Kyle Larson Sets Hendrick Win Record With Coke 600

Kyle Larson gave Rick Hendrick his 269th NASCAR win

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(CONCORD, NC - May 30, 2021 - RIS) 269, 5, 328, 8, 238 – the numbers of note at the 2021 Coca-Cola 600. Kyle Larson returned the No. 5 number to victory lane for Hendrick Motorsports, the number that started the HMS dynasty when Geoff Bodine won a race at Martinsville, saving the then-cash strapped team from closing down. The rest, as they say, is history. Kyle Larson led 328 of the 400 laps in NASCAR's longest race, taking the checker for Hendrick Motorsports' win number 269, passing the Petty teams for the most wins by a team and giving Larson his eighth career win in Cup races.

Kyle Larson ran away from the rest of the field early on in the 2021 Coca-Cola 600, leading the first 48 laps before pitting under green, then just 11 laps later, retaking the lead for the next 73 rounds to take his seventh stage win of the season. Kurt Busch pulled into the pits on lap 171, trailing a light stream of smoke. He re-entered the race after some repairs but made only a couple of turns before the car erupted in a dense cloud of smoke, bringing out a caution to check the track for fluid. Larson went on to take the second stage as well after leading 157 of the first half of the 400-lap event before the field got led down pit road for a moment of silence to honor fallen soldiers, sailors and Marines on the Memorial Day weekend.

Ryan Newman pancaked the right side of his No. 6 Ford with a flat right front tire, putting the race under caution and ending the third stage under the caution for the incident. Larson headed William Byron, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman at the stage end, sweeping the first three stages in the No. 5 Chevy.

Larson and Busch held the front row positions for the restart to the final 100 laps of the race, with Byron and Elliott in the second row, followed by Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin. Larson and Busch battled for the lead after the restart, with the top three Hendrick cars pushing each other to the lead over Busch and leaving Alex Bowman to fight for fourth with Busch before things settled down with Larson leading Elliott and Byron, Busch holding fourth ahead of the fourth Hendrick car driven by Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin another couple of seconds behind Bowman.

Hendrick drivers Byron and Elliott battled for second place, allowing Kyle Busch to close on Byron and pass into third place briefly then make the pass stick with nine laps left in the race before Busch lose the spot as Byron used Cody Ware as a pick to take third place back with six laps left. Larson's lead over Elliott had opened up to over ten seconds, with Elliott, Busch, Byron and Bowman all within just over a second of each other.

Larson went on to his eighth career win, beating Elliott by just over ten seconds with Kyle Busch third and the other two Hendrick cars fourth and fifth with Byron and Bowman.

"Yeah, it feels good. It was not easy," said Larson. "I felt like I had to fight off William (Byron) and Chase (Elliott) a lot. It kind of worked out there in that last run. The No. 43 (Erik Jones) had to pit and pulled out in front of me, and I just towed with him for a while and stretched my lead out. We had a good car there in that last run. Awesome! It feels great to be the guy to help Mr. Hendrick break that record, finally. This is awesome. We haven't seen this many fans in forever. Thanks to all you guys for coming out. I hope we put on a good show. Thanks to Metro Tech, Chevrolet, HendrickCars.com, and everybody who allows me to drive this No. 5 car. And thanks to my No. 5 team tonight, too. They were great tonight. My pit crew did awesome. We had awesome pit stops, especially on the green flag stops, too. That really allowed us to get the win tonight.

"When I got to talking to Ricky Stenhouse last year, I was like I think I'm going to end up in the No. 5 or the Hendrick cars and he was like, you're going to be really good in that thing. And I was like, I don't know. But it's been better than I could have ever imagined. For us to lead as many laps as we have this year and contend for as many wins as we have, and now to get our second win at a Crown Jewel event, too, it feels great. I'm just very lucky that Mr. Hendrick was able to put together a deal for me. It's just awesome. I'm living a dream, for sure."

Unofficial Results for the 62nd Annual COCA-COLA 600 - Sunday, May 30, 2021 - Charlotte Motor Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Metro Tech Chevrolet, 400, 1, 1, 7, 327, 8, 70, Running
2) 3, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 400, 2, 2, 2, 22, , 60, Running
3) 20, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota, 400, 6, 4, 1, 1, , 54, Running
4) 4, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 400, 3, 3, 2, 19, , 58, Running
5) 7, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Patriotic Chevrolet, 400, 10, 7, 1, 5, , 43, Running
6) 6, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet, 400, 5, 10, 1, 1, , 41, Running
7) 14, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 400, , 9, 1, 3, , 36, Running
8) 27, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Thrid Bank Ford, 400, , 8, , , , 32, Running
9) 15, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet, 400, 8, 5, 3, 6, , 42, Running
10) 5, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 400, 4, 6, , , , 40, Running
11) 13, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Keystone Light Ford, 400, , , 1, 6, , 26, Running
12) 2, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Cottonelle Chevrolet, 400, 9, , , , , 27, Running
13) 11, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor EDGE Ford, 400, , , 1, 2, , 24, Running
14) 18, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 400, , , , , , 25, Running
15) 9, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Camping World Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 19, Erik Jones, No. 43 Petty's Garage Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 16, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 398, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 22, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford, 398, , , 1, 2, , 19, Running
19) 26, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Diamond Creek Water Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 24, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Fr8Auctions Ford, 398, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 23, Cole Custer, No. 41 Feeding America/Wow Wow Ford, 397, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 31, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 397, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 21, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford, 397, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 17, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Toyota, 397, , , 1, 3, , 13, Running
25) 29, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 Death Wish Coffee Ford, 397, , , 2, 3, , 12, Running
26) 28, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 397, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 25, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford, 396, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 30, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 Walmart Chevrolet, 395, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 8, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota, 391, 7, , , , , 12, Running
30) 34, Cody Ware(i), No. 53 US Marines Military Salutes Chevrolet, 389, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 33, BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Solomon Plumbing Ford, 389, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 32, Quin Houff, No. 00 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet, 389, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 35, James Davison, No. 15 NAVY Military Salutes Chevrolet, 388, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 36, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 51 Air Force Military Salutes Chevrolet, 387, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 37, Josh Bilicki, No. 52 US Army Military Salutes Ford, 382, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 38, * David Starr(i), No. 66 Richardson Service Toyota, 369, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 10, Ross Chastain, No. 42 Advent Health Chevrolet, 359, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 12, Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Chevrolet, 139, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 58 Mins, 45 Secs.
Length: 400 Laps, 600 Miles
Average Speed: 150.785 MPH
Margin of Victory: 10.051 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 9, 24, 4, 3, 18, 19, 8, 47, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 9, 24, 18, 8, 4, 48, 17, 11, 3
Stage 3 Top 10: 5, 24, 18, 9, 48, 8, 11, 3, 23, 4

Comments: Kyle Larson won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his eighth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: Nos. 1, 78 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Caution Flags: 4 for 26 laps;
Laps: 102-107 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]);
174-177 (Possible fluid on track [38]);
202-207 (Stage 2 Conclusion [7]);
297-306 (No. 6 Incident Turn 3 / Stage 3 Conclusion [43]).

Lead Changes: 23 among 13 drivers;
K. Larson 1-47;
W. Byron 48-49;
B. Keselowski 50-55;
M. DiBenedetto 56-57;
A. Alfredo # 58;
K. Larson 59-131;
C. Elliott 132-148;
T. Reddick 149;
C. Bell 150-152;
K. Larson 153-174;
A. Bowman 175-179;
D. Hamlin 180-182;
C. Elliott 183-187;
K. Larson 188-230;
W. Byron 231-247;
T. Reddick 248-249;
A. Dillon 250;
A. Alfredo # 251-252;
K. Larson 253-305;
K. Busch 306;
K. Larson 307-346;
T. Reddick 347-349;
R. Blaney 350-351;
K. Larson 352-400.

Busch Pole Award: Kyle Larson, No. 5 180.282 mph
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chase Briscoe, No. 14