Welcome to an odd Memorial Day weekend. I know typically I’m at a family barbeque for more than 100 people as we remember the sacrifice of those that served this country valiantly. This might not be a normal-feeling Memorial Day weekend but one thing should bring some normalcy back to our lives and that’s the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in its traditional spot on the schedule and traditional time slot on Sunday. It’s the longest race of the NASCAR schedule at 600 scheduled miles for 400 laps around the 1.5-mile circuit of Charlotte. While the pageantry might be different, we still expect the same quality of racing from the drivers in this endurance test of man and machine.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a quad-oval layout, meaning there are two turns in the front stretch much like Texas and Atlanta have, and the banking in the corners is 24 degrees in all four with the banking on the straightaways being at five degrees. This is the only race of the year with four stages instead of the typical three and each stage is 100 laps in length.

Driver fatigue will play a role in this race as will mechanical issues in the era of running wide-open for the whole race which puts a toll on the engine components and steering components. This is also the first time that this combination of tires is being used at this race, though the tires have been raced at other tracks previously just not with both sides together. The right sides were used at Darlington just this week and the left sides were used at Kansas last fall. Tire wear isn’t as big a part of the race as say at Chicago or Atlanta but it is more a part than it is at Texas or Vegas or Kansas.

If you need strategy pointers or any more info for setting lineups, listen to the podcast, or read the track breakdown, or rankings, and ask questions in chat or of me on Twitter at @theselzman or Dan at @RealDANlanta.

Average Points By Starting Spot

This isn’t a hard and fast chart by any means but it does give you an idea of how each starting spot has fared regardless of driver in that spot over the last five Coke 600s as well as the range of points that average comes from. Ideally you want a spot with a small range and high ranking, but again they aren’t set in stone that a driver starting there will perform that well or poorly.

 

StartingAvg.  Avg.  
PositionDK Pts.RankRangeFD Pts.RankRange
1109.851172.0093.22151.1
238.15784.2566.94936.2
338.456115.7559.742299.1
428.601771.5062.581657.5
548.25426.7574.6837.8
625.252674.5060.322151.6
729.7514113.2561.181963.2
852.853168.2565.681085
927.602039.5062.921430.2
1027.4021131.7549.4833102.2
StartingAvg.  Avg.  
PositionDK Pts.RankRangeFD Pts.RankRange
1126.302349.0062.741530.4
1232.001278.2564.921254.5
1328.901670.5063.681354
1470.05299.5078.36235.1
1542.65562.2572.54435.2
166.104068.0038.543785.8
1729.601541.0065.061132.1
1824.302727.5061.022021.6
1935.101138.0067.88828.9
2028.551832.5062.161823
StartingAvg.  Avg.  
PositionDK Pts.RankRangeFD Pts.RankRange
2125.302577.0052.222863.5
2238.00874.5070.16558.4
2336.201036.0068.12725.7
2423.102949.0054.202648.6
2520.803139.5054.722537
2631.501318.0062.28179.1
2725.502467.0048.823483.3
2837.50923.5068.44616.8
2926.802235.5058.322330.2
3024.302750.0051.542963.6
StartingAvg.  Avg.  
PositionDK Pts.RankRangeFD Pts.RankRange
3121.953045.7553.202747.6
3210.603823.0041.023543.6
3328.201950.5056.322450
3420.603221.5051.503027.3
3512.403731.5037.323945.4
3617.603413.0050.82319.4
3718.503320.5050.163215.9
389.203914.0029.884046
3915.453522.0039.523649.3
4014.903618.0037.763832.8

 

Stacks

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