Denny Hamlin Wins First Coca-Cola 600 in Double OT

Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Busch in double overtime to win his first Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the longest NASCAR race ever at a distance of 619.5 miles.

Hamlin and Ross Chastain started on the front row for the second overtime, with Busch following his teammate past the damaged car of Chastain and into a battle for the win. In turn two on the final lap, Busch tried to make the move stick on the high side but got loose, sealing the win for Hamlin.

“It’s so special,” Hamlin said post-race. “It’s the last big one that’s not on my résumé. It meant so much. … I’ve been a Coke family driver for 18 years. Never won the Coke 600 before. This means a lot. Man, we weren’t very good all day. Just got ourselves in the right place at the right time.“

The first attempt at overtime ended with a crash involving the leaders. Austin Dillon got a huge run on leader Kyle Larson headed into turn four while Chastain tried to make a pass on the outside. Dillon and Larson lost control and crashed, collecting Chastain and Joey Logano while Hamlin and Busch snuck through to put themselves in position for the win.

Overtime was brought out when Chase Briscoe lost control of his Stewart Haas Racing Ford trying to pass low with two laps to go in regulation.

These were just a few of the 18 caution flags brought out, the most since the 2005 Coke 600 where a record-setting 22 yellow flags flew. There were many concerns over tyre durability, as many drivers dealt with cut tyres that led to cautions. The longest green flag run was only 48 laps.

When not thrown for cut tyres, some major wrecks collected many contenders. On a lap 192 restart, Ryan Blaney clipped the apron in turn one and collected eleven other cars, including Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Brad Keselowski. A red flag was brought out for a spectacular crash on lap 346 when Chris Buescher was sent tumbling on front stretch, landing on his roof.

Daniel Suarez was running fourth when he made contact with Briscoe exiting turn four, sending him spinning across the field. Buescher was caught in the incident and sent sliding into the grass, when his right front tyre dug into the turf and launched his car into a roll. Thankfully, Buescher immediately put his window net down to signify that he was okay, and after a few minutes on his roof safety crews set the car back on all fours (threes?) and he was able to get out of the car. Rookies Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton were also involved in the crash.

The Coke 600 is split into four stages of 100 laps each, with Elliott, Suarez and Chastain winning stages.

Kevin Harvick fought through the pack all night to finish third, with Briscoe recovering from his spin to finish fourth. Christopher Bell finished fifth, putting three of four Joe Gibbs Racing cars in the top five.

Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Larson, and Alex Bowman came back for top ten finishes. Larson had three separate pit lane penalties and spun all within the first 200 laps, and was fighting for the win until he got caught in accidents at the end of the race.

The next race on the calendar is Sunday 05 June, when the Cup Series makes their debut at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Coca-Cola 600 – Official Results

Position	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	413	Running
2	4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	413	Running
3	18	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart Haas Racing	Ford	413	Running
4	15	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart Haas Racing	Ford	413	Running
5	3	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	413	Running
6	8	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	413	Running
7	29	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	413	Running
8	10	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	413	Running
9	36	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	413	Running
10	9	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	413	Running
11	17	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	413	Running
12	14	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	413	Running
13	28	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	413	Running
14	25	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	413	Running
15	22	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	413	Running
16	30	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	413	Running
17	24	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart Haas Racing	Ford	412	Running
18	33	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	412	Running
19	31	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	407	Running
20	23	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	405	Accident
21	21	41	Cole Custer	Stewart Haas Racing	Ford	405	Accident
22	16	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	405	Accident
23	34	50	Kaz Grala*	The Money Team Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
24	27	16	Noah Gragson*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	386	Throttle
25	12	99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	346	Accident
26	19	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	346	Accident
27	20	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	343	Engine
28	7	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	200	DVP
29	11	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	195	Accident
30	35	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	193	Accident
31	2	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	191	Accident
32	5	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	191	Accident
33	13	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	DVP
34	6	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	145	Accident
35	37	7	Corey Lajoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Accident
36	32	77	Josh Bilicki*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	31	Accident
37	26	15	Ryan Preece*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	16	DVP

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points