Christopher Bell scored his second win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season following NASCAR’s decision to call the Coca-Cola 600 after 249 of 400 laps.
“Hey, man, I’m hearing boos out there!” Bell told PRN. “I wanted to finish the race too! It’s nice to have a good race.”
The decision to call the race came after strong attempts to dry the track; however, humidity continued to hang over the track. With track drying efforts estimated to end at 1 a.m. ET, the checkered flag was likely not going to be thrown until around 3 a.m. Thus, NASCAR decided to end the race.
Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry completed the remainder of the top 10.
Stage one kicked off as scheduled with a rather clean 100 laps. Starting from the pole, Gibbs led 68 laps, battling hard against Byron in the second half of the stage.
Only one caution for cause would come following BJ McLeod spinning out of turn four – he was able to continue, and no other cars were involved.
Byron would use lap traffic to pass Gibbs for the stage one win. Bowman, Bell, and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five.
Bell ran right against the outside wall to take the lead soon after the beginning of stage two. It looked as if he was going to check out from the field with a five second lead, until the yellow flag would fly.
After completing a pass-through penalty, Ryan Blaney would pound the outside wall in turn four with a right front tire down. This would spell the end of a potential back-to-back showing from last year’s Coca-Cola 600 winner.
Aggressive three-wide racing would lead to another caution, after Noah Gragson spun head on into the inside wall on the backstretch following contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Following another restart, Bell would once again run the high line into the lead and two seconds ahead of Byron. The stage would conclude under caution following a solo spin by Harrison Burton with only a hand full of laps remaining in stage two.
Bell, Byron, Bubba Wallace, Hamlin, and Keselowski would collect points first through fifth, while Bowman, Elliott, Berry, Chastain, and Reddick would complete the top 10.
The final stage continued with a strong showing from Bell, and a hard charging Keselowski challenging the No. 20 Toyota until the yellow flag flew again for a solo spin from Corey LaJoie.
When racing continued, Bell would once again hold Keselowski in second, Byron would make a three-wide pass through the painted turf while Reddick and Gibbs banged doors for third, and Truex made several three-wide passes to move from 15th to 12th.
Once again, the field would be slowed for a caution, however, this time it was for slight rain, not a spin or wreck. As the caution progressed, Kyle Larson, fresh off of his 18th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, arrived at the track to relieve Justin Allgaier. Allgaier started the race in Larson’s No. 5 after Larson chose to compete in Indianapolis, once it was evident weather would ruin his attempt at ‘The Double.’
Unfortunately for Larson, he would not even complete a lap. This would be the final caution, which turned into a red flag that was never lifted. NASCAR called the race at 11:30 p.m. E.T. after completing 249/400 laps.
2024 Coca-Cola 600 Results
Next Sunday (June 2), the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Midwest for the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Coverage will be provided by FOX Sports 1, MRN, and SiriusXM beginning at 3:30 p.m. E.T.
Ty joined the Frontstretch team in February of 2024 as a Contributor covering Sunday news. He has two books available on Amazon: A Perfect Sundae and Chartreuse: Crime & Horror Short Stories.
I don’t know how,but this is real bullshit. I wanted it to continue, but by 1 AM,most fans went home because of a BS “curfew”. Dumb people doing dumb things for dumb reasons. Bullshit Bullshit.