Ross Chastain wins intense Coca-Cola 600

CONCORD, N.C. — Ross Chastain took down William Byron in an intense run to the checkered flag in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After 400 laps of racing, it came down to the final six laps for Chastain to take down Byron. Coming to seven laps to go, Byron tried to go lower in turn four to get clean air, away from lap car Joey Logano. It backfired, as Chastain ran higher, wound the momentum through the dogleg and pulled off the slide job of the year in turn one to by Byron.

Byron tried all he could to get back to Chastain, driving hard into turn three and getting good enough runs off the turns.

What he didn’t have enough was room on the track. Exiting turn two on the final lap with enough of a run to challenge Chastain in turn three, Byron hit the wall and lost his momentum. After leading 14 times for 283 laps and earning 30 bonus points for winning the three in-race stages, Byron settled for second.

“I just was in heavier traffic on the short run that I had all night and I got tighter and just built tighter in a lot of traffic. The 1 was catching me, I was able to defend for a couple of laps but then I got free trying a different lane,” Byron said. “A bummer, right? I’ll try to learn from it.”

On the other hand, Chastain had to start dead last after a crash in practice. He finished seventh in the second stage at lap 200 and fifth in the third stage at lap 300. In the final stage, Chastain called an audible from the driver’s seat to pit a couple of laps later than crew chief Phil Surgen wanted him to.

It worked, as Chastain closed tenth by tenth, passing Hamlin and getting to Byron and outlasting Byron to take the checkered flag at lap 400.

“I went two laps longer [on tires] and it paid off in the end. Holy cow, we just won the World 600!” Chastain exclaimed. “How we drove through the field was we stayed in it. I didn’t get too happy when I passed cars coming up through there and I didn’t get too down during some of the cycles. I had the goal of eating one of these Florida watermelons, so I wanna see smashed watermelons all over social media!”

Chastain now has six wins in his NASCAR Cup Series career. His last win was at Kansas Speedway in September. He has at least one win in four consecutive Cup seasons, dating back to his first two wins in 2022 (Talladega, Circuit of the Americas).

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 400): Ross Chastain, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, A.J. Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson.

Denny Hamlin led eight times for 53 laps, behind only Byron. Hamlin and Byron swapped the lead 14 times in the second half of the race and came to pit road together with 54 laps to go. Exiting pit road, they were side-by-side until Byron got the best of him.

A few laps later, the heartbreaking news came across the radio. Hamlin’s crew didn’t get the second can full of fuel, meaning he would have to pit again.

With 12 laps to go, Hamlin pitted. In the end, he finished 16th and on the lead lap.

“You have to come to terms with it, you can’t change the result. I did everything I could for my Toyota. I had a heck of a battle and had fun but just had to come back in,” Hamlin said.

Carson Hocevar had one of the best drives of the race. After finishing third to Byron and Hamlin in the third stage, Hocevar restarted on the front row with Hamlin to start the final stage on lap 308.

All of a sudden, exiting turn two, the car went up in smoke — and Hocevar’s race was over.

“It f-cking blew up,” he said.

Hocevar had only a 34th-place finish to show for his valiant effort. However, he earned 15 stage points and is just 32 points below the playoff cutline.

Four drivers above the cutline and 11 drivers below the cutline are within a race worth of points (60 points):

• Chase Briscoe +47
• Bubba Wallace +45
• Ricky Stenhouse +17
• Ryan Preece +13
• AJ Allmendinger -13
• Kyle Busch -14
• Michael McDowell -21
• John Hunter Nemechek -23
• Carson Hocevar -32
• Todd Gilliland -34
• Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon -36
• Ty Gibbs -50
• Zane Smith -52
• Erik Jones -57

NEXT: Nashville Superspeedway, June 1, 7 p.m. ET; TV: Prime; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.