The 2011 Coca-Cola 600 fr NASCAR
Race Notes and Results
The 2011 Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway was the culmination of a very long day of auto racing viewing. Monte Carlo, Indianapolis 500 and then this, the longest race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Coca-Cola 600. This is a long race, in fact it became the longest race ever in NASCAR. It started around 3 something in the afternoon and tore in into the evening, coming up on 8 at night.
So yea, today was an auto racing fan’s dream come true. That and my butt hurts!
But as the Coca-Cola 600 wound down, the question of fuel mileage started finding itself being pitched by the race announcers. Who had enough, who was told to put their foot in it and who was being told to save gas. At least that was the tactic with 10 laps to go, barely over 20 cars on the lead lap, and then with 8 laps to go, Matt Kenseth hit the pits for a splash of fuel, starting the cycle of green flag pits.
Then Jeff Gordon pits, while others were guessing the Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were good to go for the last five laps. And yet with 5 to go, Jimmie Johnson‘s engine blows up, throwing the suspense of cars trying to make it under a green flag out the window and now we had to worry about if yellow flag laps was going to affect the front-runners. That and some crew chief foul language being let slip out into the airwaves.
Under caution, a few cars stayed out, the rest came in for gas and tires. This didn’t bode well for Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and 8 other cars who stayed out. And then “Junior Nation” starts to worry because Dale Jr is turning off his engine to save fuel under yellow… but then he couldn’t get it going for a bit. Biffle had to buckle and pit under caution.
Now we had Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne leading from the front row coming to the green flag restart. Also for Junior Nation, today was one of the best days in recent memory that Dale Jr has had. And now, the core of fans had to start worrying about fuel mileage.
Green flag flew, but when Kahne ran out of gas piling up the field, but they spread out and drove around the staggering Kahne brick of gasless metal… Dale Jr. pulled away from the pack and then going into the last turn of the race, Dale Jr runs out of gas and Kevin Harvick comes around Dale Earnhardt Jr and takes the checkered flag.
What a heart jerker for fans of Dale Jr..
With 19 of the 43 starting field of cars on the lead lap, after 4 hours, 38 minutes of racing, 14 caution flags, 19 leaders and 38 lead changers the top-five are
- Kevin Harvick won,
- David Ragan,
- Joey Logano,
- Kurt Busch,
- A.J. Allmendinger.
They were followed up by
- Marcos Ambrose,
- Dale Earnhardt Jr managed 7th,
- Regan Smith,
- David Reutimann and
- Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.
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These above positions were from the online leader-board…
And that was the longest NASCAR Sprint Cup race, ever. Yet another record! See Full Results.
