Kevin Harvick(4) hoped to celebrate the Coca-Cola 600 as his second three-win streak of the year. However, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s crew failed to get his car through pre-qualifying inspection. As a result, Harvick was relegated to the 39th starting position. Despite working his way into the top 10, the three-peat was not to be.
Harvick slammed the wall on lap 83, just 17 laps short of the 100 laps that made up Stage 1. His car suffered enough damage to send it to the garage and out of the event. He finished 40th.
Kyle Busch(18) and Joey Logano(22) started on the front row for the annual 600-mile test of man and machine. Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the longest race on the NASCAR circuit every year on Memorial Day Weekend. At the drop of the green flag, the two driver’s ran side-by-side for a lap until Logano pulled into the lead.
The Team Penske driver, hoping for a Penske Double, could not hold the lead as pole-sitter Kyle Busch moved to the front on lap 5. Penske driver Will Power won the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day and back to back wins for the Penske organization would be huge.
Last year’s 600 winner, Austin Dillon, blew a right-rear tire on lap 37. The damage to his car likely cost Dillon a chance at being the first repeat winner of the race since Jimmie Johnson won 3 in-a-row from 2003-2005.
The story of the night focused on Kyle Busch. He won the 1st Stage leading 94 of the 100 laps.
Stage 1 Results
| Car | Driver | Stage Points |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| 12 | Blaney* | 9 |
| 42 | Larson | 8 |
| 78 | Truex Jr. | 7 |
| 48 | Johnson | 6 |
| 10 | Almirola* | 5 |
| 14 | Bowyer* | 4 |
| 11 | Hamlin | 3 |
| 17 | Stenhouse Jr.* | 2 |
| 20 | Jones | 1 |
* Ford Fusion Drivers
Stage 2
On the restart to begin Stage 2, again more Kyle Busch. This time he led 85 of the 100 laps in the stage. Trouble nearly marred the event when Jimmy Johnson(48) spun 21 laps into Stage 2. Johnson’s car was turned slightly by contact with Denny Hamlin(11) and he could not save it in the middle of the corner. Running near the front of the pack, Johnson was lucky not to make contact with another car. Logano, running further back, spun to avoid Johson and he too escaped without causing a massive wreck. Logano got a slight bump from Erik Jones(20) as his yellow Pennzoil Ford started to go around.
Stage 2 Results
| Car | Driver | Stage Points |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| 78 | Truex Jr. | 9 |
| 42 | Larson | 8 |
| 11 | Hamlin | 7 |
| 14 | Bowyer | 6 |
| 10 | Almirola* | 5 |
| 9 | Elliott | 4 |
| 48 | Johnson | 3 |
| 31 | Newman | 2 |
| 20 | Jones | 1 |
* Ford Fusion Drivers
Stage 3
With 400 laps to run to complete the 600 miles, NASCAR adds a 3rd Stage of 100 laps for the 600. The Final Stage, also 100 laps, concludes the event. Kyle Busch led every lap of Stage 3 to exceed his stage win total for the year, all in one race.
Kyle Larson(42) spun unassisted 27 laps into Stage 3. Ruining what had been a strong evening to that point. With 22 laps to go in the stage Ryan Blaney’s(12) engine expired and the oil escaping the broken power plant caught fire. Blaney escaped uninjured, the car took a dousing from the fire extinguishers of the track safety crews.
Stage 3 Results
| Car | Driver | Stage Points |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| 20 | Jones | 9 |
| 2 | Keselowski* | 8 |
| 11 | Kurt Busch* | 7 |
| 41 | McMurray | 6 |
| 11 | Hamlin | 5 |
| 95 | Khane | 4 |
| 78 | Truex Jr. | 3 |
| 17 | Stenhouse Jr.* | 2 |
| 31 | Newman | 1 |
* Ford Fusion Drivers
The Final Stage
Kyle Busch finished his domination of the Coca-Cola 600 leading 377 of the 400 laps. He won by a comfortable 4-second margin over Martin Truex Jr.(78). The win was significant for Kyle, he now owns a Cup Series victory on every track the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visits.
Next week its the Pocono 400 at 2:00 pm Sunday on Fox. The following week the circuit pays it first visit to our hometown track. The FireKeepers Casino 400 fires off at 2:00 pm Sunday, June 10th. The Lasco Press will be on-hand at the track to bring you all the excitement of racing in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
Results of the Coca-Cola 600
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| Position | Car | Driver | Behind | Laps |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | — | 400 |
| 2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | ||
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | -13.598 | 400 |
| 4 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | -16.777 | 400 |
| 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | -17.164 | 400 |
| 6 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | -17.925 | 400 |
| 7 | 42 | Kyle Larson | -20.548 | 400 |
| 8 | 41 | Kurt Busch | -26.093 | 400 |
| 9 | 88 | Alex Bowman | -28.140 | 400 |
| 10 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | ||
| 11 | 9 | Chase Elliott | -1 | 399 |
| 12 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | -1 | 399 |
| 13 | 10 | Aric Almirola | -1 | 399 |
| 14 | 21 | Paul Menard | -1 | 399 |
| 15 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | -1 | 399 |
| 16 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | -1 | 399 |
| 17 | 6 | Matt Kenseth | -1 | 399 |
| 18 | 34 | Michael McDowell | -1 | 399 |
| 19 | 20 | Erik Jones | -1 | 399 |
| 20 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | -1 | 399 |
| 21 | 13 | Ty Dillon | -1 | 399 |
| 22 | 22 | Joey Logano | -1 | 399 |
| 23 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | -1 | 399 |
| 24 | 15 | Ross Chastain | -2 | 398 |
| 25 | 38 | David Ragan | -4 | 396 |
| 26 | 72 | Corey LaJoie | -4 | 396 |
| 27 | 96 | Parker Kligerman | -6 | 394 |
| 28 | 0 | Landon Cassill | -6 | 394 |
| 29 | 37 | Chris Buescher | -6 | 394 |
| 30 | 55 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | -11 | 389 |
| 31 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | -12 | 388 |
| 32 | 66 | Timmy Hill | -17 | 383 |
| 33 | 51 | BJ McLeod | -27 | 373 |
| 34 | 3 | Austin Dillon | -52 | 348 |
| 35 | 31 | Ryan Newman | -56 | 344 |
| 36 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | -122 | 278 |
| 37 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | -143 | 257 |
| 38 | 7 | JJ Yeley | -209 | 191 |
| 39 | 24 | William Byron | -261 | 139 |
| 40 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | -327 | 83 |
Points/Playoff Standings
| Position | Driver | Points | Wins |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick* | 485 | 5 |
| 2 | Kyle Busch | 573 | 4 |
| 3 | Joey Logano* | 506 | 1 |
| 4 | Martin Truex Jr. | 430 | 1 |
| 5 | Clint Bowyer* | 421 | 1 |
| 6 | Austin Dillon | 244 | 1 |
| 7 | Brad Keselowski* | 437 | 0 |
| 8 | Kurt Busch* | 429 | 0 |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | 429 | 0 |
| 10 | Kyle Larson | 382 | 0 |
| 11 | Aric Almirola* | 376 | 0 |
| 12 | Ryan Blaney* | 375 | 0 |
| 13 | Jimmie Johnson | 327 | 0 |
| 14 | Erik Jones | 314 | 0 |
| 15 | Alex Bowman | 299 | 0 |
| 16 | Chase Elliott | 296 | 0 |
| *** Monster Energy NASCAR Cup playoffs cut-off *** | |||
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* | 296 | 0 |
| 18 | Paul Menard* | 263 | 0 |
| 19 | Daniel Suarez | 245 | 0 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | 231 | 0 |
* Ford Fusion Drivers
