This article is part of our Weekly Preview series.
This weekend NASCAR moves to North Carolina and cues up another doubleheader week of action. To follow up NASCAR's return to racing, we come to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 and Charlotte 500k doubleheader. The 600 has been the traditional event for Memorial Day weekend for many years now, so this re-scheduled race appears to be falling in just the right slot at the right time. This 600-mile marathon, the longest race of the season, is the perfect way to celebrate the long holiday weekend and our return to racing.
Charlotte Motor Speedway sets the stage for this high speed, big stakes battle of survival. CMS is one of the NASCAR Cup Series' many 1.5-mile tri-ovals. It's similar to both Atlanta and Texas in many respects, but the oval at Charlotte seems to produce more side-by-side racing than the other intermediate tracks. Horsepower is the name of the game at this high-speed oval, and the durability of the equipment is pushed to the max. The 400 laps raced during the Coca-Cola 600, under the lights, and late into the night take their toll on both the cars and the drivers. In summary, this race is about equipment preservation, driver preservation and fuel preservation. The long green flag runs we typically see in the 600 can often set up a fuel-mileage run to the finish, so crew chiefs have a lot to keep their eyes on in this very long race. The extra 100-miles raced may not seem like
