NASCAR Live Race Updates: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all. Welcome to the Racing America On SI Live Race Updates page for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Be sure to refresh this post throughout Sunday’s crown jewel event as the Live Race Updates story will be updated regularly with the biggest moments from the 600-mile race around the 1.5-mile oval including lead changes, crash replays, the winner of the race, finishing results, and more.

6:17 PM ET: Engines Fired!

After a command to start engines delivered by Pete Hegseth and active duty military members, the 40 cars in the field for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 have come to life. Engines are loudly purring, and it is time for a 600-mile slugfest.

6:08 PM ET: National Anthem and Flyover Complete

Danlie Cuenca, a vocalist from the United States Navy Band, performed an excellent rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which was followed by a flyover. Next up will be the command to start engines!

Three Cars To The Rear

NASCAR has confirmed that three cars will drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch (qualified 24th), and Erik Jones (27th) will drop to the rear due to unapproved adjustments to their No. 8 and No. 43 cars, and Ross Chastain, who was set to start last, will drop to the rear as his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team had to go to a backup car after a crash in Saturday’s practice session.

NASCAR Reveals Official Timeline of Coca-Cola 600 Pre-Race Festivities

NASCAR has also confirmed that the tradition of conducting a moment of silence to recognize fallen soldiers will continue this year in the Coca-Cola 600. At the end of Stage 2, the cars will be brought down pit road, and engines will shut off. Once the engines go quiet, the moment of silence will be observed.

Sunday’s pit road speed limit has been set at 45 mph, and the pace car will travel around the 1.5-mile speedway at 55 mph. The estimated fuel window for the NASCAR Cup Series car at Charlotte Motor Speedway is 68 laps.

Kyle Larson Crashes Out of Indianapolis 500 on Lap 92

Kyle Larson’s bid to win the Indianapolis 500 in his second attempt came to a premature end with a crash in Turn 2 on Lap 92 of the 200-lap event.

Larson lost control of his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in Turn 2, spun out, and collided with Kyffin Simpson. Both drivers would crash into the outside wall, and would see their races come to an end. Additionally, Sting Ray Robb, would go into the inside barriers attempting to avoid the crash.

Coca-Cola 600 Pre-Race Info

Coca-Cola 600 will be televised on Prime Video, the first of five NASCAR Cup Series races to be covered by the streaming service. Television coverage of the event will begin at 6:00 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the event’s radio broadcast.

For subscribers of the Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today’s race.

The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday’s race is a total of $13,651,450.

The race distance is 400 laps around the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway, which equates to a 600-mile race distance.

The race will be broken up into four Stages. Stage 1 will end at the conclusion of Lap 100, Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 200, Stage 3 will end at the conclusion of Lap 300, and the race is scheduled to finish at the end of Lap 400, barring an Overtime finish.

The winner of Stages 1, 2, and 3 will be awarded one Playoff Point, and the overall race winner will be awarded five Playoff points. The Playoff Points will be added to the reseeded point totals if the drivers make it into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and the Playoff Points will be carried through each round of the Playoffs.

The top-10 finishers in Stages 1, 2, and 3 will also receive regular-season championship points. The Stage Winners will receive 10 points for the Stage Win, and the point total will decrease by one point for the top-10 finishers in each Stage.

Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Last season’s race was shortened due to weather.

Chase Briscoe Takes Second Crown Jewel Pole of 2025

Chase Briscoe followed up a pole position in the season-opening Daytona 500 with another pole-winning run for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Briscoe narrowly defeated Kyle Larson by 0.020 seconds to win the pole with a lap time of 29.532 seconds (182.852 mph).

Coca-Cola 600 Starting Lineup

Click here for the full starting lineup.

McDowell, No. 71 Spire Team Lose Car Chief, Pit Selection After Pre-Race Inspection

It wasn’t what the No. 71 Spire Motorsports team had in mind for a start to their Coca-Cola 600 race weekend, but Michael McDowell will chase his third career NASCAR Cup Series win at a bit of a disadvantage after his No. 71 Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection multiple times on Saturday.

As a result of the multiple inspection failures, the No. 71 team will be without car chief Griffin Rider for the remainder of the weekend, and McDowell’s team lost their pit selection, which goes by order of qualifying results.

McDowell did go on to qualify 15th for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 in Saturday’s qualifying session.

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