Race
Recap
Coca-Cola
600
Charlotte
Motor Speedway – Charlotte, North Carolina
Sunday,
May 29, 2016
Race
Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Age:
35
Team:
No. 78 – Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota
Owner:
Furniture Row Racing
Crew
Chief: Cole Pearn
IN THE WORDS
OF THE WINNER -- “It feels awesome.
Coca-Cola 600, man, this is one everybody wants to win. I feel like we had this
thing won last year when we gave it up and just I don’t know. There are so many
emotions, I had to unplug my radio and just ride around and think for a few
minutes, because I didn’t even know what I was going to say or what I was going
to do. Just we’ve been through a lot as a group. I’ve been through a lot
personally. I’ve been through a lot with Sherry (Pollex, girlfriend) and just
it’s fun to have her here and have her celebrate and it’s just – happy for my
guys, happy for Barney (Visser, team owner), Toyota, everybody that helps us do
this. I mean, I’ve got the best team in the world and we’ve got these Joe Gibbs
Racing Toyotas flying, man. It’s just fun to drive them and I honestly thought
we could have been better tonight and just kept digging and just kept making
small adjustments and working on it and I don’t know, man. Here we are, so I
was – it was 50 to go and then it was 40 to go and then 30 to go and I just
kept praying for no cautions and driving away.”
- Martin Truex Jr.
----------------
·
Martin
Truex Jr. won the 57th annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor
Speedway Sunday night, his fourth win in 382 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
races. It is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish of 2016.
· This is Truex’s first win and seventh top-10 finish in 22 career races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
· Truex led for 392 of the 400-lap race, a record for the Coca-Cola 600. He also led for a total of 588 miles, the most-ever in any NASCAR race.
· Truex became the first driver to win the Coca-Cola 600 from the pole since David Pearson in 1976.
· Furniture Row Racing is the first single-car team to win the Coca-Cola 600 since Bobby Labonte won the race in 1995 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
· The time of the race was the shortest in the history of the Coca-Cola 600 (3:44:08).
· Kevin Harvick (second) posted his 14th top-10 showing in 31 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his ninth top-10 finish and sixth top-5 of 2016.
· Jimmie Johnson (third) compiled his 18th top-10 finish in 30 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his seventh top-10 finish of 2016 and his sixth in the top-5.
· Chase Elliott (8th) was the highest finishing rookie tonight.
· Kevin Harvick (457) leads the 2016 points standing by 36 points over Kurt Busch (421). The following are the top six drivers in points through the first 13 races:
· This is Truex’s first win and seventh top-10 finish in 22 career races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
· Truex led for 392 of the 400-lap race, a record for the Coca-Cola 600. He also led for a total of 588 miles, the most-ever in any NASCAR race.
· Truex became the first driver to win the Coca-Cola 600 from the pole since David Pearson in 1976.
· Furniture Row Racing is the first single-car team to win the Coca-Cola 600 since Bobby Labonte won the race in 1995 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
· The time of the race was the shortest in the history of the Coca-Cola 600 (3:44:08).
· Kevin Harvick (second) posted his 14th top-10 showing in 31 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his ninth top-10 finish and sixth top-5 of 2016.
· Jimmie Johnson (third) compiled his 18th top-10 finish in 30 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his seventh top-10 finish of 2016 and his sixth in the top-5.
· Chase Elliott (8th) was the highest finishing rookie tonight.
· Kevin Harvick (457) leads the 2016 points standing by 36 points over Kurt Busch (421). The following are the top six drivers in points through the first 13 races:
Driver Wins Points
Kevin Harvick 1 457
Kurt Busch 0 421
Jimmie Johnson 2 409
Kyle Busch 3 405
Carl Edwards 2 404
Brad Keselowski 2 404
·
With
the win, Martin Truex Jr. becomes the eighth driver to qualify for the 2016
Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, a list which also includes Carl Edwards, Kyle
Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Matt
Kenseth, all of who have taken checkered flags this year. The Chase
culminates with the Ford EcoBoost 400 Championship race on November 20 at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
·
In
11 career Sprint Cup starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. has
posted seven top-10 finishes and three top 5s. He finished 12th
in the 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 when he was part of the Championship 4.
