Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials confirmed Sunday that five cars will drop to the rear of the field for the start of the Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford of Matt DiBenedetto will drop to the rear after the team opted for a backup car after a crash in Turn 4 during Busch Pole Qualifying earlier Sunday. He had qualified 33rd at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Charlotte race week schedule

Aric Almirola’s No. 10 Ford also spun during qualifying, but his Stewart-Haas Racing entry will drop to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments. Almirola had not posted a qualifying speed and was scheduled to start at the rear of the 40-car field anyway.

Other teams dropping to the rear because of unapproved adjustments:

• No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski
• No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet of JJ Yeley
• No. 66 MBM Motorsports Toyota of Timmy Hill

Posted on by Staff Report

Kurt Busch won the Busch Pole Award for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch turned a lap of 181.269 mph around the 1.5-mile track in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. That was quicker than Jimmie Johnson, who finished second with a top speed of 181.214 mph in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

For Busch, this was his 28th Busch Pole Award in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five, all in Chevrolets.

RELATED: Full starting lineup

“I’m just so proud of (crew chief) Matt McCall and all our guys and the way we have to communicate right now, and get through everything as far as those last-minute details and those fine adjustments,” Busch said. “But, wow, what a Chevrolet brigade up front. This is pretty sweet!”

Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Martin Truex Jr. will line up eighth in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Truex’s teammate and defending Cup Series champion Kyle Busch will start 11th in the No. 18 JGR Toyota.

Matt DiBenedetto hit the wall coming out of Turn 4 in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. DiBenedetto qualified 33rd, but he went to a backup car.

Aric Almirola also spun coming out of Turn 4 but didn’t appear to damage the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford enough to go to a backup. Almirola, who did not post a qualifying speed, will start last.

Green flag for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for 6:28 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Staff Report

To help you get ready for the crown jewel 600-miler at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, NASCAR will host a pre-race show presented by Coca-Cola at 5 p.m. ET on NASCAR.com and NASCAR social channels.

Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano will join us to preview the big race, which airs at 6 p.m. ET on FOX. Other special guests include:

• Championship crew chief Cole Pearn offers his expert analysis in previewing the 400-lap race

•  NBC Sports analyst Steve Letarte and The Action Network’s PJ Walsh give fantasy and gaming tips

• North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper

• Speedway Motorsports Inc. President & CEO Marcus Smith

Posted on by Staff Report

Joey Logano will reach a life milestone on the same day as he competes in a milestone race.

“Sliced Bread,” the kid from Connecticut with buckets of talent and promise, turns 30 years old Sunday. In the evening, he’ll strap into his No. 22 Ford for Team Penske and attempt to win his first career Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The milestone age feels like an appropriate time to pause and examine the career of Logano, the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion, particularly compared to some of the sport’s all-time greats.

Two things seem evident after looking at the numbers below.

One, Logano ranks among the very best in NASCAR, ever, before the age of 30.

Second, he’s only going to get better like the greats before him did.

CAREER WINS BEFORE TURNING 30

Only six drivers in NASCAR history won at least 20 Cup Series races before turning 30, including two we’ll specifically compare Logano to later.

That list:

• Richard Petty, 60 wins
• Jeff Gordon, 55 wins
• Kyle Busch, 29 wins
• Joey Logano, 25 wins
• Junior Johnson, 22 wins
• Fireball Roberts, 20 wins

KEY DATES IN LOGANO’S CAREER

• Sept. 14, 2008: Logano makes his first career start for Joe Gibbs Racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at just 18 years, 3 months and 21 days. He would start 40th and finish 32nd.

• June 28, 2009: On his next visit to New Hampshire, Logano made NASCAR Cup Series history by becoming the youngest winner at the sport’s top level. In his 20th career start, he won at 19 years, 1 month and 4 days.

• March 21, 2010: Another record — Logano becomes the youngest polesitter in NASCAR Cup Series history at 19 years, 9 months and 25 days. He finished 27th at Bristol Motor Speedway.

• Aug. 18, 2013: Given fresh life at Team Penske, Logano captures his first victory for the organization at Michigan International Speedway, a track important to all manufacturers — it was Logano’s first win in a Ford.

• Feb. 22, 2015: Logano etched his name into one of the most exclusive clubs in all of NASCAR: Daytona 500 champion.

• Nov. 18, 2018: “The Big 3 and Me.” That’s how Logano viewed the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It may be perhaps the most defining quote of his career — for now — as Logano outdueled favored Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick to win his first career title.

AMONG THE GREATS

Logano is a generational talent, as Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch were before him. Here’s a look at the numbers these three drivers racked up at age 30.

Driver Jeff Gordon Kyle Busch Joey Logano
Age at Cup Series debut 21 years, 3 months, 11 days 18 years, 10 months, 5 days 18 years, 3 months, 21 days
Wins at age 30 55 29 25
Top fives at age 30 141 118 118
Top 10s at age 30 179 178 203
Laps led at age 30 12,231 10,242 6,135
Titles at age 30 3 0 1

 

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

Just one week ago NASCAR restarted its season at Darlington Raceway with social distancing measures in place. Over the past seven days, the NASCAR Cup Series has held two events at Darlington, while the Xfinity Series resumed on Thursday at the track “Too Tough to Tame” as well.

If you thought that was a lot of racing over the course of just one week, then you’d better prepare yourself.

Starting with today’s Coca-Cola 600, we’ll see four straight days of NASCAR racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Xfinity Series will return to action on Memorial Day with the Gander RV Outdoors Truck Series getting its turn to restart its season on Tuesday, followed by the Cup Series running another race on Wednesday.

That’s a lot of racing for fans … and bettors.

Whether you’re a seasoned NASCAR bettor or looking for something to sweat over the holiday weekend, here are my three favorite bets for today’s Coca-Cola 600.

NASCAR at Charlotte Best Bet Picks

*Odds as of Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Martin Truex Jr. (+550)

When it comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway, Truex immediately comes to mind.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won three of the past six races on the Charlotte oval, including a dominant victory in the 2019 Coca-Cola 600 in which Truex finished with the most laps led, the most fast laps and the best driver rating.

In fact, in his last four races on Charlotte’s oval, Truex has two wins and a sparkling 1.8 average finish.

DraftKings Sportsbook is offering the best price on Truex, so shop and grab the +550.

[Bet now at DraftKings. CO, NJ, PA, IN and WV only.]

Chase Elliott (+850)

Elliott finished fourth and had the third-best driver rating in the Coke 600 last year, and his speed at Las Vegas in February makes me like him even more on Sunday.

Chase won the first two stages in Vegas, but spun out due to a flat tire while leading the race, which resulted in a 26th-place finish.

And why does Las Vegas matter for this weekend? It’s the only 1.5-mile track (just like Charlotte) that the Cup Series has visited this season.

[Bet now at PointsBet. NJ and IN only.]

Ryan Blaney (+1900)

Blaney struggled at Darlington in both races over the last week, but that’s not all that unexpected. Ryan has never finished better than 13th at the track “Too Tough to Tame” in seven career Cup starts.

On the other hand, Blaney had the fourth-best driver rating in this race last year and the third-best rating at Las Vegas earlier this season.

In terms of value, this is my favorite bet for the Coca-Cola 600.

[Bet now at FanDuel. CO, NJ, PA, IN and WV only.]

Posted on by Staff Report

In honor of Memorial Day, NASCAR Cup Series drivers and accompanying on-track vehicles in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) will carry the name of a fallen military member on their cars.

For some drivers and teams, it’s an extra personal connection. Read on to see some of the stories.

MORE: Every fallen servicemember honored

Chip Ganassi Racing

Kurt Busch and the No. 1 Chevrolet will honor Construction Electrician Petty Officer Second Class (US Navy) Phil Grieser on the No. 1 GEARWRENCH Chevrolet. Grieser served with the father of Doug Newell; Doug is an electrician tech at Ganassi. Grieser was killed from injuries suffered by a rocket attack near the camp of Seabee team 1013 on May 18, 1969, in Vietnam

Doug, through his father, had been in contact with the brother of Phil Grieser, Mark Grieser, who lives in Ohio. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR races currently are running without fans. Knowing they could not attend the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 as fans, Grieser, his wife Ann and their family drove down to the Chip Ganassi Racing shop to see the car in front of the shop — and, specifically, to see Phil’s name on the car.

Embed Car Ganassi Unveil

Gaunt Brothers Racing

Daniel Suarez and his GBR brethren will honor the memory of U.S. Army SPC Ronald David Rennison of Dubuque, Iowa, who was killed in action Feb. 25, 1991, along with 27 other individuals by a Scud missile strike in Dhahran in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. There is a personal connection between SPC Rennison, who was 22 at the time of his death, and the GBR Toyota team. Rennison’s younger brother, Randy, was a high school friend of GBR road crew mechanic Barry Boeckenstedt. Randy Rennison served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps and was stationed in Korea at the time of his brother’s death. — Courtesy Gaunt Brothers

Stewart-Haas Racing

The windshield header of Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford Mustang will carry the name of Private First Class Andy Krippner of Garland, Texas, who lost his life in Kunar Province, Afghanistan in 2011. Krippner spent just six weeks in Afghanistan and celebrated his 20th birthday days before his death. He lost his life when the Army vehicle he was in hit an improvised explosive device. The other soldiers killed in the attack included SSGT Kristofferson B. Lorenzo, 33, of Chula Vista, California; PFC William S. Blevins, 21, of Sardinia, Ohio; and PVT Thomas C. Allers of Plainwell, Mich. The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Bowyer’s SHR teammates Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola will honor Lorenzo and Blevins on their Ford Mustangs Sunday.

SHR fabricator Matthew Ridgway joined that battalion after the incident and said he “knows them as well as you could know someone you’ve never met based on the stories from fellow soldiers (I) served with.” — Courtesy SHR

Richard Petty Motorsports

Fallen Tuskegee Airman, Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson will have his name displayed above the windshield of driver Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet. as part of NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 Memorial Day tribute at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, May 25, 2020. The car will also be painted to resemble the iconic A-10 Thunderbolt II, right down to the tiger shark teeth on the grill.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor of the U.S. Air Force. Pilots, navigators, maintainers, bombardiers, instructors and support staff all trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. The Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,000 sorties during World War II in Europe and North Africa.

Dickson, who was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, flew 68 missions during WWII. On December 23, 1944, he was returning from a reconnaissance mission when his Mustang P-51 experienced engine failure. His plane crashed along the Italy-Austria border, according to the Pentagon. Searches of the crash site were unsuccessful, and in 1949, the military declared his remains non-recoverable. — Courtesy U.S. Air Force

Team Penske

No. 2 Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski will compete with SSGT Michael Donovan Reep’s name atop his windshield in Sunday night’s 600-mile event. Reep, a member of the 27th SOCES (Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron) out of Cannon Air Force Base, lost his life in Columbia, South Carolina in 2015.

In the tweet below, Keselowski had the honor of giving Reep’s family the chance to be the first to see the Ford Mustang with his name on it via a video call.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Kyle Busch is the reason Chase Elliott crashed out of Wednesday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. Busch, admittedly so, inadvertently spun Elliott while battling toward the front and sent the No. 9 Chevrolet into the wall. Busch went on to finish second, while Elliott landed 38th in the final results, coming eight laps short of completing the 208-lap, rain-shortened event.

The two-time NMPA Most Popular Driver will forgive, but he won’t forget.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose,” Elliott said Friday on a Zoom teleconference with reporters. “Again, I hate that I was on the wrong end of a rare mistake on his end. For a guy that doesn’t make many, hate that it was me that took the blow.”

RELATED: Kyle Busch says he and Chase Elliott hashed things out

Here’s a refresher on what happened: With 28 scheduled laps to go in the Toyota 500, Elliott was running second behind leader and eventual race-winner Denny Hamlin. Busch was inside next to Elliott, and when Busch tried to get back in line up top, he misjudged the spacing between him and Elliott. Busch’s No. 18 Toyota clipped Elliott’s left rear enough to fully turn the car and send it nose-first into the inside frontstretch wall heading into into Turn 1. The ensuing rain that followed under caution made that the end of the race.

And you cannot forget how Elliott then got out and gave Busch a middle-finger salute as he came back around the track.

“No regrets,” Elliott said. “I thought it was warranted, and I thought he was deserving.”

RELATED: Hamlin weighs in on Busch-Elliott dustup

Busch immediately owned up to his mistake afterward — more than once, too. It was a big enough error, especially for a two-time champion, that the sincerity behind Busch’s apology was questioned, along with whether the move was intentional.

“I really think it depends on the person — how much respect you either had or didn’t have for that person prior to that moment,” Elliott said. “In Kyle’s situation, Kyle and I have gotten along for many years. I feel like I’ve raced him with a lot of respect because I respect him. … To hear that from a champion and a guy who we had raced really hard and clean together over the years, I think goes further than someone I don’t care for as much or somebody who I don’t get along with as well or someone who doesn’t race with that kind of respect or that kind of integrity on track.”

RELATED: Kyle Busch wrecks Chase Elliott | Kyle Busch admits to mistake

The two will be back on track together in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the season (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). They’ll then both be in Tuesday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series event (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And remember the bounty? It may still be a thing, which gives Elliott yet another reason to want to beat Busch — competitive revenge and prize money.

Don’t expect any type of physical post-race altercation after either event, though, considering all of the COVID-19 safety precautions.

“It’d be kind of hard to fight when you have to stay six feet apart,” Elliott said. “My arms aren’t long enough.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR penalized two Xfinity Series teams for lug-nut violations in Thursday’s Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway. Both the race-winning No. 98 Ford of Chase Briscoe and the No. 22 Ford of Austin Cindric had one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection.

As as result of violating Section 10.9.10.4 in the NASCAR Rule Book, each crew chief — Richard Boswell and Brian Wilson, respectively — was fined $5,000.

Posted on by Staff Report

In what’s been a most unusual season, NASCAR returned to some semblance of tradition with events at Charlotte Motor Speedway around Memorial Day this week.

Brad Keselowski won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, and now the Alsco Uniforms 500 is on tap for Thursday, May 28 (7 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM). As with the two events at Darlington and the Coca-Cola 600, fans will not be in attendance Thursday, and only essential personnel will be permitted on site as NASCAR eases back into competition after the COVID-19 shutdown.

Here’s a primer with helpful information for tonight’s race.

RELATED: How to follow the races | Coca-Cola 600 entry List 

TRACK DETAILS

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile track that opened to host its first NASCAR event in 1960. The venue’s most recent repave was completed in 2006.

The track features a D-shaped layout, with a dogleg on the 1,980-foot frontstretch. All four turns are banked 24 degrees. Both the frontstretch and the 1,500-foot back straightaway have 5-degree banking.

Tonight’s race will be the 122nd for NASCAR’s top division on the 1.5-mile speedway. The facility has also hosted two races on a combination oval and road course layout.

Joe Lee Johnson won NASCAR’s first 600-mile race in the track’s debut, notching the last of his two career wins. He prevailed by a margin of four laps in a race that took five hours, 34 minutes to complete.

RELATED: Patriotic honors for 600

STAGE LENGTHS

Sunday, May 24: Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 100, Stage 2 at Lap 200, Stage 3 at Lap 300, and the final stage slated to conclude on Lap 400.

Thursday, May 28: Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 55, Stage 2 on Lap 115, with the full distance set for Lap 208.

STARTING LINEUPS

Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 was held without practice, but same-day Busch Pole Qualifying took place with Kurt Busch winning the pole.

Neither practice nor qualifying will be held for Thursday’s 500-kilometer event as NASCAR tries to minimize exposure for on-site personnel in the interest of public health. Thursday’s lineup was determined by an inversion of the first 20 finishers from the Coca-Cola 600, then 21st on back in order. See full lineup.

See the full breakdown here detailing lineup procedures for all three NASCAR national series under the condensed race-day procedures.

RULES PACKAGE

The 2020 NASCAR rules package for intermediate-sized tracks will be in effect with a tapered spacer used to set a target of 550 horsepower. The cars will use aero ducts in addition to other aerodynamic devices to increase downforce.

MORE: Full Charlotte schedule

GOODYEAR TIRES

Each team will get one set of Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials for Coca-Cola 600 qualifying and 12 sets for the race. The qualifying set can also be transferred over to the race for a 13th set. For the Alsco Uniforms 500, each team will get seven sets.

“While Charlotte is not necessarily considered a high tire wear track, it is one of the most temperature sensitive tracks we race on,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The Coca-Cola 600 starts during the day and ends at night under the lights, combined with the fact that teams have a large number of sets of tires to go the 400 laps, making this event one that truly highlights the team aspect of our sport.”

Since 2010, for one weekend per NASCAR season, Goodyear has changed the branding on the sidewall of its racing tires in a show of support for the United States military and fallen heroes.  This being the 11th year of that program, the official tire supplier to NASCAR’s top three series will work with the “Honor and Remember” organization for the second straight year.  The standard “Eagle” on the tires’ sidewall will be replaced by the Honor and Remember logo on all Cup and Xfinity tires at Charlotte Motor Speedway this May.

STATS TO KNOW

— Kevin Harvick, a two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner, emerged from the Darlington Raceway twin bill with his first victory of the season and a third-place finish. He entered Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pair of events as the only driver to net six top-10 results in all six Cup Series races this year, a consistency that has earned him the circuit’s points lead. (UPDATE: That streak continued with a fifth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600.)

— Toyota drivers have won four of the last five 600-milers at Charlotte. Martin Truex Jr. has a pair of those victories (2016, 2019) and Carl Edwards (2015) and Kyle Busch (2018) have the others. (UPDATE: Keselowski won in a Ford on Sunday night, ending a long streak for that manufacturer, as detailed below.)

— NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip heads the Coca-Cola 600’s all-time win list with a record five victories (1978-79, 1985, 1988-89). Among active drivers, seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson leads with four 600 wins (2003-05, 2014).

— Joe Gibbs Racing has the most wins since the start of the 2019 season with 21. Denny Hamlin leads JGR over that span with eight victories, including Wednesday’s win at Darlington.

Source: NASCAR statistics, Racing Insights 

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune in to television coverage from Charlotte Motor Speedway on FOX (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET), FS1 (Thursday, 8 p.m. ET) and the FOX Sports App both days. For full radio coverage, listen in to PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on-air. 

RELATED: Ways to follow the races

For a more interactive experience, head over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner (which is FREE for both races), and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).

Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App!

2019 RACE WINNER

Martin Truex Jr. closed out the 600-mile endurance challenge with a bold four-wide pass in the 396th of 400 laps to net his second win in the Memorial Day classic. Truex recovered from a scrape of the Turn 4 wall late in Stage 1, then held off Joey Logano at the checkered flag by .330 seconds.

RELATED: 2019 Coca-Cola 600 recap

The Charlotte track’s Thursday race is a first-time event on the Cup Series schedule.

ACTIVE CHARLOTTE WINNERS
(oval track only)

Jimmie Johnson (eight); Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick (three each); Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski (two); Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, (one each).