From pole sitter to Coca-Cola 600 winner, Kyle Busch had a perfect Sunday.
Memorial Day weekend is first, and foremost to honor the brave that have fallen that gave us our freedoms. That includes days to sit down and watch racing from sun-up, to sundown. From Monaco, to Charlotte and a stop in the heartland with Indy. It’s the greatest day in racing, and on Sunday we wrapped it all up with 600 miles around the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Stars of NASCAR battled out a Memorial day tradition, the Coca-Cola 600.
On The Gas.
3: Joey Logano – It wasn’t the finish Logano and his Penske Racing team had after his owner Roger Penske won the Indy 500 earlier in the day, but Logano was the only other driver to lead more than 10 laps in the 400 lap race. He was on the gas for a short time.
2: Denny Hamlin – You lead a couple laps and finish in the top 3, not a bad night. On a night where your teammate is running like he has a NASA rocket strapped to his car, it’s a great night.
1: Kyle Busch – Lets see. He leads 377 out of 400 laps, wins his first points paying race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. And, he becomes the first driver to win on all active tracks that he currently races on. That’s a pretty good night, and one Busch won’t soon forget.
Busch was fast and untouchable and had to do interviews at 1 in the morning, there were others that were home before the sun went down.
On The Brakes.
3: Ryan Blaney – When you know you’ve got four plus hours of racing dead ahead, and the engine gives you issues early, it’s going to be a long night. That was the case for Blaney. Hearing your crew chief say just ride it out until it blows is not something a driver wants to hear. His Ford powerplant didn’t give the show they wanted, but the finale was spectacular…for fire enthusiasts.
2: William Byron – The Rookie just cant buy a break. His first 600 and the car showed speed early, but a tank slapper to the turn 3 wall sent Byron to the garage, and out well before the halfway point.
1: Kevin Harvick – The one guy that has been able to keep up with Kyle Busch, and exceed his speed entered Charlotte as the favorite, even after missing qualifying. Harvick may have just broke a sweat when the air went out of his left front tire. Harvick’s No. 4 Ford pancaked the right side and sent the 5 time winner in 2018 home home in time to have to still have a long weekend.
40 cars this past weekend, and 39 of them went home with an unnatural urge to destroy a bag M&M’s. It was an old fashioned “Wood shed woopin'” on Sunday night. Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the Tricky Triangle, and guess who is pretty good there. That’s right, Kyle Busch. He’s sat on the pole the last two races, and won the last time we were at Pocono.
