Tag: Coca-Cola 600

Racing steps it up on Memorial Day Weekend. Many Americans take the weekend to honor those who have served, and are serving, their country by making a trip to some of the biggest races of the year. NASCAR is running in Charlotte with the Coca-Cola 600. The spectacle of the Indianapolis 500 is on as well. The two races are even mixing a bit as Jeff Gordon is set to drive the pace car at Indy and then flying back to drive the #24 at Charlotte.

If that isn’t enough racing to fill your day, Formula 1 is running the famous streets of the Monaco Grand Prix. So far this season it has been a run for Lewis Hamilton with team mate Nico Rosberg hot on his heals.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix: NBC @ 7:30am

Indy 500: ABC @ noon

Coca-Cola 600: FOX @ 6:00pm

If you’ve ever wondered how they follow your favorite driver down the track at speed then it is likely, if you watched the Coca-Cola 600, that you now know…

The same answer also explains why your DVR does not have the last laps of the race…

A camera on cables and wheels is on a motorized pulley system that can run at speed with the cars down the track. The belt that drives the camera down the length snapped and the loose ends feel to the track slicing through the front of the #18 and tangling the drive and brakes of the #9.

Other cars may have experienced other damage from the downed belts and ropes which had to be gathered and removed from the racing area. NASCAR red-flagged the race but also set in motion a rare instance of allowing crews to check and fix their cars. Red flag rules keep teams from working but in this case the stop was unrelated to the racing and was a result of systems in place to show us the racing. (more…)

It looks as if Denny Hamlin is back and ready to rumble.

After many weeks out of the seat due to a back injury in March at the Auto Club 400 in California, Hamlin has come back to the FedEx #11 Toyota with fire. He started the race at Talladega for points purposes but was out at the first pit.

The next event at Darlington he drove the full race and finished second then went to a sixth place at the All Star race.

Now, for the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte he has qualified on the pole with a track speed record. (more…)

Sunday racing was a full day. A wake up with Formula 1 followed by the showcase Indy 500 and close it down with NASCAR at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.

F1 gave us a spin or two and a Kobayashi bunny hop at Monaco. A good start to the day. From Monaco to Indianapolis the racing went up a notch and was matched up in Charlotte with the Coca-Cola 600.

There might have been a phone call. “I’ll do it if you do it!”

We’re referring to Dario Franchitti and Tony Stewart. It is odd that on the same day two defending champions encounter the same incident, and relatively speaking, at the same location. Coming into the pits at Indy, Franchitti is clipped by E.J. Viso and is spun sideways in the pit stall. The extra time and damage check put him to the back of the field. Skip ahead to the Coca-Cola 600 and here comes Tony Stewart to the pit stall only to have Brad Keselowski make the bump sending “Smoke” around facing traffic. (more…)