Facts and Stats Friday for the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Bob Francis Motorsports Reporter, Managing Editor Go Full Throttle Racing News May 22, 2026

CONCORD, NC — William Byron enters the 2026 Coca-Cola 600 weekend with the top Driver Rating among the top 16 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Points at 101.3 with 4 Top 5s and 5 Top 10s in 9 races.

NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Sunday, May 24 at 6 p.m. ET

The Purse: $13,855,363

TV: Prime Video, 5 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 600 miles (400 Laps) — Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 100) — Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 200) — Stage 3 (Ends on Lap 300) — Final Stage (Ends on Lap 400)

2025 Coca-Cola 600 Winner Ross Chastain celebrates with his trademark watermelon smash (Image Credit: NASCAR/Getty Images)

WILLIAM BYRON’S 600 DOMINANCE

William Byron’s 283 laps led were the most by a non-winner in the Coca-Cola 600 since 1963 (Junior Johnson — 289)

Won five of the last nine stages in the 600

Led 40% of the laps raced in the 600 in the last three years

Finished top-three in the 600 in each of the last three years

Has 5 stage wins in the Coca-Cola 600, most of all drivers

Other Drivers to Watch:

Tyler Reddick — Finished top-10 in five of his six starts in the 600 — Led laps in four of his six 600 starts — Top-10 average running position in five of his six starts in the 600

Chase Elliott — Two-time runner-up in the 600 — Led the 600 each of the last seven years, the longest active streak — Finished in the top-10 in the 600 in five of the last seven years

Ricky Stenhouse Jr — Finished top-10 in the 600 in four of the last eight years — Only one finish worst than 12th in the 600 in the last five years — Running at the finish in all 14 600 starts

Alex Bowman — Finished top-10 in five of his last eight 600 starts — Only one finish worst than 12th in the 600 in the last five years — Running at the finish in all 10 600 starts

Ryan Blaney — 2023 600 win is his only top-10 finish in the 600 in the last five years — Only two top-10 finishes in the 600 in 11 starts — Only four lead lap finishes in the 600 in 11 starts — Failed to finish the 600 in three of the last four years due to accidents

FACTS — STATS — DATA

CHARLOTTE-SPECIFIC STATISTICS

(Drivers are listed in alphabetical order; Loop Data stats in the section below are from 2005-Present)

Christopher Bell (№20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) · One win, two top fives, four top 10s · Average Finish of 13.286, fourth-best · Average Running Position of 12.103, seventh-best · Driver Rating of 92.8, seventh-best · 1,573 Laps in the Top 15 (63.6%), eighth-most

Ryan Blaney (№12 Team Penske Ford) · One win, three top fives, four top 10s · Average Finish of 21.000, 13th-best · Average Running Position of 15.511, 12th-best · Driver Rating of 85.4, 11th-best · 3,136 Laps in the Top 15 (57.3%), 12th-most

William Byron (№24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) · Four top fives, five top 10s; one pole · Average Finish of 13.778, seventh-best · Average Running Position of 10.821, fourth-best · Driver Rating of 101.3, second-best · 2,514 Laps in the Top 15 (76.8%), fourth-most

Austin Dillon (№3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) · One win, one top five, five top 10s · Average Finish of 16.941, 10th-best · Average Running Position of 16.070, 13th-best · Driver Rating of 77.8, 13th-best · 3,699 Laps in the Top 15 (59.6%), ninth-most

Chase Elliott (№9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) · One win, five top fives, eight top 10s · Average Finish of 14.286, eighth-best · Average Running Position of 13.074, eighth-best · Driver Rating of 95.1, sixth-best · 3,407 Laps in the Top 15 (66.2%), seventh-most

Ty Gibbs (№54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) · One top 10; one pole · Average Finish of 18.667, 11th-best · Average Running Position of 11.034, fifth-best · Driver Rating of 84.1, 12th-best · 719 Laps in the Top 15 (68.5%), sixth-most

Denny Hamlin (№11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) · One win, 12 top fives, 21 top 10s; three poles · Average Finish of 12.559, second-best · Average Running Position of 11.682, sixth-best · Driver Rating of 95.6, fifth-best · 9,210 Laps in the Top 15 (75.2%), fifth-most

Brad Keselowski (№6 RFK Racing Ford) · Two wins, seven top fives, 12 top 10s; one pole · Average Finish of 13.577, sixth-best · Average Running Position of 14.864, 11th-best · Driver Rating of 86.0, 10th-best · 5,408 Laps in the Top 15 (57.0%), 13th-most

Kyle Larson (№5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) · One win, two top fives, six top 10s; one pole · Average Finish of 19.000, 12th-best · Average Running Position of 13.790, ninth-best · Driver Rating of 89.0, eighth-best · 3,308 Laps in the Top 15 (58.2%), 11th-most

Joey Logano (№22 Team Penske Ford) · One win, six top fives, 11 top 10s · Average Finish of 13.296, fifth-best · Average Running Position of 13.845, 10th-best · Driver Rating of 86.7, ninth-best · 5,749 Laps in the Top 15 (59.2%), 10th-most

Tyler Reddick (№45 23XI Racing Toyota) · Two top fives, five top 10s · Average Finish of 10.429, series-best · Average Running Position of 10.262, series-best · Driver Rating of 97.5, fourth-best · 2,122 Laps in the Top 15 (85.7%), series-most

Initial GFT NASCAR AI Race Predictions for the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

REMINDER: GFT AI 1 Bot vs All Players in 2025 - GFT AI 1 Bot outperformed 98.06% of all players in the #TMDNASCAR Fantasy League

The GFT AI Race Prediction Models scored 227 points 2 weeks ago and went 3/4 on H2H picks for the Go Bowling at the Glen road course race. Updated #TMDNASCAR league rank of 159 (out of 3,629 players) = GFT AI Bot outperforming 95.62% of all players.

Initial GFT NASCAR Fantasy Fast Five for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte: Byron, Briscoe, Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, with Bell in the Garage.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: The GFT models will update after Cup Series Practice and Qualifying on Saturday. Then the data is ingested into the models, and the models rerun prediction scenarios overnight.

NEW PROCESS

• On Sunday, we publish the UPDATED race predictions, which will only be available in the Go Full Throttle Racing News App for subscribers. This is usually 2 hours before the Green flag
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