Posted on by Nascar

At a Glance: 

What: Coca-Cola 600
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile tri-oval in Concord, N.C.
When: Sunday, May 28, 2017
Green flag: 6:18.30 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon.
National anthem: 82nd Airborne Division All-American Chorus
Honorary Race Director: Mitch Carmichael, Senate President of West Virginia
Honorary Starter: Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland
Grand Marshal: Channing Tatum, actor
Race distance: 400 laps, 600 miles
Competition caution: Lap 25
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 100; Stage 2 end on Lap 200; Stage 3 ends on Lap 300; Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 400.

Posted on by Kelly Crandall

RELATED: ‘Fit’ Row presented by Lilly Diabetes launches on NASCAR.com

Ryan Reed led the way in a different kind of race around Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon.

The driver of the No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing gave the command and joined 200 people walking the 1.5-mile oval. It was the kickoff event for the Lilly Diabetes and NASCAR health and wellness initiative as Lilly not only sponsors Reed but is the official diabetes health partner of NASCAR.

“First of all, it’s a huge thank you to Lilly, not just as the driver that they sponsor but as someone living with diabetes,” Reed said. “To see their commitment to spreading awareness, doing events like this, that it’s not just talk about encouraging people to manage their diabetes, live a healthy lifestyle but putting on events where they can walk around Charlotte Motor Speedway and actually get out here and do something active. It’s so cool.”

Reed signed autographs and took pictures along the route, which began just past the big screen TV situated above the backstretch wall. Fans who participated in the event were encouraged to create pledge banners and sign a hood that will be used during an XFINITY Series race later this year.

With the amount of participation seen Friday, Ashley Brewer, the consumer director of marketing for Lilly Diabetes, announced at the conclusion of the walk that Lilly Diabetes would donate $10,000 to the American Diabetes Association chapter of Charlotte.

“Some other things we’re doing throughout the year is we just recently kicked off an editorial called Fit Row on NASCAR.com and the intent of Fit Row is really to put out stories that talk more about an active lifestyle and continuing to be healthy not just with diabetes but in overall general health as well,” Brewer said.

“We’re also planning an event in October to kind of culminate the whole season and it’ll be a fun activity that we’re not announcing completely yet. More to come on the event back here at Charlotte in October.”

Having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2011, Reed has climbed through the motorsports ranks despite being told he would never race again. Now a two-time winner in the XFINITY Series, Reed said the most enjoyable thing about doing events with Lilly Diabetes is the people he meets along the way.

“Just today alone I probably met 10 people who talked about living with diabetes or that their son or daughter has diabetes,” Reed said. “I met a boy, he was probably 12 or 13 years old, and he was out here walking today and he has Type 1 diabetes. His dad was here talking to me about all the different things he does to help his son play sports and different stuff.

“It’s just so cool to see that commitment. As someone who lives with diabetes, when you meet someone else with diabetes who goes through the same everyday challenges, you instantly have a connection and a bond. The relationships I’ve built through events like these are probably the coolest thing.”

Crossing the red and white finish line signaled the end of another day at the office for Reed. Only instead of being behind the wheel, he was again spreading a positive message.

“The No. 1 thing that I try to preach is just never give up,” Reed said. “Diabetes is a lot like other challenging things in life where it can be defeating. It can make you want to give up at times, but if you can persevere and manage it and work with your doctor, you can do what you love to do.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR.com senior writer Holly Cain, who has been a respected motorsports journalist for more than 25 years and shown courage and provided inspiration in the face of personal adversity, Friday was honored with the Bob Russo Founders Award for dedication to auto racing.

The award was presented to Cain by Russo Award Chairman Bill Marvel, Russo’s longtime friend and 2011 honoree, in a ceremony in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s media center.

Russo, the much-admired and honored motorsports journalist/publicist/historian, founded the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association in 1955. Russo helped racing gain early national media attention in the 1950s via his stories in Speed Age magazine. He consulted IMS owner Tony Hulman on the future direction of the sport when AAA stopped sanctioning races, which led to the formation of the U.S. Auto Club. Among Russo’s successes in public relations were the legendary Mobil Economy Run and with NHRA and Riverside International Raceway. His historical research and archives benefited the sport overall, including the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He died in 1999 at age 71.

The Russo Award, as stated on the plaque, is presented “to an individual who has demonstrated profound interest, tireless efforts and undying dedication to auto racing as exemplified by Russo throughout his lifelong career.”

Cain’s career includes award-winning tenures at the Tampa Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Dallas Morning News. She also wrote for AOL Fanhouse and FoxSports.com and authored the book “Rusty’s Last Call,” on driver Rusty Wallace’s last NASCAR season. She has been with NASCAR.com since 2012.

Cain has earned numerous journalism honors, including awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, National Motorsports Press Association and Society of Professional Journalists.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2014 and has written candidly about her experiences battling the disease. She also speaks to public groups and helps in cancer research fundraising activities. Despite her illness, Cain has continued with insightful motorsports coverage, and in 2015 won the NMPA’s Spirit Award in recognition of her positive attitude and achievement in the face of adversity.

Cain is the first female to win the Russo Award on an individual basis. A permanent plaque with all winners’ names is on display in the Speedway media center.

Previous Russo Award winners include: 2005 – Michael Knight; 2006 – Wally Parks; 2007 – Chris Economaki; 2008 – Bob Jenkins; 2009 – Shav Glick; 2010 — Bill York; 2011 — Bill Marvel; 2012 — Paul Page; 2013 — The Hulman-George and France Families; 2014 — Donald Davidson; 2015 — Dick Jordan; 2016 — Dan Luginbuhl.

Posted on by Kelly Crandall

Ricky Carmichael may have traded in four wheels for two years ago, but his love of NASCAR remains.

As a Monster Energy athlete and spokesperson, Carmichael attended the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend. In its first season as the entitlement sponsor of the series, Monster Energy also had the naming rights to the All-Star Race. It was the first of several appearances for Carmichael this year.

“I’m a racer, and I have so many friends here, and I respect so much what these guys do,” Carmichael said. “It’s fun for me to come.”

There’s no pressure being back in the garage, either. Admittedly, going from Motocross and Supercross to NASCAR was tough.

Carmichael made 76 starts between the Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series from 2009 to 2011. He earned a combined 19 top-10 finishes and a Truck Series pole in 2011 at Atlanta.

RELATED: Carmichael’s NASCAR statistics

“You’re stepping in, racing guys who have been doing this forever, so it’s really hard,” Carmichael said of the experience. “But I was able to do hold my own. I was able to do some special things, and now that I’m back in the two-wheel side of things, I enjoy it. I like my role and what I’m doing now.”

In Charlotte, Carmichael not only took the sport in as a guest but saw what Monster Energy is doing as the entitlement sponsor. Carmichael specifically spoke to the demographic of fans the company can bring as well as its marketing and activation.

“How they promote their brand and the shows they put on, it’s a lot of fun and it brings something special to the fans who come to the races,” Carmichael said. “They have something to watch before the race cars get on the racetrack … They just have that flair to them I think NASCAR needed.”

Monster Energy backed Carmichael’s Motocross and Supercross career, where he won a combined 12 championships, but also followed him to NASCAR. Affiliated with them since the early 2000s, Carmichael is intimately familiar with Monster Energy.

“The fun events like this I get to do, and I get to do some stuff in Europe for them as well, go to some MotoGP races, which is also a good time,” Carmichael said of being an ambassador. “Just what Monster brings as a sponsor to any event they are a part of is fun. They have that ‘it’ factor if you will … I think (NASCAR) needed this kind of boost and I’m happy to see it.”

As for which one of his friends he roots for, Carmichael knows his answer is political.

“Obviously, I want to see my friends do well, but I just want to see a good race,” Carmichael said. “That’s what’s special for the fans and TV, and the races I don’t come to, and I’m watching on TV I want to see an exciting race. It doesn’t matter to me as long as it’s a good race and that’s what’s cool about the segment races this year. It’s brought a lot to the table.”

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Denny Hamlin’s 2016 Daytona 500-winning No. 11 Toyota looks like it has just come off the race track.

See the remains of sticky champagne mixed with dirt that coats the purple body of the car. There’s confetti, eliciting memories of celebration, sprinkled across the hood where all his crew members have signed. There’s the shredded rear tire that was torn to pieces after a victorious burnout that only winning the Daytona 500 will initiate.

But this car isn’t at a race track, a museum or even the Joe Gibbs Racing shop. It sits in Hamlin’s personal living room on display, a glass wall concealing it from guests.

“It’s race condition — you could start the engine if you wanted to,” Hamlin said.

Talk about a party conversation starter.

“When I was building this house, I knew that eventually there was going to be a car that was very significant to me that I wanted to put in here,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com while standing in front of the car in his Cornelius, North Carolina, home. “At the time, it was my very first win car from my rookie season that took this spot. But obviously 2016 at the Daytona 500, that all changed and this car took precedence.

“The fashion in which we won it, the closest finish in history, I thought it was fitting to have it sit in a prominent spot like this.”

WATCH: Relive the classic finish

Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota beat out Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Toyota by .010 seconds in a drag race across the start/finish line. It was, as Hamlin pointed out, the closest finish in the race’s history and one that saw Hamlin use the waning laps of the Great American Race to power his way up to the front.

Winning any race in that fashion is special. But winning the Daytona 500 that way is something race car drivers dream about.

“I think it was Daytona 500 or bust,” Hamlin said on choosing a car to sit in his living room. “I think a (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) championship car might take precedence over this one once that time comes around.

“But I knew that this car would never be used again — it sat in a museum for one year before I got to get my hands on it. So it was an important ask for me to get with TRD — my sponsor — FedEx and Joe Gibbs Racing to say, ‘Hey, what can I do to get this car and keep it?’ ”

That car isn’t the only one on display in Hamlin’s living room. Sitting behind it are two other No. 11 FedEx race cars: The one in the back is his winning 2006 Budweiser Shootout car that marked Hamlin’s first race in his rookie season and his first Monster Energy Series trip to Victory Lane. That victory was an exhibition win and the rookie driver would go on to win two points-paying races that season, along with the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title.

But for a young driver, it meant more than simply bragging rights; it signified inclusion into an elite club.

“It was my very first race in my rookie season and the moment where I felt like I belonged in the Cup series,” Hamlin reminisced. “I’ll never forget my parents being so excited there in Pit Lane, and them getting interviewed after the race. It was just a crazy emotional day.”

The car situated in between the 2006 Shootout car and the 2016 Daytona 500 car is a bit older: It’s Hamlin’s first stock car that came back into his possession recently, thanks to car owner Joe Gibbs.

“I ran (it) at Langley Speedway and Southside Speedway and won a championship in … seven races that year,” Hamlin said. “What was really cool is we sold that car probably four or five years later and Joe Gibbs actually tracked down that car and purchased it back for me. They were going to sell that car and so they contacted my car owner Joe Gibbs and said ‘Hey, we have Denny’s first car, do you have any interest in it?’ And he said absolutely. So, he got it, got it restored for me and it was a great present.”

But perhaps one of Hamlin’s greatest presents is winning the Daytona 500. And proof of that victory sits right in Hamlin’s living room.

He relives that moment when he sits in his living room and faces that glass case housing his prized No. 11 Toyota.

The No. 11 Toyota that won him the Great American Race.

“I just think over and over about the last lap,” Hamlin said. “I’ve driven hundreds and thousands of laps it seems like in the Cup Series and that was probably my best driving final lap or any lap that I’ve ever driven.

“Really, to come from fourth or fifth on the final lap to win that race in the shape or form or fashion that we did, it was a career-defining moment for myself.”

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Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, “Tweets You Might Have Missed” presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. 

 

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Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Full lineup for Sunday’s race

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson’s eventful Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway ended with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader not being able to make a qualifying lap, meaning that Larson will line up 39th for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I think rear-toe or something,” Larson said when asked about the cause of the team’s inspection woes. “I’m not sure. It looked like the final time — I don’t know if somebody stepped over one of the lasers and triggered a reset or whatever, but we sat on there for a minute and waited for it to restart and then we passed but we just didn’t have enough time.”

A NASCAR spokesperson said that the machine was fine and everything worked as it should. The team put the car on the LIS machine incorrectly.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had smacked the outside wall in opening practice, causing damage to the right side of his car late in the day’s lone practice session. He came in third in the 85-minute session.

RELATED: Larson smacks wall late in practice

Starting toward the back of the field is familiar territory for Larson. At Texas last month, Larson was unable to turn a lap in qualifying and started 32nd. He came on strong to score a runner-up finish, nearly chasing down race winner Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps.

“It happened to us at Texas and we rebounded from that and finished second,” Larson said.

In seven Charlotte starts, Larson has a top five, two top 10s, an average start of 22.7 and an average finish of 17.9. He knows that Sunday’s 400-lap, 600-mile race is a marathon, not a sprint.

“I hope the VHT up top is nice,” Larson said of the track. “Charlotte’s a hard place to pass at, but you got 600 miles to do it. I typically don’t qualify well anyway so I come from the back here a lot. I’m not too worried about it. I’ve won races from 24th in a sprint car in 30 laps so 600 miles should be OK.”

RELATED: Will traction compound help top line at Charlotte?

Corey LaJoie (No. 83 BK Racing Toyota) also did not make it through inspection in time for qualifying and will start 40th.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MORE: Full race lineup | Schedule for Charlotte | See every car in the field

CONCORD, N.C. – After squeaking out the fastest lap in the second round of Thursday night’s knockout qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick left no doubt when it counted.

Touring the 1.5-mile track in 27.918 seconds (193.424 mph) to post the fastest lap of the day in the final round, Harvick claimed his first Coors Light Pole Award for the Coca-Cola 600 and his second overall at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford will lead the field to green in NASCAR’s longest race on Sunday after beating second-place qualifier Kyle Busch (192.513 mph) by .132 seconds. The pole was Harvick’s third of the season, all having come at 1.5-mile intermediate tracks.

Fourteen of Harvick’s 20 career poles have come since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, the season that also brought the 41-year-old from Bakersfield, California, his only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship to date.

“It was a hairy lap,” admitted Harvick, who was sixth fastest in the first round but improved dramatically thereafter. “I just about spun out in (Turns) 1 and 2 and had to make some adjustments …

“Our cars have been fast this year. We’ve had a lot of speed. We just haven’t been able to put the weekend together. Overall, it shows that we’ve got performance right now, but (the Coke 600) is a long, long day. We’ve just got to put it all together.”

Chase Elliott qualified third as the only Chevrolet driver in the top 10. Matt Kenseth was fourth, followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Erik Jones.

The winner of last Saturday’s Monster Energy All-Star Race, Busch will try on Sunday to become the eighth driver to complete the All-Star/600 double. Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are still looking for their first victory in a points race this season 

But, in Busch’s view, things are looking up. 

“It’s certainly nice to just have the speed right now,” he said. “It showed up when we unloaded it right off the truck. We were pretty quick the first session (of practice). Then guys kind of caught up to us a little bit through the practice.

“Shows that we’ve got performance right now, so we just got to put it all together. It’s a long, long day. Starting up front doesn’t necessarily mean anything right now. It’s just good for pit selection, obviously, and hopefully (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and my boys, we can get it all tuned up tomorrow and get ready for a great 600 miles.”

Series leader Kyle Larson never got on track to make a qualifying run. His No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet bounced off the wall in Thursday’s opening practice, and repairs to the car impeded its progress through the inspection line.

Time ran out on the No. 42 before Larson could get the car to the grid. As a result, Larson will start 39th in the 40-car field.

“I guess it would be cooler to win from last than from the pole,” Larson said philosophically.

MORE: Larson misses qualifying | Larson clips the wall in practice

The next practice session is at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday (FS1).

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CONCORD, N.C. — With the majority of teams based in North Carolina, drivers often consider the races at Charlotte Motor Speedway “home” races.

But Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the few drivers left in the sport who can truly call the 1.5-mile speedway his “home track.” Hailing from Kannapolis, North Carolina — which sits approximately 14 miles northeast of the track — Earnhardt recalls attending the Charlotte races early in his life.

“Some of the first memories of being at a 1.5-mile race track (are) here at Charlotte,” Earnhardt said Thursday in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Media Center. “I used to go to the dirt tracks with Dad when I was very small, but the first memories of actually being at a Cup event were here. The Eurys and the Earnhardt family would park up on the hill of the road course, about the tallest peak of elevation there.”

The hill of the road course is where he used to race his plastic cars of Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough. The asphalt oval is where he used to watch his father Dale Earnhardt race — and where “The Intimidator” won five times in NASCAR’s premier series.

But Charlotte has eluded its hometown son for nearly 18 years, who has yet to earn a points-paying victory in 33 races.

Junior would love to change that during this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, the race that he named as the one he’d most like to win before he hangs up his fire suit after the 2017 season.

RELATED: Junior’s favorite All-Star race memories

“I thought, considering we’ve had some decent success in the sport, I would have guessed I’d have got a win here in a points race at some point, but it just hasn’t happened,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve had some close ones … but since the repave, for whatever reason it’s really been tough for me. We just really haven’t been able to hit on how to get around here. Either how to set the car up or what I’m looking for or what I need to be doing with the car driving it.”

His 18th-place result in last week’s exhibition Monster Energy Series All-Star Race at Charlotte didn’t bestow much confidence, and left Earnhardt disappointed. The No. 88 team needed to try something different if they didn’t want Sunday night’s 600-mile marathon race to feel even longer.

Enter Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, who certainly has a grasp on Charlotte. The all-time track winner with eight victories, Johnson has led nearly 2,000 laps in 31 races and is the most recent winner at the speedway (2016 Bank of America 500).

The fact that Johnson’s No. 48 team shares a race shop with Earnhardt’s No. 88 camp has been especially helpful this week.

“We totally eighty-sixed all that stuff we ran last week and we put in Jimmie’s set-up, we’re just like him,” Earnhardt said. “I was just asking Greg (Ives, crew chief), ‘How are we just like him if he ran a flat and we ran a 30 in practice?’ Greg and Chad (Knaus, No. 48 crew chief) got real close this week and me and Jimmie have been in communication and Jimmie has come by the car a couple of times in practice already looking at notes and printing out our driver traces and trying to figure out whatever we can do to help me.

“ … He comes over with these print outs and says this is what I’m doing with the gas and this is what you are doing and this is where the time is getting lost and maybe try this and that and the other, he is a super teammate. I’m lucky to be able to work in the same shop with him.  He has certainly been an influence on my success and my enjoyment in the sport.”

Earnhardt ran 22nd in opening practice, while Johnson ran second. But Earnhardt expected that, given his team’s struggles last week and the VHT resin laid on the track prior to this weekend.

“If we get it right, we can get in the top 15. That’s a start. That ain’t good enough, still,” Earnhardt said. “But that’s progress compared to last week. And I’m really looking forward to getting in race trim. We’ve got some practice time. We really ran short last week on practice time, so I’m anxious to get in there and practice and see what we can do.

“We’ve got a completely different set-up. So, hopefully it doesn’t go like it did last week.

“It shouldn’t. And let’s hope it doesn’t.”