Coca-Cola 600 Fact Sheet
http://racing-reference.info/factshe...ts_2009-12.htm
The following notes pertain only to
Sprint Cup races held at
Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Track facts:
* 1`st Sprint Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway was held on 6/19/1960 and was won by Joe Lee Johnson who topped a field of 60 cars.
There have been 2 races per year at Lowe's since 1960 - including the yearly 600-mile race - with the exception of 1961 when there were 4 races here.
This week's Coca-Cola 600 will be the 101`st race at Lowe's.
500 different drivers have participated in the previous 100 races here,
and there have been 41 different winners.
A driver has won from the pole on 13 occasions,
the last time being Jimmie Johnson's victory in the 2004 Coca-Cola 600.
Johnson also holds the mark for the worst starting position by a race winner, having begun the 2003 Coca-Cola 600 in the 37th place.
The fastest race at Lowe's was Jeff Gordon's 1999 victory in which he averaged 160.306 mph.
Elliot Sadler holds the track qualifying record with a speed of 193.216 mph in 2005.
Jimmie Johnson's 0.027 second victory over Bobby Labonte in 2005 is the closest finish in track history.
That race also featured the most caution flags (22, for 103 laps) of any race here.
The record for lead changes in a race was set in 1979, when there were 54 of them in the first 341 laps, but Darrell Waltrip paced the field for the final 59 laps to take the checkered flag that day.
From 2001 through 2008, a typical race at Charlotte had 10.6 caution flags for 53.8 laps and 25.9 lead changes. The average green-flag run was 26 laps.
Manufacturers / Owners:
Chevrolet has won 36 of the previous 100 races here,
followed by Ford (27), Dodge (14), Pontiac (8), Mercury (7), Buick (4) and Plymouth (4).
A Toyota has yet to visit Victory Lane at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports leads all car owners with 15 victories at Lowe's from 6 different drivers (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte, Casey Mears, Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip).
Petty Enterprises is second with 8 wins, while Holman-Moody and Roush-Fenway Racing both have 7.
Driver Notes:
Jim Paschal holds the record with 335 laps led in the 1967 race;
Jimmie Johnson set the modern-era mark with 334 laps led in 2004.
Joe Weatherly led only 3 laps of the 67-lap event in May of 1961, the fewest laps led by a race winner here.
Dale Jarrett led the final 4 laps of the 1994 Mello Yello 500, the fewest by any winner of a full-length race.
Richard Petty earned the most 2`nd-place finishes at Lowe's, racking up 9 of them among his 64 starts,
while Bobby Labonte has the most runner-up (2`nd) finishes among active drivers (6).
Drivers who have swept both Lowe's races in a single season are:
Fred Lorenzen (1965), Bobby Allison (1971), David Pearson (1974), Richard Petty (1975), Dale Earnhardt (1986), Jimmie Johnson (2004 and 2005) and Kasey Kahne (2006). Joe Weatherly won 2 of the 4 races held in 1961. Johnson is only driver ever to win 4 consecutive races here.
The most Lowe's races without a: (Active Drivers)
Win: Michael Waltrip (47 races)
Top 10: Robby Gordon (17)
Top career marks at Lowe's: (Active Drivers)
Races: Bill Elliott (58)
Wins: J. Gordon _ J. Johnson (5)
Top 5s: Mark Martin (17)
Top 10s: B. Elliott _ M. Martin (22)
Laps: Bill Elliott (18,278)
Laps led: Bill Elliott (1,337)
Lead-lap finishes: Mark Martin (25)
Best average finish - active drivers at Lowe's (3 or more starts):
#48 Jimmie Johnson (8.9)
#99 Carl Edwards (10.8)
#96 Bobby Labonte (12.8)
#9 Kasey Kahne (12.9)
#14 Tony Stewart (13.0)
#31 Jeff Burton (14.4)
#5 Mark Martin (15.9)
#24 Jeff Gordon (16.1)
Worst average finish - active drivers at Lowe's (3 or more starts):
#42 Juan Pablo Montoya (32.2)
#xx David Gilliland (31.6)
#7 Robby Gordon (29.2)
#44 A.J. Allmendinger (27.2)
#xx Travis Kvapil (26.5)
Random Driver facts covering Sprint Cup races at Charlotte ONLY:
#33 Clint Bowyer's best finish at Lowe's is 2nd (2007), but that is his only top-10 in 6 career races here.
#2 Kurt Busch's 3rd place result in 2008 was his 1st top-10 since finishing 2nd here in 2005. Busch has yet to win and has collected only 3 top-10 finishes in 17 starts at Lowe's.
Like his brother Kurt, #18 Kyle Busch has not won at this track but has come home in the top-4 in each of his last 3 races here. Kyle started slowly at Charlotte, averaging only a 33rd place finish (and never finishing higher than 25th) during his first 5 races; in his last 5 races however, he has averaged 9.2.
#99 Carl Edwards' average finish of 10.8 is the 2nd best among active drivers here, although he too has not yet won a Charlotte race. The only time that Edwards has completed a race outside of the top-15 was his last appearance here, in which he finished 33rd.
#24 Jeff Gordon has a win and 3 top-10s in his last 3 Charlotte races, but over the 5 races prior to that Gordon was in a slump: no top-20s and an average finish of 33.8. Gordon has not won a pole here since 2000, but once had a streak of 6 poles in 10 starts (1993-1998) and qualified in the top 5 in all 10 of those events.
#7 Robby Gordon's best finish here in 17 tries is 16th place. Robby has led 1 lap in 2 of his last 3 Charlotte races, after not leading any laps during his first 14 starts.
#11 Denny Hamlin and #1 Martin Truex, Jr. both made their Charlotte debuts in 2005 and neither driver has been able to improve upon his finish in those debuts: 8th for Hamlin and 7th for Truex.
#29 Kevin Harvick also recorded his best finish at Lowe's in his 1st appearance here: 2nd in 2001. Harvick has no top-10 finishes here since 2003 and has led only 2 laps in 16 starts.
#77 Sam Hornish, Jr. is looking to build upon his win in last week's Sprint Shootout with a good result in the Coca-Cola 600. Hornish notched 2 respectable finishes at Lowe's (13th, 22nd) during his rookie year of 2008.
#48 Jimmie Johnson had 8 consecutive top-3 finishes here from 2003-2006, but averaged a 17th-place finish in the 4 of 2007-2008 races. Johnson has raced at Charlotte 15 times in his career, and has led at least 10 laps in each of his last 14 races.
In 2008, #9 Kasey Kahne came close to matching his perfect 2006 season here, finishing 1st and 2nd in the pair of 2008 races at Lowe's.
#17 Matt Kenseth won in his 2nd career Lowe's start in 2000, but has just one top-5 finish here in his last 9 races.
#96 Bobby Labonte has not finished outside of the top 20 in any of his last 20 Charlotte races.
#26 Jamie McMurray won here in his 2nd career start (at any track), leading 96 laps that day. McMurray has led 43 laps at Charlotte since that remarkable win and has only 2 other top-5 finishes here.
#39 Ryan Newman has 7 poles at Charlotte and has qualified in the top-5 12 times in 16 starts. But he has rarely been able to translate those superior starting positions into good finishes: Newman's average finish at Lowe's is 21st place.
#6 David Ragan's average finish here during his rookie season of 2007 was 38.5; he improved to an average of 11th in 2008.
#14 Tony Stewart hasn't cracked the top-5 in his 10 races since winning here in 2003.