2012 Coca Cola 600 Driver Odds - Charlotte Motor Speedway Lines

The longest race of the NASCAR season and one of the true highlights of the racing year, the Coca-Cola 600 runs at Lowe's Motor Speedway during Memorial Day Weekend. Who will claim victory lane in 2012?

The race was usually held during the earlier times of the day but the fans made their voices known and asked for the race time to be pushed back to later in the evening to combat the humid weather of North Carolina. This time shift also gave the drivers participating in the Indianapolis 500 the right amount of time to fly into Concord and race in the Coca Cola 600 on the same day.

Known for ten years as the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Charlotte has gone back to its old name; in February 1999, Lowe's bought the naming rights to the Charlotte speedway, making it the first race track in the country with a corporate sponsor. Lowe's made the decision not to renew the naming agreement following the 2009 season, which left the track to revert back to its original name, the Charlotte Motor Speedway, for 2010.

Even though it is NASCAR’s longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600 has been the event in which many drivers tallied their first wins, including future champions David Pearson (1961), Jeff Gordon (1994), Bobby Labonte (1995), and Matt Kenseth (2000), as well as a couple without a championship yet at this point, such as Casey Mears (2007) and David Reutimann (2009).

Coca Cola 600 Results

Odds to Win 2012 Coca Cola 600

2011 Coca Cola 600 Winner

The restart lineup at lap 400--the first lap of overtime--was Kahne, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, pole-winner Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and Ragan. When Kahne ran dry entering turn one on the restart, Earnhardt Jr. and Hamlin shot away from the pack. Earnhardt Jr. took the white flag well clear of the field, but made it only into turn three before running out. Hamlin had run out midway down the backstretch as Harvick suddenly became a player on the last lap. Harvick easily passed the slowing Earnhardt Jr. and won ahead of Ragan (his career-best finish), Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Earnhardt Jr., Regan Smith, David Reutimann and Hamlin.

2010 Coca Cola 600 Winner

In 2009, wet weather made a first-time winner Monday of Reutimann, who captured the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway after taking the lead by electing not to pit from 14th during a caution flag for a shower on lap 223 of a scheduled 400