Thursday News and Notes from Charlotte

Carl Edwards

Pete McCole/AR1.com

Edwards Eyes Coca-Cola 600 Repeat

Carl Edwards provided NASCAR fans with an abundance of firsts when he won the 2016 Coca-Cola 600.

Edwards' victory was his first at the track, first driving a Toyota and first for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Now looking even more comfortable with his new team and fresh ride, Edwards looks to defend his victory in Sunday's edition of NASCAR's marathon race. The drivers who have won back-to-back Coca-Cola 600s are Darrell Waltrip (1978-79, 1988-89), Neil Bonnett (1982-83), Dale Earnhardt (1992-93) and Jeff Gordon (1997-98). Jimmie Johnson won the event three consecutive times from 2003-05.

On the season, Edwards owns two wins, five top fives and eight top 10s. He ranks second on the Chase Grid behind teammate Kyle Busch.

Kyle Larson

Pete McCole/AR1.com

Slightly Off Target: Larson Aims For First Win Following Two Near Misses

Kyle Larson's first points-paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win looks like it's coming soon.

The NASCAR Next alum has showed off his driving skills in the last three races (points and exhibition) – Dover, the Sprint Showdown and the Sprint Unlimited.

At Dover, Larson led 85 laps, but could not catch Matt Kenseth, who beat him to the finish line by a mere .187 seconds.

Larson won the third segment of the Sprint Showdown following one of the best two-car battles all year where he fended off Chase Elliott by 0.015 seconds.

Most recently, the No. 42 Chevrolet driver led the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race with two laps remaining, but was passed by Joey Logano and soon wrecked to place 16th.

Larson's first win could come on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he has a high finish of sixth. He won the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the 1.5-mile track in May of 2014.

Smoke Searches For First Coca-Cola 600 Win In Final Start

Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart ranks tied for 13th on the all-time victories list, but has never won the Coca-Cola 600.

The member of the Coca-Cola Racing family will attempt to capture his first checkered flag in his final start in NASCAR's longest race on Sunday.

Stewart's best finish in the Coca-Cola 600 was a third-place showing in 2001. In 33 starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway (tied with Matt Kenseth for the most among active drivers), Stewart claims one win (fall of 2003), six top fives, 13 top 10s and an average finish of 14.5.

To make NASCAR’s playoffs, Stewart must win a race and finish the regular season in the top 30 in points. He’s currently 37th in the points – 67 markers behind 30th-place David Ragan.

Quality of Racing A Sign Of Things To Come

A third of the way through the season, a ton of numbers have swirled around the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – some small, some big, all pointing to fascinating racing.

Eight of the first 12 races this season have ended with a margin of victory less than one second, the most since 2010. (Note: Two of these races ended under caution, so there was no margin of victory.)

The average margin of victory so far has been .877 seconds – the third-closest margin of victory since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993.

Denny Hamlin's victory in the Daytona 500 by .010 seconds was the closest ever in NASCAR's premier event and tied for the seventh closest in series history. The margin was duplicated two weeks later at Phoenix when Kevin Harvick edged out Carl Edwards at Phoenix.

Track records for green flag passes for the lead (lead changes all around the race track while under green flag conditions) were set in three races this season: Atlanta Motor Speedway (44), Auto Club Speedway (51) and Bristol Motor Speedway (40).

At Talladega, there were 213 green flag passes for the lead, six passes for the lead shy of tying the record for most green flag passes for the lead in a single race since the inception of loop data in 2005.

In the latest event, the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, there were 17 green flag passes for the lead, the most since 2013. Joey Logano's pass of Kyle Larson with two laps to go was the latest lead change in the All-Star race in the last seven years. Additionally, this season's All-Star race was the first in the last three years where one driver didn't lead for the entire final segment.

Logano Looks For Second Straight Charlotte Win, May Sweep

Although it didn’t count for the standings, Joey Logano’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race win halted a rough patch of consecutive finishes outside the top 20: Talladega (25), Kansas (38) and Dover (22).

Heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX), Logano sits 10th on the Chase Grid, a comfortable 62 points ahead of Ryan Newman on the cutoff line, but a points-paying win would ensure him a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs.

Logano won the last race at Charlotte in the fall, leading 227-of-334 laps. His highest finish in the Coca-Cola 600 was a third-place showing in 2011.

In 14 Charlotte starts, Logano claims one win, five top five and eight op 10s.

If he wins on Sunday, Logano will become the eighth driver to win both the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600: Darrell Waltrip (1985), Davey Allison (1991), Dale Earnhardt (1993), Jeff Gordon (1997), Jimmie Johnson (2003), Kasey Kahne (2008) and Kurt Busch (2010).
A Ford driver has not won the Coca-Cola 600 since Mark Martin in 2002.

Marathon Man: Johnson A Master Of NASCAR's Longest Race

A rabid participant in endurance athletics off the track, Jimmie Johnson is also NASCAR's top "endurer" on it.

His four wins in the Coca-Cola 600 – NASCAR's longest race – are the most among active drivers and rank second to only NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip's five.

The top driver of all-time at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Johnson boasts a record seven wins at the 1.5-mile track. He claims an all-time mark of four victories at CMS in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race that do not count for his total. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver's 8.6 average running position and 109.0 driver rating at Charlotte are both active series bests.

Johnson's last Charlotte win came in the 2014 Coca-Cola 600.

This season, the No. 48 Chevrolet driver has two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes. He sits third on the Chase Grid and holds six bonus points for the Round of 16 in NASCAR's playoffs (one for each win).

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kasey Kahne – a fellow endurance athletics participant – has won three Coca-Cola 600s. Combined, the pair has won seven of the last 13 spring Charlotte races.

Happy Makes It Happen At Charlotte

Since fall 2010, Kevin Harvick has been one of the strongest drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway with three wins, two runner-ups and 10 top 10s in 11 starts.

In his last six Charlotte races, Harvick owns two wins, two runner-ups, a sixth-place showing and a finish of ninth.

That timeframe marks quite the turnaround for Harvick, who logged a high Queen City finish of 10th from 2002 through spring of 2010 – a span of 17 races.

Two To Go: Busch Needs Wins At Only Charlotte And Pocono To Complete Active Sweep

Only two active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tracks have eluded Kyle Busch – Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway. He’s won at the other 21 active tracks. Only those two remain.

The 1.5-mile oval and Tricky Triangle happen to be the next two courses on the schedule.

Although Busch has never won at CMS, he does own the second-best driver rating (106.1) and average running position (9.7) among active drivers there. In 24 Charlotte starts, he has 10 top fives and 14 top 10s with a high finish of second (twice, fall of 2010 and fall of 2011).

Busch was on his way to victory at Pocono last season, but ran out of fuel on the final lap. A checkered flag would've clinched him his fourth consecutive win.

The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has carried his momentum into this season. He leads the circuit with three wins and nine top-five finishes.

24Shadowing? Elliott Can Grab First Win In Same Race As Gordon

Jeff Gordon captured his first victory in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 via a two-tire gamble on the race's final pit stop. The triumph launched a career that featured 93 wins, four championships and ensured Gordon future enshrinement in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Could Gordon's successor in the No. 24, Chase Elliott, be the next driver to jumpstart a legendary career in the Coca-Cola 600?

Maybe.

The 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion's eight top-10 finishes in the first 12 races in his Sunoco Rookie of the Year contending season are the most since Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat in 2002. His four top-five showings through 12 races are the most in a rookie season since Kasey Kahne posted the same total in 2004.

Elliott placed third in the last points-paying race at Dover where he nearly tracked down race-winner Matt Kenseth and runner-up Kyle Larson for his first victory.

Kenseth, who won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2000, is the only rookie who's achieved the feat.

Jr. Jostles For First 600 Victory, 5 Years After He Ran Out Of Gas

Five years ago Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading the Coca-Cola 600 on the final lap.

Devastatingly, the Kannapolis, North Carolina native and NASCAR history buff, who desperately wants a 600 win in front of his home crowd, ran out of fuel and was passed for the win by Kevin Harvick.

He’ll get another opportunity at 600 glory on Sunday.

In 32 starts at Charlotte, Earnhardt has six top fives and 12 top 10s. He placed third in last year’s spring Charlotte race.

NASCAR Industry To Honor Fallen Service Members With 600 Miles Of Remembrance

Continuing the sport’s long-standing tradition of honoring the United States Armed Forces, all 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers will bear the name of a fallen service member on their race car windshields during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

For the second consecutive year, "600 Miles of Remembrance" will pay tribute this Memorial Day Weekend to those who bravely served and died defending our country.

Windshield headers normally reserved for drivers’ last names will read "SGT HARVEY," "LCPL RAMIREZ," and "SPC BEAUDOIN," among other names of the fallen.

The special tribute will commemorate the launch of NASCAR: An American Salute™, the industry’s collective expression of respect and gratitude for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, past and present. Fans can follow the conversation on social media using #NASCARSalutes.

Queen City Kings: Coca-Cola Conquerors Who've Won Championships

A past reigning or future NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has won 56% of all Coca-Cola 600 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The drivers who have completed the championship/Queen City double: Jimmie Johnson (6 titles, 4 C600s), Dale Earnhardt (7 titles, 3 C600s), Richard Petty (7 titles 2 C600s), Jeff Gordon (4 titles, 3 C600s), Darrell Waltrip (3 titles, 5 C600s), David Pearson (3 titles, 3 C600s), Bobby Allison (1 title, 3 C600s), Kevin Harvick (1 title, 2 C600s), Rusty Wallace (1 title 1 C600), Bobby Labonte (1 title, 1 C600), (1 title, 1 C600), Dale Jarrett (1 title, 1 C600), Benny Parsons (1 title, 1 C600), Kurt Busch (1 title 1 C600) and Matt Kenseth (1 title 1 C600).

Coca-Cola 600 Military Salute

In addition to NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance tribute, further salutes to the United States Armed Forces will take place before the Coca-Cola 600. Charlotte Motor Speedway will feature skydivers from Team Fastrax, war re-enactments, vintage war planes, a 21-gun salute from the Fort Bragg Firing Squad and a flyover of four F-15s from the 334th Fighter Squadron, Fighting Eagles Seymour Johnson AFB. Buses will also transport thousands of troops to the race through the Patriot Partners program. Through the new CMS Salute the Crews program, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team members who have served in the military will be recognized during the pre-race ceremonies and on the giant Speedway…

Fans From Around The Globe Flock To Charlotte Motor Speedway

Throughout all 10 days of NASCAR Thunder in Charlotte, fans from 25 foreign countries and representing 4,100 cities worldwide have visited or plan on going to Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Country Star Lee Brice To Take Stage On Sunday

Grammy-nominated country music artist Lee Brice will perform a pre-race concert prior to the Coca-Cola 600.