The 2018 Coca-Cola 600, the 59th running 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 ...

, was a

Monster Energy NASCAR 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, ...

race held on May 27, 2018 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 ...

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 ...

. Contested over 400 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.42 km) asphalt speedway, it is the 13th race of the

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series file:William byron (40178678380).jpg, William Byron (racing driver), William Byron the 2018 NASCAR Rookie of the Year file:Joey logano burnout (48070037412).jpg, Ford Motor Company, Ford won the List of NASCAR Manufacturers' champions, Manuf ...

season.

Report

Background

The race was held at

, which is located in

. The speedway complex includes a quad-oval track that will be utilized for the race, as well as a

dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...

and a dirt track. The speedway was built in 1959 by

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 ...

and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams based in the

Charlotte metropolitan area The Charlotte metropolitan area is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, containing the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, Concord, Huntersville, and ...

. The track is owned and operated by

Speedway Motorsports Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has its headquarters ...

Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith serving as track president.

Entry list

First practice

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.401 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.149 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

Second practice session for Saturday was cancelled due to weather.

Final practice

Erik Jones Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and Th ...

was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.870 seconds and a speed of .

Race

Stage Results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 100 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 100 Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 100

Final Stage Results

Stage 4 ''Laps:'' 100

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 4 among different drivers * Cautions/Laps: 11 for 54 * Red flags: 0 * Time of race: 4 hours, 23 minutes and 22 seconds * Average speed:

Media

Television

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

televised the race in the United States for the eighteenth consecutive year.

Mike Joy Michael Kinsey Joy is an American TV sports announcer and businessman who serves as the play-by-play commentator for Fox Sports' NASCAR coverage. His color analysts are Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Joy has been part of the live broadcast cre ...

was the lap-by-lap announcer, while three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner,

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

and five-time race winner

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports Color analyst, analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NAS ...

were the color commentators.

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter and play by play announcer for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting du ...

, Regan Smith,

Vince Welch Vincent Welch (born August 4, 1964) is an American radio and television personality most recently for Fox Sports. Until 2022, Welch was the play-by-play commentator for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and occasionally, a pit reporter for FOX' ...

and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for ESPN as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2023 as well as for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for the ...

reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio

Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by the

Performance Racing Network The Performance Racing Network or PRN for short is a radio syndication network controlled by Speedway Motorsports (SMI) founded in 1981. PRN airs NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events held at Speedway Motorsports owned tracks. PRN fi ...

(PRN), and was simulcasted on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and

Wendy Venturini Wendy Venturini (born January 30, 1979) is an American reporter for the Performance Racing Network (PRN). She works as broadcaster for NASCAR Cup Series races and sometimes as a pit reporter for races on PRN. She had been a pit reporter in the NA ...

called the race in the booth when the field raced through the quad-oval. Rob Albright reported the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2 and halfway down the backstretch. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through the other half of the backstretch and through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards were the pit reporters during the broadcast.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. *. – Driver has clinched a position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

References

{{Coca-Cola 600

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 ...

NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway