One of the biggest weekends of the NASCAR Cup Series has arrived. The drivers are in Concord, North Carolina for the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will start at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 28, and air on Fox and the Fox Sports App.
The Coca-Cola 600 is one of the biggest races in the Cup Series season since it’s the longest (400 laps). It also falls on the same weekend as the Indianapolis 500 (IndyCar) and the Monaco Grand Prix (Formula One) making it the biggest racing weekend of the year. Darrell Waltrip has won the most Coca-Cola 600 races with five, while Hendrick Motorsports have won the most as a team with 12. Denny Hamlin won last year’s Coca-Cola 600, and while he wants to repeat this year, the race is also about honoring those who defend the United States.
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“I’ve been part of the Coca-Cola Memorial weekend for 18 years now in the Cup Series,” Hamlin said earlier this month. It’s so different because you see soldiers that are live there and still serving, but I haven’t gotten to see in person where the fallen soldiers actually go. To be here at Arlington Cemetery is certainly moving and makes you really appreciate what Memorial Day Weekend is all about.”
Jimmie Johnson has won the second-most Coca-Cola 600s with four. He has retired from full-time racing but will compete on Sunday. The Coca-Cola 600 will be Johnson’s third start of the year, and he admits to being “ill-prepared” for the event.
“It is sad to me that in today’s world, we can’t go test to get ready for a race,” Johnson said, per Racer. “And then a practice and qualifying session rains out, and you get zero track time, you have to depend on the simulator. We’re very low on the totem pole with resources and sim time; I get 30 laps of sim time to get ready for a race. It’s a 600-mile race and we’ll make the best of it. But just logically, as I think through how big our sport is, how big this race is, how big the opportunity is, it’s just crazy that I can’t get properly prepared for this race.”
