Kyle Larson finally pulled it off. After a string of three second place finishes Larson pulled off a simply dominating performance Sunday winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday winning all three Stages and leading the most laps, 327 of the 400 run crossing the line 10.051 seconds for his eighth career win and his second of the season.
“Thank you buddy,” team owner Rick Hendrick said over the team radio as Larson celebrated.” Great job, man, (you) spanked them good. Enjoy it, enjoy it.”
The Hall of Fame car owner had a great deal to celebrate as his Hendrick Motorsports team scored its 269th career win breaking a tie with Richard Petty Motorsports to take the lead on NASCAR’s all time win list.
It wasn’t just Larson who dominated but the entire 4-car fleet who were strong. The three other cars finished in the top five with Chase Elliott second, William Byron fourth and Alex Bowman fifth. Kyle Busch spoiled the Hendrick party putting his Toyota in third late in the going.
“It was not easy,” Larson said. “I felt like I had to fight off William (Byron) and Chase (Elliott) a lot. It kind of worked out there in that last run.”
The race finished in 4 hours, faster than average of 4:30 minutes. That was helped by the lack of cautions outside of the Stage breaks. The first of those came out on lap 174 after Kurt Busch blew an engine after his Chevy lost a belt and was forced to the garage on lap 141. He would return but the engine would blow leaving fluid on the track.
Just before the end of Stage 3, Ryan Newman lost a tire coming into turn 3 and hit the wall hard. The caution flew on lap 297. With only 3 laps left in the stage, Stage 2 ended under caution.
Hendrick’s first win came in 1984 at Martinsville with driver Geoff Bodine behind the wheel of the No. 5. A car number that Rick Hendrick bought back this season to Larson. Petty held the record since 1960.
“We had a good car there in that last run,” Larson said. “Awesome! It feels great to be the guy to help Mr. Hendrick break that record, finally.”
Austin Dillon was sixth, Denny Hamlin, seventh with Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick and Kevin Harvick rounding out the top 10.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Results COCA-COLA 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Sunday, May 30, 2021
- (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400.
- (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
- (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400.
- (4) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
- (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.
- (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400.
- (14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
- (27) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400.
- (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 400.
- (5) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 400.
- (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
- (2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 400.
- (11) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
- (18) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 400.
- (9) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 398.
- (19) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 398.
- (16) Joey Logano, Ford, 398.
- (22) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 398.
- (26) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 398.
- (24) Michael McDowell, Ford, 398.
- (23) Cole Custer, Ford, 397.
- (31) Aric Almirola, Ford, 397.
- (21) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 397.
- (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 397.
- (29) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 397.
- (28) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 397.
- (25) Ryan Newman, Ford, 396.
- (30) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 395.
- (8) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 391.
- (34) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 389.
- (33) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 389.
- (32) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 389.
- (35) James Davison, Chevrolet, 388.
- (36) Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 387.
- (37) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 382.
- (38) David Starr(i), Toyota, 369.
- (10) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 359.
- (12) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Engine, 139.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 150.785 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 58 Mins, 45 Secs. Margin of Victory: 10.051 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 23 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Larson 1-47;W. Byron 48-49;B. Keselowski 50-55;M. DiBenedetto 56-57;A. Alfredo # 58;K. Larson 59-131;C. Elliott 132-148;T. Reddick 149;C. Bell 150-152;K. Larson 153-174;A. Bowman 175-179;D. Hamlin 180-182;C. Elliott 183-187;K. Larson 188-230;W. Byron 231-247;T. Reddick 248-249;A. Dillon 250;A. Alfredo # 251-252;K. Larson 253-305;K. Busch 306;K. Larson 307-346;T. Reddick 347-349;R. Blaney 350-351;K. Larson 352-400.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson 7 times for 327 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 22 laps; William Byron 2 times for 19 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 6 laps; Tyler Reddick 3 times for 6 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 5 laps; Anthony Alfredo # 2 times for 3 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 3 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 2 laps; Matt DiBenedetto 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Dillon 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,9,24,4,3,18,19,8,47,48
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,9,24,18,8,4,48,17,11,3
Stage #3 Top Ten: 5,24,18,9,48,8,11,3,23,4
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.
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