{"id":25947,"date":"2019-05-25T12:35:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T17:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=25947"},"modified":"2019-05-26T09:55:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T14:55:23","slug":"nascar-saturday-charlotte-notebook-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/25\/nascar-saturday-charlotte-notebook-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Charlotte Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Joey Logano predicts another full-contact race in Coca-Cola 600<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

CONCORD, N.C. \u2013 The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is notable for frenetic racing and heavy contact between cars, but Joey Logano doesn\u2019t expect anything less in Sunday\u2019s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, reacts in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 23, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDid you watch Kansas? It\u2019s the same thing,\u201d Logano asked rhetorically about the most recent Monster Energy Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, where restarts in particular were fraught with action.<\/p>\n

Like the race at Kansas, most of Sunday\u2019s Coke 600 will be run under the lights, thanks to the evening start time and the length of the event. NASCAR\u2019s 2019 higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package is likely to keep the cars closer together on a hot, slick race track.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what this rules package has kind of promoted is that we\u2019re so close to each other and to be able to clear someone or to really put yourself in the position you need to sometimes you\u2019ve got to make those aggressive moves, whether it\u2019s an aggressive block–maybe you\u2019re pushing someone by, maybe you find yourself four-wide like they did down the frontstretch,\u201d Logano said, describing a situation in the All-Star race where four cars crossed the start\/finish line side-by-side and raced that way until they reached the first corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think that was possible, and it really kind of wasn\u2019t, but they got through it somehow down the front straightway here at Charlotte. A lot of it is the rules package. We\u2019ll see that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano was 14th fastest in Saturday morning\u2019s first Cup practice session and 15th on a hotter track in Happy Hour.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/CMS1_MENCS_Logano_052319.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

DON\u2019T EXPECT A TRUEX-STYLE DOMINATION IN SUNDAY\u2019S RACE<\/b><\/p>\n

One of Martin Truex Jr.\u2019s fondest memories is the whipping he put on the rest of the field in the 2016 Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n

Truex led 392 of 400 laps (good for a NASCAR<\/a> record 588 of the 600 miles), surrendering the top spot only on pit stops. He crossed the finish line 2.572 seconds ahead of runner-up Kevin Harvick.<\/p>\n

Will that sort of domination be a possibility in Sunday\u2019s 60th running of NASCAR\u2019s longest race (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)?<\/p>\n

As far as Truex is concerned, you can forget about that prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to be able to do that at this level is something you dream of,\u201d said Truex, who was 11th fastest in Saturday\u2019s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice. \u201cThe fact that no one will probably lead more laps than that ever, ever, ever, and that\u2019s just crazy to think about.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty cool and I wouldn\u2019t say we need to duplicate that, but I would like to try to win another one. It\u2019s a special race to win. It\u2019s one of the crown jewels.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHORT STROKES<\/b><\/p>\n

Seeking his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, Daniel Suarez topped the speed charts in both Saturday practices for the Coca-Cola 600. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver posted a top speed of 182.143 mph in Saturday\u2019s first session and a best lap at 180.705 mph on a hotter track in final practice. Suarez also had the sixth best 10-consecutive lap average speed in Happy Hour (179.134 mph). \u201cWe have a good piece, and hopefully we can take advantage of it tomorrow,\u201d Suarez said\u2026<\/p>\n

Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman smacked the outside wall on the final lap of Saturday morning\u2019s first practice and flattened the right side of his No. 6 Ford. Newman\u2019s crew did yeoman work to repair the primary car in time for final practice. Newman ran 35 laps in the session and was 28th fastest of the 32 drivers who participated\u2026<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin had the quickest Toyota in final practice, running the third fastest lap at 180.554 mph. The reigning Daytona 500 winner hopes the speed in his Joe Gibbs Racing Camry will help overcome a 20th-place starting position. \u201cIt should be pretty good,\u201d Hamlin said after Happy Hour. \u201cI felt pretty good with our practice there. It was one of our better practices of the year. We\u2019re going to have to start from deep in the field, which is going to be a challenge with traffic, but we\u2019ve got a long race to get it done. Pretty happy with where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Joey Logano predicts another full-contact race in Coca-Cola 600 CONCORD, N.C. \u2013 The Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is notable for frenetic racing and heavy contact between cars, but Joey Logano doesn\u2019t expect anything less in Sunday\u2019s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":25950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[233,16,181],"class_list":["post-25947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/MENCS_CMS_Logano_052319.jpg?fit=5014%2C3479","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6Kv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25947"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25952,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25947\/revisions\/25952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}