Good news/bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
The NASCAR Cup Series hits the midpoint of the 26-race regular season with Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Seven of the 16 playoff spots are held, at this time, by drivers who have at least one win this season: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry.
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has finished in the top 10 in all five of his Coca-Cola 600 starts, including a fourth-place result last year. Bad news: Bubba Wallace finished 33rd in each of the past two points races, dropping him from seventh to 10th in the standings. … Reddick has one top 10 in his last six Cup points races. … Riley Herbst has finished 27th or worse in six of the last nine points races.
Dustin Long,
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Todd Gilliland has finished 16th or better in five of the last six races. … Zane Smith has six top-20 finishes in the last seven points races. … Noah Gragson won the All-Star fan vote for a third year in a row. Bad news: Gragson has not been running at the finish in any of his three Coca-Cola 600 starts.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer has two top-20 finishes in the last three races. … Both of those top-20 finishes came after he started 20th or better. Bad News: Custer has started 30th or worse five times this year.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Kyle Larson's three wins, eight top-five finishes, nine top-10 results and 817 laps led this season are the most in his Cup career through the first 12 points races of the season … Larson has won six of the last eight stages this season. … Larson seeks to be only the second driver in the last 20 years to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. … William Byron has finished fourth or better in three of the last four Coke 600s. … Chase Elliott has led in the last six Coca-Cola 600s. … Alex Bowman has five top 10s in his last seven Coke 600s. … Hendrick Motorsports' drivers have led 41.6% of the laps run this season, the team's highest percentage of laps led through 12 races since 1996 (44.1%). Bad news: No driver leading the points after 12 races went on to win the championship since the playoff format debuted in 2014. … This is the third time Larson led the points at the All-Star break. He led the points in 2017 (eliminated in the round of 12) and 2024 (eliminated in round of 8).
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has four top 10s in his last seven Coca-Cola 600 starts. Bad news: His sixth-place finish at Texas is his only top 10 in the last 13 races on a 1.5-mile track.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell has finished first or second in five of the 12 points races this season, winning three times and finishing second twice. … Bell is the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner and comes into this weekend after his victory at the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. … Chase Briscoe has finished a season-best fourth four different times this year. … Ty Gibbs will make his 100th career Cup start this weekend. … Gibbs won the pole and finished sixth in last year's Coca-Cola 600. Bad news: JGR has led only 21 laps on 1.5-mile tracks this year, the team's fewest through four races at 1.5-mile tracks since 1994. … Denny Hamlin failed to finish the past two races, the first time since 2013 he's done that. … Briscoe has finished 20th or worse in three of his four Coca-Cola 600 starts.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has four top-10 results in his last six races on 1.5-mile tracks. Bad news: Allmendinger has finished 36th and 38th in the past two races, dropping him from 15th to 25th in the season standings. … Ty Dillon's only top-10 Cup result at a 1.5-mile track came in February 2020.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek's four top-10 finishes this year already ties for his most in a season. … Nemechek has finished eighth (Texas) and 10th (Kansas) in the last two points races. … Jimmie Johnson will make his 700th career Cup start this weekend, becoming the 21st driver to reach that mark in series history. … Johnson finished third in the Daytona 500, his only start start this year ahead of this weekend. Bad news: Erik Jones has scored one stage point since the Daytona 500.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has seven top 10s in his last eight starts in the Coca-Cola 600. … Austin Dillon, the 2017 Coke 600 winner, has finished in the top 10 twice in the last four Coke 600s. Bad news: RCR has only one top-five finish this season. … Dillon's 22nd-place finish at Kansas snapped a streak of three consecutive top-10 results. … Busch has finished outside the top 15 in six of the last eight points races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware's best career finish on a 1.5-mile track (18th) came in the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022. Bad news: Ware ranks last among the 36 full-time drivers in points after 12 races.
RFK Racing — Good news: RFK Racing announced Monday that it would appeal penalties to Chris Buescher and his team, that included being docked 60 points and 10 playoff points, for an infraction discovered after Kansas. … Ryan Preece will make his 200th career Cup start this weekend. … Preece has four top-10 finishes this season. The most in his Cup career is five. Bad news: Buescher has finished outside the top 10 in four of the last six points races. … Brad Keselowski has failed to finish the last three races. … He has a series-high five DNFs this year.
Nate Ryan,
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell's team comes into the Coca-Cola 600 after winning the Pit Crew Challenge last weekend at North Wilkesboro. … Carson Hocevar has scored points in five of the last eight stages. Bad news: Justin Haley has one top-10 finish in his last 17 starts on 1.5-mile tracks (a 10th-place result at Miami this year). … McDowell has one top-10 finish in his last 22 races on 1.5-mile tracks.
Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney has finished third in each of the past two races at 1.5-mile tracks, Texas and Kansas. … Joey Logano's win this season came at Texas, a 1.5-mile track. Bad news: Austin Cindric has never placed better than 20th in three Coca-Cola 600 starts. … Blaney's average finish of 19.7 at Charlotte is his worst among 1.5-mile tracks. … Logano has finished outside the top 10 in seven of the last eight Coke 600s, including the last five.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Connor Zilisch, who is 18 years old, makes his second career Cup start this weekend. … Daniel Suarez will make his 300th career Cup start this weekend. … In the past six races, Ross Chastain's average finish has been 10.0. Bad news: In the last six races, Chastain's average starting position has been 27.7. … Shane van Gisbergen finished 28th last year in his only Coke 600 start. … Suarez has finished outside the top 20 in four of the last five Coke 600s.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry finished 10th in last year's Coca-Cola 600. … Berry has one win (Las Vegas) and two top 10s (Las Vegas and Kansas) on 1.5-mile tracks this season. Bad news: Berry has one top-10 finish in the seven races since his Las Vegas victory.
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