NASCAR Cup Series

Although he’s still recovering from a serious back injury that kept him off the track for a few weeks nothing was going to keep Denny Hamlin from winning the pole for Sunday’s Coca Cola 600. Hamlin turned the track at 195.624 mph, a new track record for the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As NASCAR’s elite briefly battled Mother Nature and then each other, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the aftermath of the 2013 Sprint All-Star Race.

When you talk about the most prestigious races in NASCAR, the Coca Cola 600 is easily in the top two or three. Charlotte is the home for most of the teams which already gives this race importance but it is also the longest race on the NASCAR schedule.

Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. Between them these active former champions have already claimed a dozen Cup crowns and 187 race victories. One day, hopefully a good number of years from now, this trio will gain entry into the Hall of Fame on their first attempt. Just as Maurice Petty and Dale Jarrett experienced this week.

In 2010 brothers Darrell and Michael Waltrip combined their philanthropic efforts and created the Waltrip Brothers Charity Championship. The Waltrips selected Feed The Children as one of the golf tournament’s benefactors in 2012.

With the Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway looming, and NASCAR activities in and around the Charlotte-area ramping up, Richard Petty kicked off Charlotte race week Tuesday night by hosting the fifth-annual "King's Cup - Karting for a Cause" presented by D&B Motors and Xtreme Motorsports at Victory Lane Karting in Charlotte, NC.