With military tributes abounding and NASCAR patriotism at its best, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual running of the sport’s longest race, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway went drastically haywire after engine issues, during the latter stages, prohibited him from competing inside the top dozen.
Jeff Gordon battled through rigid pain throughout the weekend and into the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, though, the four-time champion proved his toughness, leading eight laps en route to a seventh place finish.
Matt Kenseth remained tough while running, or blocking, machines to the apron, while attempting to maintain the race lead in the closing laps. However, Jimmie Johnson coasted around him in the remaining moments handing the 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion another thrashing.
From lap one to lap 400, Sunday Night at Charlotte belonged solely to Jimmie Johnson. Johnson and his No. 48 team dominated as they perfectly executed a game plan en route to their first victory of the year.
The 2013 season was arguably the best season of Matt Kenseth’s career. Seven wins, 12 top-fives and 20 top-10s, very impressive stats by anyone’s standards. He also came up just short of a championship, finishing second to six-time series champion, Jimmie Johnson.
Kurt Busch attempted to complete “the double” this weekend – the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. That’s 1100 miles of racing in one day on two tracks that are 575 miles apart, not to mention the fact that it is also in two very different types of race cars.
The Andretti Curse is over……..well, sort of. Michael Andretti got to go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory lane as a car owner for the first time after his driver Ryan Hunter-Reay outdueled Helio Castroneves to win the Indianapolis 500. Hunter-Reay becomes the first American driver to win the event in eight years.
At the end of the 2013 season, Kurt Busch left Furniture Row Racing and headed over to “greener” pastures – Stewart-Haas Racing. After a thorough search, Furniture Row named Martin Truex Jr. as the new driver of the No. 78.
Come Sunday, Kurt Busch will join John Andretti, Robby Gordon, and his boss Tony Stewart as the only NASCAR drivers to complete the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Kurt Busch will start the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 from the 12th position.
Evel Knievel created an incredible highlight reel of jumping buses on his motorcycle. His mesmerizing leaps made for must-see TV and captured global attention throughout the 1970s and ’80s.
Niece Motorsports welcomes fans to its race shop for its second-annual Fan Day event on Thursday, October 8, ahead of the NASCAR triple-header race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
