The 2011 Coca-Cola 600, the 52nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series motor race held on May 29, 2011, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested over 400 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt quad-oval, it was the twelfth race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by Kevin Harvick for the Richard Childress Racing team. David Ragan finished second, and Joey Logano clinched third.
There were 14 cautions and 38 lead changes among 19 different drivers throughout the course of the race. The result moved Harvick to the second position in the Drivers' Championship. He remained 36 points behind first place driver Carl Edwards and one ahead of Jimmie Johnson in third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was first with 83 points, six ahead of Ford. Toyota was third with 64 points, 24 points ahead of Dodge. The race was extended to 402 laps and , making it the longest race in NASCAR history at the time. 145,000 people attended the race, while 10.1 million watched it on television.
Report
Background Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also had a five degree banking. The racetrack has seats for 140,000 spectators.
Before the race, Ford driver Carl Edwards led the Drivers' Championship with 416 points; Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson was second with 392 points, 24 points behind Edwards. Kyle Busch followed in third with 379 points, 15 ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 17 ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth and fifth. Matt Kenseth with 342 was two points ahead of Ryan Newman in seventh. Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart rounded out the top ten positions. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 74 points, three points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 60 points, was 37 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Kurt Busch was the race's defending champion.
The Coca-Cola 600 was conceived by race car driver Curtis Turner, who built the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was first held in 1960 in an attempt by NASCAR to stage a Memorial Day weekend race to compete with the open-wheel Indianapolis 500; the two races were held together on the same day starting from 1974. The race is the longest in terms of distance on the NASCAR calendar and is considered by several drivers to be one of the sport's most important races alongside the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500. The long distance makes it the most physically demanding event in NASCAR, and teams adapt to changing track conditions because the race occurs between late afternoon and evening. It was known as the World 600 until 1984 when The Coca-Cola Company purchased the naming rights to the race and renamed it the Coca-Cola World 600 in 1985. It has been called the Coca-Cola 600 every year since 1986 except for 2002 when the name changed to Coca-Cola Racing Family 600.
Entry list Car Driver Manufacturer Team00David ReutimannToyotaMichael Waltrip Racing1Jamie McMurrayChevroletEarnhardt Ganassi Racing2Brad KeselowskiDodgePenske Racing4Kasey KahneToyotaRed Bull Racing Team5Mark MartinChevroletHendrick Motorsports6David RaganFordRoush Fenway Racing7Robby GordonDodgeRobby Gordon Motorsports09Landon CassillChevroletPhoenix Racing9Marcos AmbroseFordRichard Petty Motorsports11Denny HamlinToyotaJoe Gibbs Racing13Casey MearsToyotaGermain Racing14Tony StewartChevroletStewart–Haas Racing16Greg BiffleFordRoush Fenway Racing17Matt KensethFordRoush Fenway Racing18Kyle BuschToyotaJoe Gibbs Racing20Joey LoganoToyotaJoe Gibbs Racing21Ricky Stenhouse Jr.FordWood Brothers Racing22Kurt BuschDodgePenske Racing24Jeff GordonChevroletHendrick Motorsports27Paul MenardChevroletRichard Childress Racing29Kevin HarvickChevroletRichard Childress Racing30David StremmeChevroletInception Motorsports31Jeff BurtonChevroletRichard Childress Racing32Mike BlissFordFAS Lane Racing33Clint BowyerChevroletRichard Childress Racing34David GillilandFordFront Row Motorsports36Dave BlaneyChevroletTommy Baldwin Racing37Tony RainesFordMax Q Motorsports38Travis KvapilFordFront Row Motorsports39Ryan NewmanChevroletStewart–Haas Racing42Juan Pablo MontoyaChevroletEarnhardt Ganassi Racing43A.J. AllmendingerFordRichard Petty Motorsports46J.J. YeleyChevroletWhitney Motorsports47Bobby LabonteToyotaJTG Daugherty Racing48Jimmie JohnsonChevroletHendrick Motorsports50T.J. BellToyotaLTD Powersports56Martin Truex Jr.ToyotaMichael Waltrip Racing60Mike SkinnerToyotaGermain Racing66Michael McDowellToyotaHP Racing71Andy LallyFordTRG Motorsports77Scott WimmerDodgeRobby Gordon Motorsports78Regan SmithChevroletFurniture Row Racing81Scott RiggsChevroletWhitney Motorsports83Brian VickersToyotaRed Bull Racing Team87Joe NemechekToyotaNEMCO Motorsports88Dale Earnhardt Jr.ChevroletHendrick Motorsports95David StarrFordLeavine Family Racing99Carl EdwardsFordRoush Fenway Racing
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the race; the first on Thursday, which lasted 90 minutes. The second and third were both on Saturday. The first Saturday practice lasted 45 minutes, while the second lasted 60. Jeff Burton was quickest with a time of 28.635 seconds in the first session, 0.084 seconds faster than Edwards. Johnson was just off Edwards' pace, followed by Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, and Brad Keselowski. Kasey Kahne was seventh, still within a second of Burton's time.
Forty-eight cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Keselowski clinched the second pole position of his career, with a time of 28.112 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by A. J. Allmendinger. Edwards qualified third, Hamlin took fourth, and Burton started fifth. Johnson, David Reutimann, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top ten. The five drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Andy Lally, T. J. Bell, Scott Wimmer, Tony Raines, and Scott Riggs. Once the qualifying session completed, Keselowski commented, "It’s an important weekend for Penske Racing and an important weekend for the country. The 600 is a big race for NASCAR, it has a lot of tradition and to add my name to the list of pole winners is pretty special but I’d like to add it to those who have won it. This is the first step to doing that."
In the second practice session, Paul Menard was fastest with a time of 28.610 seconds, less than six-hundredths of a second quicker than second-placed Kurt Busch. Earnhardt Jr. took third place, ahead of Hamlin, Kahne and Mark Martin. In the third and final practice, Reutimann was quickest with a time of 29.271 seconds. Marcos Ambrose followed in second, ahead of Menard and Kyle Busch. Burton was fifth quickest, with a time of 29.385 seconds. Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, and Ragan rounded out the top ten positions.
Race The race, the twelfth in the season, began at 6:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on Fox. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature at . Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Capitol Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker performed the national anthem. Then, John Falkenbury, President of the USO, Master Sergeant Spanky Gibson, Gene Gibson and Mary Gibson gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Keselowski retained his pole position lead through the first lap. By the end of the following lap, Edwards moved to up to second, as Clint Bowyer moved up to the eighth position. On the same lap, Stenhouse Jr. collided into the wall, but sustained minor damage. Two laps later, Mike Skinner also collided into the wall. On the eighth lap, Edwards passed Keselowski to become the leader of the race. One lap later, Burton moved up to fourth, as Stenhouse Jr. reported no damage to his car resulting from the collision. At lap 12, Jeff Gordon moved up three positions to eighth, while Skinner retired from the race. Three laps later, Reutimann moved up to sixth after passing Johnson. On the 19th lap, Truex Jr. moved to twelfth. On the 24th lap, Allmendinger passed Keselowski to move to the second position. Six laps later, Biffle reported that the cool box (air conditioning box) would have to be replaced during their first pit stop. By the 37th lap, Edwards had a 2.6 second lead over Allmendinger.
On the 42nd lap, Jamie McMurray pitted, as Burton moved up to the third position. On the following lap, Reutimann and Truex Jr. pitted, one lap before Allmendinger. Two laps later, Johnson, Gordon, and Earnhardt Jr. pitted, as Edwards took the lead. Once the pit stop session completed, Edwards was the leader, ahead of Allmendinger and Kenseth. On the following lap, Hamlin passed Kenseth to take the third position. Johnson passed Keselowski to take over the fifth position at the 57th lap. On lap 60, Earnhardt Jr. passed Gordon to move up into tenth. By the 63rd lap, Edwards had expanded his lead over Allmendinger to 2.7 seconds. Six laps later, Earnhardt Jr. moved up to the eighth position, as Edwards continued to expand his over Allmendinger to 4.4 seconds. On the 74th lap, the first caution was given because of debris on the track. During the caution, most of the race leaders pitted. At the lap 79 restart, Burton was the leader, ahead of Edwards, Hamlin, Kenseth and Johnson.
On the following lap, Hamlin passed Edwards to take over the second position, one lap before he would pass Burton to become the leader. On the 82nd lap, Johnson moved up to third after passing Edwards. Two laps later, Johnson passed Burton to take over the second position, as Robby Gordon drove to the garage. On lap 85, Kenseth moved up to the third position. Burton, who restarted in the first position, had fallen to the ninth position by the 89th lap. Three laps later, Earnhardt Jr. moved up to the sixth position. Afterwards, McMurray passed Jeff Gordon to take over tenth. Five laps later, the second caution period began after Bobby Labonte spun sideways. Most of the race leaders decided to pit during the caution. At the lap 103 restart, Ragan became the leader, ahead of Reutimann and Juan Pablo Montoya in second and third. One lap later, Montoya passed Reutimann to move to the second position, a lap before Kenseth, who restarted fifth, overtook Montoya to take the position.
On the 108th lap, Kenseth passed Ragan to move into the first position. Four laps later, Edwards passed Montoya to claim the fourth position, as Kyle Busch passed Reutimann for ninth. By lap 125, Kenseth had a 3.7 second lead over Hamlin. Thirteen laps later, Edwards passed Hamlin to take over the second position, as Kyle Busch moved up to ninth. On lap 145, Reutimann pitted, marking the beginning of the pit stop session. The session lasted four laps, and Kenseth remained the leader ahead of Edwards. On lap 151, Ambrose moved up to the fourth position after passing Ragan. On the 160th, Kurt Busch reported a loose wheel, and immediately pitted. Eight laps later, McMurray moved up to the eighth position. On lap 171, the third caution period began because of debris on the track. During the caution, most of the race leaders pitted. At the lap 175 restart, Ambrose became the leader, ahead of McMurray and Montoya. In the next two laps, McMurray moved to first, while Kenseth took over the second position. On lap 181, Kenseth reclaimed the first position from McMurray, one lap before McMurray's engine failed to cause the fourth caution. After the restart, the fifth caution was given after Casey Mears and Landon Cassill collided.