Teams shocked by quick ending of Coke 600

CONCORD, N.C. -- Matt Kenseth couldn't understand why NASCAR decided to call the Coca-Cola 600 short of its advertised distance. Bobby Labonte wondered the same thing.

Even winner Jimmie Johnson was surprised when NASCAR ended the race 124 laps early. Johnson was walking to the sanctioning body's hauler in the garage area when NASCAR officials started shaking his hand.

	Winston Cup official Don Berry, right, sits under an umbrella as the pace car leads the field around turn four during a caution for rain. Credit: AP

"I hadn't seen the radar, and I was on my way to the Winston Cup trailer to see the radar," Johnson said. "I walked in the trailer, and as soon as I stepped up in the front of the red truck, they were shaking my hand saying I had won and they had called it, which surprised me.

"I don't know. It's a tough call for NASCAR."

But it was an easy call for some other drivers.

"You know, I'm happy finishing second, but I'm certainly not happy calling the race at 9:30 at night," said Kenseth, who finished second.

"It's the biggest race of the year, and it's not even raining, so I hope it rains here pretty hard pretty soon so all the fans will feel like they're not cheated - and so will the rest of us that aren't in first."

Bill Wilburn, Rusty Wallace's crew chief, went a step further.

"We can spend an extra day to get qualified," Wilburn said, "but we can't wait another 15 minutes to see if we can get this race in? I feel like I've been cheated."

NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said that even though it wasn't raining when the race was called, rain was on the way.

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Plus, the track would have taken three hours to dry, Zizzo said, which would have put the race restarting at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning.

The rain had stayed away until at least 90 minutes after NASCAR called it, but Zizzo said radar indicated it was still coming. Plus, NASCAR had to take into consideration the fatigue of the drivers because Sunday was a long day.

Rain has plagued Lowe's Motor Speedway all week, beginning with Thursday's qualifying, which was postponed because of a day-long rain.

Sunday, a shower soaked the track before the race's schedule 5:30 p.m. ET start time, but the cars got going despite a three-lap caution at the start because of some water in turn 4.

The race was red-flagged for 17 minutes on lap 110 for another brief shower, and when it started pouring during a caution on lap 276, NASCAR brought out the red again. The rain lifted, but the track was soaked.

"It just quit raining, and all the fans were cheering," Kenseth said. "We've had these showers all day. I'm not educated enough about the weather. Maybe it's going to pour and have a major storm here in a minute, and I'll sound stupid for saying this, but it totally quit raining.

"We've been having these showers all day where it's been getting the track wet, and it dries pretty quick tonight, so I wish they would have given it a little bit longer, but that's out of my control."

Labonte, who ended up third, said tracks have spent "thousands of dollars on jet fuel trying to dry a track," so he was surprised to see it called so soon.

But his crew chief, Michael McSwain, wasn't worried.

"I fix the car," McSwain said, "and they call the race."