Closing NASCAR Cup SeriesThe May program was the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday in Concord, North Carolina, where Denny Hamlin emerged victorious in the longest race of the season.
Here are the highlights of Charlotte Motor Speedway:
Green!
Hamlin led Sunday’s starting lineup, followed by Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and William Byron who completed the top five.
First precaution
There was a big two-car crash on turn 4 in which Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson took part.
Meanwhile, Josh Bilicki exploded to third place after starting 32nd.
Third precaution
The green flag came out again on lap 23, but it didn’t last long, as Bilicki hit the driver’s side wall hard and joined Preece when the two cars came out only 33 laps after finish the crash clock on the Preece team.
The third warning of the race came when Daniel Suárez made a pass for the lead and chaos ensued. Kyle Busch was left with his tires hanging, but did not suffer any major damage despite losing his position on the track.
Follow the leader
After Toyota led Saturday’s standings, it was Chevrolets with a 1-2-3-4 with Suarez, Elliott, Alex Bowman and Byron in the top four. Hamlin was the first Toyota in fifth place, and Austin Cindric was the first Ford in sixth.
Another that bites the dust
Corey LaJoie came out and crashed on turn 2, almost at the exact same spot where he crashed on Saturday.
Thus, both Spire Motorsports cars were out of the race.
Phase 1 fetus
Elliott held on to Tyler Reddick to win Stage 1, his third stage victory of the season. Bell, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace completed the top five in the opening phase.
Turn turn 4
Misfortune struck Wallace when he lost him on turn 4, but he was lucky and slipped straight to his stop in the process. This was the sixth warning of the race before the green flag came out again on lap 132.
Fighting bus
Meanwhile, Kyle Larson continued to fight on the track, between hitting the wall, two penalties on the pit road and a fire on the road.
“I think this has been the worst race of my life, and we’re not even halfway there,” he said.
Waving yellow flags
Cindric turned corners 3 and 4 and crashed hard into the outer wall after blowing a left rear tire, giving another precaution.
The crash disrupted what was about to be a three-car battle for the lead between Kurt Busch, Elliott and Chastain, but it was a lucky stop for Wallace, who got a free pass to return to the main lap after to turn to cause precaution.
The biggest!
There was a monstrous collision on corners 1 and 2 as Blaney, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were among those picked up for the 10th warning of the race.
Stage 2 in the books
Suárez won stage 2, followed by his teammate Chastain. Erik Jones used new tires to move up to third place, followed by Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which completed the first five.
Bad luck 13
Gragson was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent’s quick free kick after 80 minutes.
Team Trackhouse prevails
Chastain prevailed in the third stage of the race, as the final 100 laps began at Concord.
Closing time
The green flag came out again with 93 laps to go. Reddick received a push from Cole Custer to take the lead before Chastain regained the lead just after four hours in that game.
Great frontstretch accident
Suarez turned in front of the traffic and was hit by Todd Gilliland, and then Buescher turned into the wreck before turning several times and ending up on the grass upside down.
That big crash caused a brief red flag with 53 laps to go and equaled the 16th caution of this race, the most watched since the 2019 Coca-Cola 600.
Tram home
It was a round-robin battle in the final laps, with Larson and Briscoe neck to neck until the end.
Not too fast!
Briscoe tried to eliminate Larson, but was unable to do so, and Larson remained in the lead with three laps to go, while Briscoe turned around and pulled out another warning, the 17th overall. .
It was a strangely similar move to when Briscoe tried to drop a bomb on Reddick to win the last lap of the Bristol Dirt race, but it didn’t work and ended up costing both Briscoe and Reddick the flag. checkered.
Overtime
Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Larson and Chastain were four wide for the lead, and ended up with Dillon turned into the outside wall to trigger another big mess that ended up with Dillon, Larson, Chastain and Custer.
Double extension
With that, things went awry in the double overtime, where Hamlin came out on top after a wild night in NC Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Briscoe, Bell, Reddick, Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Larson and Bowman van complete the top 10, respectively. .
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