The 2000 Coca-Cola 600 was the 12th stock car race of the

2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:MattKenseth&KevinHarvick.jpg, Matt Kenseth, (pictured in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, 2007) was the NASCAR Rookie of the Year. The 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 52nd season of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, professional sto ...

and the 41st iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was held on Sunday, May 28, 2000, before an audience of 183,500 in

Concord, North Carolina Concord ( ) is the most populous city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 105,240 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Concord is the second-most populous city in the Cha ...

, at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. Taking advantage of a misfortunate

Jerry Nadeau Jerry Anthony Nadeau (born September 9, 1969) is an American former stock car racer. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He started racing go-karts before moving up to car racing, driving in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the European Formu ...

Roush Racing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s and early 2010s, Roush formerly ...

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and the current competition advisor for Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series. Most recently, he raced part-time in the Superstar Racing Exper ...

managed to make a late-race pass with 26 laps left in the race, leading the rest of the race to take his first career

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

victory and his only victory of the season. With this win, he became the first ever rookie to win the Coca-Cola 600. To fill out the top three,

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes part-time in the SMART Modified Tour, driving the No. 18L for Hermie Sa ...

and

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

finished second and third, respectively.

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 a1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious

Coca-Cola 600 The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend. The first race, held in 1960, was also the firs ...

on Memorial Day weekend and the

NEXTEL All-Star Challenge All-star game, All-Star events are annually held in the NASCAR Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Beginning in 2008, NASCAR began the practice of using Roman numerals to identify each race, but ended one ...

, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in1959 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 Ollen Bruton Smith (March 3, 1927 – June 22, 2022) was an American motorsports executive and businessman. He was best known as the owner of two public companies, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) and Sonic Automotive. Smith held the positions ...

) as track president.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Wednesday, May 24, at 3:00 PM EST. The session lasted for two hours and 55 minutes. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.'s

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.325 and an average speed of .

Second practice

The second practice session was held on Thursday, May 25, at 2:30 PM EST. The session lasted for two hours.

Melling Racing Melling Racing was a Championship-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Winston Cup Series race team owned by Harry Melling (NASCAR), Harry Melling and his son Mark Melling. Harry Melling ran the team from its inception in 1982, to mid-1999. When Har ...

Stacy Compton Stacy Marshall Compton (born May 26, 1967) is an American NASCAR former team owner and former driver. He is a former co-owner of Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia in the Craftsman Truck Series and is a former racing analyst for ESPN full-time. Before ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.189 and an average speed of .

Third practice

The third practice session was held on Thursday, May 25, at 7:00 PM EST. The session lasted for one hour.

Penske-Kranefuss Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.438 and an average speed of .

Fourth practice

The fourth practice session was held on Saturday, May 27, at 9:00 AM EST. The session lasted for one hour.

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.175 and an average speed of .

Final practice

The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, May 27, after the preliminary 2000 Carquest 300. The session lasted for one hour. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.'s

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.441 and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 24, at 8:05 PM EST. Each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two counted as their official qualifying lap. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round was guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Thursday, May 25, at 6:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 26–36 was decided on time, while positions 37–43 was based on provisionals. Six spots were awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh was awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points was awarded a provisional.

, driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., managed to win the pole, setting a time of 29.027 and an average speed of in the first round. Five drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References

{{NASCAR on TBS 2000 in sports in North Carolina 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway May 2000 sports events in the United States