The annual Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway culminates with Sunday’s running of the Coca-Cola 600.
The longest race of the season has been a staple at CMS since 1960 when Joe Lee Johnson won the inaugural event. Austin Dillon scored his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win in last season’s edition of the unique event.
Coca-Cola 600 Entry List | Charlotte Race Winners
“The Coke 600 is a grueling 600-mile race, but it’s my favorite race of the year, especially with the military men and women that are out there,” Dillon said. “The start of that race there is nothing more American I feel like than that one. I would love to go back-to-back and win the Coke 600 again.”
Of course all eyes will be on Kevin Harvick as he attempts to win his sixth Cup race of the season and follow-up his win in last week’s All-Star Race at Charlotte.
“Everything is going our way,” Harvick said after his $1 million win. “It’s kind of a game at this particular point.”
There will be several contenders trying to derail the Harvick express Sunday night including Martin Truex Jr. The Furniture Row Racing driver has been red hot in Charlotte in recent outings. In his past six races, Truex has won twice and scored five top fives. His most recent win at Charlotte was in the 2017 fall playoff race.
Where Truex has truly shined has been in the 400-lap Coca-Cola 600. In the past three Coca-Cola 600s, he has had results of fifth (2015), first (2016) and third (2017) for an average finish of 3.0. He has also led 756, or 63 percent, of the 1200 laps in those three races.
“Ever since I came to Furniture Row Racing we just seem to figure that track out and it has suited us well,” explained Truex, who led 393 of the 400 laps run in his 2016 Coca-Cola 600 win. “Very difficult track to get around and very tough to get your car setup right. Our guys are really good at giving me cars that I can drive and give me the feel in the car that I need to go fast.”
Jimmie Johnson is a six-time Coca-Cola 600 winner and the Hendrick Motorsports driver comes into the weekend after a sixth-place All-Star Race finish. Johnson understands the challenge that lies ahead on Sunday and how different the racing will be using the regular rules package rather than what was in place for last week’s exhibition race.
“The All-Star Race was fun, but this weekend is a different package, so that race didn’t do much to help us prepare for this weekend,” he said. “The 600 is a long race, it’s a test of endurance and patience, and you have to accommodate for track conditions changing from the day to the night.”
Qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 will take place Thursday at 7:15 p.m. ET.
Prior to Sunday’s main event the NASCAR Xfinity Series will take the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval for Saturday afternoon’s Alsco 300. Elliott Sadler is on top of the series standings but is looking for his first win of the season. The JR Motorsports driver hopes to find Victory Lane Saturday as well as adding to his points total for this fall’s playoff race.
“What we learned last season as being the regular season champions was that it paid a lot of dividends in the Playoffs because you get 15 Playoff points,” said Sadler. “So we are ahead in the points now and we know all that will be taken away, but if we can continue to lead the points through the summer months and get some bonus points for being the regular season champion, that’s 15 points that’s in our piggy bank for the Playoffs, and for us we found out last year that is going to come in handy.”
