Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota, and Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, lead the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Johnson was second in Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average (182.713 mph), followed by Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Austin Dillon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Joey Logano: Four wins, 19 top 10s, 1,078 laps led, 9.46 average finish, 109.8 driver rating.
“Hopefully, we can take advantage of it and make it work for us”. Truex Jr.’s previous one came at Kansas Speedway earlier this spring. The 600 is a grueling race on man and machine and Edwards is just the driver to be able to handle that. He made one Sprint Cup start a year ago in a minimal race schedule, finishing 18th in the 600.
The green flag is set to drop around 6:30pm. And, sitting just 21 in the points with 14 races left in the regular season, Larson knows that he’s probably going to need a win to qualify for the NASCAR Chase.
Carl Edwards, the defending victor of the Coca-Cola 600 was 11th quick after running fourth earlier in the day. Johnson, who had retaken second by that point, got a nose out in front of Truex, but Truex quickly recovered to maintain his lead.
The good news is that during a 600-mile race, there is plenty of time to overcome mistakes so long as they don’t happen too late in the race.
The 26-year-old will start on the front row alongside pole sitter Martin Truex Jr. for the longest and most grueling NASCAR race of the year.
The only laps Truex didn’t lead were during pit stops and two laps late in the race when Johnson slipped past him after a restart on Lap 345.
Truex won the fourth time on the series and the first time since last June at Pocono. He won at Atlanta in February, which runs similar to Charlotte, but his Charlotte dominance certainly isn’t what it used to be. This has by far been Harvick’s best track since he has 10 top 10’s in the last 11 races, including his three wins.
He ranks second on the Chase Grid behind teammate Kyle Busch. Hamlin was the fourteenth fastest competitor in the first practice but improved considerably in the qualifying rounds. Although the All-Star win isn’t a points race, it helps build enough confidence for Logano as he starts second beside Truex.
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“I kind of felt like he was playing with us”, Johnson said smiling.
