Coca-Cola 600

Coca-Cola 600
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Venue Charlotte Motor Speedway
Location Concord, North Carolina, United States
Corporate sponsor Coca-Cola
First race 1959
Distance 600 miles (970 km)
Laps 400
Previous names World 600 (1960–1984)
Coca-Cola World 600 (1985)
Coca-Cola 600 (1986–2001, 2003–present)
Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 (2002)
Most wins (driver) Darrell Waltrip (5)
Most wins (team) Hendrick Motorsports (11)
Most wins (manufacturer) Chevrolet (23)
Circuit information
Surface Asphalt
Length 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Turns 4

The Coca-Cola 600 is an annual 600-mile (970 km) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina during Memorial Day weekend. The event, when first held in 1960, became the first race to be held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Run since 1960, it is the longest race on NASCAR's schedule at 600 miles (970 km).[1] It is also unique for the fact that the race changes drastically from start to finish. It starts around 6:20 PM and the track is bathed in sunlight for the first third of the race. The second third happens at dusk, and the final third under the lights.

In 2016, with Memorial Day being on May 30, the race will be held on May 29, with the Sprint Showdown and the Sprint All-Star Race moving up, and the FedEx 400 will move from the last week in May to the third weekend in May before All-Star Weekend.

Race origins

In the spring of 1959, Curtis Turner returned to Charlotte, North Carolina after viewing Bill France, Sr.'s Daytona International Speedway and had an idea of building a race track in the surrounding area. Turner thought he could borrow enough money to build a $750,000 track with 45,000 permanent seats on his property in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Afterward, he learned that a group led by Bruton Smith had a similar idea to build a track near Pineville.[2]

Smith and Turner formed an alliance to build the track, and they signed a contract with NASCAR to run a 600-mile event on Memorial Day. Once the construction crew broke ground, they found a layer of granite under the topsoil, making the construction costly. The area for the first turn alone used $70,000 worth of dynamite, making Turner's $750,000 construction plan near two million dollars. In the spring of 1960, Turner begged for a six-week postponement for the race after a snow storm delayed the pouring on concrete.[2]

With two weeks remaining until the inaugural race, the paving subcontractor threatened to leave the job site for lack of payment. To solve the problem, Turner and one of his friends threatened the paving subcontractor with a shotgun and a revolver to make sure the track's backstretch would be completed.[2] The first event at the recently completed Charlotte Motor Speedway was held on June 19, 1960.[3]

History

The event was started as an attempt by NASCAR to stage a Memorial Day weekend event to compete with the open-wheel Indianapolis 500. It was not until 1974, however, that both races competed head-to-head on the same day.[4] Before 1974, the two races were held on different days of the week, and on a few occasions, some drivers drove in both; this continued even after the Coca-Cola 600 was moved to the same day, albeit to a smaller degree. In fact, the first World 600 was not held on the Memorial Day weekend; it was held on June 16 due to snowstorms that delayed the completion of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 2009 race, postponed by rain from its original May 24 date, was the first race to have run on Memorial Day itself.

With the installation of lights in 1992, fans complained to circuit management to have the race start later in the day because of the notorious North Carolina heat and humidity. They wanted to follow The Winston's popularity the previous week and switch the race to a nighttime finish to create cooler temperatures for spectators. The start time was moved back several times throughout the 1990s, and finally settled at 5:30 pm in 2001, to attempt to have the race finished by 10 pm ET, in time for local news on Fox affiliates.

With the new starting time came new challenges. Not only do race teams have to deal with the blistering Carolina heat, but the considerable temperature change at night make track conditions completely different.

The nighttime portion of the race is lit with a system that uses parabolic reflectors so that dangerous glare that would otherwise be in the drivers' eyes is minimized. The move of the race to the early evening made it possible for drivers to do Double Duty - run the Indianapolis 500, then immediately fly from Indianapolis to Charlotte, and participate in the Coca-Cola 600. Experts disagreed over whether, for health and safety reasons, anyone should be allowed to race 1100 miles in one day, but no regulation has been passed yet by any governing body to prevent it. From 2005 to 2010, the issue became moot when the state of Indiana finally decided to go to daylight saving time. This resulted in only an approximately one-hour long span between the end of the Indianapolis 500 and the start of the Coca-Cola 600. The Indianapolis 500 start time was moved back to noon Eastern in 2011, but only one attempt — by Kurt Busch in 2014[5] has been done since then.

Until the Ferko lawsuit settlement took effect, the race was considered the third leg of the grand slam, and was once part of the Winston Million. It is considered one of the top five annual NASCAR races.[6]

Name changes

From 1960 to 1984 the race was known as the World 600. In 1985, the race's name was changed to the Coca-Cola World 600. In 1986 the name was shortened to the Coca-Cola 600, or Coke 600 which it was referred to at the time. The name changed again in 2002 to the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 referring to the Coca-Cola family of drivers who are sponsored by Coca-Cola. After 2002, the name returned to the Coca-Cola 600.[7]

Historical races

First-time winners

The Coca-Cola 600 has been the site of many drivers' first wins, including future champions David Pearson (1961), Jeff Gordon (1994), Bobby Labonte (1995), and Matt Kenseth (2000). The most recent driver to have the 600 as his first win was David Reutimann, who won a rain-shortened event in 2009. That was the second time in three years that a driver won their first race at the Coca-Cola 600; Casey Mears won his only race to date in the 2007 running.

Past winners

Year Date Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)
Report
Laps Miles (km)
1960 June 19* Joe Lee Johnson Paul McDuffie Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 5:34:06 107.735 Report
1961 May 28 David Pearson John Masoni Pontiac 400 600 (965.606) 5:22:29 111.633 Report
1962 May 27 Nelson Stacy Holman-Moody Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:46:44 125.552 Report
1963 June 2* Fred Lorenzen Holman-Moody (2) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:31:52 132.417 Report
1964 May 24 Jim Paschal Petty Enterprises Plymouth 400 600 (965.606) 4:46:14 125.772 Report
1965 May 23 Fred Lorenzen (2) Holman-Moody (3) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:55:38 121.722 Report
1966 May 22 Marvin Panch Petty Enterprises (2) Plymouth 400 600 (965.606) 4:26:35 135.042 Report
1967 May 28 Jim Paschal (2) Frieden Enterprises Plymouth 400 600 (965.606) 4:25:02 135.832 Report
1968 May 26 Buddy Baker Ray Fox Dodge 255* 382.5 (615.574) 3:04:14 104.207 Report
1969 May 25 LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson & Associates Mercury 400 600 (965.606) 4:27:56 134.361 Report
1970 May 24 Donnie Allison Banjo Matthews Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:37:36 129.68 Report
1971 May 30 Bobby Allison Holman-Moody (3) Mercury 400 600 (965.606) 4:16:20 140.422 Report
1972 May 28 Buddy Baker Petty Enterprises (3) Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:13:04 142.255 Report
1973 May 27 Buddy Baker (2) Nord Krauskopf Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:26:53 134.89 Report
1974 May 26 David Pearson (2) Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 360* 540 (869.045) 3:58:21 135.72 Report
1975 May 25 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises (4) Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:07:42 145.327 Report
1976 May 30 David Pearson (3) Wood Brothers Racing (2) Mercury 400 600 (965.606) 4:22:06 137.352 Report
1977 May 29 Richard Petty (2) Petty Enterprises (5) Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:21:29 137.676 Report
1978 May 28 Darrell Waltrip DiGard Motorsports Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:20:12 138.355 Report
1979 May 27 Darrell Waltrip (2) DiGard Motorsports (2) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:23:24 136.674 Report
1980 May 25 Benny Parsons M. C. Anderson Racing Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 5:01:51 119.265 Report
1981 May 24 Bobby Allison (2) Ranier-Lundy Buick 400 600 (965.606) 4:38:22 129.326 Report
1982 May 30 Neil Bonnett Wood Brothers Racing (3) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:36:48 130.058 Report
1983 May 29 Neil Bonnett (2) RahMoc Enterprises Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:15:51 140.707 Report
1984 May 27 Bobby Allison (3) DiGard Motorsports (3) Buick 400 600 (965.606) 4:38:34 129.233 Report
1985 May 26 Darrell Waltrip (3) Junior Johnson & Associates (2) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:13:52 141.807 Report
1986 May 25 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:16:24 140.406 Report
1987 May 24 Kyle Petty Wood Brothers Racing (4) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:33:48 131.483 Report
1988 May 29 Darrell Waltrip (4) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:49:15 124.46 Report
1989 May 28 Darrell Waltrip (5) Hendrick Motorsports (2) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:09:52 144.077 Report
1990 May 27 Rusty Wallace Blue Max Racing Pontiac 400 600 (965.606) 4:21:32 137.65 Report
1991 May 26 Davey Allison Robert Yates Racing Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:19:05 138.951 Report
1992 May 24 Dale Earnhardt (2) Richard Childress Racing (2) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:30:43 132.98 Report
1993 May 30 Dale Earnhardt (3) Richard Childress Racing (3) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:07:25 145.504 Report
1994 May 29 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports (3) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:18:10 139.445 Report
1995 May 28 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 3:56:55 151.952 Report
1996 May 26 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing (2) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:03:56 147.581 Report
1997 May 25 Jeff Gordon (2) Hendrick Motorsports (4) Chevrolet 333* 499.5 (803.867) 3:39:10 136.745 Report
1998 May 24 Jeff Gordon (3) Hendrick Motorsports (5) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:23:53 136.424 Report
1999 May 30 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 400 600 (965.606) 3:57:50 151.367 Report
2000 May 28 Matt Kenseth Roush Racing (2) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:12:23 142.64 Report
2001 May 27 Jeff Burton (2) Roush Racing (3) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:20:40 138.107 Report
2002 May 26 Mark Martin Roush Racing (4) Ford 400 600 (965.606) 4:21:23 137.729 Report
2003 May 25* Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports (6) Chevrolet 276* 414 (666.268) 3:16:50 126.198 Report
2004 May 30 Jimmie Johnson (2) Hendrick Motorsports (7) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:12:10 142.763 Report
2005 May 29 Jimmie Johnson (3) Hendrick Motorsports (8) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 5:13:52 114.698 Report
2006 May 28 Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:39:25 128.84 Report
2007 May 27 Casey Mears Hendrick Motorsports (9) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:36:27 130.222 Report
2008 May 25 Kasey Kahne (2) Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:25:09 135.772 Report
2009 May 25* David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 227* 340.5 (547.981) 2:48:59 120.899 Report
2010 May 30 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 400 600 (965.606) 4:08:20 144.966 Report
2011 May 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing (4) Chevrolet 402* 603 (970.434) 4:33:14 132.414 Report
2012 May 27 Kasey Kahne (3) Hendrick Motorsports (10) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 3:51:14 155.687 Report
2013 May 26 Kevin Harvick (2) Richard Childress Racing (5) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:35:49 130.521 Report
2014 May 25 Jimmie Johnson (4) Hendrick Motorsports (11) Chevrolet 400 600 (965.606) 4:07:27 145.484 Report
2015 May 24 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing (2) Toyota 400 600 (965.606) 4:03:34 147.803 Report

Multiple winners (drivers)

# Wins Driver Years Won
5 Darrell Waltrip 1978, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989
4 Jimmie Johnson 2003, 2004, 2005, 2014
3 Buddy Baker 1968, 1972, 1973
David Pearson 1961, 1974, 1976
Bobby Allison 1971, 1981, 1984
Dale Earnhardt 1986, 1992, 1993
Jeff Gordon 1994, 1997, 1998
Kasey Kahne 2006, 2008, 2012
2 Fred Lorenzen 1963, 1965
Jim Paschal 1964, 1967
Richard Petty 1975, 1977
Neil Bonnett 1982, 1983
Jeff Burton 1999, 2001
Kevin Harvick 2011, 2013

Multiple winners (teams)

# Wins Team Years Won
11 Hendrick Motorsports 1988–1989, 1994, 1997–1998, 2003–2005, 2007, 2012, 2014
5 Petty Enterprises 1964, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1977
Richard Childress Racing 1986, 1992–1993, 2011, 2013
4 Holman-Moody 1962–1963, 1965, 1971
Wood Brothers Racing 1974, 1976, 1982, 1987
Roush Racing 1999–2002
3 DiGard Motorsports 1978–1979, 1984
2 Junior Johnson & Associates 1969, 1985
Robert Yates Racing 1991, 1996
Gillett Evernham Motorsports 2006, 2008
Joe Gibbs Racing 1995, 2015

Manufacturer wins

# Wins Manufacturer Years Won
23 Chevrolet 1960, 1978–1980, 1983, 1985–1986, 1988–1989, 1992–1995, 1997–1998, 2003–2005, 2007, 2011–2014
12 Ford 1962–1963, 1965, 1970, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 1999–2002
8 Dodge 1968, 1972–1973, 1975, 1977, 2006, 2008, 2010
4 Mercury 1969, 1971, 1974, 1976
3 Plymouth 1964, 1966–1967
2 Buick 1981, 1984
Pontiac 1961, 1990
Toyota 2009, 2015

World 600 Qualifier

Year Date Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)
Report
Laps Miles (km)
1961 May 21 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises Plymouth 67 100.5 (161.739) 0:45:09 133.554 Report
Joe Weatherly Bud Moore Engineering Pontiac 67 100.5 (161.739) 0:52:18 115.591 Report

TV broadcasters

Year Network Lap-by-lap Color commentator(s)
1960 ABC Bill Fleming Chris Economaki
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970 CBS Ken Squier Ned Jarrett
Chris Economaki
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982 TBS Eli Gold
Ken Squier
Buddy Baker
Geoff Bodine
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip
Larry McReynolds
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016 Darrell Waltrip
Jeff Gordon

See also

References

  1. Hendrick Motorsports - "Endurance Week" starts now
  2. 1 2 3 Aumann, Mark (May 24, 2012). "Turner's dream brings creation of Charlotte track". NASCAR. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  3. "1960 World 600". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  4. Hart, Jay (May 23, 2009). "Story lines: Lowe’s". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on February 12, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  5. Gluck, Jeff (March 4, 2014). "Kurt Busch to attempt Indianapolis 500, Coke 600 'double'". USA Today. McLean, VA. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
  6. NASCAR's Best Races
  7. "Coca-Cola 600". TicketsMate. Excite. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  8. When the 600 molded a champion
  9. "Kevin Harvick Wins Coke Cola 600 – Longest NASCAR Race Ever – Crazy Finish". Racing News Digest. Racing News Digest. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  10. "TV cable falls, delays Coca-Cola 600". NASCAR.com. 2013-05-26. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
  11. www.coke600.fancam.com
  12. Carl Edwards gets his first win of season at Coca-Cola 600 www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2015/05/24/carl-edwards-wins-coca-cola-600-charlotte-motor-speedway/27898349
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