{"id":52395,"date":"2025-05-25T23:55:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T04:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=52395"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:36:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:36:41","slug":"late-charge-propels-ross-chastain-to-victory-in-coca-cola-600","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/25\/late-charge-propels-ross-chastain-to-victory-in-coca-cola-600\/","title":{"rendered":"Late charge propels Ross Chastain to victory in Coca-Cola 600"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

CONCORD, N.C.\u2014Welcome to the party, Ross Chastain\u2014and to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, for that matter.<\/p>\n

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Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Starting from the rear of the field in a backup car his team needed all night to prepare, Chastain ran down the dominant car of William Byron to win Sunday night\u2019s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Byron led 283 of 400 laps and swept the first three stages of NASCAR\u2019s longest race. Chastain led the final six after diving below Byron\u2019s Chevrolet entering Turn 1 on Lap 395 and sliding up in Turn 2 to clear Byron off the corner.<\/p>\n

Chastain crossed the finish line 0.673 seconds ahead of the Hendrick Motorsports driver to win for the first time this season, the first time at Charlotte and the sixth time in his career.<\/p>\n

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Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet, celebrates by smashing a watermelon after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a far cry from Saturday\u2019s practice, when Chastain blew a tire on his No. 1 Chevrolet and crashed into the outside wall between Turns 3 and 4, ultimately forcing his Trackhouse Racing team to build a backup car.<\/p>\n

Unable to make a qualifying run, Chastain took the green flag in 40th and spent the rest of the race methodically working his way toward the front.<\/p>\n

Chastain had nothing but admiration for his Trackhouse organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left the shop last night, I went over and sat in this car for the first time,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cIt was about 10 o’clock when I left. They worked until 2:30. They were back at 5:30 this morning. Most of them drive 30, 45 minutes home. A little shower, I think.<\/p>\n

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Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI don’t even know if they slept. Back there at 5:30. They get this thing ready, and that’s the dedication it takes from Trackhouse. There were people there that had their Saturdays off yesterday, and they came in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo drive on that final run in the (Coke) 600 and pass two cars that had been way better all night … (Crew chief) Phil Surgen wanted me to pit two laps earlier (in the final stage). I went two laps longer (to Lap 350) just out of a little bit of confusion. Man, that paid off at the end. These Goodyear Eagles held on longer because they were a little bit fresher.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoly cow, we just won the 600!\u201d<\/p>\n

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William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 National Debt Relief Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Winner of Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte, Byron was understandably disappointed at his failure to complete the sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was catching me, and I was trying to just defend,\u201d Byron said of the decisive final run. \u201cI was getting a little bit tight. Then the scenario there with the cars we were around (Hamlin after his unscheduled stop and Joey Logano), it was tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, he got a run on me and was able to get to the bottom and clear me off of (Turn) 2. Disappointing just to lead that many laps and such a great effort by our whole team. Yeah, I guess just could have anticipated that last run a little better. I ran in dirty air for a long time and heated my tires up. Then we lost a chunk of time, and the 45 (Tyler Reddick) about crashed in front of us. Yeah, sucks.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 National Debt Relief Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe’ll just keep going and keep trying to put races together like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chastain, however, wasn\u2019t a factor for the lead as Byron and Denny Hamlin battled for the top spot in a thrilling third stage that saw them swap the lead nine times.<\/p>\n

After the halfway break, when the cars stopped on pit road to honor America\u2019s fallen heroes with a moment of silence, Byron was not as dominant as he had been in the first two stages. Hamlin hounded him mercilessly until Zane Smith spun off Turn 2 to cause the fifth caution on Lap 237.<\/p>\n

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William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

A five-car wreck in Turn 4 nine laps later eliminated the Ford of Ryan Blaney and the Chevrolets of Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez. Hamlin ran down Byron after the subsequent restart and passed him for the lead on Lap 262.<\/p>\n

Stronger on the long run, however, Byron reclaimed the top spot on Lap 291 and held off Hamlin and Carson Hocevar to complete a sweep of the first three stages. Hocevar was a contender for at least a top-five finish until an engine failure ended his race after 307 laps.<\/p>\n

Hamlin continued to challenge in the final 100 laps, until a mistake on pit road foiled his winning chances. During the final green-flag pit stop on Lap 348 Hamlin\u2019s crew failed to get the second can of fuel in the car, and Hamlin bowed out of contention with an unplanned pit stop on Lap 388.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 National Debt Relief Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a pit guy, but I tried to do everything I could for the National Debt Relief Toyota team,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cWe had a great car, and it was fun battling up front. It was a heck of a battle there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have liked to see it through, but unfortunately, just didn\u2019t get enough gas in it and had to come back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pole winner Chase Briscoe overcame a tire violation on his first pit stop to finish third. AJ Allmendinger ran fourth and Brad Keselowski came home fifth, posting his first top-10 result of the season.<\/p>\n

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A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson completed the top 10.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good thing Larson has a self-professed short memory, because Sunday was a day to forget for the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. After spinning in Takuma Sato\u2019s wake on Lap 92 of the Indianapolis 500 and falling out of the race, Larson flew to Charlotte to start on the front row for the Coke 600.<\/p>\n

For a short while, Larson\u2019s fortunes improved. He passed Byron for the lead on Lap 9 and stayed out front for 33 circuits. During that run, however, Larson slapped the outside wall. On Lap 42, he spun off Turn 4 and slid sideways through the turf in the tri-oval.<\/p>\n

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Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Hendrick 1100 Chevrolet, lead the field on a pace lap prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe toe might be barely off,\u201d Larson radioed to crew chief Cliff Daniels. \u201cI hit the wall pretty hard, and not square. Check it please.\u201d<\/p>\n

The toe (tire angle) was more than barely off, and repeated pit stops couldn\u2019t make it right. Larson\u2019s forgettable day ended in the five-car accident on Lap 246 when the spinning car of Daniel Suarez applied the coup de grace to the suspension of Larson\u2019s Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust too many mistakes on my end tonight, and it got me behind,\u201d Larson said after a trip to the infield care center. \u201cI got loose in (while) leading early and smacked the wall and just kind of got us behind, but I thought our team got the car back in better shape there.<\/p>\n

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William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI hate the way that the day went. I wish I could just reset and try again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimmie Johnson\u2019s 700th Cup Series start came to an end just as suddenly. In Turn 4 on Lap 112, Johnson\u2019s No. 84 Toyota broke loose and collected the cars of Cole Custer and Connor Zilisch, the Xfinity Series phenom who was making his first Cup start on an oval track.<\/p>\n

Johnson retired from the race in 40th. Zilisch persevered to come home 23rd.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NCS Race Winner – Ross Chastain (No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

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NCS Winning Crew Chief & Owner – Phil Surgen & Justin Marks (No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/NCSCMS1PhilSurgenJustinMarks052625-98.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – Coca-Cola 600<\/b><\/p>\n

Charlotte Motor Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Concord, North Carolina<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, May 25, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                  1. (40)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  2. (3)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  3. (1)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 400.<\/p>\n

                  4. (5)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  5. (35)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.<\/p>\n

                  6. (22)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  7. (15)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  8. (10)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.<\/p>\n

                  9. (28)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 400.<\/p>\n

                  10. (8)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 400.<\/p>\n

                  11. (11)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  12. (18)  Josh Berry, Ford, 400.<\/p>\n

                  13. (27)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 400.<\/p>\n

                  14. (30)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  15. (24)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 400.<\/p>\n

                  16. (20)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.<\/p>\n

                  17. (16)  Joey Logano, Ford, 400.<\/p>\n

                  18. (34)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 399.<\/p>\n

                  19. (19)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 399.<\/p>\n

                  20. (26)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 399.<\/p>\n

                  21. (29)  Cole Custer, Ford, 398.<\/p>\n

                  22. (4)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 398.<\/p>\n

                  23. (33)  Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 398.<\/p>\n

                  24. (7)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 398.<\/p>\n

                  25. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, 398.<\/p>\n

                  26. (12)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 398.<\/p>\n

                  27. (6)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 398.<\/p>\n

                  28. (31)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 397.<\/p>\n

                  29. (9)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 397.<\/p>\n

                  30. (13)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 395.<\/p>\n

                  31. (14)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 388.<\/p>\n

                  32. (37)  Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 380.<\/p>\n

                  33. (38)  Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, Fuel Pressure, 343.<\/p>\n

                  34. (39)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Engine, 307.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  35. (32)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 307.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  36. (25)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 245.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  37. (2)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 245.<\/p>\n

                  38. (21)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, Accident, 245.<\/p>\n

                  39. (23)  Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 236.<\/p>\n

                  40. (17)  Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, Accident, 111.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  135.781 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  4 Hrs, 25 Mins, 8 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .673 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  8 for 52 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  34 among 11 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe 0;K. Larson 1;W. Byron 2-8;K. Larson 9-41;W. Byron 42-44;C. Briscoe 45;W. Byron 46-102;C. Bell 103;W. Byron 104-107;T. Reddick 108;W. Byron 109-152;D. Hamlin 153;C. Hocevar 154-155;C. Bell 156-159;W. Byron 160-204;D. Hamlin 205;W. Byron 206-207;D. Hamlin 208;W. Byron 209-238;D. Hamlin 239;W. Byron 240-261;D. Hamlin 262-290;W. Byron 291-294;D. Hamlin 295;W. Byron 296-302;D. Hamlin 303-314;W. Byron 315-326;D. Hamlin 327-333;W. Byron 334-347;R. Chastain 348-349;B. Keselowski 350-354;C. Elliott 355-356;T. Gibbs 357-362;W. Byron 363-394;R. Chastain 395-400.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  William Byron 14 times for 283 laps; Denny Hamlin 8 times for 53 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 34 laps; Ross Chastain 2 times for 8 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 6 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 5 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 5 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 2 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 2 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 1 lap; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,45,20,42,16,17,11,4,9,71<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,11,45,77,42,16,1,43,4,9<\/p>\n

Stage #3 Top Ten: 24,11,77,45,1,16,20,9,19,60<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C.\u2014Welcome to the party, Ross Chastain\u2014and to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, for that matter. Starting from the rear of the field in a backup car his team needed all night to prepare, Chastain ran down the dominant car of William Byron to win Sunday night\u2019s Coca-Cola […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":52401,"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":[233,245,16,655],"class_list":["post-52395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-coca-cola-600","tag-nascar","tag-ross-chastain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2217056263-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dD5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52395"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52418,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52395\/revisions\/52418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}