Charlotte Motor Speedway

In the NASCAR season’s longest race of the year, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd running of the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson: One week after winning the All-Star Race, Johnson saw a top-5 finish in the Coca Cola 600 slip away after he drug his gas man down pit road. The subsequent stop-and-go penalty left him with an 11th-place finish.

Kahne blew the doors off of his competitors Sunday night to score his fourth win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 53rd Annual Coca-Cola 600. This win is extra special for Kahne because it is his first win as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, and his first win of the season.

Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne picked up his first win with Hendrick Motorsports by winning his 3rd Coca-Cola 600 in his 300th career start becoming only the second driver to do so.

With every lap and every race Kyle Busch runs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, it becomes one of his better racetracks. Good news if Busch plans to contend for the championship since Charlotte is not only in the Chase but several other mile-and-a-half tracks are as well.

Edwards and his No. 99 Fastenal team had to use that time to battle back from an early pit road miscue. In what could have been one hot, long and frustrating night, Edwards and company stayed calm, cool and collected to come back and finish ninth.

Stenhouse finished 26th in his No. 6 EcoBoost Ford after the transmission went south on lap 65. He’d qualified third and was running in the top 10 when he felt something go wrong and had to pit.

Rick Hendrick was at the end of pit road and told Johnson to come pick him up. Once Hendrick put his leg inside the car, he was in for a ride.

The stars have come home to Charlotte for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint All Star Race, and this year brings new drivers, a new format, but the same old distinction. A million dollars rides on the driver able to cross the finish line first following 90 or so laps at The Beast of the Southeast.

Immediately after he was introduced, Chip Ganassi, owner and president of Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, took the podium and politely welcomed attending members of the media.