Charlotte Motor Speedway

A lightning delay that turned into a heavy rainstorm made a winner of Christopher Bell in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Not that Bell didn’t deserve the victory in the rain-shortened race, which NASCAR was forced to call after 249 of 400 laps were complete.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started third, led a race-high 90 laps and won the second stage of the 14th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

The decisive juncture in the Memorial Day weekend race came when Bell held off Darlington winner Brad Keselowski during a 10-lap run after a caution for Corey Lajoie’s spin in Turn 2 on Lap 229.

On the ensuing Lap 236 restart, Bell and Keselowski lined up side-by-side at the front of the field, with Bell prevailing and pulling out to a lead of roughly six car-lengths before NASCAR called the seventh caution for lightning in the area.

After the lightning came heavy rain, and though NASCAR attempted to dry the track when the rain subsided, heavy humidity thwarted efforts to do so in a timely manner.

As a result, Bell collected his second victory of the season, his first on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career.

The victory was a welcome momentum shift for Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 in five of his previous six races.

“Man, it feels so good—to win or lose—just to have a great race to go off of,” Bell said. “A race where we led laps. We were able to pass cars. We lost the lead at times and were able to drive back to the lead.

“We had great pit stops. It was a team effort, and it was amazing to have a good race. Hopefully, this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent.”

Keselowski, who posted his third runner-up finish of the season, was convinced he had the fastest car.

“We just didn’t have time for it to play out,” said the driver of the No. 2 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford, who pressured Bell throughout the final 10-lap run before weather intervened.

Stage 1 winner William Byron ran third behind Bell and Keselowski, with Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Pole winner Ty Gibbs finished sixth after leading 74 laps, including the first 42 of the race. Chase Elliott finished seventh, followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry.

After finishing 18th in his Indianapolis 500 debut, Kyle Larson arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway just before weather forced the stoppage. Larson intended to take over his No. 5 Chevrolet from Justin Allgaier, who had started the race at Charlotte because the Indy 500 was delayed by rain.

Allgaier was running 13th when the race was called, and Larson never had a chance to drive the car.

Defending race winner and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney slammed the outside wall in the second stage and exited the event after 143 laps.

“We’ll have to look if I hit something or… I don’t know,” Blaney said. “I just went into (Turn) 3 getting up to speed and blew a tire and hit the fence. It’s an unfortunate end to our night. That sucks.

“We’re not even halfway and just wanting to work on your stuff all night. I thought we were getting it a little better here and there, but won’t get a shot.”

Finally.

Breaking a 59-race drought in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney gave team owner Roger Penske his first same-year sweep of IndyCar’s biggest race and NASCAR’s longest.

With a dominant No. 12 Team Penske Ford that gained long-run speed as the race progressed, Blaney led a race-high 163 of 400 laps and held off polesitter William Byron for his first victory on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career.

A day after Josef Newgarden delivered Penske’s 19th Indianapolis 500 victory with a last-lap pass, Blaney won for the first time since taking the checkered flag at Daytona on Aug. 28, 2021.

“I might shed a tear,” said Blaney, clearly emotional during his post-race interview on the frontstretch. “I just was able to get the lead, and that car was so good that I could kind of bide my time a little bit and then we were able to drive off. I was hoping no caution, just because you never know.

“I know we had the car to do it, but restarts can be crazy… You start to get to feel like you can't win anymore when you don't win in a while. It kind of gets hard. So just super thankful to the 12 guys for believing in me…

“It’s just so cool. What a weekend with Newgarden and Roger winning at Indy and us winning the 600. I mean that’s just so cool. That kind of snaps our winless streak right there, and that’s even better.”

After a spate of cautions late in the race, Blaney led the field to green with 20 laps left and built a one-second lead over Byron before winning by .663 seconds. Martin Truex Jr. ran third ahead of 23XI Racing teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.

Blaney won the race’s third stage and is second in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, one point behind Ross Chastain, who finished 22nd.

Byron, who collected his eighth top-10 finish this season, pursued Blaney for the final 20 laps, but to no avail.

“We just needed a little bit,” said Byron, who led 91 laps and repeatedly regained the top spot from the No. 1 pit stall in a race that featured 16 cautions for 83 laps. “Really happy for Ryan. He really deserves it. He's a good dude. Cool to see him get a win…

“The car was great tonight. Just not quite good enough. Really proud of the effort. Pit crew was phenomenal on pit road. Those guys are just high energy, and that pit stall helps… Just proud of where our team is at. Just needed a little bit more.”

The wreck that set up the final 20-lap green-flag run was one of the race’s most severe. Kyle Larson slid sideways and after a restart on Lap 375 and bounced off other front-running cars like a pinball. Collected in the wreck were Christopher Bell, who had shown early speed; Ty Gibbs; Joey Logano and Aric Almirola.

Just as significant was an accident on Lap 185 that knocked defending race winner Denny Hamlin and five-time most popular driver Chase Elliott out of the race.

After Hamlin crowded Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet into the outside wall, Elliott hooked Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota on the frontstretch. Hamlin’s car bounced off the wall after a brutal impact and collected Elliott’s Camaro on the rebound.

Both cars were damaged too severely to continue.

Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart were convinced Elliott turned Hamlin’s Camry in retaliation.

“It’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week,” Hamlin said after exiting the infield care center. “Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable. I don’t care. It is the same thing that Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson. Exact same. He shouldn’t be racing. It’s a tantrum.”

Elliott denied the incident was intentional on his part.

“No, like I said, once you hit the wall in these things, you can’t drive them anymore,” Elliott said. “So, no, just unfortunate circumstances.”

Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway started with Denny Hamlin out front and ended with Denny Hamlin out front.

What happened in-between defied belief. And a driver who claims to thrive in chaos proved to be a man of his word.

Hamlin won the longest race in NASCAR history—619.5 miles—in two overtimes, beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line by .014 seconds.

With the victory—the second this season and the 48th of his career—Hamlin now holds trophies in all three of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel races: the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. Kevin Harvick is the only other active driver with all three titles.

Hamlin’s victory spoiled what could have been one of the most astonishing comebacks in racing history. Kyle Larson started from the rear in a repaired car, suffered three pit road penalties, a spin off Turn 4 and a fire in his pit stall but—miraculously—was leading the race on the next-to-last lap of regulation when Chase Briscoe spun underneath him while battling for the lead and caused the 17th caution of the night.

A wreck on the first attempt at overtime collected Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet and scrambled the running order, leaving Hamlin in the lead on four fresh tires.

“The first half (of the race) was a struggle for all of us,” said Larson, who finished ninth. “I was especially frustrated with myself. To rebound from that and have a shot to win there late was something to be proud of. Our team fought really hard. Happy with that.

“Briscoe was really good, that long run there. Wish we would have just been a little bit better so he never would have got to me, ultimately spin.”

After the second overtime restart, Hamlin and Busch battled side-by-side until Hamlin pulled ahead on Lap 412 of 413, 13 laps beyond the scheduled distance. Busch rallied but couldn’t get back to Hamlin’s bumper.

“It's so special,” Hamlin said. “It's the last big one that's not on my résumé. It meant so much.

“Man, we weren't very good all day. Just got ourselves in the right place at the right time. What a battle there!”

Hamlin, however, was far from the likely winner as the race unfolded. Daniel Suarez arguably had the fastest car. His Trackhouse Racing teammate, Ross Chastain, led 153 laps—more than any other driver. 

In the closing stages of regulation, it appeared for all the world that Larson and Briscoe would decide the outcome between them, until Briscoe spun as he was attempting to pass the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion to the inside.

But in the first attempt at overtime, Austin Dillon’s bold move on four fresh tires to Larson’s two went awry off Turn 4, damaging seven cars and setting up Hamlin’s win in the second overtime. 

That was merely the concluding chapter in a five-hour thriller.

On a night that already had seen a surfeit of breathtaking action, Suarez’s Chevrolet turned sideways on Lap 346 after contact with Briscoe’s Ford an ignited a four-car wreck that ended with Chris Buescher’s Ford barrel-rolling five times through the frontstretch infield and landing on its roof.

Buescher climbed from his car uninjured, but a strong run for the Roush Fenway Keselowski driver ended abruptly. So did a remarkable run from Suarez, who had led four times for 38 laps, only to lose spots on every pit stop, with the cars of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin blocking his egress from pit road.

“I’m going to be a bit sore tomorrow,” Buescher said after an obligatory trip to the infield care center. “I haven’t been upside-down in a really long time. The team did a really nice job. We had great speed and had a chance at this thing, it just didn’t work out.”

The opening laps of the event were an omen of things to come.

How intense was the racing? Here’s a microcosm: The first lap ended in a dead heat, with Kurt Busch nosing ahead of Hamlin by less than one thousandth of a second. Racing side-by-side with Hamlin, Busch extended his lead to .004 seconds on Lap 2—roughly six inches.

A determined Hamlin regained the top spot on Lap 3, but only by .011 seconds. The opening action set the tone for the entire race, which produced 31 lead changes between 13 different drivers.

But what happened at the front of the field was multiplied exponentially by aggressive, close-quarters racing throughout the pack.

On Lap 192—eight laps short of the halfway point—the close-quarters competition ended badly. In the second turn after a restart following the 10th caution, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford hooked the apron with the left-front tire and spun sideways.

That misstep triggered a 13-car wreck that eliminated the contending cars of Blaney, Kurt Busch and William Byron. 

“I was tucked up tight behind the 8 (Tyler Reddick), and he was kind of lower than I thought on the frontstretch and kind of ran through the turf, and then got to (Turn) 1 and jerked right,” Blaney said after the wreck. 

“I think he was up behind the 99 (Suarez) and thinking he was going hit the apron, and I didn’t have time to kind of get right, and I just kind of hit the apron and got me loose. I hate that other cars got tore up.” 

That wreck wouldn’t be the last. By the end of the race, 17 pf the 37 cars that started the event already sat in the garage in various states of disrepair.

Kevin Harvick soldiered to a third-place finish, followed by Briscoe and Christopher Bell. Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Larson and Alex Bowman completed the top 10.

In dominating fashion, Kyle Larson won NASCAR's longest race on Sunday night and in the process gave team owner Rick Hendrick a record 269th victory, most in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Larson's win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the eighth of his career and his second of the season, guaranteeing the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet a spot in the postseason Playoffs. By the time he crossed the finish line at the end of 400 laps, Larson held a 10.051-second lead over runner-up and teammate Chase Elliott.

The 1-2 finish was the third straight for Hendrick Motorsports. Only third-place finisher Kyle Busch found a way to break up the HMS party, with Hendrick drivers William Byron and Alex Bowman running fourth and fifth, respectively.

Larson led 327 of the 400 laps, with his only real challenges coming from Elliott and Byron, who led 22 and 19 laps.

"It feels great to be that guy who helped Mr. H break that record finally," Larson said of the victory that broke a tie with Petty Enterprises for most wins in the series.

Larson signed on with Hendrick to start the 2021 season. The car he drove to victory Sunday night bore the same number as the Chevrolet Geoff Bodine piloted at Martinsville on April 29, 1984 to give Hendrick's fledgling—and struggling—organization the first of those 269 wins.

"It's been better than I ever could have imagined," Larson said of his first 15 races with HMS. "For us to lead as many laps as we've got this year (a series-best 1,105), to contend for as many wins as we have and now to get our second win in a crown-jewel event, too, it feels great.

"I'm just very lucky that Mr. H was able to put a deal (together) for me. It's just awesome. I'm living a dream, for sure."

NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France was one of the first to congratulate Hendrick.

"I am proud to congratulate Rick Hendrick and all of Hendrick Motorsports on breaking the all-time wins record for a NASCAR Cup Series race team, long held by the legendary Petty Enterprises team," France said in a statement issued at the conclusion of the race.

"With nearly 40 years of excellence, Hendrick Motorsports has set the gold standard for race team success. Rick Hendrick has already cemented his legacy as a NASCAR Hall of Famer, and now adds another incredible accomplishment to an exemplary NASCAR career."

Larson started from the pole and swept the first three stages, but not without challenges from teammates Elliott and Byron.

In fact, in the green-flag run after the second stage break, Byron passed Larson for the lead on Lap 231. During the subsequent exchange of pit stops, however, Larson came in for service one lap earlier than Byron and was roughly one second faster on and off pit road than his teammate.

Larson built a lead of more than 2.5 seconds but spent more than 15 circuits trying to lap the No. 43 Chevrolet of Erik Jones, as Byron closed to his bumper.

"Make him work for it," Jones' spotter, Rick Carelli, radioed to his driver as he fought to stay on the lead lap, and Jones certainly followed those instructions.

But Larson finally passed the No. 43 Camaro and began to pull away from Byron before Ryan Newman slammed the outside wall to cause the fourth and final caution of the race on Lap 296. The stage ended under yellow, with Larson the winner.

Coincidentally, it was also Jones who pitted for fresh tires during the final run to the finish, returned to the track ahead of Larson, and helped Larson build his winning margin.

"I just towed with him for a while and stretched my lead out," said Larson, who for the second time in his career followed three straight runner-up finishes with a pole and a victory.

Austin Dillon ran sixth, followed by Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick and Kevin Harvick. Hamlin retained the series lead by 76 points over Larson and Byron, who are tied for second in the standings.