The 2023 Coca-Cola 600

​The Coca-Cola 600 is an event that I look forward to every year. Memorial Day weekend is always circled on my calendar, and this year was no different. For most of my childhood, I grew up two miles behind turn two of Charlotte Motor Speedway, so becoming a NASCAR fan was inevitable. Growing up, my siblings and I would always get excited to watch the fireworks after a race since we could see them from our house. The roar of the engines going around the mile-and-a-half track would keep us up during the 600, and when there wasn't a race, you could always hear somebody practicing. We lived in America's Home for Racing.

I have taken a much deeper interest in NASCAR for the last three seasons. Before the 2021 season, the Coca-Cola 600 was the only race I cared about. I had never watched a race on TV, kept up with NASCAR on social media, and was never a die-hard for a driver or a team. I liked Bobby Labonte's #18 Interstate Battery car growing up, but that was about as deep as my NASCAR fandom got before the 2021 season. Liking the cars. 

I don't know what clicked in my head in the 2021 season to make me like NASCAR so much. But, if I had to guess, it's because the Coca-Cola 600 was the first significant event I had been to since COVID-19 swept the nation. That year, I decided to go for Martin Truex Jr. There was no real reason for picking Truex other than I liked Bass Pro, and that was his sponsor, so Truex it was. 

Fast forward to 2022, and Ok Listen Here is closing out its first full year of operation. The NASCAR season is about to begin, and I wanted to write more about the sport that I grew up around. I was fact-checking one of my articles and discovered that hidden in Harrisburg, North Carolina lies the headquarters of JTG Daughtery Racing. Y'all can read my first article about them here. 

I learned about JTG Daughtery right after the 2022 Clash at the Coliseum, and for most of the season, I followed and wrote about the team and Ricky Stenhouse. For the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, I bought myself a Stenhouse T-Shirt, and before the Nashville race, I made the effort to meet him in person at a meet and greet in the Lebanon Kroger. 

Fast forward to the 2023 season. Every Sunday, I sit down and watch the entire race on the TV while I have Stenhouse's dash cam and scanner playing on my phone. There have been a few races that I have been unable to watch, but thanks to the PRN broadcast on the NASCAR app, I can, at the very least, listen to it. 

It was a no-brainer that I would make the trip to Concord to watch the Coca-Cola 600, but I didn't anticipate that this past weekend would be one of my favorite weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway of all my years going. 

My weekend started Friday evening with the ARCA and Truck Series races. I was invited to attend those races with some family friends in the Turn One Suites at the speedway, and what an experience that was. It was fantastic to watch a race in a climate-controlled environment and have unlimited access to beer and snacks. 

I didn't have a driver for either the ARCA or Truck Series, but knowing that I enjoy races when I have a set driver or two to root for, I had to conclude who I would pull for. My buddy works for Matt DiBenedetto, so that's who I went for in the Truck Race. I shot a few tweets to his team during the race, and they responded to a few of them, so y'all know that means I'll be going for Dibenedetto moving forward. For the ARCA race, I only know of one driver. Frankie Muniz. So that's who I went for. DiBenedetto finished 8th, and Frankie finished 6th. 

Since the Xfinity race was postponed to Monday, I spent Saturday checking out vendors around the track. I went out to find cheap T-shirts, which I did find, but they looked like a six-year-old printed the design on a shirt. So, instead of shirts, I came home with a few 1:64 die-cast cars, including a Ricky Stenhouse die-cast! 

Sunday came, and we arrived at the track as early as possible because we had purchased Pit-Passes. I wanted to be one of the first on pit road, but unfortunately, they never opened it up because of the rain. They kept pushing back the Coca-Cola 600, and at one point, they were aiming to go green around 8:00 PM - 8:30 PM, but around 7 PM, they postponed the race to 3:00 PM on Monday. 

At this point, they had scheduled the Xfinity race to start at 11 AM. Charlotte Motor Speedway allowed anybody with tickets to the Coca-Cola 600 to attend the Xfinity race. I wanted to get in as much racing as possible, so we arrived at the track at 11. Of course, the rain continued to be an annoyance all day. There was a tiny opening where the Xfinity series could run around 40 laps before the rain came in again. 

At this point, the decision was made to aim to run the Coca-Cola 600 at 3:00 PM, so they set the Xfinity race to follow the Cup Series Race. At this point, I was not sure NASCAR would get the Coca-Cola 600 in at 3. The rain continued to fall, and when you checked the radar, it stopped just above Charlotte Motor Speedway and seemed to be heading north, but it gathered right above the speedway for a while. Then, the 600 finally got going! The first stage had a rain delay but didn't last long. 

Stenhouse started the race in 10th, and he drives well at Charlotte, so coming into the weekend, I was optimistic. In eight of the last nine races at Charlotte (oval), he finished in the top-15. JTG Daugherty Racing has built Ricky cars that have performed at a competitive level this season. 

Before the 600, he had won the Daytona 500, finished top-5 twice, finished top-10 four times, and finished in the top-15 ten times this season. So far, it has been Ricky Stenhouse's best season in his cup career. 

From watching every race and listening to Ricky's scanner during every race, I knew that Ricky wouldn't do anything spectacular until the last stage. Mike Kelly, Stenhouse's crew chief, is a patient one. For most of the season, they have taken on the "Stay on the lead lap until, don't wreck, and hit it in the last stage" approach. It makes for exciting racing because, as a fan, you don't often see what the crew chief or driver sees, so you question why they did x, y, and z, but towards the end of the race, there's always an "aha" moment. 

The Coca-Cola 600 was a little different for Stenhouse. He started in 10th and didn't move much the entire race. Cars would pass him, and he would pass cars, but somehow he managed to stay in 10th or 11th. Then, it got interesting when Kyle Busch and he started getting into it. I haven't seen Ricky get that aggressive this year, but it was extraordinary to witness it in person. At one point, Ricky had Busch turned down turn four, and he about gave me a heart attack because I know how aggressive Busch can be if he's pissed off. Stenhouse would go on to finish the race in 7th which made me a happy camper to see his second top-10 finish in a row at Charlotte Motor Speedway! 

Overall, I was delighted with the racing. Though most of my attention was on Stenhouse, I appreciated the dominant performance put on by Ryan Blaney. There was no question that he would win that race, even when there, towards the end, he was late getting out of the pits and restarted in fourth. His car was just a rocket, and it wouldn't be stopped. 

The Coca-Cola 600 never ceases to be entertaining. I'm glad I grew up in the area, and though I've moved away from Cabarrus County, the pilgrimage to the Coca-Cola 600 will be a yearly occurrence. Besides, I've already got a track pass for next year! 

Looking ahead to the race this weekend at the Enjoy Illinois 300 at the World Wide Technology Raceway, I'm still determining what I expect out of Stenhouse. Unfortunately, there isn't that much data to go off of since this is the second Cup Series race at the WWTR. Last season, he finished in 32nd, but this year he's got a new crew chief, a better car, and momentum. If I had to make a prediction, I suspect Stenhouse will finish in the Top-15 again this race! 

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• Sport Grey is 90% ring-spun cotton, 10% polyester
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• 4.5 oz/yd² (153 g/m²)
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• Blank product sourced from Bangladesh, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, or Nicaragua

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