NASCAR: Coke 600 Race Review
But the race only runs for a couple more laps before the third caution comes out for debris. But this isn’t the normal debris we see as the overhead camera that Fox uses to run up and down the front straightaway has had one of its cables come loose and dangle onto the track. As Kyle comes by the cable it whips into the side of his car and opens a big hole in the right side front wing and then gets dragged under other cars before finally wrapping itself round the underside of Marcos Ambrose’s 9 car. As a result of this the race is red flagged and the cars are told to come to pit row.
May 26, 2013; Concord, NC, USA; Safety workers retrieve a support cable for an overhead TV camera that broke during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Usually there is no work allowed on cars under a red flag but because of the unusual cause NASCAR has allowed cars that were damaged by the cable to make the necessary repairs. The 18 team are able to fix the issue, the 9 team are able to remove the cable and replace damaged parts and all cars affected are successfully worked on. The 48 of Jimmie Johnson was having alternator issues before the caution came out but as this was not caused by the wire the team are not allowed to replace it under the red flag period.
After a 30 minute break the race is restarted with Kyle on the outside and Kahne on the bottom line. A poor start from the 5 sees the 18 regain his lead and Kahne fall back to fourth behind Hamlin and Kurt. Kurt is then able to get around Hamlin for second and the two brothers set off into the sunset quickly establishing a gap from the chasing pack as the cable damage doesn’t seem to have hurt the 18 too much as Kyle puts in his fastest lap of the race. But Hamlin isn’t letting them get to far away as he starts clawing them back lap by lap and on lap 137 he is right on the bumper of the 78 and the top 4 are all within a second of each other. But while the 11 is distracted by the 78 the 5 sees his chance and gets round the 11 for third and a few laps later Kenseth also gets by fourth. Kenseth is on a charge as he wastes no time in getting by Kahne and then on lap 168 he breezes by the 78 for second place and Kurt then falls to fourth behind Kahne.
May 26, 2013; Concord, NC, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) takes a pictures of damage to his car after a support cable for an overhead TV camera broke during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Another round of green flag pit stops come and go and after everyone has stopped Kenseth is the new race leader after having a great stop that saw him come into the pits as fast as he possibly could. The change in temperatures appear to favour the 20 car as within ten laps he’s got a lead of 2.3 seconds over the 18 car. The race then enters quite a stagnant period were other than Kahne getting by Kyle for second the lead cars hold station and at the halfway stage the top five are Kenseth, Kyle, Kahne, Kurt and Hamlin. The teams make a third round of green flag stops and Kenseth continues to lead after they’ve cycled through with Kahne now in second from Kyle. Such is Kenseth’s pace by lap 236 he has lapped up to fifteenth place and has a lead of over 6 seconds. One of the possible reasons for such a commanding lead is that due to the red flag stop the teams missed out on the natural progression of the temperatures dropping and are having to play a sort of catch up in terms of finding the ideal settings and with long periods of green flag racing the teams just don’t get the chance to make the adjustments needed.