NASCAR takes on its fastest race this Memorial Day weekend, going to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600. Yes, you read that right. This race will be 600 miles on a 1.5-mile track, making up 400 miles total for these drivers. It’s a test of endurance for pit crews, the track itself, and most importantly, the drivers themselves. It’s a night race, so it won’t be hell on earth inside these cars. But it’s still a long time to be stuck in these machines.
Last year, the #11 of Denny Hamlin took home the victory from Charlotte, after winning the pole and fighting his way back up to lead the final laps. The #1 of Ross Chastain led the highest total of laps with 153 but finished 15th overall. It’s a race where anything can happen and has seen a variance of different winners throughout recent races on the course.
Per usual, I’m going to give you five drivers (or in this case, six) that I think could be contenders to take it home, or at the very least be an interesting watch. So, let’s dive right into who I’m looking at for the Coca-Cola 600!
#4 Kevin Harvick
Stewart-Haas, and the Ford teams in general, have had a brutal 2023 season. Fords hold just one win on the year at Atlanta, and they just haven’t found consistency. Stewart-Haas has yet to find themselves in victory lane this year, and they just haven’t gotten into a groove all season long. This must frustrate nobody more than the upcoming retiree, Kevin Harvick. He’s been without question one of the more consistent drivers of the Ford cars, but it doesn’t take a whole lot. But for what it’s worth, he ran well at Darlington. But last week at North Wilkesboro for the All-Star Race, he fell back to earth at 18th.
Finding fords to pick weekly has been particularly tough, but Harvick has a promising history here. He’s finished inside the top five at Charlotte Motor Speedway twice, with an additional two top-10 finishes. Fords are hard to pick, but I think Harvick could be the best one.
#5 Kyle Larson
You could realistically put Larson into any lineup any week and you have some pretty sweet odds to get it right. He’s got two wins on the year, three if you count the All-Star Race last weekend. Plus add on the numerous amounts of times he’s gotten wrecked, bumped, and screwed out of others. He’s by far been the best car in the Cup Series this year, and Charlotte is a track that’s been great to him in recent memory. He’s won here before with a low finish of ninth. He also holds a driver rating of 120.7. The next closest is teammate Chase Elliot with 114.7. So yeah, the #5 is pretty solid here and will be a solid bet for this weekend. And probably all weekends moving forward.
#11 Denny Hamlin
Winning last year’s edition pretty much gets an auto-nomination from me, but let’s not forget how great Hamlin has been this year. The #11 has been consistently one of the fastest cars of the Cup Series. He won his first race at Kansas, but he’s been consistently running in front of most if not all races at some point. It’s a good bet that he’ll be in the mix at the end, along with teammates #23 Bubba Wallace of 23XI who’s on a hot streak lately, and #19 Martin Truex Jr of Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin is my favorite of the Toyotas, but there are a lot of good names to choose from.
#48 Alex Bowman
I feel like with his return, Alex Bowman fits the purpose of these pieces. This is his first race since fracturing his vertebra last month, and he’s back right as Hendrick Motorsports expected. Bowman before the injury was running as the points leader and putting on maybe his most consistent season yet in the #48 car. Injury unfortunately is something that the HMS team has dealt with all season long, starting with Chase Elliott’s absence with his broken leg. Berry performed admirably and just got a new deal with Stewart-Haas to maybe take over the #4 car next year.
But this is about Bowman the Showman. It’s a tough race to return, coming off of a brutal injury, for 600 miles, not ideal. But he’s historically run well at this track. He’s got a top-five finish and an additional top-10 in five races total. As well as the third-best driver rating of 99.1. He might not be the best candidate to take the win, but he’s somebody to watch regardless as it’s his first race back. We’ll see how quickly he can rebound from this back injury and if he can get into victory lane and secure a playoff spot immediately.
#99 Daniel Suarez
The sleeper pick of the week; the lesser-known racer of Trackhouse Racing. The #1 of Ross Chastain has been all in the headlines this season. Getting in the grill of Larson and getting into a fight post-race at Kansas. But Suarez is somebody to keep an eye on here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He ran pretty well at this course last year, finishing 12th, leading 36 laps. He also had the sixth-best driver rating of the day with a 97.3. His teammate had the highest, but I feel like Chastain gets enough news as is.
I think Suarez is a valuable sleeper for this track and could surprise us all at this 600-mile race. He’s been quiet to this point, one top-five finish at California, and an additional three top-10s. Look out for the #99 on Sunday, he could sneak his way to the front at some point and be an unforeseen factor at the end of this test of endurance.
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