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The Nascar Cup series hits the center of the regular season of 26 breeds with Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 on Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Seven of the 16 play -offs will be held at this time by managers who achieved at least one win this season: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry.
Here’s a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams on the way Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.
23xi Racing – Good news: Tyler Reddick finished in the top 10 in all five of his Coca-Cola 600-starting, including a result of fourth last year. Bad news: Bubba Wallace finishes 33rd in each of the past two points races and leaves him from the seventh to 10th place in the standings. … Reddick has one top 10 in his last six cup points. … Riley Herbst finished or finished in six of the last nine points racing 27th.
Kurt Busch won 34 cups racing and the 2004 Cup Championship
Pre -drive Motorport – Good News: Todd Gilliland 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 the third year in a row. Bad news: Gragson has not yet started at the end of his three Coca-Cola 600.
Haas Factory Team – Good News: Cole Custer has two top 20 finishes in the last three races. … Both of the top 20 finishes came after starting the 20th or better. Bad news: Custer started the thirtieth or worse this year.
Hendrick Motorsports – Good News: Kyle Larson’s three wins, eight top five finals, nine top 10 results and 817 laps that led this season, most in his cup career through the first 12 points races of the season … Larson won six of the last eight phases this season. … On the same day, Larson only wants to be the second manager to chase on the same day in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600. … William Byron finished fourth or better in three of the last four Coke 600s. … Chase Elliott led in the last six Coca-Cola 600s. … Alex Bowman has five top -10s in his last seven Coke 600s. … Hendrick Motorsports drivers led 41.6% of the rounds this season, the team’s highest percentage of rounds have led through 12 races since 1996 (44.1%). Bad news: No driver who led the points after 12 races won the championship since the play-off format debuted in 2014 … This is the third time Larson has led the points on the All-Star break. He led the points in 2017 (eliminated in the round of 12) and 2024 (eliminated in the round of 8).
Hyak Motorsports – Good News: Ricky Stenhouse jr. Started four top 10s in its last seven Coca-Cola 600. Bad news: His sixth place in Texas is his only top 10 in the last 13 races on a 1.5 mile track.
Joe Gibbs Racing – Good News: Christopher Bell finished first or second this season in five of the 12 points races, won three times and finished second twice. … Bell is the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner and comes over the weekend after his victory at the All-Star race in North Wilkesboro Speedway. … Chase Briscoe finished a season-best fourth four different times this year. … Ty Gibbs will start his 100th Career Cup this weekend. … Gibbs won the pole and finished sixth in last year’s Coca-Cola 600. Bad news: JGR led only 21 rounds at 1.5 mile tracks this year, the team’s least by four races at 1.5 mile tracks since 1994 … Denny Hamlin has not been able to complete the past two races, the first time since 2013 he did. … Briscoe ended 20th or worse in three of his four Coca-Cola 600.
Christopher Bell has won five points races and the All-Star race since last year’s Coca-Cola 600.
Kaulig Racing – Good News: AJ Allmender has four top 10 results in his last six races at 1.5 mile tracks. Bad news: Allmender finished 36th and 38th over the past two races and dropped him from the 15th to 25th in the season standings. … Ty Dillon’s only Top 10 Cup result on a 1.5-mile track came in February 2020.
Legacy Motor Club – Good News: John Hunter Nemecheek’s four top 10 finals this year are already in a season. … Nemechek was ended in the last two points races eighth (Texas) and 10th (Kansas). … Jimmie Johnson will start his 700th career cup this weekend and become the 21st manager to reach that mark in the series history. … Johnson finishes third in the Daytona 500, his only early this year before the weekend. Bad news: Erik Jones has scored one stage point since the Daytona.
Richard Childress Racing – Good News: Kyle Busch started seven top 10s in his last eight in the Coca-Cola 600. … Austin Dillon, the 2017 Coke 600 winner, finished in the top 10 in the last four Coke 600s. Bad news: RCR has only one top five final this season. … Dillon’s 22nd place in Kansas has hampered a line of three consecutive top 10 results. … Busch finished outside the top -15 in six of the last eight points races.
Rick True Racing – Good News: Cody Ware’s best career finish on a 1.5-mile (18th) track comes in the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022. Bad news: Ware is last among the 36 full -time drivers in points after 12 races.
RFK Racing – Good News: RFK Racing announced on Monday that he would use the fines for Chris Buescher and his team, which included tracking 60 points and 10 play -offs, for an offense discovered after Kansas. … Ryan Preece will start his 200th Career Cup this weekend. … Preece has four top 10 finishes this season. Most in his cup career are five. Bad news: Buescher finished outside the top -10 in four of the last six points races. … Brad Keselowski was unable to complete the last three races. … He has a series-high five DNFs this year.
The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Driver ran second before being sent behind with 17 laps.
Spire Motorsports – Good News: Michael McDowell’s team comes in the Coca-Cola 600 after winning the Pit Crew Challenge last weekend in Northern Wilkesboro. … Carson Hcevar scored points in five of the last eight phases. Bad news: Justin Haley started one top 10 final in his last 17 at 1.5 mile tracks (a rash of 10th place in Miami this year). … McDowell has one top 10 final in his last 22 races at 1.5 mile tracks.
Carson Hcevar, John Hunter Nemechek and Noah Gragson are in the All-Star race.
Team Penske – Good News: Ryan Blaney finished third in each of the past two races at 1.5 mile tracks, Texas and Kansas. … Joey Logano’s victory this season comes on Texas, a 1.5 -mile track. Bad news: Austin Cindric has never started better than 20th place in three Coca-Cola 600. … Blaney’s average finish of 19.7 at Charlotte is his worst below 1.5 mile tracks. … Logano finished outside the top -10 in seven of the last eight Coke 600s, including the last five.
Joey Logano said how Bell chased him: “When I went back and looked it again, I was like, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
Trackhouse Racing – Good News: Connor Zilisch, who is 18 years old, makes his second career cup this weekend. … Daniel Suarez will start his 300th career cup 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 was 27.7. … Shane van Gisbergen finished 28th last year in his only Coke 600 Begin. … Suarez finished outside the top -20 in four of the last five Coke 600s.
Wood Brothers Racing – Good News: Josh Berry finishes 10th in last year’s Coca-Cola 600. … Berry has one win (Las Vegas) this season and two top 10s (Las Vegas and Kansas) at 1.5 mile cuts. Bad news: Berry has one top 10 final in the seven races since his Las Vegas victory.
