What to watch for in tonight's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
CONCORD, N.C. — The NASCAR Cup Series celebrates one of its most prestigious races with tonight's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Here are a few things to keep an eye on in tonight's race, which marks the midpoint of the regular season:
Kyle Larson double
Kyle Larson looks to complete the quest started last year when he made his first attempt to run in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. Rain thwarted that attempt. That shouldn't be an issue Sunday.
Larson seeks to become only the fifth driver to compete in both races in the same day. Only one, Tony Stewart, completed all 1,100 miles.
Larson qualified second at Charlotte and will be among the favorites in tonight's race. Larson's three wins, eight top-five finishes, nine top-10 results and 817 laps led this season are his most through 12 races in a season.
Larson has a chance to add to his legacy today in a significant way.
Is Denny Hamlin the luckiest driver?
After qualifying 20th for the Coca-Cola 600, Denny Hamlin walked into the media center and lamented the pit stall he was likely to have. Cup teams pick their pit stalls based on how they qualify. That meant Hamlin would not have one of the better pit stalls. And likely would have either a good car ahead of him or behind him that would make it harder to get into his pit stall or exit it, costing him time.
In last year's 600, Hamlin got blocked in by Chris Buescher on pit road and lost spots on pit road on each of the caution pit stops last year.
Hamlin worried he was in for a similar night until his luck changed Saturday.
After qualifying, crew chiefs pick their pit stalls. Hamlin's crew chief, Chris Gayle, selected pit stall 10. The crew chiefs for the two cars starting in the next-to-last row each picked around Hamlin. That put Derek Kraus in the No. 44 car in the stall ahead of Hamlin. Josh Bilicki in the No. 66 car will pit in the stall behind Hamlin.
That's significant because both cars are not likely to be on the lead lap for much of the race. Hamlin should have an open entry and open exit to his pit stall most of that race. That could help him gain spots on pit road.
Can Tyler Reddick's team bounce back?
Tyler Reddick enters today's race having finished outside the top 10 in five of the last six events.
He starts 12th and this is a key race for Reddick and the No. 45 team, according to team co-owner Denny Hamlin.
'The 45 team in specific needs a reset,' Hamlin said. 'They need to get back to the basics and not chase a bunch of things. Certainly, with the success that kind of the 20 and the 11 have on intermediates, I think that sometimes you can get caught kind of focusing on the wrong things.
' … Both of them are all talented enough, the driver, the crew chief, the team. The cars, I know, have absolute speed in them. They just are struggling to find the balance right now.'
Whose mistakes will cost them?
In a 600-mile race, it's as much avoiding mistakes as having the best car.
Drivers can overcome mistakes, just as William Byron did in Saturday's Xfinity race. Byron won both stages but was caught speeding on pit road at the start of the final stage. Byron rallied to win in overtime.
Have a penalty or lose time on pit road can be overcome but it becomes harder in the Cup Series with so many good teams and drivers. Sometimes it's not who wins a race but who loses it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Saints make it official, process former All-Pro Ryan Ramczyk's retirement
Last Monday, the New Orleans Saints officially processed Derek Carr's retirement, bringing his NFL career to a close. One week later, they did the same with former All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, per the daily transactions wire. We knew this was coming, but now there's no taking it back. Ramczyk won't wear No. 71 again, but its new owner Kelvin Banks Jr. ought to do it twin retirements leave the Saints with two vacancies on their 90-man offseason roster; they currently have 44 players under contract offensively, with 37 of them on defense, and four specialists (plus Irish kicker Charlie Smyth, who has an exemption as part of the NFL's International Player Pathway Program). How they'll address those two openings is anyone's guess, but we have some ideas. The team has recently met with free agents like wide receiver Gabe Davis, defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard, and cornerback Asante Samuel about the salary cap? This year, the Saints are carrying a total of $76.9 million in dead money from contracts with players no longer on the team -- $13.4 million of which accounts for Carr, and just over $11 million of which is from Ramczyk. In 2026, those numbers go up to $36.6 million for Carr and $11.9 million for Ramczyk, for a total of $48.6 million in dead money on next year's books. That's after Ramczyk agreed to lower this year's salary to the minimum with Carr forfeiting $30 million to facilitate their retirements. The Saints did get a small $1.255 million cap credit for Ramczyk retiring, just like they did for Carr, but most of those savings were wiped out by lesser contracts in the $1.03 million neighborhood replacing them above the top-51 luck to Ramczyk in retirement. Whether he's planning to take up coaching the next generation of linemen or go home to Wisconsin and log a lot of hours in his deer stand, he can do it knowing he achieved a career as a player that anyone would be proud article originally appeared on Saints Wire: NFL retirement news: Saints process Ryan Ramczyk's papers
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
T.J. Oshie, US Olympic star in Sochi and Capitals Stanley Cup champion, announces he's retiring
WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie, who scored four shootout goals for the U.S. to beat host Russia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and helped the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018, announced Monday he is retiring after playing 16 NHL seasons. Oshie shared his news in front of hundreds of fans gathered at the fountains at Washington Harbour in Georgetown, seven years to the day of one of the most memorable Cup celebrations in hockey history when he and several teammates jumped into the fountains and took a dip. The announcement had been expected for quite some time, with Oshie's contract expiring. The 38-year-old did not play this past season because of a nagging back injury that sidelined him off and on, going on long-term injured reserve instead. 'I would like to thank the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues for giving me the opportunity to play the game I love, all of my teammates who battled with me every night, my coaches who challenged me to be better every day and the athletic trainers and equipment staff who got me ready to play,' Oshie said in a news release sent out by the NHLPA. Oshie said in the spring of 2024 he would only return to the Capitals if he found a permanent solution or fix to the issue. His final game was at home on April 28 last year against the New York Rangers, a 4-2 loss in the first round that eliminated Washington in a sweep. Taken 24th in the 2005 draft by St. Louis, Oshie played 1,116 regular-season and playoff games in the league with the Blues and Capitals since making his debut in 2008. He had 336 goals and 428 assists for 764 points, including 29 goals during Washington's Cup run. Oshie made an international name for himself at the Olympics, earning the nickname 'T.J. Sochi' for going 4 for 6 in shootout attempts against Sergei Bobrovsky during the U.S.-Russia preliminary round game in that tournament. In the NHL, his biggest impact came after he was traded from the Blues to the Capitals in 2015. Oshie took on an immediate leadership role as a key addition to the core of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson, helping the team make the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in the nation's capitals. ___
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
T.J. Oshie, US Olympic star in Sochi and Capitals Stanley Cup champion, announces he's retiring
WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie, who scored four shootout goals for the U.S. to beat host Russia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and helped the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018, announced Monday he is retiring after playing 16 NHL seasons. Oshie shared his news in front of hundreds of fans gathered at the fountains at Washington Harbour in Georgetown, seven years to the day of one of the most memorable Cup celebrations in hockey history when he and several teammates jumped into the fountains and took a dip. Advertisement The announcement had been expected for quite some time, with Oshie's contract expiring. The 38-year-old did not play this past season because of a nagging back injury that sidelined him off and on, going on long-term injured reserve instead. 'I would like to thank the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues for giving me the opportunity to play the game I love, all of my teammates who battled with me every night, my coaches who challenged me to be better every day and the athletic trainers and equipment staff who got me ready to play,' Oshie said in a news release sent out by the NHLPA. Oshie said in the spring of 2024 he would only return to the Capitals if he found a permanent solution or fix to the issue. His final game was at home on April 28 last year against the New York Rangers, a 4-2 loss in the first round that eliminated Washington in a sweep. Taken 24th in the 2005 draft by St. Louis, Oshie played 1,116 regular-season and playoff games in the league with the Blues and Capitals since making his debut in 2008. He had 336 goals and 428 assists for 764 points, including 29 goals during Washington's Cup run. Advertisement Oshie made an international name for himself at the Olympics, earning the nickname 'T.J. Sochi' for going 4 for 6 in shootout attempts against Sergei Bobrovsky during the U.S.-Russia preliminary round game in that tournament. In the NHL, his biggest impact came after he was traded from the Blues to the Capitals in 2015. Oshie took on an immediate leadership role as a key addition to the core of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson, helping the team make the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in the nation's capitals. Oshie's 76 power-play goals in D.C. are the fifth most in franchise history. He scored 49 times in the shootout, tied for third all time since it was implemented in 2005. ___ AP NHL: Sammi Silber, The Associated Press
