NASCAR’s best are set to do battle in the sport’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Sunday, FOX, 5:30 p.m. ET).
This race dates back to 1960, when the track first opened. Then called the World 600, the first race featured a 60-car field, with only 18 cars running at the finish and Joe Lee Johnson winning by four laps over Johnny Beauchamp.
As reliability has improved over the years, attrition is no longer an issue, but it’s still a hard race for the drivers and pit crews, who will have to deal with sweltering heat and humidity through the long night.
Here are five bold predictions for NASCAR’s longest race:
5. COMERS AND GOERS — Because the race starts in the heat of the early evening and goes past 11 p.m., track conditions will change radically over the course of 600 miles and more than four hours of racing. Don’t worry much about who’s fast in the first 100 miles; it’s likely that some of the daylight jackrabbits will fall back at night when track temps cool.
4. CAPTAIN CONNECTS — Team owner Roger Penske is the favorite in the Indianapolis 500 and has two fast cars in the Coca-Cola 600, with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. The Captain will be looking for a 500-600 sweep, but the odds favor him a lot more at Indy where he has won the 500 a record 16 times. In the Coca-Cola 600, Penske has just one victory, which came in 2010 when Kurt Busch won this race and the Sprint All-Star Race.
3. WEATHER PLAYS A FACTOR — The forecast for Sunday night has been getting progressively better, and it looks like we should get the race in. Of course, that’s no guarantee and the race well could be shortened by rain. As long as the race goes at least 301 miles, it will be considered official. If it looks like weather is coming, you’ll see teams try a variety of strategies to position themselves for the win.
2. JGR DOMINANCE STOPPED — After winning seven of the first 12 races of the year, Joe Gibbs Racing has looked OK so far this weekend, but hardly dominant. In Happy Hour, the fastest JGR Toyota in 10-consecutive-lap average speed was Denny Hamlin, who was seventh. Kyle Busch, who has been the dominant driver of the season, was 15th in both that category and single-lap speed in Happy Hour.
1. A FIRST-TIME WINNER — All three of the top qualifiers — Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — are winless this season, as are 10 of the top 15 qualifiers. Sunday night’s race will be an excellent opportunity for one of the winless drivers to punch his ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Keep an eye on Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson and Trevor Bayne, too.
