The NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as it happened

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Martin Truex Jr. celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Martin Truex Jr. celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

CONCORD, N.C. – Martin Truex Jr. was finally able to get it done Saturday. After several heartbreaking losses this season, Truex staged a dominating performance Saturday to win NASCAR’s longest race, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600. Here’s how it all went down Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Despite threatening weather from tropical storm Bonnie, Truex Jr. led the field from his first career Charlotte pole; Joey Logano was second on the outside.  Truex was able to grab  the lead exiting turn 4 as Logano and Denny Hamlin contested second side by side. Logano had the second spot by start of lap 2. Hamlin fell into third followed by Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson and Keselowski were fighting for fourth on lap 4.  He was able to clear Keselowski on lap 5.  The lead up front was 1.1 seconds.  Johnson took third from Hamlin on lap 13 as Kasey Kahne pitted with a right front tire issue. By lap 20, Truex was lapping the back of the field

Because of heavy rains earlier in the day, NASCAR had called for a mandated caution to check tire wear and that caution the first of the race waved on lap 25. The leaders all pitted with Truex out first followed by Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.

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Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.