Event statistics following the 13th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Kyle Busch dominated the race, leading 377 of the 400 laps for his fourth victory of the season and the first Coca Cola 600 win of his career. Busch – who has now won a points-paying Cup Series race at every track he’s contested – defeated Martin Truex Jr. by 3.823 seconds. Third was Denny Hamlin, followed by Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson.
Race Statistics
Coca Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, North Carolina
- Winner (starting position): Kyle Busch (1st)
- Top Five: Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson
- Full Results: Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Paul Menard, Daniel Suarez, Darrell Wallace Jr., Matt Kenseth, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Ty Dillon, Joey Logano, A.J. Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, David Ragan, Corey LaJoie, Parker Kligerman, Landon Cassill, Chris Buescher, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Gray Gaulding, Timmy Hill, B.J. McLeod, Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, J.J. Yeley, William Byron, Kevin Harvick
- Average Speed: 136.692 mph
- Laps Completed: 400
- Race Leaders: 4
- Laps Led: Kyle Busch (377), Joey Logano (12), Denny Hamlin (9), Brad Keselowski (2)
- Pole Position: Kyle Busch (191.836 mph; 28.149 seconds)
- Hard Charger: Jimmie Johnson (+18; 23rd to 5th)
- Margin of Victory: 3.823 seconds
- Car Count: 40
- Cars Entered: 40
- Cars Running at Finish: 35 (of 40; or 88 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 9
- Cautions: 11 for 54 laps
- Lead Changes: 9
- Stage Winners: Kyle Busch (1), Kyle Busch (2), Kyle Busch (3)
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (19); Ford (13); Toyota (8)
- Weather at Start of Race: 84 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, winds SW 7 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 74 degrees Fahrenheit, fair, winds E 6 mph
Notes of Interest – Race/Weekend Recap
- This was the 119th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
- This is Kyle Busch’s fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2018 season and the 47th of his career, moving him into sole possession of 15th all-time in wins. He had previously been tied for 15th with Buck Baker.
- Overall, Busch now has 188 victories in NASCAR’s three national series.
- Busch is one of six drivers to win at least one Cup series race this season, and one of two with multiple victories in 2018. Kevin Harvick has a season-leading five victories, while Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano have one win each.
- This is Busch’s first points-paying victory at Charlotte, giving him at least one victory at every track on the current schedule, and a victory at every track at which he’s competed, the first driver to accomplish the feat in NASCAR history. Busch now has 16 national series points-paying wins at Charlotte.
- Busch has now won four or more Cup Series races in each of the last four seasons and eight of his 14 fulltime Cup Series seasons. He’s won multiple races in 12 seasons and at least one race in the last 14 seasons.
- This is Busch’s eighth top-three finish this season, the most of any driver. He also has eight top fives and season-leading 10 top 10s, tied with Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano.
- This is Busch’s 11th victory on a mile-and-a-half track and second of the season (won at Texas).
- This is Busch’s first Cup Series victory since he turned 33 (birthdate was May 2).
- This is Busch’s second victory from the pole position this season. He also won from the top starting position at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Eleven of his 47 wins have come from the pole and 12 have come from the front row.
- In total, four of the 13 Cup Series races this season have been won from the pole. Martin Truex Jr. (Auto Club Speedway) and Kevin Harvick (Kansas Speedway) have also started and finished first in the same race.
- Harvick won the race by 0.360 seconds, the first race at Kansas in which the margin of victory was less than one second.
- This is Busch’s 43rd victory with Joe Gibbs Racing, which leads all drivers, and 43rd career victory driving a Toyota.
- Busch’s 377 laps led were the second most he’s led in a Cup Series victory in his career. Busch led a career-high 378 laps in his victory in the 2009 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He’s led 300 or more laps in a race victory three times total (also includes 352 laps led in the 2016 spring race at Martinsville Speedway).
- Busch has now led 1,377 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He led his 1,000th lap at the track when he completed Lap 11 one the point.
- In addition to his 47th win, Busch also now has 169 top fives and 251 top 10s. His 250th career top 10 came at Kansas Speedway earlier this month.
- Busch now has an average finish of 7.92 this season, which leads all drivers.
- This is Joe Gibbs Racing’s fourth Cup Series victory of the season, second behind Stewart-Haas Racing’s six wins.
- This is Toyota’s fifth victory of 2018 – four with Joe Gibbs Racing and one with Furniture Row Racing. Ford continues to lead all manufacturers in victories with seven this season.
- This is Busch’s third pole position of the season and the 30th of his career. Busch has three poles at Charlotte, including two for the Coca Cola 600 (2008, 2018) and one for the fall race (2014).
- Busch has amassed at least two poles in each of the last three seasons and eight seasons overall. He has at least one pole in 13 seasons, across 17 different tracks.
- Martin Truex Jr., the 2016 Coca Cola 600 winner, finished second, his second consecutive runner-up finish (was second at Kansas earlier this month). It is Truex’s eighth top-five finish this season.
- Truex did not lead a lap, marking the first time since Richmond International Raceway that the second-place finisher did not lead a lap.
- Denny Hamlin finished third, his second consecutive top-five finish and eighth this season, to give Joe Gibbs Racing two drivers in the top three. Hamlin led nine laps, giving him laps led in 10 of 13 races this season (had a nine-race streak of laps led broken at Dover International Speedway, and extended to the last race at Kansas).
- Brad Keselowski was fourth, after leading two laps. Keselowski now has three top fives and seven top 10s in 13 races this season. Keselowski was the highest-finishing Ford driver.
- Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five, claiming his second top five of 2018. Johnson has now finished every lap in each of the last three Coca Cola 600s. Johnson, who advanced a race-high 18 positions after starting 23rd, was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver.
- Jamie McMurray was sixth, his second top-10 finish of 2018. He claimed a season-best third at Texas Motor Speedway.
- McMurray’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson finished seventh, despite spinning twice. It was Larson’s third consecutive top 10 and eighth overall.
- Kurt Busch finished eighth, his fourth consecutive finish of eighth or better and seventh top-10 finish of the season. He was the highest-finishing Stewart-Haas Racing driver.
- Alex Bowman was ninth for his fourth top-10 finish of 2018, giving Hendrick Motorsports two cars in the top 10 for the first time since Talladega Superspeedway. Bowman was the final driver to finish the race on the lead lap.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top 10 with his third top-10 result of the season.
- Chase Elliott was 11th to become the third Hendrick Motorsports driver to finish in the top 11.
- Joey Logano finished 22nd, completing 399 laps. It marked only the second race in 13 this season that Logano failed to complete every lap. Still, Logano has completed the most laps of any driver this season: 4,300 out of 4,302.
- Parker Kligerman finished 27th in his season debut. Matt Kenseth (17th) and B.J. McLeod (33rd) each earned season-best finishes in their second races of 2018 (both debuted at Kansas).
- Kevin Harvick finished 40th, hitting the wall after completing 83 laps. It marked Harvick’s first finish of last-place in 623 career Cup Series races.
- This is the seventh consecutive Coca Cola 600 in which the scheduled 400-lap distance was contested without being abbreviated or going into overtime.
- A total of four drivers led the race, which marks the fewest leaders of any race this season. The race’s nine lead changes were also the fewest of any race this season.
- A total of nine drivers finished on the lead lap, tying the fewest drivers to finish on the lead lap in a race this season (nine drivers finished on the lead lap at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4).
- A total of 20 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- A total of 35 cars finished the race, the most in the Coca Cola 600 since the 2016 race, when 38 of the 40 drivers finished the race.
- The next Cup Series race will be Sunday, June 3, with the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
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