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Update: Racing to resume shortly in Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, N.C. -- The 58th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway that was under a red-flag delay after lightning in the area was followed by a heavy but brief rainstorm will resume shortly.
The lightning has since moved out of the area around the 1.5-mile track, the rain has stopped and track drying is nearly complete. NASCAR announced at 9:28 p.m. ET that drivers had returned to their cars and that racing was expected to resume in 8-10 minutes.
At 7:53 p.m. ET, just after the caution flag came out on Lap 142 of the 400-lap race because of Matt DiBenedetto's car hitting the wall, NASCAR officials made the call to red-flag the race and ordered the 40-car field to pit road.
Martin Truex Jr. was leading the race at the time, with Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth making up the rest of the top five.
Shortly after ordering the cars to pit road, track officials also advised all fans in attendance to clear the grandstands for their safety because lightning had been spotted in the area on radar.
And shortly after that, a heavy but brief rainstorm arrived at the track.
By 8:15 p.m. ET, the rain already had stopped and the track-drying process was beginning. Since track officials said it takes roughly 90 minutes to dry the track, the hope was that racing would resume by approximately 9:45 p.m. ET
And in fact, at 9:28 p.m. ET, NASCAR announced that drivers were returning to their cars and that racing was expected to resume with 8-10 minutes. At 9:34 p.m., the cars were fired and rolling off pit road after a red-flag period that last 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The race was 57 laps from completion of Stage 2, with completion of at least the first two 100-lap stages required to make the race results official when the red flag was waved. Kyle Busch was the Stage 1 winner.
FOXSports.com will update this story as details develop.
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