Longest Race Produces First-Time Winners

Longest Race Produces First-Time Winners

What does David Reutimann have in common with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson?
Answer: Both posted their first NSCS victories in the Coca-Cola 600, Pearson in 1961 – the first of 105 career wins – and Reutimann in 2009.
Reutimann is the most recent driver to score a "first" in one of NASCAR’s oldest and most prestigious races following Casey Mears in 2007.
•    Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, No. 3 on the career win list, posted his first of 85 wins in 1994.
•    Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, made the 1995 Coca-Cola 600 the initial of 21 wins.
•    Daytona 500 winner and 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth won 600 in 2000 en route to a still-counting 21 trips to Victory Lane.
Jamie McMurray, Buddy Baker and Charlie Glotzbach also won first races but in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fall events. So, who’s next?
Recent performances in the Sprint Showdown, in which he finished second, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race points to Penske Racing’s AJ Allmendinger. The Dinger raced from nearly a lap down to claim an All-Star transfer spot. Again from the back of the field, the Los Gatos, Calif., competitor reached the top five before finishing 11th.
Allmendinger’s No. 22 Dodge team won the 2010 Coca-Cola 600 with Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Teammate Brad Keselowski is a two-time winner so far this season and finished runner-up to NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Not to be dismissed, Allmendinger has a knack for these endurance-type races. His Michael Shank Racing team won the GRAND-AM Road Racing’s Rolex 24 earlier this season.

Right Place Right Time For Harvick, RCR?

With May about to become June – and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup not too far distant – there’s work to be done at Richard Childress Racing.
Only one of its three drivers, Kevin Harvick, currently ranks among the top 10 (eighth), but it’s been a downward slide in recent weeks for the defending winner of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Harvick finished 16th at Darlington on May 19, the veteran’s third consecutive run outside the top 15.
Harvick, the third-place championship finisher in each of the past two seasons, heads into the season’s 12th race with a 26-point cushion on 11th place. A repeat victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway would help his cause and perhaps shift some momentum at RCR to the positive side of the ledger. The team’s last victory, Harvick at Richmond last September, was 21 races ago.
Both Paul Menard (13th) and Jeff Burton (17th) similarly need to make progress this week. Burton won Charlotte’s fall race in 2008, the last of his 21 victories. RCR has won four Coca-Cola 600s and six times overall in Charlotte. Dale Earnhardt was a three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner with RCR.

Patrick Continues NSCS Gauntlet

Talk about a grueling test. This schedule Danica Patrick has slogged through falls somewhere between cruel joke and dastardly gauntlet.
First, she takes on the high-banked, high-speed Daytona International Speedway. All eyes are on the sport, as it’s the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race. She gets caught in an early wreck, a true baptism by fire moment.
Then, she tests out NASCAR’s second crown jewel – the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Few leave wholly unscathed. She had her difficulties, but finished the race (albeit six laps off the pace in 31st).
This weekend, she’ll test her mettle at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s another crown jewel – NASCAR’s longest race of the season – the Coca-Cola 600.
At least she’s seen the track, racing at CMS last October in the NNS. She finished 21st.
Patrick continues to make history, becoming only the second woman to compete in the Coca-Cola 600, and the first since 1976. Janet Guthrie, in her first NSCS start, finished 15th in that event.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Etc.

The Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte kicks off the first at-track activation of "NASCAR Unites – An American Salute," a six-week patriotic initiative to celebrate America and support U.S. military families. The weekend’s festivities include a patriotic pre-race military salute, special USO race invitations and host Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson as Honorary Commander. … Ryan Newman continues his hunt to become the ninth driver with 50 NSCS Coors Light Poles. Newman has nine Charlotte poles, making CMS his most prolific track in terms of poles. … On Wednesday at 6 p.m., the fourth induction class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be announced at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Five new members will be selected by a 54-member Voting Panel on Wednesday. …  Hendrick Motorsports big weekend wasn't confined to Charlotte. Development driver Chase Elliott scored his first NASCAR win in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series race Saturday night at Iowa Speedway. Elliott's win at 16 years, 5 months, 22 days was just two days shy of the series record for youngest winner set by Darrell Wallace Jr. in 2010.