Kyle Larson checkers at Charlotte awards Hendrick Motorsports a record-setting trophy.
Concord, N.C. – May 30, 2021 – Anthony Holbrook
The NASCAR Cup Series 15th point’s race of the season checked into Charlotte Motor Speedway facilities for NASCAR’s most endurance race of the season the “Coca-Cola 600 “, Sunday, May 31. The Memorial Weekend events saluted our Country’s Military sacrifices emphasized within NASCAR longest scheduled race.
Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey served as the honorary pace car driver and Jay Leno and Kevin Eubanks were the grand marshals of the race.
The pole sitter for the race, Kyle Larson had never won a contest longer than 400 miles before Sunday and secured his first in the longest event of the year.
Coca-Cola 600 Stage Recap :
A wheel issue spotlighted Stage 1 as Daniel Suarez was the victim of the act and loose a couple laps correcting problem.
Kyle Larson seizes the Stage 1 win and points in a dominating fashion.
Mechanical problems for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch would direct each to pit for attention. Valuable time for repair dampers any positive Stage outcome.
The relation there of Kurt Bush’s previous mechanical issue would altercate a caution as Kurt Bush’s evening ended with a blown engine.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson put on a driving school as they swapped the lead before Larson settled back into the top spot, where he claimed the second and third stages, the latter under the yellow flag.
A final caution flew as Ryan Newman tagged the safety barrier wall, ending stage 3 under caution.
Hendrick set sights Sunday to repeat their remarkable 1-2-3-4 Dover performance, but Kyle Busch’s invitation to race spoiled the Hendrick’s party. Kyle Busch had one attempt to pass Larson on the final stage restart but couldn’t hold his grip while attempting pass for the lead. Kyle Larson paced the field winning an astonishing 10 second margin over runner-up position Chase Elliott, the largest margin of victory in a NASCAR Cup race since Sonoma in 2018.
Kyle Larson dominating 327 laps, scored his second victory of 2021 while sweeping all four stages while his HMS teammates covered the second, fourth and fifth finishing positions.
Denny Hamlin continues to be on top of the NASCAR leader board standings as Kyle Larson thins the gap at 76 along with 11 points races left in the regular season.
Coca Cola 600 Results:
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
Lap length: 1.50 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400 laps, 70 points.
2. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400, 60.
3. (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400, 54.
4. (4) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400, 58.
5. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400, 43.
6. (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400, 41.
7. (14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400, 36.
8. (27) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400, 32.
9. (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 400, 42.
10. (5) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 400, 40.
11. (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400, 26.
12. (2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 400, 27.
13. (11) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400, 24.
14. (18) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 400, 25.
15. (9) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 398, 22.
16. (19) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 398, 21.
17. (16) Joey Logano, Ford, 398, 20.
18. (22) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 398, 19.
19. (26) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, 398, 18.
20. (24) Michael McDowell, Ford, 398, 17.
21. (23) Cole Custer, Ford, 397, 16.
22. (31) Aric Almirola, Ford, 397, 15.
23. (21) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 397, 14.
24. (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 397, 13.
25. (29) Anthony Alfredo, Ford, 397, 12.
26. (28) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 397, 11.
27. (25) Ryan Newman, Ford, 396, 10.
28. (30) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 395, 0.
29. (8) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 391, 12.
30. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 389, 0.
31. (33) BJ McLeod, Ford, 389, 0.
32. (32) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 389, 5.
33. (35) James Davison, Chevrolet, 388, 4.
34. (36) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 387, 0.
35. (37) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 382, 2.
36. (38) David Starr, Ford, 369, 0.
37. (10) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 359, 1.
38. (12) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, engine, 139, 1.
NASCAR Cup Series travels to California for the Save Mart 350 hosted by Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, June 6 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX Sports / MRN / SiriusXM – NASCAR)
