NASCAR Cup Series

Checkered Countdown: Top-Five Charlotte Finishes

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:02 p.m. ET

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May 29, 2016; Concord, NC, USA; Pace car peals off for the start during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The Sprint Cup Series teams and drivers move this weekend to the historic racetrack of Charlotte for the first race in the round of 12 of the Chase. In this Checkered Countdown edition we will take a look at the five best finishes ever at this 1.5-mile oval.

With two wins in the first three races of this year’s Chase, Martin Truex Jr is definitely proving a point. With the beginning of the second round though the 12 drivers will all be in the same situation of wanting a win at Charlotte to not risk being eliminated. The fear of being involved in a wreck at Talladega that could end their championship hopes will force them to give their best in the first two races of this round.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway was built in 1959 and held the first two NASCAR races the following year. It is considered NASCAR’s home track since most of the teams are set in the surrounding area. Jimmie Johnson holds the record for the most wins at this place with seven while Richard Petty has the most top tens, 31. By winning the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 while subbing for Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray has set a modern-era record for the fewest starts before the first race win. He had in fact competed in just one previous race at Talladega the week before. Even if this record was tied by Trevor Bayne after the 2011 Daytona 500, it is still considered one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history.

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No. 5 Casey Mears gets his only win thanks to fuel mileage (2007).

The only way for drivers considered underdogs to get to victory lane is usually the fuel conservation mode. In the 2007 Coca Cola 600 Casey Mears did just that. In the closing laps of the race all the cars were running low on fuel. Many of the top running teams were not willing to risk losing many points in case they would run out of gas (remember, the Chase field was still set on points at the time) so they all started pitting with ten to go. Some smaller organisations and drivers with nothing to lose saw this as a huge opportunity to get a good result instead. Mears was driving for Hendrick Motorsports but his results during the beginning of the season had been very poor.

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That night in Charlotte though he had a very fast car and was hanging tough in the top ten. Instead of pitting like the NASCAR superstars he and his team opted to gamble and save fuel all the way to the finish. He inherited the lead with five laps to go after Denny Hamlin pitted from first place, and stretched it all the way to the checkered flag. The day was marked also by the great results of some other drivers that you more often than not did not find in the first positions in those years: JJ Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson, Brian Vickers and Ricky Rudd all got away with a top ten finish.

No. 4 Dale Earnhardt Jr passes five cars in five laps but can’t take the win away from Ryan Newman (The Winston 2002).

Before the final restart with five laps to go during the 2002 Winston Earnhardt Jr was in seventh place but still looking to win a million dollars. The leader Newman had a good restart and left the rest of the field behind him. Earnhardt Jr though had fresher tires and got all the way up to second place. In the remaining three laps he was engaged in a battle for the win with Newman. The rookie from Indiana though closed all the gaps and was able to always keep the lead to go to victory lane. It was the second time ever that a rookie won the All-Star exhibition race: only Newman’s fiercest competitor that night, Earnhardt Jr, had done it in 2000.

No. 3 Kevin Harvick wins after both Earnhardt Jr and Hamlin run out of gas in the final turn (2011).

Before his dominating performance in the 2014 season Harvick was known as The Closer. Most of his wins usually came after leading very few laps, the ones that mattered the most. One example of it is the 2011 Coca Cola 600. Before the final Green-White-Checkered restart all the leaders were saving fuel not sure if they would make it to the finish. Harvick restarted from the inside of the third row and immediately gained spots as the whole outside line got stuck behind Kasey Kahne who ran out of gas. Leading at the white flag was Earnhardt Jr with Hamlin second. The final results looked to be already written when the front two runners both slowed down in turns two and three. Their gamble did not work whereas Harvick’s gamble did, as he passed them both while coming to the checkered flag.

No. 2 Jimmie Johnson beats Bobby Labonte to the line in a photo finish (2005).

After more than five hours of racing due to 22 cautions and a red flag, the 2005 Coca Cola 600 came down to a photo finish. Labonte was in the lead after the final restart with five laps to go while Johnson was working his way through the field with fresh tires. A couple of laps later the gap between the two was gone. Johnson was faster in turns three and four while Labonte had more speed through turns one and two. The leader proved to be a tough one to pass and stayed in front of the hard-charging Johnson throughout the final few laps.

But on the last lap the Hendrick driver got a run on the backstretch and used it to get alongside of Labonte in turn four. The two exited the corner side by side and from there on it was a drag race to the line. The more momentum that he had built in turn four propelled Johnson to the lead just some feet away from the stripe. He took the checkered flag first while the frustrated Labonte would never win another race.

No. 1 Davey Allison wins The Winston but has to celebrate from the hospital bed (The Winston 1992).

In the 1992 season the magic relationship between Allison and his crew chief Larry McReynolds brought some great results. They were contenders for the championship until the final round of Atlanta and won a total of five point-paying races. Another race they won was The Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in a very peculiar way. At the beginning of the final lap Dale Earnhardt was leading, Kyle Petty was second and Allison was third a little further back. Petty was pushing hard to take the lead and tried a move on the inside on the backstretch. Earnhardt in an attempt to preserve the first spot forced his competitor to go even below the track limits.