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No repeat in Coca-Cola 600 for Jimmie Johnson

CONCORD, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson said he knew he was in trouble "as soon as I turned off the corner" during Sunday’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 
"I knew it was going around and I fought it as long as I could," the Hendrick Motorsports driver said.

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His crew worked quickly to replace the damaged front end as Johnson fielded questions in the garage. It wasn’t where the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion expected to be. In three of the four races contested this year on 1.5-mile tracks, Johnson’s taken the checkered flag before anyone else.
 
Not this time.
 
Johnson lost the back end of the white-and-blue No. 48 coming out of the fourth turn, nearly reined it back in but then hit the inside wall near the pit entrance with the front end of the car.
 
It was the second spin for the No 48 team in the series’ longest race — he brought out the second caution of the race on lap 90 when he spun in Turn 4. It was a no harm, no foul spin, one that sent him to the rear of the field, but with more than 300 laps remaining, getting back to the front of the pack wasn’t out of the question.
 
And that was exactly the case. With darkness settling in, Johnson said his car was “slowly coming to me.”
 
“That’s how we went from … the tail end of the longest line to fifth,” Johnson, a seven-time winner at CMS, said. “We just drove through there.
 
“The car was coming around. I was trying to set the 88 (of teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.) up in (Turns) 3 and 4; rolled in behind a lapped car and I’d just kind of got lulled into a comfort zone thinking I could roll in behind someone and be fine because I’d made a couple of moves like that earlier.”
 
The team, led by crew chief Chad Knaus, came in with an aggressive attitude, according to Johnson. Aggressive mindset and setup. Take chances, he said.
 
“We just don’t have anything to lose,” Johnson said.
 
“Unfortunately it didn’t get long enough into the race for the aggressive set up to come into play. Another 30-40 laps we’d have had the car right where we wanted it, I just didn’t make it there.
 
“I could have driven a little easier and tried not to work so hard through traffic but we said we were going to come in and swing for the fences and we did and hit the fence.”
 
Johnson eventually made it back onto the track, down by nearly 30 laps with 70 laps remaining to finish 40th.

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Read the notes NASCAR provides during the driver’s meeting

Play: NASCAR Fantasy Live

NASCAR SPECIAL AWARDS

Award Driver
Coors Light Pole Award Matt Kenseth
3M Lap Leader Kevin Harvick
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" Award Joey Logano
Freescale "Wide Open" Award Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ingersoll Rand Power Mover Award Jeff Gordon
American Ethanol "Green Flag Restart" Award Kevin Harvick
Mahle Engine Builder of the Race Award Kevin Harvick
Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race Award Kevin Harvick
Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race Award Jimmie Johnson
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap Award Kyle Larson
Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award Matt DiBenedetto

RACE TIME

Event Time (ET)
Driver Introductions 5:20 p.m.
Pre-race prep: Tires, interior & remove generators 5:40 p.m.
God Bless America 5:43 p.m.
Line up crews — facing the flag 5:59 p.m.
Invocation 6 p.m.
Amazing Grace 6:01 p.m.
"21" Gun Salute 6:02 p.m.
Taps 6:03 p.m.
National Anthem 6:04 p.m.
Command to start engines 6:09 p.m.

SPECIAL INFORMATION

Number of Laps 400 laps
Competition caution Lap 25
Pit Road Speed 45 mph
Caution Car Speed 55 mph
Pit Road Speed Begins 215 feet before the first pit box
Pit Road Speed Ends 160 feet past the last pit box
Minimum Speed 34.35 seconds
Exiting the Pits (Blend Line) Keep all four tires below the white line until the exit of Turn 2
Fuel Pit Stalls 1-43 Sunoco pumps
Post-Race 2-6 stop in pit stalls 22-26
All Others/Two crew members please Across from 26, Double File

NEXT RACE

Event Track/Day/Time (ET)
Next week Dover International Speedway
Hauler parking 5:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, May 28
Garage opens 6 a.m. ET, Friday, May 29
First practice 11 a.m. ET, Friday, May 29
Posted on by George Winkler

Feeling strong after 600 miles bodes well for No. 18 driver

SHOP: ‘Rowdy Returns’ shirt, more Busch gear

CONCORD, N.C. — As NASCAR’s greatest endurance test, Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 also provided a good litmus test for Kyle Busch in his first points race since suffering leg and foot injuries in the XFINITY Series opener at Daytona International Speedway.

And with the exception of some left foot soreness, Busch said he came through with flying colors in the annual Memorial Day weekend contest. However, he joked that he needed about 10 more laps to improve on his 11th-place finish.

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Fuel-mileage strategy came into play late in the race, and despite Busch having a strong No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he wasn’t able to finish higher because the drivers in front of him who gambled didn’t run out of gas. Still, the fact he completed all 400 laps and didn’t need to go to backup driver Erik Jones was a step in the right direction.

"I’m a little surprised that I feel as good as I do, you know," Busch said afterward. "I was expecting to be a little bit more beat up and tired, but honestly, I’m not. … There could be two sides to that. If you go week-to-week-to-week you could grind yourself out and you get tired, whereas I just took a three‑month vacation. My body feels pretty good, and it’s only been beat up in the gym."

But all those leg lifts, squats and presses were controlled movements, whereas a 600-mile Sprint Cup Series race is anything but that. So for Busch not only to survive the rigors of the race but also show he could race well was a good sign for his Chase for the Sprint Cup chances. Busch needs to finish in the top 30 in the point standings and get a win to compete in the playoffs come the fall.

MORE: Timeline of Kyle Busch‘s injury and recovery

There were some highlights from Sunday that indicated if Busch does get to the playoffs, he’ll be a tough out. First, it didn’t take him long (116 laps) to move from a starting spot of 17th all the way up to sixth. Then, after 300 laps, Busch was in second place behind Martin Truex Jr.

"All in all, I felt like that was a great race for us," Busch said. "We ran really strong. We ran up front, and we showed we had some speed. You know, it certainly is frustrating to finish where we did. That’s disappointing. But sometimes you do win these things by fuel‑mileage races, so congratulations to our teammates, Carl (Edwards) and Matt (Kenseth)."

Now that Busch passed his first big test it’s on to Dover International Speedway and the rest of the season, where Busch will need to prove he can perform like this repeatedly. Despite being 200 miles shorter, Dover won’t be easy, said Busch.

"This race here is quite relative to Dover next week," Busch said. "This week is an endurance race for as long as it is, and I think it sets you up for that Dover race. The Dover race is more taxing on your body I feel like; it beats you up a little more."

In order to prepare, Busch will take Monday off to rest and get some fluids back into his system. He said he has a doctor appointment on Tuesday along with meetings at JGR. Then on Wednesday, he’ll do balancing exercises before hitting it hard in a workout on Thursday before heading to Dover.

That’s the recipe that helped him come back relatively quickly from the serious injuries, and he’s sticking to it. Whether he’s able to continue to confound the skeptics remains to be seen.

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RCR driver scores fourth career XFINITY Series win

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings | Learn more about Dash 4 Cash

CONCORD, N.C. – For the second straight Saturday, Denny Hamlin had the chance to hold off a race’s strongest car for the victory.

Unlike last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, however, there were too many laps left after the final restart in Saturday’s Hisense 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series, and polesitter Austin Dillon powered past Hamlin on Lap 186 of 200 to finish the race where he belonged—at the front of the field.

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By the time he crossed the finish line, Dillon was 2.692 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who had taken the lead during a restart on Lap 167 that saw Dillon fall back to fourth from the inside lane by the time the leaders exited Turn 2.

One by one, Dillon picked off Regan Smith, Kahne and Hamlin on the way to his second XFINITY Series victory of the season, his first at Charlotte and the fourth of his career.

Kahne ran third behind Dillon and Hamlin, followed by Smith and rookies Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suarez. Ty Dillon came home seventh and trimmed the series lead of 11th-place finisher Chris Buescher to four points.

Dillon led 163 laps and held an advantage of more than six seconds during a 54-lap green-flag run that preceded the second caution of the race on Lap 110.

How good was Dillon’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet?

"I didn’t want to get out of this thing," Dillon said in Victory Lane. "This thing drove so good. It was a heck of a race there with Denny at the end and Kasey (Kahne). I had to go right there in lapped traffic (to make the winning pass).

"I knew if I didn’t hurry up and get in front of him right there, the tires might equalize (in terms of grip)."

But when Dillon picked the inside lane for what proved to be the final restart—after a caution for Kyle Fowler‘s wreck in Turn 1—Hamlin seized what he considered a fortuitous opportunity and surged into the lead.

"I thought when the 33 gave us the outside, that was a big advantage for us if we could stay with him through Turns 1 and 2," said Hamlin, who last Saturday held off Kevin Harvick in the final 10-lap shootout to win the Sprint All-Star Race. "We (did), and it allowed us to get position on him and even get him shuffled a few spots.

"That was all good, but his car was just so fast he just overcame that track position."

Hamlin lost the lead when the lapped car of Peyton Sellers stayed low and forced Hamlin’s No. 54 Toyota to pass on the outside.

"I needed to stay on the bottom," Hamlin said. "My car was best on the bottom. His car was pinned to the bottom as well. So I needed all of the lapped cars to move up high, and all of them did, except for the 97 (Sellers). He gave us the high line. That just killed us and killed our chances from that point, once the 33 got to our inside."

Dillon chose the inside line because his car had worked well on the bottom for the entire race to that point.

"My spotter (Andy Houston) made the fact that we should have probably taken the top, and I had been on the bottom all day, so I chose the bottom again," Dillon said. "I just didn’t want to let these guys down (his crew). The Rheem car was so fast…

"I thought about it, and I probably should have used the top, just because I would have had the run down the backstretch. It seems that, as the race goes on, that the outside can stop spinning the tires, and the rubber lays down…

"Andy made the point, and it all worked out, but I’ll definitely learn from that, for sure."

Smith, Wallace, Suarez and Ty Dillon qualified for next week’s XFINITY Dash 4 Cash competition at Dover as the top four finishers among series regulars. Those drivers will compete for $100,000 in next Saturday’s race at Dover, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.

Posted on by Staff Report

Driver will be on call in case ‘Rowdy’ can’t go full distance at Charlotte

Making his first start in a points-paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in the sport’s longest event, Kyle Busch will have a backup plan for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Erik Jones will be on standby for Busch at Charlotte Motor Speedway should the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota not be able to go the full 600 miles.

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Jones even went out and logged some laps during final practice on Saturday but Busch’s intent is to run the full race just three months after suffering a compound fracture of the right leg and a broken left foot in a crash during the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona International Speedway in February.

The fact that Jones will serve as a standby driver for Busch comes as little surprise. In his conference call with reporters last week to discuss his return to action ahead of a sixth-place showing in the Sprint All-Star Race, Busch said the 18-year-old would be on standby to fill in as necessary.

Three drivers took turns filling in for Busch in the 11 races he missed. Jones made one start at Kansas, while two-time defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton climbed in the No. 18 Toyota at Daytona and David Ragan made nine starts.

Jones got some seat time as well at Bristol, filling in for Denny Hamlin, who suffered neck spasms and decided as a precaution not to return to the race after a lengthy rain delay.

Sunday’s 600 mile race is the longest of the season and the 12th race on the Sprint Cup Series schedule.

Posted on by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit in the Hisense 300 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX)

RELATED: Hisense 300 starting lineup

Austin Dillon earned the Coors Light Pole Award and the first choice of pit pick. His No. 33 team selected the second stall which is the first one at pit exit heading into Turn 1 for Saturday’s Hisense 300 XFINITY Series race at 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

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The second-fastest driver in qualifying was Darrell Wallace Jr., who chose the 15th stall and the first with a front opening. Third in qualifying was Brian Scott, who will attempt to get his first XFINITY win from the 22nd pit stall, three off of the start/finish line toward the Turn 4 side of pit road.

Denny Hamlin was fourth-fastest and will pit in the 14th stall at the end of the first group of pit stalls with an opening behind him. Last year’s Hisense 300 winner, Kyle Larson, was fifth-fastest and will pit in the middle of that first bank of pit stalls, taking the seventh box.

Aric Almirola was sixth-fastest and will pit in the 30th stall with an opening in front of him. Seventh-fastest was Erik Jones, who will pit in the fourth stall. Kasey Kahne was eighth in qualifying and selected the 10th stall. While Ty Dillon and Ryan Reed round out the top 10, picking the 19th and 28th pit stalls respectively.

Chris Buescher, the XFINITY Series points leader, qualified 14th and chose the 36th stall with a front opening.

Posted on by Staff Report

Fourth XFINITY Series pole of the season for 2013 champion

RELATED: Full starting lineup

Austin Dillon won the Coors Light Pole Award for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Hisense 300 on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, PRN, SiriusXM), turning a lap of 184.615 mph around the 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The No. 33 Richard Childress Racing will be on the pole, sharing the front row with Darrell Wallace, Jr. The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford led the first round of qualifying with a speed of 183.968 mph and finished the final round of qualifying with a lap at 184.395 mph.

This is the fourth pole of the season for Dillon, who won from the top spot in Las Vegas in March.

Brian Scott will start third in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (183.799 mph); Denny Hamlin starts fourth in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (183.536 mph); and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five with a lap of 183.474 mph in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet.

Chad Boat lost control and spun out through the grass during XFINITY Series qualifying. The incident was almost identicial to Boat’s wreck in the No. 84 Billy Boat Motrosports Chevrolet during Thursday’s practice for the Hisense 300. 

 
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Stewart-Haas Racing driver paces both sessions at Charlotte

RELATED: Final practice results | See all 43 cars at Charlotte

Kurt Busch topped final practice for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch led the 50-minute session with a fast lap of 188.653 mph. The driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet also topped Saturday’s earlier practice session.

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Kasey Kahne placed second in the session at a speed of 187.052 mph. The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has four wins at Charlotte with three coming in the Coca-Cola 600.

Paul Menard (186.987 mph) was third, followed by Greg Biffle (186.942 mph) and polesitter Matt Kenseth (186.780 mph) rounded out the top five.

MORE: Kenseth starts on pole 

Erik Jones spent the latter half of final practice logging laps in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Jones will be on standby for Kyle Busch on Sunday night in case he can’t go the full distance. Busch is making his first points-paying start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since suffering a compound fracture of the right leg and a broken left foot in a crash in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona International Speedway in February. Jones made his Sprint Cup debut at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago; he also logged laps in relief of Denny Hamlin at Bristol Motor Speedway in April. The No. 18 Toyota was 17th in final practice.

The standby plan was mentioned on Jones’ Twitter feed.

Sunday’s 600-miler is the longest race of the season in the Sprint Cup Series.

Second practice | RELATED: Practice 2 results

Kurt Busch topped the first of Saturday’s two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice sessions at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Busch paced the 55-minute practice session with a fast lap of 192.644 mph. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has just one win at Charlotte, a Coca-Cola 600 victory in 2010.

Polesitter Matt Kenseth placed second in the session with a fast lap of 191.680 mph. Kenseth’s first premier series win came in this race in 2000.

Jimmie Johnson (190.813 mph) came in third, followed by David Ragan (190.550 mph) with Brad Keselowski (190.496 mph) rounding out the top five.

Johnson is the defending race winner and has seven career wins at Charlotte, the most all-time. All three of Johnson’s wins this season have come on intermediate tracks.

Ragan went for a spin off Turn 4 late in practice, making no contact with the wall but going through the grass. The driver of the No. 55 Toyota suffered no real damage to the car and is set to start seventh in Sunday’s race.

Kyle Busch, who will be making his first points-paying Sprint Cup Series start of the season, finished the session sixth.

Points leader Kevin Harvick, who has finished in the top two in all four races at intermediate tracks, placed 30th on the chart.

AJ Allmendinger had his share of issues during the practice. The driver of the No. 47 appeared to scrape the wall and was fighting a loose car during the session in which he placed 33rd.

Posted on by Staff Report

See what drivers we are picking to take the checkered flag

Members of the NASCAR.com editorial team make their predictions for the longest race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, the Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

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Zack Albert

Kurt Busch: Last season, Busch had designs on a 1,100-mile Memorial Day Sunday by splitting time between Indiana and North Carolina — a double play that few have dared to try. This year, Busch’s singular focus on the Coca-Cola 600, plus the ever-improving performance of the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 camp, should have Busch celebrating at the end of NASCAR’s longest race.

Kenny Bruce

Kevin Harvick: Jimmie Johnson has been a beast on the 1.5-mile tracks this year, winning three of four. But Harvick has finished no worse than second in all four (he won at Las Vegas), with another runner-up in last Saturday night’s non-points Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. "I still think he’s the car to beat right now," Johnson said of the Stewart-Haas Racing driver at Kansas.

Holly Cain

Jimmie Johnson: Johnson is always a favorite at Charlotte, where he is the all-time best (seven wins). With a series-high three wins this season, he’s carrying Championship No. 7 momentum into the Coca-Cola 600. He won this race from the pole last May. Easy pick here.

Pat DeCola

Brad Keselowski: The 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion’s past history at Charlotte Motor Speedway isn’t exceptional and his only win there came in the Chase — while he was out of it. Combine that with the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on his first Sprint All-Star Race victory last weekend — he led a race-high 49 laps — and Keselowski’s propensity for conquering mile-and-a-halves as a whole, and it makes for a recipe in which the tenacious driver crosses one of NASCAR’s landmark races off his bucket list.

Stu Hothem

Kasey Kahne: One of only three drivers with a driver rating better than 100 at Charlotte, Kahne will join one of the others, Jimmie Johnson, as a four-time winner of NASCAR’s longest event and punch his ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

RJ Kraft

Jeff Gordon: His first premier series win came in this race in 1994. The four-time champion has been making steady gains since a slow start to the 2015 season and will pick up his first win of his final full-time season back where the winning began.

Brad Norman

Kevin Harvick: No one has been more dominant on intermediate tracks than the No. 4 team this year, and that group showed plenty of speed in practice and qualifying. Throw in Hendrick horsepower, and "Happy" looks poised to win his third Coca-Cola 600 in the past five years.

Jessica Ruffin

Jimmie Johnson: Johnson has been unflappable at intermediate tracks this season, winning three of the four races at 1.5-mile venues. The reigning Coca-Cola 600 champion, Johnson is also the all-time winner at Charlotte with seven victories and has led the most laps (1,733) around the North Carolina oval among active drivers. Couple Johnson’s 2015 success with his expertise at Charlotte, and you’ve got a recipe for victory this weekend in NASCAR’s longest race.

Kathy Sheldon

Matt Kenseth: It’s an endurance race, and the No. 20 has completed all but one of the laps run this season. Plus, Kenseth has a win in the 600, though it came in 2000. He last won at Charlotte four years ago but with one win and six top-10s through the first 11 points races this season, Kenseth can tap the Joe Gibbs Racing speed (he will start from the pole) for another win at Charlotte.

George Winkler

Joey Logano: Logano’s average finish of 10.0 at Charlotte is tops among active drivers, and a qualifying spot on the front row indicates he’s ready to add the second crown jewel to his collection by winning the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year as the Daytona 500.

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Get caught up before Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX)

MORE: NASCAR.com’s picks for Charlotte | See all 43 cars for Charlotte

What: 56th Annual Coca-Cola 600
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.
When: Sunday, May 23, 2015
TV/Radio: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR)
Distance: 400 laps (600 miles)
Green Flag: 6:18.30 p.m. ET
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Caution Car Speed: 55 mph
Competition Caution: Lap 25

On The Front Row | Complete lineup for Sunday’s race
1. Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota (194.252 mph)
2. Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford (192.836 mph)

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Failed to Qualify
Jeb Burton, BK Racing No. 26 Toyota; Mike Bliss, Go FAS Racing No. 32 Ford; Travis Kvapil, Hillman SmithMotorsports No. 39 Chevrolet; Jeff Green, TMG No. 30 Chevrolet; Brendan Gaughan, Premium Motorsports No. 62 Chevrolet

Fastest In Practice
First Practice: Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota (192.273 mph) | Full practice results
Second Practice: Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (192.644 mph) | Full practice results
Third Practice: Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (188.653 mph) | Full practice results

Four Score?
Matt Kenseth will start from the pole for the 15th time in his career when the Coca-Cola 600 gets under way. On three occasions, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has managed to also win the race – at Bristol in 2005 and ’15 as well as Kansas in ’13. "Back when I started, we worked hard on qualifying but we worked way harder on the race (setup) because even if we started 20th, we knew if we had a really good car we could drive up to the front and after a couple of pit stops we’d be in the top few," Kenseth said. "That’s not necessarily the case today. You can start in the middle and you can be stuck in the middle all day sometimes. It’s hard to make up ground."

SHOP: Kenseth gear

No. 450 for Biffle, McMurray
Roush Fenway Racing‘s Greg Biffle and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver Jamie McMurray will be making their 450th career starts in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series in the Coca-Cola 600. Biffle’s first start came April 28, 2002 at Auto Club Speedway. He finished 13th. McMurray’s first start came later that same year, on October 6 at Talladega Superspeedway. Driving in a relief role for the injured Sterling Marlin, McMurray finished 26th.

Front Row Joe(y)
Team Penske driver Joey Logano qualified second for the Coca-Cola 600, his seventh front-row start in 12 races this year. Since the 2014 season and the move to group qualifying, Logano has earned 15 top-two starts.

SHOP: Logano gear

Shorten the 600?
"If they take that away or shorten it, it doesn’t have the same challenge because that extra 100 miles is really hard. It puts extra wear and tear on your parts, your pieces, and your driver. It makes you change your strategy. And … it’s something unique to our sport. … I like the challenge of that extra 100 miles once a year. I wouldn’t want to do it twice a year." – former championship winning crew chief Ray Evernham

Third Cup Start for Elliott
Defending XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott will be making his third Sprint Cup Series start this weekend, qualifying the Hendrick Motorsports No. 25 Chevrolet 28th in the 43-car field. Elliott, the son of 1988 Sprint Cup champ and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott, finished 38th in his Sprint Cup debut earlier this year at Martinsville and 16th at Richmond.

Driver Rating
Best driver rating average at Charlotte based on past 20 races:
Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet (111.6)
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota (106.7)
Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet (100.8)

GALLERY: Check out the Memorial Day weekend patriotic paint schemes

Chevy Stumble?
For the first time this season, no Chevrolet drivers qualified in the top five. Points leader Kevin Harvick, in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet, led the GM charge and will start eighth.

Lap Leaders
Jim Paschal holds the record for most laps led by the winner in the Coca-Cola 600, leading 335 of 400 en route to his victory at Charlotte in 1967 (it was then called the World 600). Race winner Jimmie Johnson led 334 of 400 in ’04. The driver leading the most laps in the 600 and NOT winning the race is Junior Johnson, who led 289 in the ’63 event but finished second to Fred Lorenzen after suffering a flat tire with fewer than five laps remaining.

Defending Coca-Cola 600 Champion
Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet

Former Charlotte Winners In Field
Jimmie Johnson (7); Jeff Gordon (5); Kasey Kahne (4); Kevin Harvick (3); Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray (2); Casey Mears, Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch (1).