StatChat 2025 - Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Charlotte is a 1.5-mile quad-oval speedway that was built in 1960.  Joe Lee Johnson won the first NASCAR race there that same year.  Last year’s winner at this race was Christopher Bell.

Tomorrow’s race will be 400 laps long (for a total of 600 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 100 – 200 – 300 – 400.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph.  The fuel window is between 63-68 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 3,331 laps, for 4,438.64 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and Tyler Reddick is two behind.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Charlotte:

Tyler Reddick	7.67 over 6 races
Josh Berry	10.00 over 1 race
Denny Hamlin	12.42 over 33 races (1 win)
Joey Logano	13.12 over 26 races (1 win)
Kyle Busch	13.78 over 36 races (1 win)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Charlotte:

Noah Gragson	32.67 over 3 races
Michael McDowell	28.68 over 25 races
Cody Ware	28.67 over 3 races
Austin Cindric	28.33 over 3 races
SVG	28.00 over 1 race

Charlotte is an Intermediate Track.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Denny Hamlin	12.08 over 340 races (28 wins)
Kyle Larson	12.17 over 178 races (18 races)
Joey Logano	12.46 over 286 races (19 races)
Kyle Busch	12.46 over 356 races (29 wins)
Chase Elliott	12.53 over 159 races (6 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Shane Van Gisbergen	23.00 over 10 races
JH Nemechek	22.81 over 45 races
Ty Dillon	22.40 over 126 races
Ryan Preece	22.40 over 92 races
Josh Berry	21.32 over 27 races (1 win)

Jimmie Johnson is the winningest driver at Charlotte, with 8 victories there.  Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip are tied for 2nd with 6 wins each.  Brad Keselowski is the winningest of current drivers, with 2 wins.

Notable drivers who have not won at Charlotte:

William Byron	(has won at 10 other tracks)
Tyler Reddick	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Alex Bowman	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Chris Buescher	(has won at 6 other tracks)
Ross Chastain	(has won at 5 other tracks)

Austin Dillon scored his first ever Cup Series win at Charlotte – it was his 133rd Cup start.

Based on average finish, no drivers list Charlotte as their BEST track, but Noah Gragson lists it as his WORST.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+613 pts
Bubba Wallace	+467 pts
Chris Buescher	+457 pts
William Byron	+351 pts
Chase Briscoe	+290 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-494 pts
Ty Gibbs	-320 pts
Joey Logano	-217 pts
Josh Berry	-217 pts
Todd Gilliland	-198 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

William Byron	10.17
Christopher Bell	11.17
Chase Briscoe	15.17
JH Nemechek	18.17
Todd Gilliland	18.83
Ryan Preece	19.75

Worst Career Year

Brad Keselowski	27.17
Cole Custer	25.58
Carson Hocevar	22.17
Ty Gibbs	20.58
Zane Smith	18.83

Rookie of the Year Battle

Riley Herbst	151
SVG	138

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	437
Toyota	425
Ford	405

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick	432
Joe Gibbs	411
Penske	366
Trackhouse	333
23XI	321
RFK	307
Front Row	283
RCR	281
Spire	280
Legacy MC	262
Kaulig	247
Hyak	236
Wood Bros	195
Haas Factory	137
Rick Ware	75

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

Kyle Larson	128
Ryan Blaney	107
William Byron	98
Bubba Wallace	90
Alex Bowman	83
Austin Cindric	71
Chase Elliott	71
Tyler Reddick	70
Joey Logano	68
Denny Hamlin	66

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott	Looking for his 20th Career Win
William Byron	Looking for his 60th Career Top 5
Erik Jones	Looking for his 40th Career Top 5
Ty Gibbs	This will be his 100th Career Cup Series Start
Ryan Preece	This will be his 200th Career Cup Series Start

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	153 races
Cole Custer	109 races
Bubba Wallace	91 races
Erik Jones	91 races
Kyle Busch	69 races
Michael McDowell	60 races
Daniel Suarez	46 races
Chase Elliott	39 races
Brad Keselowski	35 races
AJ Allmendinger	32 races

The race begins Sunday, May 25th at 6:00 pm EST (3:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!