Man, machine put to test for longest race on Cup schedule

If you think you have a long holiday weekend road trip ahead of you, think again.

A few hours behind the wheel of the family truckster is nothing compared to 600 miles of 180-mph racing for about 4½ hours.

That's what Sprint Cup Series drivers have in store this Memorial Day weekend with the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway.

• Charlotte: Newman claims pole | Lineup | Past winners

It's the longest race on the NASCAR schedule and without a doubt the most grueling on both man and machine.

"You'd think the extra 100 miles maybe wouldn't be a big deal because we're used to driving 500 on a regular basis," Jeff Burton said. "But it takes its toll and those final laps are really hard on the driver as well as the cars. I think I hear more rattles and feel more vibrations in the closing laps of the 600 than I do any other race of the year."

Five-time Charlotte winner Jimmie Johnson thinks the toll of the race is more a mental challenge than anything.

"Yeah, definitely takes more out of you," Johnson said. "It's a longer event. You've got to focus a lot on hydration. You need to eat during the course of the race to make sure you have energy for the end of it when it really matters.

"I think it's more of a mental thing that our minds are programmed for 500 miles and when you hear halfway and you look up at the scoreboard and you realize you've gone 300 and you've got 300 to go, it's kind of a mental thing that you have to focus on."

Right now Johnson is focused on trying to win again at LMS, a track that he used to refer to as "his house." Unfortunately the 1.5-mile track hasn't felt very homelike in recent starts, including his 39th-place finish in last year's 600.

"I think more than anything, when they resurfaced the track, it made the track much more forgiving and the setup that worked so well for us didn't give us an edge at the track," Johnson said trying to explain why the previous LMS magic seems to have disappeared. "The track was a little rough, abrasive, and our shop package and the line –- I also feel a big part of our success was there's a must –- take line in 3 and 4 that I can always set our car up to run."

That advantage could be in Tony Stewart's corner this weekend after his stirring All-Star Race win last Saturday night.

Like Kasey Kahne a year ago, Stewart is hoping success in the Charlotte preliminary event will lead to a win the following week in the 600.

"We go from the shortest race of the year to the longest race of the year," said Stewart, who came within three laps of winning last year's edition of the 600 until a flat tire sidelined him. "The main difference, besides the distance, is that the Coke 600 starts in the daytime and ends at night, whereas the All-Star Race started at night. We go from a sprint race to an endurance race."

"But we feel good about our chances and running well last weekend is definitely a shot of confidence for this whole team and the hard work everyone has put in."

Who's hot

•  Kyle Busch: Busch was able to lower his finishing average at Lowe's Motor Speedway from 29.1 to 21.4 with three consecutive finishes of fourth or better. In 10 starts at the 1.5-mile track, Busch has four top 10s and has led 146 laps.

•  Ryan Newman: Newman won his eighth career pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway and has put together a string of top-5 finishes to pull himself up into Chase territory in the Sprint Cup standings. Newman has three top 5s and five top-10 finishes at LMS and five DNFs. Newman's best finish -- second place -- came in the fall event in 2003 and he has led a total of 254 laps over 10 races.

•  Jimmie Johnson: Despite his recent struggles, Johnson's overall performance at LMS is still very impressive. Johnson has finished in the top 10, with five wins, in 12 of the 15 races he's competed in at Lowe's Motor Speedway. His 2003 Coca-Cola 600 win, one of three 600 wins, came from the furthest starting position in 37th.

Who's not

•  Juan Pablo Montoya: Lowe's Motor Speedway is Montoya's worst on the Sprint Cup schedule based on his 32.2 average finish. His best finish -- 30th -- came in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600.

•  Martin Truex Jr.: Truex Jr.'s best finish -- seventh -- and only top 10 in seven career starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway came in the 2005 Coca-Cola 600. It was his first career start at LMS after leading four laps.

•  Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt Jr. limps into Charlotte 18th in the point standings and is coming off a 36th-place finish in his last Charlotte start in October.

Make a note

•  Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson lead all active Sprint Cup drivers with five victories each at the Lowe's track. Four of Johnson's wins came consecutively, a track record.

•  Ford has not won at Charlotte since 2002, a span of 13 races.

•  Sunday's race will be the 101st for the Cup circuit at the Charlotte-area track and the 50th 600-miler.

•  2008 Fall LMS winner Jeff Burton has finished in the top 10 in his last three starts.

•  Mark Martin leads all active drivers with 17 top fives.