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The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Charlotte this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600. Who can survive the extended loftiness to ride to victory lane?

The second half of the regular season begins this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series rides into Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.

In positive news, the garage will see a familiar squatter return to whoopee this weekend superiority of the year’s longest race. Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman has been medically cleared to return to the track this weekend without missing three points-paying races. Bowman suffered a fractured vertebra in a Sprint Car wrecking on April 25 but is now good to go for the playoff push.

Despite missing some time, Bowman is only five points out of a playoff spot in 17th. He now has the when half of the schedule to get when to form and make his way into the 16-driver playoff field. As happy as the team was for Bowman’s return, they moreover heaped praise on Josh Berry, who filled in for Bowman during his absence, without doing the same older in the year for Chase Elliott.

In a statement released by Hendrick Motorsports, they undeniability Josh “an wool pro.” They go on to say that “His talent and nonflexible work unliable the team to protract operating at a upper level while Alex recovered. We can’t say unbearable well-nigh the unconfined job he did under some challenging circumstances.”

Berry, a full-time Xfinity Series suburbanite for JR Motorsports, is slowly putting together a resume for flipside opportunity in a Cup Series ride, making the most of his reserve role.

With flipside heavyweight when in the mix this weekend, we should have some heady racing superiority at Charlotte.

The Track

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile quad oval in Concord, North Carolina. The track first appeared on the NASCAR Cup Series in 1960 and has since hosted two races per year. It moreover hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race in 1985 and from 1987-2019, making it a familiar site for NASCAR fans. Jimmie Johnson is the all-time wins leader at the track with eight, while the most recent winner on the quad-oval is Denny Hamlin.

I specify the “quad-oval” considering since 2018 the track’s second yearly race has been run on the Roval configuration which incorporates the infield road course. Last year’s Roval race was won by Christopher Bell. The oval characteristics include 24-degree financial in the corners with five-degree financial on the straights.

Sunday’s race will be 400 laps long and imbricate 600 miles. Due to the increased length (the longest on the 2023 schedule), the race will be split into four stages instead of the usual three. The math is quite simple. With 400 laps, each stage will consist of 100 laps, making it four equal stages wideness the race.

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Points Standings

As we have officially entered the second half of the season, let’s shift to looking at the playoff standings and the top 16 drivers in the playoffs as of now.

William Byron*, Hendrick Motorsports
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing
Christopher Bell*, Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Larson*, Hendrick Motorsports
Denny Hamlin*, Joe Gibbs Racing
Martin Truex Jr.*, Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch*, Richard Childress Racing
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tyler Reddick*, 23XI Racing
Joey Logano*, Team Penske
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*, JTG Daugherty Racing
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing
Chris Buescher, RFK Racing
Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing

*= 2023 race winner

Predictions

It’s not an interesting pick, but I’m taking Kyle Larson this weekend. He’s fresh off an All-Star Race win, and he runs well at Charlotte. If you take into worth all of the events he’s run at the track (All-Star opens/heats included), he’s taken four wins and had nine top 10s in 14 events. Larson has been on a roll this season, and there’s no reason to believe it will stop now.