COCA-COLA 600 NOTES
DID YOU KNOW? … When Brad Keselowski won October’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway it marked the first non-Roush Fenway Racing win for Ford at the track since 1997 when Dale Jarrett won the same event with Robert Yates Racing.
DID YOU KNOW? … Ford Racing has won the Coca-Cola 600 12 times, but hasn’t won the circuit’s longest event since 2002 when Mark Martin went to victory lane with car owner Jack Roush. That capped a four-year winning streak for the organization in the event, which included a pair of wins by Jeff Burton (1999 and 2001) and the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for Matt Kenseth in his rookie season (2000).
DID YOU KNOW? … Fred Lorenzen was the first driver to win three consecutive races at Charlotte Motor Speedway when he won the second race of 1964 and swept both events in ’65. Jimmie Johnson equaled that mark and then passed it when he won four straight in 2004-05.
DID YOU KNOW? … Dale Jarrett’s first season driving the No. 88 Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford for Robert Yates Racing was 1996 and remains memorable because he won three of the sports biggest races, including the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jarrett also won his second of three Daytona 500s to start the year and later captured the first of two Brickyard 400 championships.
DID YOU KNOW? … The Wood Brothers have four Coca-Cola 600 victories to their credit with three different drivers. David Pearson won the first two events for the organization in a Mercury (1974 and ’76) before Neil Bonnett (1982) and Kyle Petty (1987) each went to victory lane in a Ford.
DID YOU KNOW? … Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but it wasn’t in his current No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford Fusion. Stenhouse actually drove the Wood Brothers No. 21 Motorcraft Ford in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600 as he subbed for an ill Trevor Bayne and finished 11th.
FORD RACING COCA-COLA 600 WINNERS
1962 – Nelson Stacy
1963 – Fred Lorenzen
1965 – Fred Lorenzen
1970 – Donnie Allison
1982 – Neil Bonnett
1987 – Kyle Petty
1991 – Davey Allison
1996 – Dale Jarrett
1999 – Jeff Burton
2000 – Matt Kenseth
2001 – Jeff Burton
2002 – Mark Martin
