0
Top-5 finishes for Carl Edwards this season prior to Sunday night’s race. The best he’d accomplished was a 10th at Texas with his new No. 19 Toyota team before coasting to a fuel mileage victory at Charlotte.
1
Top-3 finish for Roush Fenway Racing during the 2015 season to date. Greg Biffle’s second-place result Sunday night was their best, by far since Edwards won with the No. 99 Ford at Sonoma last June.
2
Straight Cup races in which Martin Truex, Jr. has led the most laps and failed to win. He paced the field for 95 circuits at Charlotte before fuel mileage strategy bit him down the stretch.
3
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who have “clinched” a Chase berth with at least one victory this season: Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Kyle Busch, who made his first points-paying start of the year Sunday is now listed as the lone man out.
4
Drivers who failed to finish Sunday, the fewest for a Coca-Cola 600 since 2009 (when the race was rain-shortened).
4.785
Carl Edwards’ margin of victory (in seconds), the largest for any Cup race this season. That beat the previous high of 1.802 seconds set in Atlanta.
5
Chevrolets in the top 10 Sunday, more than any other manufacturer despite their inability to reach victory lane.
6
Straight finishes outside the top 15 for single-car Germain Racing and Casey Mears. Mears, who had three such finishes in the first six races of the season is in the final year of his contract with the team.
9
Straight races that AJ Allmendinger has finished outside the top 10 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. The ‘Dinger, during that stretch signed a contract extension that keeps him behind the wheel of the No. 47 Chevrolet through the 2020 season.
15th
The lowest finishing position of Kurt Busch in any of his nine Cup starts this season. He was 10th at Charlotte.
40
Points between winless Clint Bowyer, 17th in the standings and the next driver he can knock out of the Chase on points alone — Paul Menard in 13th.
$128,685
Money won by Kasey Kahne for finishing 12th.
$129,286
Money won by Kahne’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson for crashing twice and finishing 30 laps down in 40th place.
4:03:34
Official time it took to run NASCAR’s longest race of the season.
About the author
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.