Shane van Gisbergen at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Van Gisbergen was competitive all race long, banking points at the end of the first three stages and leading 11 laps.
He finished 10th in Stage 1, ninth in Stage 2, and seventh in Stage 3 before finishing the 400-lap race in 11th.
The race was won by Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suarez, whose decision to take two tyres instead of four paid dividends when he leapt to the lead.
Suarez held off back-to-back attacks from Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell to take the win.
It’s the first win for Suarez at Spire, who was let go by Trackhouse late last year.
Suarez paid tribute to the late Kyle Busch, who was an early supporter of the Mexican driver.
“This one really means a lot. This one really means a lot,” said Suarez.
“I’ve been saying for years this is my favourite race of the year. I get to have my family here every year.
“It’s been a very tough week. Kyle, he was special man. This one is for Kyle — for Kyle for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, for all his family.”
After practice and qualifying was rained out, the grid was set according to he NASCAR rule book on qualifying metric.
Thanks to his Watkins Glen win, van Gisbergen line the #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro in third.
On Lap 35, the caution came out when Josh Berry got loose in Turn 1 and spun the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang on his own.
The first major incident happened on Lap 53 when Ryan Blaney spun his #12 Team Penske Mustang.
Blaney looked like he might escape serious damage until Connor Zilisch lost control of his #88 Trackhouse Racing Camaro trying to avoid the sliding car ahead of him.
Just shy of the Stage 1 finish, the caution flew with 10 laps to go when Chase Elliott spun out of 16th place and hit the inside wall exiting Turn 2.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson won Stage 1 ahead of Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, and Erik Jones.
Stage 2 ran caution-free, during which time the Toyotas rose to the fore. Hamlin beat Gibbs to the green-chequered with Briscoe third, Reddick fourth, and Larson fifth.
Stage 3 only ran for a few green flag laps before Katherine Legge’s #78 Live Fast Motorsports Camaro lost its right front wheel, bringing out the yellow.
Bell won Stage 3 ahead of Hamlin, Gibbs, Briscoe, and Larson.
Stage 4 began with Christopher Bell at the head of the field alongside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs.
Gibbs surged forward with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in tow, demoting Bell to third.
The decisive moment of the race came on Lap 318 when Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain crashed.
Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse tagged the back of Chastain, tipping the #1 Chevrolet Camaro into a spin and hard into the inside wall.
Having pitted on Lap 309, Gibbs and van Gisbergen elected to stay out.
The rest of the front-runners pitted. Kyle Larson led the pit lane at the head of the queue ahead of Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Zane Smith, and Tyler Reddick. Those ahead of Reddick only took two tyres.
Racing resumed on Lap 327 with Gibbs taking the bottom and van Gisbergen the top.
Van Gisbergen got a good getaway while Gibbs spun his wheels trying to get going. Bell, meanwhile, cleared Larson and Bell to challenge van Gisbergen’s lead.
Out of Turn 4 on Lap 328, Bell took the race lead.
A lap later, the race was neutralised when Chase Briscoe got into the back of Chris Buescher and tipped the #17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang into a spin.
Buescher rotated and took out his #60 teammate Ryan Preece, whose car veered to the bottom of the track and collected the instigator Briscoe.
Josh Berry was another innocent victim in the melee as he collected Preece.
Racing resumed on Lap 338 with van Gisbergen in first and Bell second. Van Gisbergen steadily lost positions to fifth until the caution came out on Lap 353 for lightning.
That triggered pit stops for the front-runners. Some elected to take two tyres and others four.
The big mover was Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suarez who took the lead with a two-tyre change. Bell was second
Bell was second, Hamlin third, Larson fourth, Reddick fourth, Smith fifth Gibbs sixth, Logano seventh, Byron eighth, and van Gisbergen ninth.
Racing resumed with 41 laps to go, though that lasted just two laps when the caution came out for rain.
The red flag was flown with Suarez at the point ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Larson, and Reddick. The top 10 was completed by van Gisbergen.
After a brief intermission, the race restarted with 31 laps to go. Suarez cleared Bell for the lead through Turn 1 and 2.
It was another short-lived run as rain returned on Lap 373.
Suarez’s decision to take two tyres paid dividends handsomely when NASCAR called the race 27 laps short of the finish.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues at Nashville Superspeedway on June 1 (AEST).
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
7
Daniel Suarez
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
373 laps
2
20
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
0.61
0.61
3
11
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
0.611
0.001
4
45
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
2.056
1.445
5
5
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
3.424
1.368
6
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
4.116
0.692
7
12
Ryan Blaney
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
5.453
1.337
8
22
Joey Logano
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
7.901
2.448
9
24
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
8.611
0.71
10
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
9.17
0.559
11
97
Shane Van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
10.323
1.153
12
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
10.614
0.291
13
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
10.656
0.042
14
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
10.657
0.001
15
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
12.634
1.977
16
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Team
Chevrolet Camaro
13.36
0.726
17
48
Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
15.136
1.776
18
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
15.737
0.601
19
67
Corey Heim
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
16.181
0.444
20
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
19.601
3.42
21
35
Riley Herbst
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
1 lap
22
23
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
1 lap
23
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
24
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
1 lap
25
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
26
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
1 lap
27
33
Austin Hill
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
28
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
1 lap
29
21
Josh Berry
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford Mustang
2 laps
30
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
6 laps
4 laps
31
78
Katherine Legge
Live Fast Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
12 laps
6 laps
32
3
Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
35 laps
23 laps
33
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
45 laps
10 laps
34
19
Chase Briscoe
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
45 laps
35
1
Ross Chastain
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
56 laps
11 laps
36
66
Timmy Hill
Garage 66
Ford Mustang
82 laps
26 laps
37
9
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
284 laps
38
2
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
321 laps
37 laps
39
88
Connor Zilisch
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
321 laps
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