The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on the fourth or last Sunday of May and during Memorial Day weekend. It is the longest race on NASCAR's schedule. It is unique for having track conditions that change throughout the race due to the race having a day to night transition (if the race occurs on schedule with no delays or postponements). The race starts around 6 p.m. when the track is bathed in sunlight for about the first third of the race. Roughly the second third happens at dusk, and about the final third of the race occurs at night under the lights.
The race is run later on the same day as the Indianapolis 500 of the IndyCar Series, with multiple drivers having performed or attempted Double Duty, competing in both races. No driver has ever won both races, either on the same day or across their career.
The NASCAR event is held on the last weekend of May (also known as "the greatest day/weekend in motorsports" due to it being one of the largest weekends in auto racing). The NASCAR race occurs last on the same Sunday after Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix (formerly the Monaco Grand Prix) and the IndyCar Series' Indianapolis 500.
Daniel Suárez is the defending winner of the Coca-Cola 600.
Track origin In the spring of 1959, Curtis Turner returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, after viewing Bill France Sr.'s Daytona International Speedway and had an idea of building a race track in the surrounding area. Turner thought he could borrow enough money to build a $750,000 track with 45,000 permanent seats on his property in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Afterward, he learned that a group led by Bruton Smith had a similar idea to build a track near Pineville.
Smith and Turner formed an alliance to build the track, and they signed a contract with NASCAR to run a 600-mile event on Memorial Day. Once the construction crew broke ground, they found a layer of granite under the topsoil, making the construction costs raise. The area for the first turn alone used $70,000 worth of dynamite, ballooning Turner's $750,000 construction plan to nearly two million dollars. In the spring of 1960, Turner begged for a six-week postponement of the race after a snowstorm delayed the concrete pouring.
With two weeks remaining until the inaugural race, the paving subcontractor threatened to quit the job due to lack of payment. To keep him there, Turner and one of his friends threatened the subcontractor with a shotgun and a revolver to ensure the track's backstretch would be completed. The first event at the newly completed Charlotte Motor Speedway was held on June 19, 1960.
History The event began as an attempt by NASCAR to stage a Memorial Day weekend event to compete with the open-wheel Indianapolis 500. It was not until 1974, however, that both races competed head-to-head on the same day, due to Indianapolis' policy of not racing on Sundays prior to that. Before 1974, the two races were held on different days of the week, and on a few occasions, some drivers drove in both. They continued even after the Coca-Cola 600 was moved to the same day, albeit to a lesser degree. The first World 600 was held on June 16 due to construction delays of the completion of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 2009 race, postponed by rain from its original May 24 date, was the first race to occur on Memorial Day itself.
After the installation of lights in 1992, fans asked circuit management to start the race later in the day because of the notorious North Carolina heat and humidity. They wanted to follow The Winston's popularity the previous week and switch the race to a nighttime finish to create cooler temperatures for spectators. The start time was moved back several times throughout the 1990s and finally settled at 5:30 pm in 2001, to attempt to have the race finished by 10 pm ET, in time for local news on Fox affiliates. With the new starting time came new challenges. Not only do race teams have to deal with the blistering Carolina heat, but the considerable temperature drop at night affects track conditions.
The nighttime portion of the race is lit with a system that uses parabolic reflectors so that dangerous glare that would otherwise be in the drivers' eyes is minimized. The move of the race to the early evening made it possible for drivers to do Double Duty – run the Indianapolis 500, then immediately fly from Indianapolis to Charlotte, and participate in the Coca-Cola 600. Experts disagreed over whether, for health and safety reasons, anyone should be allowed to race 1100 miles in one day, but no regulation has been set by any governing body to prevent it. From 2005 to 2010, the issue became moot when the state of Indiana finally decided to implement daylight saving time. This resulted in only an approximately one-hour interval between the end of the Indianapolis 500 and the start of the Coca-Cola 600. The Indianapolis 500 start time was moved back to noon Eastern in 2011 which also moved the Coca-Cola 600 back to 6 pm, since 2011, only 2 drivers have attempted the Double Duty, with the most recent being Kyle Larson in 2024, however, due to rain, he was unable to race in the Coca-Cola 600.
Until the Ferko lawsuit settlement took effect, the race was considered the third leg of the grand slam and was once part of the Winston Million. It is considered one of the top five annual NASCAR races.NASCAR's Best Races
Beginning in 2017, NASCAR adopted the stage-racing format, dividing each of its top three division's races into three stages. Originally, the 600 was going to have stages 1 & 2 be 115 laps in length, with the third and final stage encompassing the remaining 170 laps. Just a few weeks before the race, the stage format for the race was changed with the addition of a fourth stage, and the race is divided into four uniform stages of 100 laps each. This makes it the only race on the schedule with four stages instead of three. If the weather interferes, NASCAR's rule that a race becomes official after the conclusion of the second stage still applies. It also makes the Coca-Cola 600 the highest scoring race in terms of points a driver can collect. Usually, if a driver sweeps all the stages and passes inspection they score 60 points (40 for winning, and 10 for the first two stages), but with 4 stages the maximum is 70 (which Kyle Busch accomplished in 2018 and Kyle Larson accomplished in 2021).
As part of the race's annual tribute to the United States military, "Amazing Grace" (performed by the Charlotte Fire Department Pipe Band) and "Taps" are played prior to the National Anthem (usually sung by a military ensemble or personnel) in memory of members of the Armed Forces who lost their life in the line of duty. Also, after the second stage, all drivers shut off their engines for a moment of silence to remember those in the military who have fallen.
Name changes From 1960 to 1984 the race was known as the World 600. In 1985, the race's name was changed to Coca-Cola World 600. In 1986 the name was shortened to the Coca-Cola 600, or Coke 600 for short. The name changed again in 2002 to the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 referring to the Coca-Cola family of drivers who are sponsored by Coca-Cola. In 2003, the name returned to the Coca-Cola 600.
Individual race details
1960: In the inaugural World 600 in 1960, Don O'Dell's Pontiac smashed the driver's door of Lenny Page's Chevy. Lenny Page was lucky to even survive the impact, and was in critical condition afterward. Reporter Chris Economaki rushed to the scene and applied CPR until safety crews arrived. He was later credited with saving Lenny's life. 1961: The race saw numerous crashes, including a very bad collision involving Reds Kagle, who lost a leg when his Ford smashed through the guardrail in Turn Three. David Pearson lost almost all of a multi-lap lead when a tire popped coming to the white flag but finished the race as winner, his first in Grand National racing. 1964: Fireball Roberts suffered a hard crash in this race, resulting in an inferno. Roberts was severely burned and would die of complications on July 2 of that year. 1974: The race was shortened to 540 miles because of the nation's short-lived fuel crisis, which was won by David Pearson over Richard Petty. The lead changed 37 times between Pearson, Petty, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker, and Donnie Allison, the most lead changes in the event's history to that point. 1975: Richard Petty, after years of frustration, finally collected his first victory at the World 600, proceeding to lap the field. Additionally; another future seven-time champion, Dale Earnhardt, made his Cup Series debut; finishing 21st, one position ahead of his future boss Richard Childress. 1976: Bruton Smith resumed full control of the speedway with the resignation of former track president Richard Howard. In a move to boost promotion of the race, Janet Guthrie was entered in a car wrenched by Ralph Moody. Pearson edged Petty again after a cut tire dropped Yarborough off the lead lap. 1977: Two racing legends won races on the same day. Richard Petty win his second World 600, while A. J. Foyt was winning his fourth at Indy. 1978: Darrell Waltrip won the first of his record five 600s in 1978 in a race-long six-car shootout; on the final lap Benny Parsons and David Pearson crashed. The lead changed 43 times, the most competitive 600 to that point of its history. 1979: The race saw the most lead changes (59) in the race's history. Darrell Waltrip took the win over Richard Petty and rookie Dale Earnhardt. 1980: The race lasted seven hours due to 14 caution flags and two lengthy red flags for rain. Multiple tire failures helped lead to an epidemic of wrecks; at Lap 275 Dale Earnhardt blew a tire and his spin caught up Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and David Pearson. Waltrip had the lead but in the final 20 laps was challenged by Benny Parsons; the two battled with the lead changing some seven times before Parsons edged Waltrip by a car length. 1982: Neil Bonnett won his first World 600 driving the famous No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. 1983: Jim Vandiver's final race, with Neil Bonnett winning his second World 600 driving the No. 75 Rahmoc-Hodgdon Chevrolet. 1985: Considerable pre-race hype surrounded the race as Bill Elliott entered with a chance to win a million-dollar cash bonus for a "small slam" of the sport's four majors. Elliott won the pole position and led 81 laps, but faded to 18th at the finish. Darrell Waltrip took the victory, a key victory en route to the championship. Waltrip (who won the inaugural All-Star race a day earlier) nearly missed the race after a car/engine swap controversy with NASCAR Director of Competition Dick Beatty. Elliott went on to win the Winston Million later in the season at Darlington but never won the 600 in his career. 1988: In the middle of a tire war between the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and Hoosier Racing Tire (now part of Continental AG), multiple tire failures marred the previous week's All-Star race, all involving Goodyear. Goodyear withdrew the tires originally designated for the 600 and substituted a harder compound. Only Dave Marcis stayed with the harder Goodyear tires for the 600. But during the 600, Hoosier tire failures were rampant. Darrell Waltrip survived and edged Rusty Wallace for the win, becoming the first four-time winner of the race.