Coca-Cola 600 unpredictable, entertaining
CONCORD, N.C. » The Coca-Cola 600 was many things — excruciatingly long, wildly unpredictable and perhaps above all else, immensely entertaining.
It was, as William Byron described after getting caught up in a 12-car crash, “chaos out there.”
In race that took five hours, 13 minutes to complete and included 18 cautions and 17 cars finishing in the garage in various states of disrepair, the first Next Gen race at Charlotte Motor Speedway left many shaking their heads over the events of the night. Denny Hamlin ultimately won the longest race in NASCAR history (619.5 miles) by beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line by 0.014 seconds in double overtime.
Things were so insane at one point that Fox Sports racing analyst and longtime Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer exclaimed, “This is the wildest and craziest 600 that has ever happened!” And he was right.
Few cars escaped the race unscathed, with Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace among the many who simply got sideways while racing alone and spun out, often times ending up harmlessly in the infield turf and drawing a yellow flag.
Others weren’t as fortunate. Chris Buescher was involved in a scary wreck that saw his No. 17 Ford flip five times before landing on its hood. Safety crews had to carefully to flip his car over before Buescher could climb out of the vehicle. He walked away sore but relatively unscathed.
“Thank you to everybody working for not slamming it back,” Buescher said. “It was nice to be able to get out. The blood is rushing to your head a little bit.”
And that wasn’t even the craziest wreck of the night.
Last weekend’s All-Star Race winner, Ryan Blaney, got too low on the apron at the bottom of the track on lap 192 and spun to the right, heading up the track where he collected 11 other cars in the melee and ended the night for Brad Keselowski, Wallace, Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott, whose mangled cars were taken behind the pit wall.
The most costly wreck, at least for defending race champion Kyle Larson, came when Chase Briscoe crashed with two laps to go while
Kressley and Jeff Strunk -- battled for third spot. Strunk won the four-car war, having moved up from the 22nd starting position.
Howard claimed the checkered flag and a $1,500 payday for winning the first segment. Buckwalter was in second, Strunk in third, and Hirthler in fourth.
The top-4 finishers inverted for the start of segment two, giving Hirthler the prime starting position for the lap 31 green flag.
Hirthler dominated the second segment, taking the lead early while Howard faded backwards and Von Dohren moved into the third spot.
Hirthler scored a $1,500 payday, Strunk finished in second, Von Dohren in third, and Buckwalter in fourth.
The third and final segment of the event saw Buckwalter and Von Dohren on the front row in a 10lap shootout to the finish – and a $5,000 payday. Von Dohren took the lead quickly, while Buckwalter and Strunk fought it out for the runner-up spot.
Von Dohren easily sailed to victory and the first ever Balls to the Wall 50. Tim Buckwalter finished in second, Jeff Strunk in third, Kevin Hirthler in fourth, and Billy Pauch Jr. in fifth.
GT Radiator Modified Qualifying events were won by Brett Kressley, Duane Howard, Rick Laubach, and Cory Merkel – each taking home $200 courtesy of GT Radiators. C. Modified last chance qualifying events were won by Steve Swinehart and Jeff Strunk, scoring a $100 payday from GT Radiators, respectively.
Von Dohren, Buckwalter and Strunk also received a bottle of wine, courtesy of Clever Girl Winery.
Billy Pauch Jr. took momentum from his fifthplace Modified finish and used that to score the win in the USAC All-Pro SpeedSTR feature event.
The Pauch pair started in the front row of the SpeedSTR feature with the younger starting on the pole, and Pauch Sr. starting on the outside.
Pauch Jr. was in a class of his own making quick work of the SpeedSTR 25-lap
event. The action slowed one time on the 8th circuit, but that didn’t slow Pauch Jr. who easily picked up the win. Billy Pauch Sr finished in second, Richie Tobias finished in third, Louden Reimert in fourth, and Tim Buckwalter in the fifth position.
SpeedSTR heat races were won by Billy Pauch Jr. and Billy Pauch Sr.
The PPB Balls to the Wall Invert race offered drivers a unique opportunity to earn money as can be seen when reviewing the Modified feature finish below that includes money earned during the night Interesting to note that Duane Howard who finished sixteenth in the feature earned $2,325 as Tim Buckwalter who finished second and Kevin Hirthler who finished fourth, both earned $3,000. The format received very positive feedback from drivers, owners and race fans as well.
The NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on Hill Racing Series returns on Tuesday, June 14 for the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series and the NASCAR 358 Modifieds.
For more information
visit www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com.