Christopher Bell was the leader when the rain and lightning came at lap 249 of the Coke 600, and despite NASCAR’s valiant effort to dry Charlotte Motor Speedway, the race was unable to continue, and Bell was declared the winner. The Oklahoma-native led a race-high 90 laps on his way to victory. It is Bell’s first Coca-Cola 600 victory, second win of the season and the sixth points-paying victory of the season for Toyota.
Despite starting last, Tyler Reddick drove through the field to finish fourth, with Denny Hamlin in fifth. With the finish, Hamlin is the new points leader.
Ty Gibbs, who started on the pole for the first time in the Cup Series, led 74 laps and finished sixth to give Toyota four of the top six finishers.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race 14 of 36 – 600 miles, 400 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, CHRISTOPHER BELL
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, William Bryon*
4th, TYLER REDDICK
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
6th, TY GIBBS
11th, BUBBA WALLACE
12th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
19th, ERIK JONES
29th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
30th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What does this mean to you?
“This is everything. We had TK on the windshield – Thomas Kennedy. Unfortunately, the Kennedy family just left, so that is disappointing that they couldn’t stay for victory lane, but I was very proud and honored to carry their name on the windshield. Memorial Day weekend – it is not about racing. It is about honoring and remembering. I am just thankful for those who have served have allowed us to do what we love to do on this Sunday evening. I can’t thank all of the guys at Rheem enough – all of our partners at Rheem, DeWalt, Toyota, Yahoo – they deserve this. It has been a heck of a trying eight weeks or so, so to get our second win means a lot.”
How far is that bad run behind you after a run like this?
“It feels so good. To win or to lose, but just to have a great race to go off of, and a race that we led laps. We were able to pass cars. We lost the lead at times, and we were able to drive back to the lead, and had great pit stops. It was amazing to have a good race, and hopefully this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent.”
It sounds like you are surprised too. How does it feel to be the winner?
“Hey man, I’m hearing boos out there, I wanted to get racing too, but this is an amazing weekend and just so honored and thrilled to be able to carry the Kennedy name and be able to put these guys in victory lane. It has been a wild change of emotion, because all of the rain came and I was like okay, is it going to be over? Then, I was kind of like – I don’t know, and then when I was fully mentally prepared to go racing, and then all of a sudden, they called it. I wanted to race too.”
TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy – Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
Can you tell me about your race?
“Hate the race got cut short because I feel like our Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE was really good up front. And I think we could have come back over the next 150 laps to be competitive at the end. Hate that it ended early, but we’ll get ready for St. Louis.”
ERIK JONES, No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
How was your race?
“Up and down day for us but happy with a top twenty for this Family Dollar Toyota team. Feel like we learned quite a bit going forward for the mile and a half’s coming up.”
Toyota Racing PR
