Coca-Cola 600: Bell wins rain-shortened Charlotte race

Christopher Bell was out front when it mattered the most. (Photo: David Jensen | Getty Images)

Bell led more laps than anyone (90 of 249 laps) and finally found himself back toward the front after picking up his second top 10 in the last seven races. With this win, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will earn 67 of 70 points, adding seven playoff points to help him in the postseason.

“This is everything,” Bell said. “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.”

During the rain delay, Bell said Brad Keselowski was the car to beat. Keselowski started 30th and made his way to the front to finish second. This marks Keselowski’s second straight top-two finish (won at Darlington), and his third time finishing second this season (Texas, Talladega).

“It’s pretty disappointing,” Keselowski said. “I felt like we had a car to win the race. We kind of ran down the 20 car twice and just didn’t get to see it play out. So, it kind of slipped through our fingers there. I would have liked to have just had more laps and ran the Coke 600. I think we ran the Coke 350 today, but, all in all, I’m really happy with our performance.

“The car was really fast. Our pit stops were phenomenal. We just didn’t get to see it through. I’m bummed for our team. I’m bummed for everybody, but the weather is what the weather is.”

Results from the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 are listed below:

Happy after getting neuropathy treatment

The Double Attempt

Kyle Larson missed the Coca-Cola 600 after finishing 18th in the Indy 500. (Photo: Paul Hurley | Penske Entertainment)

The biggest storyline in motorsports heading into the Memorial Day weekend was 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson attempting “The Double,” competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

Unfortunately for the NASCAR star, Mother Nature had other plans as the 108th Indianapolis 500 was delayed several hours because of rain. Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick allowed Larson to stay in Indiana to compete in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and miss the start of NASCAR’s longest race.

Larson ended up leading four laps in his NTT IndyCar Series debut and finished 18th in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren/HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevrolet. Meanwhile, at Charlotte, Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier started the Cup Series race in Larson’s place and got the No. 5 HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevrolet up to 13th place before the race was called.

“The restarts were definitely tough, just with the aero,” Allgaier said. “You always hear about aero-blocking and all those things every week from the Cup drivers. As somebody coming from the Xfinity Series, it was pretty wild how much different it was in traffic. To be able to make our way up through there, the team had great strategy and we got ourselves up to 13th.

“It felt like there was some good potential to go even further. The HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevy was so good. You get opportunities very rarely in life to drive something that’s that good, and it truly was that. It was really, really special; something that I’ll take with me for a number of years as a good opportunity.”

What I thought could be one of the best days of my life quickly turned into one of the most disappointing ones I’ve ever experienced. I hate it for Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon, HAG, Hendrick Motorsports, everyone a part of the 5 team, everyone on the 17 indycar for speeding, my…
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) May 27, 2024

As Larson arrived in Concord, so did the rain. Just as Larson was about to replace Allgaier behind the wheel, the red flag came out and then two hours later, the race was called.

Larson completed 500 miles between the two races, with all of those coming in the Indy 500. He never got to complete a single lap in the Coca-Cola 600.

According to Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press, Larson has a two-year deal with McLaren, and with Larson saying post-race that he’d want to try it again, race fans may see another attempt at “The Double” in 2025.

“I would definitely love to be back next year.”

Kyle Larson reflects on his performance in his first INDYCAR race. #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/hESHuxMIrl
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 27, 2024

Other Race Facts

Each driver carried the name of a former United States Armed Forces member who lost their life while serving in the U.S. military. This is a Memorial Day weekend tradition for NASCAR.

Ty Gibbs started from pole for the first time in his Cup Series career. Gibbs, who also started on pole for the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, led 74 laps and finished in sixth in the Coca-Cola 600.

Shane van Gisbergen led two laps, making his first start in NASCAR’s longest race. In doing so, van Gisbergen became the first driver in Cup Series history to lead laps in four of their first five starts at the premier level, according to Joseph Srigley.

Tyler Reddick and his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota had to start in the back and do a pass-through penalty to start the race after Reddick had an inspection issue. However, Reddick finished in fourth, which adds to his streak of finishing inside the top 15 in every Coca-Cola 600 he’s ever competed in.

After Reddick and Gibbs hit each other while battling for position, William Byron created his own version of the “Pass in the grass” as he passed both drivers while going in the infield turf.

That. Was. Awesome. pic.twitter.com/r95O8vibZv
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 27, 2024

GRID Ranking

The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.

The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
William Byron	12.64	T-15th	3rd	14.34	11th
Kyle Larson	12.64	T-15th	N/A	12.64	T-17th
Denny Hamlin	11.50	24th	5th	12.64	T-17th
Brad Keselowski	10.47	28th	2nd	12.52	19th
Christopher Bell	N/A	N/A	1st	11.38	25th

Week 8 of the GRID Ranking:

Week 8 of the #GRIDRanking.

A busy weekend with seven races across the globe. Alex Palou moves up to second place, and Max Verstappen drops to fifth place.#F1 | #ABBFormulaE | #INDYCAR | #MotoGP | #NASCAR | #RepcoSC | #WRC

1/2 pic.twitter.com/x5gYkQeiso
— GRID Network (@GridNetworkTV) May 27, 2024

With his second win of the 2024 season, Christopher Bell finds himself back into the NASCAR GRID Rating and the overall GRID Ranking.

After failing to start the Coca-Cola 600, Kyle Larson falls behind his teammate William Byron, who now holds the NASCAR Rating lead once again.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2. Coverage will begin on FS1 at 3:30 p.m. ET.