Charlotte buzzing for longest NASCAR race
NASCAR is very much still a hot ticket in its Charlotte hub.
Charlotte Motor Speedway announced a sellout for the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday in Concord, N.C., meaning approximately 100,000 fans are expected to attend NASCAR’s longestrace of the season.
Grandstand seats sold out earlier this week, and officials announced Saturday that all premium, reserved and standing-room-only seatshave all been purchased as well. It will be the largest crowd for the Coca-Cola 600 since 2017.
“This being Memorial Day weekend, it is the biggest weekend in motorsports,” Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer for Speedway Motorsports, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
“And we love being the grand finale to the greatest day in motorsports, starting in Monaco and then Indianapolis and then Charlotte with theCoke 600.”
NASCAR the past few years has made multiple tweaksto its traditional schedule but the 600 has remained untouched. It’s 100 miles longer than any other event on theCup schedule.
“One of my goals is for our events, in particular the CocaCola600, not to grow old, but to grow legendary,” Smith said. “Andanybody who loves to go to events, you want to go to some of those legendary events that have been around for a long time. It’s been 63 years now, and the Coke 600 is now on our fourth generation of NASCAR fans. ... I think that is a really special thing forus.”
Denny Hamlin put his No. 11Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the front row for the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. Hamlin’s driver at 23XI Racing, Kurt Busch, will start alongside him Sunday. Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and William Byronround out the top 5.
Pre-qualifying favorite Kyle Larson zoomed to the top of the practice leader board Saturday, before sustaining damage during qualifying, which dropped him to 36 on thestarting grid.
Formula One
On his home track, Charles Leclerc hopes to finish for the first time and reclaim the pointslead from Max Verstappen. Leclerc will lead the field from pole Sunday in the MonacoGrand Prix.
Xfinity Series
When Josh Berry crossed thefinish line at Charlotte Motor Speedway — giving JR Motorsports its first Xfinity Serieswin at its home track — second-place Ty Gibbs was just reaching the 200-foot-long Speedway TV screen television on the backstretch. After JRM teammate Justin Allgaier scraped the outside wall for the second time and had to pit during the final 81-lap green-flag run, Berry won Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 by an astonishing 18.039 secondsover Gibbs.