Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR News and Notes
By
NASCAR Press Release-
For Hendrick Motorsports, it appears the floodgates truly have opened during a magical eight days in Darlington, S.C., and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Beware five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson – and Hendrick’s other three drivers – in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (FOX live 6 p.m. ET).
Johnson won in Darlington on May 19, giving his team its long-awaited 200th victory. Not satisfied, the No. 48 team went home to Charlotte with a vengeance and virtually swept the board winning the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the Sprint All-Star Race.
[[In-content Ad]]Johnson, $1 million and his third All-Star victory in hand, hopes to become the third driver in five years to sweep both the Coca-Cola 600 and the all-star event. Teammates Kasey Kahne (2008) and Jeff Gordon (1997) both have won the double.
That has owner Rick Hendrick excited about moving forward.
“To get the pit crew deal done, then coming here tonight and running this well, just excited about the 600, excited about the rest of the year,” he said following Johnson’s all-star victory. “Everything has been clicking for us lately.”
And historically, everything has clicked for the organization at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Hendrick cars have won 16 times, although not since the track’s fall race with Johnson in 2009. The Hendrick organization has won the Coca-Cola 600 nine times with Johnson, Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Casey Mears.
• Johnson, with six wins, won the Coca-Cola 600 three consecutive years (2003-05). A victory would break a deadlock with NASCAR Hall of Famers Waltrip and Bobby Allison for the most Charlotte victories.
• Gordon has won five times. His three Coca-Cola 600 wins came in 1994 and 1997-98.
• Johnson and Kahne both recorded season sweeps at Charlotte. Johnson, in fact, won four consecutive races in 2004-05, while two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner Kahne, who’ll make his 300th career NASCAR Sprint Cup start this weekend, followed in 2006.
Sunday should see a typical Coca-Cola 600 – at 600 miles and 400 laps, NASCAR’s longest and most challenging race. The event begins in late afternoon heat and sunshine and continues for more than four hours into darkness. Charlotte’s 1.5 miles of asphalt will go through several transitions, challenging both drivers and crew chiefs to keep up with the changes.
What once was simple endurance has become an extra 100 miles of flat-out racing.
Johnson, who solidified his position as contender for a sixth championship at Darlington, hopes the momentum continues. He stands fifth in points as the regular season nears its mid-point.
Close A Year Ago, Earnhardt Hopes To Close ‘600’ Deal
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is pumped heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. And he should be – for a couple of reasons. Earnhardt nearly won the race a year ago, coming up a few hundred yards and less than a gallon of Sunoco Green E15 racing fuel short of winning his NASCAR Sprint Cup points race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He coasted across the line out of gas in seventh place.
Momentum – from a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race after winning the Sprint Showdown.
“Oh yeah, I mean when you run like this the week before it really makes you feel good. It really makes you look forward to it, not as many unknowns,” said Earnhardt. “I think we showed what we are capable of doing here next weekend. We are probably going to bring the same car. We have a couple of ideas on how to make the car even faster, especially for qualifying that I hope will work out.”
Earnhardt’s best 600 finish with Hendrick Motorsports – fifth – came in 2008, his first season with the organization. His top performance in the race, a fourth-place from his only Charlotte Coors Light Pole, came in 2000. Earnhardt’s best CMS finish, third, was recorded in the fall of 2004.
The Sprint All-Star Race helped erase the sting of a 17th-place finish at Darlington that ended a six-race run of top-10 finishes that matched Earnhardt’s career best. Nonetheless, Earnhardt, who enters the race third in NASCAR Sprint Cup points, appears closer each week to ending a winless drought now at 140 races dating to June 15, 2008.
What does David Reutimann have in common with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson?
Answer: Both posted their first NSCS victories in the Coca-Cola 600, Pearson in 1961 – the first of 105 career wins – and Reutimann in 2009.
Reutimann is the most recent driver to score a “first” in one of NASCAR’s oldest and most prestigious races following Casey Mears in 2007.
• Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, No. 3 on the career win list, posted his first of 85 wins in 1994.
• Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, made the 1995 Coca-Cola 600 the initial of 21 wins.
• Daytona 500 winner and 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth won 600 in 2000 en route to a still-counting 21 trips to Victory Lane.
Jamie McMurray, Buddy Baker and Charlie Glotzbach also won first races but in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fall events. So, who’s next?
Recent performances in the Sprint Showdown, in which he finished second, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race points to Penske Racing’s AJ Allmendinger. The Dinger raced from nearly a lap down to claim an All-Star transfer spot. Again from the back of the field, the Los Gatos, Calif., competitor reached the top five before finishing 11th.
Allmendinger’s No. 22 Dodge team won the 2010 Coca-Cola 600 with Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Teammate Brad Keselowski is a two-time winner so far this season and finished runner-up to NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Not to be dismissed, Allmendinger has a knack for these endurance-type races. His Michael Shank Racing team won the GRAND-AM Road Racing’s Rolex 24 earlier this season.
Right Place Right Time For Harvick, RCR?
With May about to become June – and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup not too far distant – there’s work to be done at Richard Childress Racing.
Only one of its three drivers, Kevin Harvick, currently ranks among the top 10 (eighth), but it’s been a downward slide in recent weeks for the defending winner of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Harvick finished 16th at Darlington on May 19, the veteran’s third consecutive run outside the top 15.
Harvick, the third-place championship finisher in each of the past two seasons, heads into the season’s 12th race with a 26-point cushion on 11th place. A repeat victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway would help his cause and perhaps shift some momentum at RCR to the positive side of the ledger. The team’s last victory, Harvick at Richmond last September, was 21 races ago.
Both Paul Menard (13th) and Jeff Burton (17th) similarly need to make progress this week. Burton won Charlotte’s fall race in 2008, the last of his 21 victories. RCR has won four Coca-Cola 600s and six times overall in Charlotte. Dale Earnhardt was a three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner with RCR.
Beware five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson – and Hendrick’s other three drivers – in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (FOX live 6 p.m. ET).
Johnson won in Darlington on May 19, giving his team its long-awaited 200th victory. Not satisfied, the No. 48 team went home to Charlotte with a vengeance and virtually swept the board winning the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the Sprint All-Star Race.
[[In-content Ad]]Johnson, $1 million and his third All-Star victory in hand, hopes to become the third driver in five years to sweep both the Coca-Cola 600 and the all-star event. Teammates Kasey Kahne (2008) and Jeff Gordon (1997) both have won the double.
That has owner Rick Hendrick excited about moving forward.
“To get the pit crew deal done, then coming here tonight and running this well, just excited about the 600, excited about the rest of the year,” he said following Johnson’s all-star victory. “Everything has been clicking for us lately.”
And historically, everything has clicked for the organization at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Hendrick cars have won 16 times, although not since the track’s fall race with Johnson in 2009. The Hendrick organization has won the Coca-Cola 600 nine times with Johnson, Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Casey Mears.
• Johnson, with six wins, won the Coca-Cola 600 three consecutive years (2003-05). A victory would break a deadlock with NASCAR Hall of Famers Waltrip and Bobby Allison for the most Charlotte victories.
• Gordon has won five times. His three Coca-Cola 600 wins came in 1994 and 1997-98.
• Johnson and Kahne both recorded season sweeps at Charlotte. Johnson, in fact, won four consecutive races in 2004-05, while two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner Kahne, who’ll make his 300th career NASCAR Sprint Cup start this weekend, followed in 2006.
Sunday should see a typical Coca-Cola 600 – at 600 miles and 400 laps, NASCAR’s longest and most challenging race. The event begins in late afternoon heat and sunshine and continues for more than four hours into darkness. Charlotte’s 1.5 miles of asphalt will go through several transitions, challenging both drivers and crew chiefs to keep up with the changes.
What once was simple endurance has become an extra 100 miles of flat-out racing.
Johnson, who solidified his position as contender for a sixth championship at Darlington, hopes the momentum continues. He stands fifth in points as the regular season nears its mid-point.
Close A Year Ago, Earnhardt Hopes To Close ‘600’ Deal
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is pumped heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. And he should be – for a couple of reasons. Earnhardt nearly won the race a year ago, coming up a few hundred yards and less than a gallon of Sunoco Green E15 racing fuel short of winning his NASCAR Sprint Cup points race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He coasted across the line out of gas in seventh place.
Momentum – from a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race after winning the Sprint Showdown.
“Oh yeah, I mean when you run like this the week before it really makes you feel good. It really makes you look forward to it, not as many unknowns,” said Earnhardt. “I think we showed what we are capable of doing here next weekend. We are probably going to bring the same car. We have a couple of ideas on how to make the car even faster, especially for qualifying that I hope will work out.”
Earnhardt’s best 600 finish with Hendrick Motorsports – fifth – came in 2008, his first season with the organization. His top performance in the race, a fourth-place from his only Charlotte Coors Light Pole, came in 2000. Earnhardt’s best CMS finish, third, was recorded in the fall of 2004.
The Sprint All-Star Race helped erase the sting of a 17th-place finish at Darlington that ended a six-race run of top-10 finishes that matched Earnhardt’s career best. Nonetheless, Earnhardt, who enters the race third in NASCAR Sprint Cup points, appears closer each week to ending a winless drought now at 140 races dating to June 15, 2008.
What does David Reutimann have in common with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson?
Answer: Both posted their first NSCS victories in the Coca-Cola 600, Pearson in 1961 – the first of 105 career wins – and Reutimann in 2009.
Reutimann is the most recent driver to score a “first” in one of NASCAR’s oldest and most prestigious races following Casey Mears in 2007.
• Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, No. 3 on the career win list, posted his first of 85 wins in 1994.
• Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, made the 1995 Coca-Cola 600 the initial of 21 wins.
• Daytona 500 winner and 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth won 600 in 2000 en route to a still-counting 21 trips to Victory Lane.
Jamie McMurray, Buddy Baker and Charlie Glotzbach also won first races but in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fall events. So, who’s next?
Recent performances in the Sprint Showdown, in which he finished second, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race points to Penske Racing’s AJ Allmendinger. The Dinger raced from nearly a lap down to claim an All-Star transfer spot. Again from the back of the field, the Los Gatos, Calif., competitor reached the top five before finishing 11th.
Allmendinger’s No. 22 Dodge team won the 2010 Coca-Cola 600 with Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Teammate Brad Keselowski is a two-time winner so far this season and finished runner-up to NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Not to be dismissed, Allmendinger has a knack for these endurance-type races. His Michael Shank Racing team won the GRAND-AM Road Racing’s Rolex 24 earlier this season.
Right Place Right Time For Harvick, RCR?
With May about to become June – and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup not too far distant – there’s work to be done at Richard Childress Racing.
Only one of its three drivers, Kevin Harvick, currently ranks among the top 10 (eighth), but it’s been a downward slide in recent weeks for the defending winner of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Harvick finished 16th at Darlington on May 19, the veteran’s third consecutive run outside the top 15.
Harvick, the third-place championship finisher in each of the past two seasons, heads into the season’s 12th race with a 26-point cushion on 11th place. A repeat victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway would help his cause and perhaps shift some momentum at RCR to the positive side of the ledger. The team’s last victory, Harvick at Richmond last September, was 21 races ago.
Both Paul Menard (13th) and Jeff Burton (17th) similarly need to make progress this week. Burton won Charlotte’s fall race in 2008, the last of his 21 victories. RCR has won four Coca-Cola 600s and six times overall in Charlotte. Dale Earnhardt was a three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner with RCR.