The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is notable for frenetic racing and heavy contact between cars, but Joey Logano doesn’t expect anything less in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Did you watch Kansas? It’s the same thing,” Logano asked rhetorically about the most recent Monster Energy Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, where restarts in particular were fraught with action.
Like the race at Kansas, most of Sunday’s Coke 600 will be run under the lights, thanks to the evening start time and the length of the event. NASCAR’s 2019 higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package is likely to keep the cars closer together on a hot, slick race track.
“That’s what this rules package has kind of promoted is that we’re so close to each other and to be able to clear someone or to really put yourself in the position you need to sometimes you’ve got to make those aggressive moves, whether it’s an aggressive block–maybe you’re pushing someone by, maybe you find yourself four-wide like they did down the frontstretch,” Logano said, describing a situation in the All-Star race where four cars crossed the start/finish line side-by-side and raced that way until they reached the first corner.
“I didn’t think that was possible, and it really kind of wasn’t, but they got through it somehow down the front straightway here at Charlotte. A lot of it is the rules package. We’ll see that continue.”
Logano was 14th fastest in Saturday morning’s first Cup practice session and 15th on a hotter track in Happy Hour.
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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