2008 Coca-Cola 600
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| Race details[1] | |||
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| Race 12 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season | |||
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| Date | May 25, 2008 | ||
| Official name | Coca-Cola 600 | ||
| Location | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.414 km) |
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| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Weather | Warm with temperatures approaching 79 °F (26 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 135.772 miles per hour (218.504 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 29.121 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 76 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 9 | Kasey Kahne | Gillett Evernham Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
The 2008 Coca-Cola 600, the 49th running of the race, is the longest race on the NASCAR schedule in terms of distance by miles. It was the 12th race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and was held at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, outside of Charlotte on Sunday, May 25. The USA telecast on Fox started at 5 PM US EDT with radio being handled by Sirius Satellite Radio and the Speedway Motorsports, Inc.-owned Performance Racing Network on terrestrial radio stations.
Background
Lowe's Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the Bank of America 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Pre-race news
- Brian Pattie has taken over as crew chief of the #42 Dodge driven by Juan Pablo Montoya. Jimmy Elledge left Chip Ganassi Racing on May 20, having only become the #42 crew chief after a swap with the #41 team and Donnie Wingo at the end of April.[2]
- President and general manager H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler retired after this race, having served the speedway for 33 years.[3]
Qualifying
Another race, another pole for Kyle Busch. The current points leader will be on P-1 with Sprint All-Star Race XXIV champion Kasey Kahne next to him filling out the front row.
Failed to Qualify: Jeff Green (#34), Stanton Barrett (#50), Jon Wood (#21), Joe Nemechek (#78) and Tony Raines (#08).
Before Saturday's first practice session, both Haas CNC Racing cars - the #66 of Scott Riggs and the #70 Johnny Sauter - were impounded by NASCAR officials and taken to the research and development center for illeagal wing adjustments. As a result, they were forced to backup cars and will start at the rear of the starting lineup.
On May 28, 2008, both cars were docked 150 owner and driver points, fined $100,000 and their crew chiefs were suspended for the next six races starting at Dover and running through Daytona.
Race
The 2008 Coca Cola 600 proved to be one of the most competitive in recent memory. A record number of green flag passes was set, as the COT car platform proved that it could provide good racing at someplace besides a superspeedway. Kyle Busch got off to the early lead, although he faded and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took the lead in the early going. In much the same style as last year's 600, Earnhardt, Jr. had a very strong showing in the first half of the race, only to fade in the second. In a manner indicative of his entire season, Brian Vickers dominated the field halfway in, and appeared to be on the verge of ending his winless streak, when a cut tire sent him into the turn 4 wall while leading the field by an entire backstretch. Vickers limped to the pits to repair the damage, never to contend for the lead again that night. Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Busch then traded the lead amongst themselves several times after Vickers fell out of contention. Johnson, who was leading late in the race, fell out of the race with an engine failure. In the final stages of the race, fuel mileage came into play, as the leaders were just shy of making it on fuel. After pit stops cycled through with 10 laps to go, Stewart led the 2nd place car of Kahne by a large margin, and it appeared that it would be a cakewalk to the checkers for Stewart. However, luck was not on his side as in the same manner as Vickers, and Stewart cut a tire while leading with 2 laps to go, putting the victory in the lap of Kahne. With the win, Kahne completed the Charlotte sweep by following up his All Star race win with a win in the 600. Greg Biffle finished 2nd, Busch finished 3rd, while Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the Top 5.
References
| Previous race: 2008 Dodge Challenger 500 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2008 season |
Next race: 2008 Best Buy 400 |
