NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Coca-Cola 600”

Martin Truex, Jr. started from the pole and led all but 8 of the 400 laps run Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, rolling to one of the most lopsided Cup Series wins in NASCAR’s 68 year history. He darted away from the field at the drop of the green flag and kept the #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota in front throughout the night – beating runner-up Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag by 2-1/2 seconds. At one point with just under a hundred laps remaining, Jimmie Johnson had whittled Truex’s lead down to three-quarters of a second. But Truex quickly reasserted his dominance coming out of a restart less than a hundred miles from the finish, easily motoring on to his 4th career victory and first this season. 

Johnson finished third with Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski completing the top five. Defending race winner Carl Edwards placed 18th in his bid for back-to-back “600” victories, slowed by a speeding penalty on pit road. Joey Logano, winner of last weekend’s Sprint All-Star Race, was seeking to become just the 8th driver to win both the All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 in the same season. But he was penalized when his Team Penske pit crew went over the wall too soon on a stop during the second half of the race, though Logano did rally from that adversity to finish 9th 

Truex becomes just the 2nd driver in 18 years to win NASCAR’s longest race from the pole position. The other is Johnson, who did it twice: in 2004 and 2014. There were just nine lead changes Sunday, drivers: Truex, Johnson, Logano and Paul Menard.

In tribute to U.S. Armed Forces members who have fallen in service to their country, all 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers had their names replaced on car windshields with those of fallen service members.

As part of NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance, SFC Kyle B. Wehrly, U.S. Army, of Galesburg was featured on the #48 car driven by six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson.

Kyle Wehrly joined the Illinois Army National Guard in 1995 and was a part of Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 123rd Field Artillery. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Achievement Medal and the Army Good Conduct Medal among many others. During his time in the military he also worked at Lowe’s Store #92 in Galesburg. Wehrly was born in Galesburg on October 4, 1977, and passed away in Ashraf, Iraq on November 3, 2005. We salute SFC Kyle B. Wehrly!

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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC