Cola 600 with a 60-minute set, featuring songs woven into American pop culture's fabric with generational hits including the diamond-certified, 12x-platinum “Yourself or Someone Like You,” quadruple-platinum “Mad Season,” double-platinum “More Than You Think You Are” and gold-certified “North,” which marked their first No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

“Matchbox Twenty’s music embodies the meaning of rock and roll,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “We are excited for fans to experience the magic of Matchbox Twenty at the track. Their live performances are legendary and it's a fantastic addition to an already spectacular race weekend.”

For their first album in 11 years and fifth overall LP “Where The Light Goes,” the band that includes Rob Thomas, Brian Yale, Paul Doucette and Kyle Cook are ready to rock the house at Charlotte Motor Speedway and celebrate their journey throughout the past 30 years.

“We’ve heard there’s no place like Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend to get NASCAR Nation rocking,” said Thomas. “We’re looking forward to bringing the party to the fans and having a blast to kick off the Coca-Cola 600.”

The pre-race concert, which will take place on the infield of the 1.5-mile superspeedway, is free for fans with a Sunday Coca-Cola 600 ticket. Fans can upgrade to a Track Pass for stage-front access to the concert and driver introductions.

Van Gisbergen to make first start on a 1.5-mile track in the Cup Series –New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen busted on the NASCAR scene last season with his big win in the inaugural Chicago Street Race and this season is running full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and doing a limited schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series including this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway – his debut on a 1.5-mile track in the series. This weekend, van Gisbergen will be piloting the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet alongside crew chief Travis Mack.

So far this season, van Gisbergen has made two NASCAR Cup Series starts for Kaulig Racing, posting a 20th-place finish at COTA and a 28th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

Other drivers back in the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend are Ty Dillon, driving the No. 50 Team AmeriVet Chevrolet and JJ Yeley, driving the No. 44 NY Race Team Chevrolet.

Milestone Watch: Charlotte Motor Speedway –Below are a few of the possible milestones that can be achieved this weekend and over the next few weeks in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Starts

Corey Lajoiewill make his 250th NASCAR Cup Series career start at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend becoming the 116th different driver to make 250 or more starts in the series. In Lajoie’s previous 249 starts he has posted four top fives and nine top 10s.

Chase Elliottwill make his 300th NASCAR Cup Series career start at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend becoming the 103rd different driver in the series to make 300 or more starts. In Elliott’s 299 previous starts, he has won a NASCAR Cup Series championship (2020), posted 19 wins, 98 top fives, 158 top 10s and 12 poles. He has also led 5,226 laps.

This weekend at Charlotte, Elliott will look to become the seventh different driver to win on their 300th start, joining Rusty Wallace, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.

Race Winners on 300th Start

Date

Track

Rusty Wallace

Sunday, November 14, 1993

Atlanta

Kasey Kahne

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Charlotte

Kyle Busch

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Texas

Denny Hamlin

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Talladega

Joey Logano

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Richmond

Brad Keselowski

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Talladega

Kyle Larsonis expected to make his 350th NASCAR Cup Series career start at Nashville Superspeedway.

Austin Cindricis expected to make his 100th NASCAR Cup Series career start at Pocono Raceway

Kyle Buschis expected to make his 700th NASCAR Cup Series career start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Wins

Denny Hamlincurrently has 54 NASCAR Cup Series wins, if he were to win another race, he would tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time wins list with 55 victories each.

Martin Truex Jr.currently has 34 NASCAR Cup Series wins, if he were to win another race, he would tie Brad Keselowski for 24th on the all-time wins list with 35 victories each.

Joey Loganocurrently has 32 NASCAR Cup Series wins, if he were to win another race, he would tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts for 27th on the all-time wins list with 33 victories each.

Kyle Larsoncurrently has 25 NASCAR Cup Series wins, if he were to win another race, he would tie Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Fred Lorenzen for 32nd on the all-time wins list with 26 victories each.

Laps Led

Eight drivers could reach milestones in laps led this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway (400 lap event).

Laps Leaders

Laps Led

Next Milestone

Laps Led Needed

Denny Hamlin

14,959

15,000

41

Jimmie Johnson

18,941

19,000

59

Erik Jones

827

1,000

173

Ryan Blaney

3,826

4,000

174

William Byron

2,808

3,000

192

Chris Buescher

706

1,000

294

Joey Logano

8,679

9,000

321

Martin Truex Jr

12,629

13,000

371

If Hamlin were to reach 15,000 laps led, he would become the 12th driver all-time to accomplish the feat.

If Johnson were to reach 19,000 laps led, he would become the 10th driver all-time to accomplish the feat.

Crew Member Spotlight: Charlotte Motor Speedway Weekend –This weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway we wanted to highlight several of the team’s crew members that are from the surrounding areas of the track in North Carolina.

  • Saturday, May 25th, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Ty Gibbs scores first career NASCAR Cup pole in Coca-Cola 600 qualifying

Ty Gibbs saved the strongest performance of the day for the money lap in time trials for the Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Streaking around 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session for NASCAR’s longest race, Gibbs covered the distance in 29.355 seconds (183.955 mph) to claim the first Busch Light Pole Award of his career.

Gibbs edged William Byron (183.580 mph) by 0.060 seconds to become the second youngest Coca-Cola 600 pole winner at 21 years old. Byron was roughly a month younger than Gibbs is now when he won the pole for the Memorial Day weekend race at age 21 in 2019.

“I’m really excited for it,” said Gibbs who a day earlier won the pole for Saturday’s BetMGM 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. “And hopefully I can go out there and get my first win tomorrow.

“It really helps to start up front in clean air — it’s really nice. And having that first pit stall as well is great also.”

Two of Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammates qualified third and fourth, respectively, behind Byron — Christopher Bell (183.461 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (182.871 mph). Truex had the fastest lap in the opening round at 182.902 mph but couldn’t improve in the second round.

Gibbs, on the other hand, cut 0.266 seconds off his first-round time when the pole was at stake.

Byron had three teammates in the top 10 — Chase Elliott (fifth fastest), Alex Bowman (sixth) and Kyle Larson (10th). Larson planned to leave for Indianapolis after Charlotte time trials in anticipation of running the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double.

Larson was fifth fastest in Indy 500 qualifying last Sunday.

Ross Chastain was seventh fastest in Coke 600 qualifying, followed by Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell (the only Ford to make the final round) and Larson.

Reddick, however, will not start in the spot he earned. His 23XI Racing team made unapproved adjustments to the underwing of the No. 45 Toyota after passing pre-race inspection.

NASCAR penalized the team with the ejection of car chief Michael Hobson, loss of pit selection and a pass-through penalty after starting from the rear of the field on Sunday.

Reddick still had to qualify so as not to have a tire advantage in the race. All cars must start the event on their scuffed qualifying tires.

  • Coca-Cola 600
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Ty Gibbs
  • Age: 21
  • Team : No 54 - Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Chris Gayle
  • Ty Gibbs won the Pole Award for the Coca-Cola 600 with a lap of 29355 seconds, 183955 mph
  • This is his first pole in 65 NASCAR Cup Series races
  • This is his first pole and eighth top-10 start in 2024
  • This is his first pole in two races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • William Byron (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2024 and his seventh in eight races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • Christopher Bell (third) posted his third top-10 start at Charlotte Motor Speedway It is his seventh in 14 races this season
  • Josh Berry (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

  • Monday, May 27th, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Christopher Bell wins rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600

A lightning delay that turned into a heavy rainstorm made a winner of Christopher Bell in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Not that Bell didn’t deserve the victory in the rain-shortened race, which NASCAR was forced to call after 249 of 400 laps were complete.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started third, led a race-high 90 laps and won the second stage of the 14th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

The decisive juncture in the Memorial Day weekend race came when Bell held off Darlington winner Brad Keselowski during a 10-lap run after a caution for Corey Lajoie’s spin in Turn 2 on Lap 229.

On the ensuing Lap 236 restart, Bell and Keselowski lined up side-by-side at the front of the field, with Bell prevailing and pulling out to a lead of roughly six car-lengths before NASCAR called the seventh caution for lightning in the area.

After the lightning came heavy rain, and though NASCAR attempted to dry the track when the rain subsided, heavy humidity thwarted efforts to do so in a timely manner.

As a result, Bell collected his second victory of the season, his first on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career.

The victory was a welcome momentum shift for Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 in five of his previous six races.

“Man, it feels so good—to win or lose—just to have a great race to go off of,” Bell said. “A race where we led laps. We were able to pass cars. We lost the lead at times and were able to drive back to the lead.

“We had great pit stops. It was a team effort, and it was amazing to have a good race. Hopefully, this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent.”

Keselowski, who posted his third runner-up finish of the season, was convinced he had the fastest car.

“We just didn’t have time for it to play out,” said the driver of the No. 2 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford, who pressured Bell throughout the final 10-lap run before weather intervened.

Stage 1 winner William Byron ran third behind Bell and Keselowski, with Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Pole winner Ty Gibbs finished sixth after leading 74 laps, including the first 42 of the race. Chase Elliott finished seventh, followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry.

After finishing 18th in his Indianapolis 500 debut, Kyle Larson arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway just before weather forced the stoppage. Larson intended to take over his No. 5 Chevrolet from Justin Allgaier, who had started the race at Charlotte because the Indy 500 was delayed by rain.

Allgaier was running 13th when the race was called, and Larson never had a chance to drive the car.

Defending race winner and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney slammed the outside wall in the second stage and exited the event after 143 laps.

“We’ll have to look if I hit something or… I don’t know,” Blaney said. “I just went into (Turn) 3 getting up to speed and blew a tire and hit the fence. It’s an unfortunate end to our night. That sucks.

“We’re not even halfway and just wanting to work on your stuff all night. I thought we were getting it a little better here and there, but won’t get a shot.”

  • Drivers Entered: 40
  • Laps Scheduled: 400
  • Laps Actual: 249 - Race Shortened
  • Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 2 Minutes 7 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 123.053
  • Cautions: 7 for 46 laps
  • Lead Changes: 21
  • Green Flag Passes: 4,485 (22.1 passes per green flag lap)

  • Coca-Cola 600
  • Race Winner: Christopher Bell
  • Age: 29
  • Team : No 20 - Rheem Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
  • Christopher Bell won the Coca-Cola 600, his eighth victory in 158 Cup Series races
  • This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2024
  • This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • Brad Keselowski (second) posted his 11th top-10 finish in 25 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway It is his seventh top-10 finish in 2024
  • William Byron (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • Josh Berry (10th) was the highest finishing rookie
  • Denny Hamlin leads the point standings by 5 points over Martin Truex Jr
The NASCAR Garage 56 car during the Rolex 24
Daytona Beach, Florida - January 29, 2023 : The NASCAR Garage 56 car is seen on display during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
James GilbertGetty Images
DRIVER
DRIVER
#
MAKE
SINGLE BEST LAP
RANK
SPEED
TIME
BHND
LAP
LAPS
TOTAL
MULTI-LAP AVERAGES
5-LAP
10-LAP
15-LAP
20-LAP
25-LAP
30-LAP
10-LAP AVG
SPEED
FROM
TO

William Byron
24
Chevrolet
1
181.318
29.782
0.000
2
8
0
0
Tyler Reddick
45
Toyota
2
180.114
29.981
0.199
1
24
30.668
30.838
175.117
8
17
Bubba Wallace
23
Toyota
3
180.060
29.990
0.208
1
17
30.778
31.037
173.999
8
17
Carson Hocevar
77
Chevrolet
4
179.336
30.111
0.329
1
22
30.912
31.038
31.190
173.988
10
19
Ty Gibbs
54
Toyota
5
179.063
30.157
0.375
2
32
30.329
30.441
31.012
177.400
1
10
Kyle Larson
5
Chevrolet
6
179.027
30.163
0.381
1
23
30.287
30.438
177.415
1
10
Chris Buescher
17
Ford
7
178.974
30.172
0.390
2
13
30.362
30.446
177.369
1
10
Martin Truex Jr
19
Toyota
8
178.790
30.203
0.421
1
24
30.426
30.559
176.717
1
10
Ross Chastain
1
Chevrolet
9
178.761
30.208
0.426
1
27
30.657
31.117
173.545
14
23
Daniel Suarez
99
Chevrolet
10
178.761
30.208
0.426
2
30
30.819
30.959
31.046
31.103
174.431
8
17
Christopher Bell
20
Toyota
11
178.660
30.225
0.443
1
25
30.903
31.656
170.832
16
25
Corey Lajoie
7
Chevrolet
12
178.577
30.239
0.457
2
26
30.492
30.744
175.660
1
10
Kyle Busch
8
Chevrolet
13
178.471
30.257
0.475
3
27
30.373
30.452
177.334
1
10
Brad Keselowski
6
Ford
14
178.330
30.281
0.499
2
14
31.232
0
0
Denny Hamlin
11
Toyota
15
178.318
30.283
0.501
2
29
30.381
30.566
31.041
176.679
1
10
Erik Jones
43
Toyota
16
178.306
30.285
0.503
3
19
0
0
Ryan Blaney
12
Ford
17
178.024
30.333
0.551
2
28
30.686
30.745
30.934
31.069
175.641
8
17
Justin Haley
51
Ford
18
177.983
30.340
0.558
3
26
30.736
0
0
Noah Gragson
10
Ford
19
177.907
30.353
0.571
3
34
30.443
30.561
31.385
31.432
176.701
1
10
Alex Bowman
48
Chevrolet
20
177.907
30.353
0.571
6
27
30.584
30.664
176.107
1
10
Josh Berry
4
Ford
21
177.672
30.393
0.611
3
28
30.557
30.643
176.223
1
10
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
47
Chevrolet
22
177.585
30.408
0.626
1
22
30.524
30.643
176.228
1
10
Harrison Burton
21
Ford
23
177.142
30.484
0.702
1
19
31.082
31.201
173.076
8
17
Austin Cindric
2
Ford
24
177.038
30.502
0.720
2
18
30.679
0
0
Kaz Grala
15
Ford
25
176.945
30.518
0.736
2
27
30.636
30.852
175.044
1
10
John Hunter Nemechek
42
Toyota
26
176.771
30.548
0.766
1
32
30.823
30.949
31.017
31.093
31.170
174.487
8
17
Todd Gilliland
38
Ford
27
176.725
30.556
0.774
2
24
30.671
31.207
31.262
173.041
8
17
Joey Logano
22
Ford
28
176.655
30.568
0.786
7
22
30.909
31.180
173.211
10
19
Austin Dillon
3
Chevrolet
29
176.598
30.578
0.796
3
30
30.908
31.088
31.221
31.281
173.709
9
18
Chase Briscoe
14
Ford
30
176.557
30.585
0.803
2
25
30.755
31.193
173.122
12
21
Chase Elliott
9
Chevrolet
31
176.436
30.606
0.824
8
27
30.732
30.894
31.002
31.054
174.802
7
16
Ryan Preece
41
Ford
32
176.350
30.621
0.839
3
27
30.746
31.123
31.230
173.518
11
20
Michael McDowell
34
Ford
33
176.211
30.645
0.863
4
22
30.937
0
0
Daniel Hemric
31
Chevrolet
34
176.160
30.654
0.872
1
24
30.847
0
0
Jimmie Johnson
84
Toyota
35
175.982
30.685
0.903
3
25
30.863
31.096
31.286
173.670
10
19
Zane Smith
71
Chevrolet
36
175.650
30.743
0.961
4
25
30.842
30.906
174.728
1
10
Ty Dillon
50
Chevrolet
37
175.171
30.827
1.045
4
16
30.935
0
0
BJ McLeod
66
Ford
38
174.514
30.943
1.161
3
4
0
0
Shane van Gisbergen
16
Chevrolet
39
173.466
31.130
1.348
10
28
31.284
31.384
172.071
7
16