This Weekend in NASCAR – Storylines – Charlotte

• Next Race: Coca-Cola 600
• The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
• The Date: Sunday, May 30
• The Time: 6 p.m. ET
• TV: FOX, 5:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 600 miles (400 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 100), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 200), Stage 3 (Ends on Lap 300), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)

Coca-Cola 600 highlights action-packed Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte

Another fun-filled weekend is on deck for the NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the 62nd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  

Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of the most historic venues on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. The famous facility is a 1.5-mile, paved oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and is located just outside Charlotte, North Carolina.

This weekend’s scheduled procedures will be action-packed, with practice and qualifying taking place, making Charlotte the fourth of eight race weekends this season with designated practice and qualifying.

The lone NASCAR Cup Series Practice will take place at 7:00 – 7:50 p.m. ET (Friday, May 28) and can be viewed on FS1 from 7-8 p.m. ET. The Busch Pole Qualifying session will be held on Saturday at 11:05 a.m. ET (May 30) and can viewed on FS1 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET.

Charlotte Motor Speedway has hosted 122 NASCAR Cup Series races all-time – the fourth most in series history behind Daytona (148), Martinsville (145) and Richmond (129). The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was on June 19, 1960 and the event was won by driver Joe Lee Johnson driving a Chevrolet for car owner Paul McDuffie.

Charlotte’s 122 Cup races have produced 47 different pole winners, led by NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson with 14 poles (1961, 1972, 1973, 1974 sweep, 1975 sweep, 1976 sweep, 1977 sweep, 1978 sweep, 1982). Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman leads all active drivers in poles at Charlotte Motor Speedway with nine (2001, 2003 sweep, 2004, 2005, 2007 sweep, 2009 and 2010). Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch is the most recent pole winner at Charlotte, winning the pole for last season’s Coca-Cola 600 with a speed of 181.269 mph (29.790 secs.).

Charlotte Motor Speedway has also produced 52 different race winners in the 122 Cup Series races, led by Jimmie Johnson with eight victories (2003 summer, 2004 sweep, 2005 sweep, 2009 Playoffs, 2014 summer, 2016 Playoffs). Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick lead all active drivers in Charlotte wins with three each. Eight of the 52 former Cup Charlotte winners are entered this weekend, with three of the eight still looking for their first victory of the 2021 season – Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch.  

Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski is the defending winner of the 2020 Coca-Cola 600 will look to become the seventh different driver to win back-to-back Coke 600s; joining Buddy Baker (1972-‘73), Darrell Waltrip (twice: 1978-’79 and 1988-’89), Neil Bonnett (1982-’83), Dale Earnhardt (1992-’93), Jeff Gordon (1997-‘98) and Jimmie Johnson (2003, ’04, ’05) – Johnson leads the series in consecutive Coca-Cola 600 wins with three straight. A win this weekend would also tie Keselowski with Truex and Harvick for most wins among active drivers on the 1.5-mile track.

Hendrick Motorsports on the cusp of history

With Chase Elliott grabbing the win in the rain-shortened NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas, Hendrick Motorsports has tied Petty Enterprises for the series-most wins by a single organization with 268 victories each. This weekend, Hendrick Motorsports has the chance to surpass Petty Enterprises and become the sole leader in wins by a single organization in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Top 10 All-Time NASCAR Cup Series Organization Wins

Petty Enterprises and Hendrick Motorsports are the class of the field in their respective eras. Petty Enterprises won its first of their 268 wins in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series season (1949) with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Lee Petty taking the checkered flag at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Petty Enterprises led eight different drivers to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series to reach 268 wins; including the series all-time winningest driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty with 196 of his record 200 victories coming under the Petty banner. Petty Enterprises secured their final NASCAR Cup Series win on April 18, 1999 at Martinsville Speedway with driver John Andretti. In total the organization competed in the NASCAR Cup Series for more than 50 years bringing home not only wins but also 10 NASCAR Cup Series titles (Lee Petty: 1954, 1958, 1959 and Richard Petty: 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1979).

Hendrick Motorsports since coming on the NASCAR Cup Series scene in 1984 (originally called All-Star Racing) and ever since have been a force to reckon with. Hendrick Motorsports scored their first NASCAR Cup Series victory with driver Geoff Bodine at Martinsville Speedway on April 29, 1984; just the organization’s eighth start in the series. Since entering the NASCAR Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports has led 20 different drivers to Victory Lane; including their winningest driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon with 93 Cup victories. Hendrick Motorsports already leads the series in championships with Chase Elliott securing their record 13th NASCAR Cup Series title, the most all-time (2020, ‘16, ’13, ’10, ’09, ’08, ’07, ’06, ’01, ’98, ’97, ’96, ’95) last season.

Elliott is also the most recent series winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway, grabbing the victory last season (5/28/20). A win this weekend at Charlotte could have them celebrating the milestone 269th victory in front of a home town crowd. Hendrick Motorsport’s drivers are hot right now putting up five wins this season; including winning the last two races on the 2021 schedule (Alex Bowman, Dover and Chase Elliott, COTA). And to boot, all four drivers have secured wins this season and are locked into the Playoffs.       

• Next Race: Alsco Uniforms 300
• The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
• The Date: Saturday, May 29
• The Time: 1 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 12 p.m. ET
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)

Next Up: Tripleheader weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway

This weekend the NASCAR Xfinity Series will take on Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Alsco Uniforms 300 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio as the second event of a NASCAR national series tripleheader weekend at the 1.5-mile track.

The Alsco Uniforms 300 Xfinity race will be 200 laps (300 miles) and broken up into three stages with Stage 1 ending on Lap 45 and Stage 2 ending on Lap 90.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was victorious last season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series grabbing his series leading ninth win at the facility (2004, 2005, 2008 sweep, 2009, 2010, 2013 sweep, 2020). Closely following Busch last season were Daniel Hemric, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and Justin Allgaier rounding out the top five.

This weekend the Xfinity Series will compete in qualifying for the pole position. Due to the pandemic, qualifying has been eliminated from a variety of tracks and the pole position is won based on metrics from the previous race weekend. But this weekend we will get to see the field compete for the pole.

The only practice this week for Xfinity will be held Friday, May 28 at 4:35 p.m. – 5:25 p.m. with qualifying on Saturday, May 29 at 10:05 a.m. and you will be able to view both on FS1.

Charlotte Motor Speedway Xfinity Fast Facts

There have been 75 total NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the inaugural race on May 29, 1982. Harry Gant won the first Xfinity race at Charlotte from the pole position in his own Pontiac.

The 75 Xfinity Series races have produced 48 different pole winners and 36 different race winners. The youngest pole winner was Chase Elliott in 2014 at 18 years, 10 month and 12 days. The oldest pole winner was Harry Gant in 1988 at 48 years, 8 months, 28 days.

The youngest race winner was Kyle Busch in 2004 at 19 years, 0 months and 27 days and the oldest winner was Harry Gant, once again, in 1991 at 51 years, 8 months and 25 days.

There have only been 12 races won from the pole or first starting position, most recently in 2018 by Brad Keselowski.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin holds the race record from 1996 at 155.799 mph and the qualifying record is held by Jimmie Johnson in 2005 at 187.735 mph.

Last season’s race had 37 cars with 20 lead changes and five different leaders. There were 11 cautions for 53 laps and only 11 cars on the lead lap at the conclusion of the race. There were 28 cars running at the finish and the race winner led 94 laps. The Margin of Victory was 0.178 seconds.

Joe Nemechek holds the record for the most races run at Charlotte Motor Speedway with 38. Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth are tied for the most pole awards with four. Kyle Busch holds the record for the most wins (9), most top fives (19), most top 10s (22), most lead lap finishes (22) and most laps led (1,475).

Alex Bowman got his first Xfinity Series win at Charlotte in 2017 and Justin Allgaier made his first career start at this track in 2008.

• Next Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 200
• The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
• The Date: Friday, May 28
• The Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 8 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)

Camping World Trucks take on the Queen City

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a Friday night showdown under the lights to kick off the traditional Memorial Day weekend of racing with the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This weekend marks the 20th time the trucks have taken on the 1.5-mile oval. Ted Musgrave won the inaugural race in 2003, and Kyle Busch leads all drivers with eight wins in 14 starts at the track. Matt Crafton is the only active driver with multiple wins (two – 2008, 2016) at the track. (Ron Hornaday Jr. also has a pair of wins at Charlotte.)

Johnny Sauter (2018) is the only other previous winner who is entered in this weekend’s race.

Hornaday is the only driver to have won at Charlotte and then gone on to win the series championship that year – and he did it twice in 2007 and 2009.

The Camping World Truck Series will hold practice and qualifying sessions for the second week in a row, with all on-track activity taking place on Friday. There are currently 40 trucks entered to contend for 36 spots on the starting grid.

Deegan at Charlotte

Team DGR’s Hailie Deegan will become the eighth different female competitor in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to make a start at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend. The best starting position by a female competitor in the Truck Series at Charlotte is second by Erin Crocker in 2006. The best finish by a female in the Truck Series at Charlotte is 13th by Tina Gordon in 2003; she started 33rd.

source – NASCAR communications