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Mash The Gas: Charlotte Preview

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series serves up its offering to the Racer’s Holiday this Memorial Day Weekend with the running of the Coca-Cola 600, the longest event of the season, held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Up third on the full card of motorsports events following Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, the 600 takes the green flag in the early evening and finishes deep in the night providing for an interesting mix of performance, stamina, and strategy to keep up with the ever changing track conditions that arise from the temperatures cooling down under the lights. It takes a total group effort to win the Coca-Cola 600 and the team that finds themselves in victory lane is usually the one that limits mistakes and adapts quickly to the inevitably changing conditions.

The green flag is scheduled to fly at 6:15pm EDT to kick off 400 laps of racing into the night on the mile and a half D-shaped Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Here are some drivers we think will be ones to watch:

Kasey Kahne
Dan Margetta: The defending Coca-Cola 600 winner has always adapted well to this event and his win in last year’s race helped propel the team toward The Chase later in the season. Kahne and the #5 team have been running well lately despite coming out on the short end of some battles with Kyle Busch of late. Look for Kahne to be among the contenders Sunday night and a key ingredient to his success will be the respect and strong communication he shares with his crew chief, Kenny Francis. They already own three Coca-Cola 600 victories together and could add a fourth win to the collection Sunday night.

Jimmie Johnson
John Wiedemann: Jimmie Johnson used to have the Charlotte Motor Speedway as his personal playground. While Johnson was king of the track, he racked up three Coca-Cola 600 wins in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In the years from 2003-2006 Johnson never finished worse than third place. Johnson’s last win at the track was 2009 in the fall race, but he did finish 3rd in the fall race last year and is coming off a win in the Sprint All-Star Race last weekend. Look for the series point leader to battle Kasey Kahne and the rest of my picks for the win on Sunday.

Matt Kenseth
DM: It’s been 13 years since Matt Kenseth’s break-through victory in the 600 as a Cup Series rookie, but through the years Kenseth has almost always raced well in the Memorial Day Weekend classic. This year marks his first time competing in the event driving a car that is not a Roush Ford and Kenseth is one of the best at providing feedback to the pits concerning the car’s performance. Last week at the All-Star race, Kenseth and crew chief Jason Ratcliff were not only on different pages, they weren’t even reading the same book as they struggled to a ninth place finish. Luckily, their first “off” race of the season was a non-points event and they have had all week to get back on track as the circuit’s most dominant team to date.

Kyle Busch
JW: Kyle Busch won the first two segments of the Sprint All-Star Race last weekend and eventually finished third. This has been kind of a trend for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver as he is fast in the beginning of the Charlotte races, leads laps but can’t seem to find victory lane at the end. In the last ten races at Charlotte (all with JGR) Busch has an average finish of 6.8, has led 722 laps and has finished 2nd twice and 3rd three times. Count on the #18 being in contention at the finish of the 600.

Carl Edwards
DM: In true Roush-Fenway like fashion Carl Edwards and the #99 team have parlayed consistent runs into a second place position in the championship point standings. That kind of steady and level-headed strategy plays out well in long grueling races like the Coca-Cola 600 and the pit crew led by veteran Jimmy Fennig may very well be the best on pit road. The key to success Sunday will be Edward’s ability to accurately communicate the characteristics of the car’s handling over the course of 600 miles on an overly sensitive race track that routinely gives drivers and pit crews headaches with its constant changes.

Brad Keselowski
JW: Brad Keselowski needs to get back in gear. After three straight finishes outside the top ten (33rd, 15th and 32nd) and a last place run of two laps in the Sprint All-Star Race, Keselowski needs to turn it around. While I normally don’t look at history when it comes to Keselowski, last year’s results at Charlotte show a 5th place finish in the 600 and he led 139 laps on the way to an eleventh place finish in the fall race. The main reason Keselowski is one to watch is to see if he continues a free fall in the standings or if he returns to championship contender status. I’m guessing it’s the latter outcome.

Kurt Busch
DM: The record book shows Jimmie Johnson won last weekend’s All-Star race by a wide margin, but the fastest car on the speedway all night was the #78 of Kurt Busch, who finished fifth after a slow final pit stop. Busch is a former Coca-Cola 600 winner (2010) and this team continues to run with the big dogs each and every week. The kicker is, the Coke 600 is an event that throws twice the normal amount of curveballs at race teams and each one presents another opportunity for a melt-down to occur behind the wheel. If Kurt Busch can keep his head on straight and the team can turn in a near perfect performance, as always, the #78 bunch has a legitimate shot to win. Sunday night presents another chance for them to put it all together and break into victory lane.

Joey Logano
JW: I’m predicting that Joey Logano will win the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. There, I said it. Why? Well, Logano has been consistently fast this year in his maiden voyage with Penske Racing. While he had a tumultuous ride with Joe Gibbs Racing, he posted an average finish at Charlotte of 10.1 with two top five finishes and five top ten finishes in the eight races he ran. Also, Logano finished second to the rocketship of Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint All-Star Race last weekend. With fifteen races left before the Chase, there is still time for Logano (19th in points) to make it in. But, he needs to finish very well at the tracks he is good at to start making that climb. A win on Sunday night would really help that climb.

Jamie McMurray
JW: One more driver to mention real quick, Jamie McMurray. Congratulations to McMurray on the Sprint Showdown win last Saturday and more importantly, it’s great to see the turn around the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team is having after the results of the last two tough seasons. McMurray has won twice at Charlotte Motor Speedway and it would not be a shock to see him or teammate Juan Pablo Montoya jump up into contention on Sunday night.

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