The 1995 Coca-Cola 600 was the 11th stock car race of the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 28, 1995, before an audience of 175,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby Labonte would manage to dominate the late stages of the race with the help of changing his racing line according to Labonte. The victory was Labonte's first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte and Bahari Racing driver Michael Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1995 Coca-Cola 600 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | May 28, 1995 | ||
| Official name | 36th Annual Coca-Cola 600 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Average speed | 151.952 miles per hour (244.543 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 175,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 29.370 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 169 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 18 | Bobby Labonte | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Ernie Irvan, Richard Petty | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
Background
edit
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 24, at 7:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Thursday, May 25, at 6:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-38 would be decided on time,[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to four provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Jeff Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.370 and an average speed of 183.861 miles per hour (295.896 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Six drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editReferences
edit- ^ Coble, Don (May 29, 1995). "Bobby Labonte finds real groove at Coca-Cola". The Times. p. 23. Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Macenka, Joe (May 29, 1995). "Bobby Labonte puts brakes on brother". Austin American-Statesman. p. 47. Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Race week at Charlotte". The Charlotte Observer. May 23, 1995. p. 12. Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Macenka, Joe (May 25, 1995). "Gordon grabs pole, seeks new nickname". The Advocate-Messenger. p. 15. Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
