Ross Chastain took home the Coca-Cola 600 victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. The race is one of the “Crown Jewel” races of the NASCAR season.
The win marks the first of the season for Chastain, who wrecked in practice and had to use a backup car and work his way through the field.
The race’s biggest storyline coming in was Kyle Larson, who was once again attempting to do “The Double,” racing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coke 600 in the same day. However, Larson’s Indy 500 run was cut short when he crashed.
He tried to erase that negative momentum at Charlotte, and early it looked like he might. However, he eventually spun and wrecked from the lead, losing his track position.
Larson’s mistake helped his teammate William Byron take control of the race. Byron showed plenty of speed and won the first of four stages in NASCAR’s longest race. Stage two saw a battle as Denny Hamlin began to challenge Byron. The #24 was able to hold Hamlin and Carson Hocevar off for the stage two win as well.
Hocevar blew an engine just when he seemed poised to potentially take the lead. That again made things a battle between Byron and Hamlin, but Byron won stage three as well.
The final stage saw strategy differences, and Hamlin made a mistake not taking enough fuel. The #1 car of Ross Chastain started to surge forward and became the prime candidate to battle Byron down the stretch.
With just six laps to go, Chastain made his move. He aggressively slid up in front of Byron and took the lead. Despite the #24 making a few more runs at it, Chastain held the lead and secured his first win of the season.