Ford Drivers Seek To End Coca-Cola 600 Jinx On Sunday
Around the turn of the century, Ford drivers—and, specifically, Roush Fenway Racing drivers—owned the Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Jeff Burton won the marquee NASCAR Cup Series event in 1999. Matt Kenseth followed in 2000. Burton won again in 2001, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin added the capper to a four-race winning streak in the 600 in 2002.
Since then, however, no Ford driver has visited Victory Lane in NASCAR’s longest race. It’s not that the Fords have been shut out at Charlotte. Matt Kenseth (2011), Brad Keselowski (2013) and Joey Logano (2015) all won the fall 500-miler before Charlotte Motor Speedway introduced its Roval for the Playoff race in 2018.
But victory in the Coca-Cola 600 has been mystifyingly elusive.
“I don’t know the reasons why,” Logano said during a Zoom video conference with reporters on Friday morning. “I can think of quite a few 600s, at least the 22 (Team Penske Ford), which is what I can control, has been very close to winning. I think I’ve got a few seconds and thirds there (second last year, third in 2011) and have yet to break through.
“As a Coca-Cola driver, I know how big of a deal it is to win that thing and feel the pressure to do it. I want to get it done. I’ve been, like I said, close. There are different things every time, and it takes the whole package to make it happen. The driver has got to be on his game. The pit crew’s got to be on it. The car’s got to be good and things (have) got to fall your way. So I guess, in recent years, it hasn’t for the Ford guys, but I wouldn’t bet money against us this week.”
One of the foremost obstacles in Logano’s way is defending race winner Martin Truex Jr., who has three victories in the last six oval races at Charlotte. That trio of races includes Truex’s masterful performance from 2016, when the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (then driving the No. 78 for Furniture Row Racing) led a record 588 of 600 miles to secure his first win in the Crown Jewel race.
Though Truex lost crew chief Cole Pearn to retirement after the 2019 season, he’s no less confident with his new pit boss, Aussie James Small.
“Absolutely, no question,” Truex said in a Thursday video conference. “I think James has come in and done a wonderful job. I feel like we really picked up where we left off last year, aside from some issues here and there. I feel really good about our group—we’re strong. James has done a really nice job.
“Maybe our cars are not quite as good compared to the competition as they were in the past two years, but again, I feel like we’re right there, and James is doing an awesome job. We’ve been consistently scoring more points than our teammates, except for at the end of the race, so we’re trying to figure that out. Feel like he’s done all the right things, and we continue to get better each week.”
BRISCOE BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE AFTER DARLINGTON
Chase Briscoe said it best after climbing from his car at Darlington Raceway on Thursday.
“This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life,” said Briscoe, who learned that wife Marissa had lost the baby the couple was expecting two days before claiming the most dramatic victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
And after that intensely contested win, Briscoe now holds the series lead entering Monday’s Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Over the last two laps of the rain-delayed Toyota 200, Briscoe swapped the lead—and traded sheet metal—with the foremost driver in the history of the series, Kyle Busch. After surrendering the top spot on the penultimate lap, Briscoe crossed over to the inside and beat Busch back to the finish line to post his second win of the season.
The Darlington victory clearly was the most emotional of Briscoe’s life.
“I was balling my eyes out the last quarter-lap, once I knew I beat him off of (Turn) 4 and all the way around the cool down lap,” Briscoe said. “But, honestly, the last six or seven laps looking out my mirror and seeing Kyle, it was just like a Hollywood story. I just had a feeling it was going to come down to me and him.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be as close as it was, but I had a feeling that it was just meant to be, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to beat him, especially when it got down to two (laps) to go, but I had a peace about it, and whatever happened, I was going to be OK with it.”
Briscoe got his the first of his four career Xfinity wins in 2018 at Charlotte—in the first event in the series on the Roval (road course)—but his two starts on the 1.5-mile oval have resulted in finishes 11th and 19th. With two-time champion Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer all having graduated to the NASCAR Cup Series, however, Briscoe has to like his prospects for Monday’s race at Charlotte.
Not only that, he’s the only multiple winner in the Xfinity Series this season, having triumphed at 1.5-mile Las Vegas before the hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Then again, to win Monday’s race, he’ll have to accomplish the formidable task of beating Kyle Busch in consecutive starts.
NASCAR Cup Series
The Race: Coca-Cola 600
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Date: Wednesday, May 20
The Time: 6 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 5:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 600 miles (400 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 100),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 200), Stage 3 (End on Lap 300) Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)
Most Recent Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
What To Watch For: There have been 120 NASCAR Cup Series points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, two races per year from when the track opened in 1960 until 2017. Starting in 2018, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted just one race on the oval configuration. … A total of 46 different NASCAR Cup Series drivers have won the Busch Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway; nine of the 46 are active this weekend. … NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson leads the NASCAR Cup Series in poles at Charlotte Motor Speedway with 14 poles (1961, 1972, 1973, 1974 sweep, 1975 sweep, 1976 sweep, 1977 sweep, 1978 sweep, 1982). Ryan Newman leads all active drivers in poles at Charlotte Motor Speedway with nine (2001, 2003 sweep, 2004, 2005, 2007 sweep, 2009 and 2010). … Fireball Roberts won the inaugural Busch Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway (World 600) in 1960 with a speed of 133.904 mph. … The youngest series Charlotte pole winner is William Byron (May 26, 2019 – 21 years, 4 months, 27 days) and the oldest series Charlotte pole winner is Bobby Allison (October 11, 1987 – 49 years, 10 months, 8 days). … A total of 51 different NASCAR Cup Series drivers have won at Charlotte Motor Speedway; 10 of the 51 are active this weekend. Jimmie Johnson leads the series in wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway with eight victories – 2003 summer, 2004 sweep, 2005 sweep, 2009 Playoffs, 2014 summer, 2016 Playoffs. … The youngest series Charlotte winner is Jeff Gordon (May 29, 1994 – 22 years, 9 months, 25 days) and the oldest series Charlotte winner is Cale Yarborough (October 6, 1985 – 46 years, 6 months, 9 days). … 10 drivers have posted their first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Charlotte: David Pearson (5/28/1961), Buddy Baker (10/15/1967), Charlie Glotzbach (10/20/1968), Jeff Gordon (5/29/1994), Bobby Labonte (5/28/1995), Matt Kenseth (5/28/2000), Jamie McMurray (10/13/2002), Casey Mears (5/27/2007), David Reutimann (5/25/2009) and Austin Dillon (5/28/2017). … 17 of the 120 (14.2%) NASCAR Cup Series races at Charlotte have been won from the Busch Pole; the most recent was Kyle Busch in the 2018 (Coca-Cola 600). The deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Charlotte is 37th, by Jimmie Johnson in the Coca-Cola 600 of 2003. … A total of 177 different drivers have led at least one lap in the NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte. NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison leads the series in laps led at Charlotte Motor Speedway with 2,339 laps led in 43 starts. Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers in the series in laps led at Charlotte with 1,930 laps led 35 starts. Martin Truex Jr. holds the record for the most laps led in in a single NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after he led 392 of the scheduled 400 laps (98%) in the 2016 Coca-Cola 600 – he started from the pole.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The Race: Alsco 300
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Date: Monday, May 25
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
Most Recent Winner: Tyler Reddick
What To Watch For: Charlotte Motor Speedway has hosted 74 NASCAR Xfinity Series races dating back to the series inception in 1982. The first Xfinity Series race at Charlotte was held on May 29, 1982 and won by Harry Gant in a Pontiac. The 74 Xfinity races at Charlotte Motor Speedway have produced 48 different poles winners, led by Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth with four each. … The youngest Xfinity Series pole winner at Charlotte is Chase Elliott (10/10/2014 – 18 years, 10 months, 12 days) and the oldest is
Harry Gant (10/08/1988 – 48 years, 8 months, 28 days). … A total of 36 different NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers have won at Charlotte Motor Speedway, led by Kyle Busch with eight victories (2004, 2005, 2008 sweep, 2009, 2010, 2013 sweep). … The youngest Xfinity winner at Charlotte is Kyle Busch (05/29/2004 – 19 years, 0 months, 27 days) and the oldest is Harry Gant (10/05/1991 – 51 years, 8 months, 25 days). … A total of 161 different Xfinity Series driver have led at least one lap at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch leads the series in laps led at Charlotte with 1,381 in 25 starts. The most laps led in a single Xfinity Series race at Charlotte was 194 of the scheduled 200 laps (97%) by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt on October 4, 1986, he started from the pole and won.
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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