CONCORD, N.C. – It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means the 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway has arrived.
With plenty of success at Charlotte through the years, Hendrick Motorsports will look to build on its record-setting success in the Queen City.
As the race weekend get underway, here are some insights to keep in mind.
- Hendrick Motorsports leads the way for all teams in the 600-mile event at Charlotte with 11 wins, and the victories have come via a record five different drivers. Two drivers from the organization have scored their first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Charlotte: Jeff Gordon (1994) and Casey Mears (2007).
- Chase Elliott is set to make his fifth start in the 600-mile race at Charlotte this weekend. In his previous four starts, he earned one top-10 finish (May 2016). Last season, the driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 raced inside the top 10 for much of the event before eventually finishing in 11th. Elliott is on a roll with three straight top-five finishes (Talladega – first; Dover – fifth; Kansas – fourth). It marks the longest top-five streak of the 23-year-old driver's NASCAR Cup Series career.
- Cutting his teeth in the racing world in Charlotte, North Carolina, Byron is one of a handful of drivers who was born and raised in the “home of NASCAR.” Sunday’s race will mark the No. 24 driver's second appearance in the Charlotte 600, and he'll tackle the challenge as the youngest pole-sitter in the race's history. With his seven-time champion crew chief Chad Knaus calling the shots, Byron will have the insight from a crew chief who has competed at the track 35 times. Of Knaus’ 35 starts as a Cup crew chief at Charlotte, 18 of those races have been the prestigious 600-mile event on Memorial Day weekend, and he has won the crown jewel race four times.
- Jimmie Johnson’s statistics at Charlotte Motor Speedway include eight career points wins at the track (four in the 600-mile race) in addition to four All-Star wins – both of which are the most all-time. Johnson has led in 26 of his 34 starts at the 1.5-mile track for 1,930 laps – the second-most all-time. Johnson is tied with Gordon for the most top-five finishes all-time on 1.5-mile tracks with 74. With 113 top-10s on the track length, he is just one top-10 finish behind Gordon's 114, which are the most all-time.
- This weekend’s race will be Bowman’s seventh start at the 1.5-mile track. Last spring, Bowman and the No. 88 Nationwide team finished ninth after qualifying 27th for the 600-mile event. It was the driver’s best finish in a spring race at the track. For the past three weekends, the driver and the No. 88 team have crossed the finish line at the conclusion of the race in second place. It is the first time a driver has finished second three times in a row before capturing his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Tune into the race this Sunday on FOX at 6 p.m. ET.