2008 Coca-Cola 600

The Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR schedule in terms of distance, 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.

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. []
* President and general manager H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler retired after this race, having served the speedway for 33 years. [cite news |first=David |last=Poole |title=Finish line in sight for speedway's Wheeler |url=http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/14374.html |work=The Charlotte Observer |date=2008-05-20 |accessdate=2008-05-21 ]

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 28th, 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 Brian Vickers took the lead in the early going. In much the same style as last year's 600, Vickers 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, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 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. Earnhardt limped to the pits to repair the damage, never to contend for the lead again that night. Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch then traded the lead amongst themselves several times after Earnhardt fell out of contention. Jimmie 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, Tony Stewart led the second place car of Kasey 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 Earnhardt, and Stewart cut a tire while leading with 2 laps to go, putting the victory in the lap of Kasey Kahne. With the win, Kahne completed the Lowes Motor Speedway sweep by following up his All Star race win with a win in the 600. Earnhardt Jr. came back to finish a surprising 5th place after staying out when the leaders pitted in the final laps.

References