CHARLOTTE 1
Friday, May 24 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, May 25 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
Sunday, May 26 — NASCAR Cup Series, 6 p.m. ET (FOX)
Racing on Memorial Day Weekend is a NASCAR tradition and Charlotte Motor Speedway will once again take center stage by hosting all three national series. Ford is the defending winner of two events after Ben Rhodes won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race last season and Ryan Blaney followed in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Coca-Cola 600.
BLANEY GOING FOR 600 REPEAT
Ryan Blaney will try to become the first NASCAR Cup Series driver since Jimmie Johnson (2003-05) to repeat as winner of the Coca-Cola 600. Blaney took the checkered flag first in last year’s event that was delayed a day due to rain and snapped a 59-race winless streak in the process. He led a race-high 163 laps, including the final 26 after passing William Byron on lap 375, and scored top-five points in all four stages. Overall, Ford had a strong night as five drivers combined to lead 201-of-400 laps.
MULTIPLE FORD 600 WINNERS
Only two drivers have won the Coca-Cola 600 more than once with Ford, but two current drivers have an opportunity to add their name to that list. NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen was the first driver to win multiple 600 events, doing it in 1963 and 1965 while Jeff Burton joined him after victories in 1999 and 2001. Ryan Blaney (2023) and Brad Keselowski (2020) are the two eligible drivers who can join them on Sunday.
Fred Lorenzen — 1963 and 1965
Jeff Burton — 1999 and 2001
LOGANO PURSUES
ALL-STAR/COCA-COLA 600 SWEEP
Joey Logano registered his second career victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and on Sunday he can join a select group of drivers who followed that up with a win in the Coca-Cola 600. Only eight drivers have accomplished the feat, which was done for the first time by NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip in 1985, and most recently achieved by Kyle Larson in 2021. Only one Ford driver has captured both events in the same season and that was Davey Allison in 1991. The complete list is below:
DRIVER, YEAR
Darrell Waltrip, 1985
Davey Allison, 1991
Dale Earnhardt, 1993
Jeff Gordon, 1997
Jimmie Johnson, 2003
Kasey Kahne, 2008
Kurt Busch, 2010
Kyle Larson, 2021
RYAN BLANEY ON COKE 600 WIN: “It was nice to put that race together. That’s obviously a long night and it was a long weekend running on Monday. It’s just cool that we were able to put a whole race together and could snap that streak of not winning for awhile and then to do it – Joseph won the Indy 500 the day before that on Sunday, so it was nice to kind of finish that off. We’re always watching that race and if one of those guys wins, we kind of know we’ve got a shot to do it and you don’t get that shot very often, so it was nice for it to all come together. And then being from just down the road was super cool with my family there and a bunch of buddies, so it would be nice to do it again. That’s something I’ll never forget.”
CHASE BRISCOE ON COCA-COLA 600: “It’s honestly a race I really enjoy running, just that whole day is special for me growing up in Indiana and what Memorial Day means. From a motorsports standpoint with the Indy 500 and then the Coke 600 it’s just a special day to be able to say you’re one of the guys that’s racing in a premier series on that day is special. The Coke 600 is a super cool race. I enjoy the long races because I feel like there’s a lot of comers and goers and you can really try to make your car better. It’s a race of attrition to a certain extent, so I’ve always enjoyed that race. Last night, I went back and watched the whole race from 2022 and I’m still kicking myself, so I’m looking forward to hopefully getting some redemption this year.”
JOSH BERRY ON RACING THE COCA-COLA 600 FOR THE FIRST TIME: “I’m excited. I think to experience that for the first time is gonna be a lot of fun. It’s gonna be a challenge, though, running 600 miles. I haven’t driven the Next Gen at Charlotte, so that will be a new experience for me, but I have a win in the Xfinity Series there so I’m excited to get there and see it. It’s gonna be a long night. We’re gonna have to grind it out. The track is gonna change a lot from when the race starts to when it finishes, but Rodney and this 4 team have had some solid runs there, so hopefully we can keep that up.”
KESELOWSKI ADDS ANOTHER JEWEL
Brad Keselowski became the first Ford driver since Mark Martin in 2002 to win the Coca-Cola 600 when he held off Jimmie Johnson in an overtime finish to take the checkered flag in 2020. The race ended up going five laps past the advertised distance and ended with Keselowski adding another crown jewel victory with Ford to go with his wins in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis (2018) and Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (2018).
THREE MAJORS FOR DJ IN ONE SEASON
Dale Jarrett won his share of major races during a sterling career in the NASCAR Cup Series, but no season may have been better than his first year driving at Robert Yates Racing in 1996. After winning the season-opening Daytona 500, his second of three triumphs in that event, Jarrett came to Charlotte in search of winning the Coca-Cola 600 for the first time. Jarrett, who qualified 15th, wasn’t much of a factor when the race started, but when the sun went down his No. 88 Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford Taurus came to life. He took the lead for the first time on lap 175 and ended up leading 199 of the final 226 laps for RYR to win going away. Jarrett eventually went on to win the Brickyard 400 a couple of months later to give him three of the sports biggest victories in one season.
HOLMAN & MOODY CONQUER THE WORLD
Ford won the Coca-Cola 600 for the first time on May 27, 1962 when the race was still referred to as the World 600. This marked the third running of NASCAR’s longest race and in the end it was Nelson Stacy, behind the wheel of a 1962 Holman & Moody Ford, that ended up in victory lane. Stacy passed David Pearson, who developed engine trouble with eight laps to go, and went on to beat Joe Weatherly to the finish line by 32 seconds in posting the third of his four career victories. Fellow Holman & Moody teammate Fred Lorenzen finished third. The win was Stacy’s second straight after he took the checkered flag two weeks earlier in Darlington.
CUSTER CLOSING IN
Cole Custer is still looking for his first win of the season, but the California native comes into this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a streak of nine straight top-10 finishes, a mark that leads all series drivers. He’s coming off a third-place run at Darlington Raceway and sits only three points out of first in the overall point standings. This weekend will be Custer’s seventh career NXS start at CMS, a place where he has one runner-up finish (2018) and a third-place showing last year.
FIRST CHARLOTTE TRUCK SERIES WIN
Ben Rhodes provided Ford with its first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway last season when he passed Carson Hocevar and led the final 25 laps. For Rhodes, it marked the only win during his championship-winning season and seventh of his career. The race was a three-way battle between Rhodes, Hocevar and Corey Heim, who combined to lead all but five of the 134 circuits.
FORD COCA-COLA 600 WINNERS
1962 – Nelson Stacy
1963 – Fred Lorenzen
1965 – Fred Lorenzeon
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
2020 – Brad Keselowski
2023 – Ryan Blaney
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT CHARLOTTE OVAL
1992 – Jeff Gordon (Sweep)
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1995 – Chad Little (1) and Mark Martin (2)
1996 – Mark Martin (Sweep)
1998 – Mark Martin (1)
1999 – Mark Martin (1)
2000 – Jeff Burton (1)
2001 – Jeff Green (1) and Greg Biffle (2)
2003 – Matt Kenseth (1)
2006 – Carl Edwards (1)
2011 – Matt Kenseth (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2014 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2016 – Joey Logano (2)
2017 – Ryan Blaney (1)
2018 – Brad Keselowski
FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT CHARLOTTE OVAL
2023 – Ben Rhodes
