RICK WARE RACING
Coca-Cola 600
Date: May 24, 2026
Event: Coca-Cola 600 (Round 13 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 400 laps, broken into four stages (100 laps/100 laps/100 laps/100 laps)
Note: Race ended 27 laps short of its scheduled 400-lap distance due to rain.
Race Winner: Daniel Suárez of Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 3 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 38th, Finished 28th / Running, completed 371 of 373 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (36th with 102 points)
Race Notes:
● Daniel Suárez won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Charlotte.
● Suárez is the 10th different driver to win the Coca-Cola 600 in the last 10 years. Martin Truex Jr. is the only repeat winner in the last 15 years.
● This was Chevrolet’s 886th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory, its fifth of the season and fourth straight. Chase Elliott won for the Bowtie Brigade March 29 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Carson Hocevar won April 26 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Elliott won again May 3 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, and Shane van Gisbergen won May 10 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
● This was Chevrolet’s series-leading 49th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Charlotte. It was also the manufacturer’s series-high 27th Coca-Cola 600 win and its second straight in the crown-jewel race. Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain won last year’s Coca-Cola 600. Chevrolet won the inaugural Cup Series race at Charlotte on June 19, 1960 with Joe Lee Johnson, which was also the original 600-mile race, known then as the World 600.
● This year’s edition of the Coca-Cola 600 took 4 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds. The inaugural Coca-Cola 600 on June 19, 1960 remains the longest, clocking in at 5 hours, 34 minutes, 6 seconds. The quickest Coca-Cola 600 was in 2016. It took 3 hours, 44 minutes, 5 seconds.
● There were 12 caution periods for a total of 75 laps.
● Only 20 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Tyler Reddick remains the championship leader after Charlotte with a 122-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.
Sound Bites:
“It was a long, hard-fought night for the 51 Evel Knievel Experience/World Supercross Chevrolet gang. We corded a right-front tire about halfway through the race, so gave up a lap there and, unfortunately, never got that lap back. But I think the way it all shook out, we probably only gave up maybe a position or two. We worked on the car all night and got it to a better spot. We learned some things, and our alliance teammates probably learned some things, as well.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Evel Knievel Experience / World Supercross Chevrolet
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday, May 31 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by Prime Video and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
