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NASCAR at Charlotte: Live Results and Analysis From The Coca-Cola 600

By Christopher Olmstead

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Coca-Cola 600 Race Coverage

LAP 375 – Truex is stretching the gap over Harvick, it’s now 1.9 seconds. I would seem only a caution or running out of fuel could stop the No. 78 machine tonight.

LAP 342 – Truex will lead Johnson, Harvick and Keseowski when we go back to green. That stop was outside of the fuel window, drivers will have to save fuel.

CAUTION – Debris

LAP 330 – Johnson and Harvick are both within 1.2 seconds but Truex stretches out in clean air.

LAP 315 – Johnson is closing on Truex, gap is down to a second.

LAP 298 – Green flag pit stops are starting.

LAP 290 – Only 17 cars on the lead lap now. Logano is the 3rd car one lap down.

LAP 277 – That point in the race where you wonder if the race is too long …

LAP 266 – Logano needs a caution before Blaney is lapped otherwise it might be too much to overcome.

LAP 256 – Great stop for Edwards, Logano’s crew was over the wall too soon, this will put him down a lap.

LAP 251 – Green flag stops coming. These next stops will move the race into the night.

LAP 240 – Johnson is 2.1 seconds behind the leader. Kes and Larson’s battle for 6th is the best on the track right now.

LAP 220 – Logano is doing his best to hang with Truex, .70 seconds behind him. Larson has faded from 3rd to 6th.

LAP 210 – Truex shoots out on the restart and is the leader.

GREEN FLAG!!

RACE OFF PIT ROAD: 78, 22, 48, 42, 19

CAUTION – Jeffrey Earnhardt into the wall, pit stops are coming.

LAP 200 – It’s still the Truex Jr. show right now.

RUNNING ORDER: 78, 48, 22, 42 and 2. Truex leads by 2.1 seconds.

LAP 184 – Logano is 2.4 seconds behind Truex, Johnson still in third.

LAP 168 – Truex leads after pit stops, Logano up to second. Johnson is now in third.

GREEN FLAG STOPS

LAP 161 – Green Flag stops are coming as many of the cars in the top-10 are crazy loose.

LAP 156 – Truex looked to have an issue but seems not to have one. His lead is back to 1.1 seconds over Jimmie Johnson, pit stops coming soon.

RUNNING ORDER: 78, 48, 22, 42, 2, 4, 41, 11, 88 and 20.

LAP 136 – Kyle Busch has fallen back to 19th.

LAP 127 – Only 20 cars on the lead lap, if we get another long green flag run, that number could easily shrink to 15 or 16.

LAP 121 – Truex Jr. slow on the restart but overtakes the lead from Johnson. NASCAR is reviewing the restart, Ragan penalized for being three-wide on the restart.

GREEN FLAG!!

RACE OFF PIT ROAD: 78, 48, 11, 22 and 2.

CAUTION – Brian Scott spins. Blaney was just lapped and will be the lucky dog, Allmendinger just missed out. 

LAP 106 – Kyle Larson is running 6th, he is the trendy underdog pick today.

LAP 100 – Truex leads Johnson by 4.4 seconds.

LAP 91 – Only 21 cars on the lead lap. Blaney is the last car on the lead lap right now.

RUNNING ORDER: 78, 11, 48, 22, 2, 42, 4, 88, 19 and 41.

LAP 85 – Stewart, Almirola and Scott are within three seconds of being lapped.

LAP 81 – Truex’s lead cut in half after green flag stops. Hamlin up to second and Johnson in third.

PIT STOPS UNDERWAY

LAP 71 – Truex is working to put the field down a lap. 25 cars currently on the lead lap. Stewart, Almirola and Scott are next in line to be lapped in about 10 laps or so.

LAP 66 – Truex’s lead up to four seconds over Johnson.

LAP 59 – Newman, Menard, Stenhouse and Biffle rounding out the top-15. Decent runs for all of them at the moment.

LAP 54 – Truex is running away early, more then a 3.1 second lead.

LAP 47 – Danica is running 27th and Stewart is running 24th, not what SHR wants.

LAP 41 – Blaney and Elliott are 20th and 25th respectively, both up more than 10 spots since the restart.

RUNNING ORDER: 78, 11, 22, 4 and 48. There are 38 cars on the lead lap.

LAP 33 – Elliott and Blaney both are back inside of the top-30 as they battle back from pit road penalties.

LAP 31 – Truex leads the field back to green.

GREEN FLAG!

Race Off Pit Road: 78, 22, 11, 2 and 48.

CAUTION – Competition caution is out.

LAP 23 – All three RFR drivers have lost spots since the green flag. They are combined -20.

LAP 18 – Kasey Kahne is two laps down after having a tire issue.

LAP 16 – RUNNING ORDER: 78, 22, 48, 11 and 2

LAP 12 – Kyle Larson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Scott are all +6 since the start of the race.

LAP 10 – Chris Buescher (-13), Danica Patrick (-8) and Casey Mears (-8) since the start of the race.

LAP 6 – Keselowsi and Johnson are closing in on Hamlin for third.

LAP 3 – Truex putting distance on the field as Logano and Hamlin battle for second.

LAP 1 – Truex Jr. leads them to the green flag and were are ready for 600 miles of racing tonight in Charlotte.

GREEN FLAG!

Competition caution at lap 25

Pre-Race Coverage

6:07 PM ET – That’s all folks when it comes to the pre-race coverage, the green flag is coming.

6:05 PM ET – Optimism all around about NASCAR going the distance tonight.

6:03 PM ET – Engines are fired in Charlotte.

6:02PM ET – What is your take on this year’s HOF class?

5:51 PM ET – Remember, green flag was moved up 10 minutes to 6:08 PM ET.

5:40 PM ET – Light rain at the track about 20 mins ago, that has seemed to clear. Radar looks decent moving forward.

Follow along with the Beyond The Flag crew for live news, opinions and analysis from Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (Coca-Cola 600) from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

When the green flag waves for the 2016 Coca-Cola it will be the 13th race of the NASCAR season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR is coming off of a weekend where the format of the Sprint All-Star Race took center stage as opposed to the fantastic finish between Joey Logano and Kyle Larson. The good news is that the finish last weekend combined with the finish on Saturday in the Xfinity Series race should bode well for quality racing Sunday night. NASCAR’s longest race of the year always has its share of ebbs and flows but this year’s version could be more exciting than previous.

NASCAR had to deal with weather last weekend for the All-Star Race and they might have to deal with it again this weekend. Be sure to follow along HERE for your weather updates for the race tonight.

Below is some information that you will find useful before the start of the race.

TV Schedule

  • 5:30 AM ET -Coca-Cola 600 pre-race coverage on Fox.
  • 6:00 PM ET – Coca-Cola 600 race coverage on Fox.
  • 6:03 PM ET – National Anthem
  • 6:08 PM ET – Command To Start Engines
  • 6:16 PM ET (approx.) – Green Flag and live race coverage on Fox.

Predictions and Insights

The Weather

  • Green Flag Temperature – approx. 72 degrees
  • Chance of Rain – 15% chance of rain between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM (Eastern Time). There is a 35 % chance of rain between 9:00 PM and midnight and a 25% chance of rain after that.

Staff Predictions

  • Christopher Olmstead – Chase Elliott
  • Alex Herbst – Martin Truex Jr.
  • Mike Hutton – Kevin Harvick
  • Brian Thornsburg – Martin Truex Jr.
  • Martin Feigen – Brad Keselowski
  • Matthew Lovisa – Carl Edwards
  • Michael Guadalupe – Kyle Larson
  • Spencer Frady – Denny Hamlin

Pre-Race Coverage

Pre-race coverage for the Coca-Cola 600 will begin around 5:30 PM ET. While you’re waiting, check out all of the Charlotte coverage from Beyond The Flag (the above links) and comment below and let us know who you think is going to win this weekend.

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