Coca-Cola 600 live updates, results: Brad Keselowski wins NASCAR race at Charlotte

Editor’s note: Race results are below. For a full Coca-Cola 600 recap and takeaways, reporter Alex Andrejev is at Charlotte Motor Speedway and has you covered here.

Kurt Busch will start on the pole for NASCAR’s annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. Busch edged out Jimmie Johnson for the first place starting spot with a qualifying lap time of 29.79 seconds, 181.269 mph.

Johnson will start second, followed by Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Tyler Reddick.

This is Busch’s first pole start in 2020 and his first at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He will join a Chevrolet-heavy top-10 at the green flag. The manufacturer dominated NASCAR’s first qualifying round since postponing its season for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Seven Chevys qualified for a top-10 starting position, but they’ve still got 600 miles to go.

The Observer will be your eyes and ears at the track for all 600 of those miles. The race starts at 6 p.m. on FOX.

This page will be updated with the latest race information by NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev from Charlotte Motor Speedway. You can also follow her on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 race results

Coca-Cola 600 post-race reading:

• Coca-Cola 600’s 60th anniversary brings normalcy to North Carolina, but with an emptiness
• Will rain cancel the Coca-Cola 600? Here’s the forecast for Sunday’s NASCAR race
• What does it take to win NASCAR’s longest race? Drivers share their Coca-Cola 600 advice
• 1-on-1 with NASCAR’s Denny Hamlin: Coca-Cola 600 win is his career’s ‘highest priority’
• NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte: How to watch, track and race info, prediction
• 6 things you may not know about NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Live updates from NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600

Stage 4

CHECKERED FLAG: Brad Keselowski wins. (Full results will be added shortly)

12:03 p.m, Lap 298: William Byron spins out, bringing out the caution. We’re going to overtime.

11:58 p.m., Lap 390: It’s going to take a caution to stop Chase Elliott now. Ten laps to go and he has a 1.8-second lead over second-place Brad Keselowski.

11:48 p.m, Lap 370: Just 30 laps to go. Chase Elliott out in front, about a half second ahead of Brad Keselowski. Jimmie Johnson in third and Truex Jr. still in fourth place, but gaining slightly.

11:42 p.m., Lap 365: Truex Jr. fell to fourth coming off of pit road after the caution. Brad Keselowski is up front, followed by Chase Elliott. Elliott was in position to win Wednesday night in Darlington until he was crashed late by Kyle Busch.

11:33 p.m., Lap 350: Caution is out as Joey Gase spins out in Turn 4. 52 laps to go and it’s still Martin Truex Jr. up front, with a 2-second lead over Jimmie Johnson in second place.

11:23 p.m., Lap 330: Martin Truex Jr. won the Coca-Cola 600 last year, and won previously in 2016. He’s dominating right now.

11:15 p.m., Lap 312: Martin Truex Jr., still looking for his first win of the season, retakes the lead. Jimmie Johnson has moved into second place, about a half second off the lead. Matt DiBenedetto, who has never finished better than 30th at the 600, is in third place riding on two fresh tires.

Stage 3

11:02 p.m., Lap 300: Logano’s No. 22 car holds on for the stage win after not pitting for tires. Bowman stays in second, followed by Blaney, Johnson, Truex, Ky. Busch, Jones, Keselowski, A. Dillon, Byron in the top-10.

10:53 p.m., Lap 286: Logano pulls away, but Bowman and Truex vy for the second place spot. Bowman then pulls ahead to second place as Truex drops back. Blaney and Johnson fill in in front of Truex.

10:48 p.m., Lap 279: The sixth caution flag of the race is thrown for Matt Kenseth on Lap 276, who made contact with the wall rounding Turn 2. The leaders pit, excluding Logano, Harvick and Elliott. Truex takes two tires and is first car off pit road, but Logano leads on the restart on Lap 280. Jones, previously P2, took four tires and drops to 11th.

10:36 p.m., Lap 264: After pit stops cycle through, Truex resumes the lead. He is followed by Jones, Bowman, Blaney and Byron.

10:32 p.m., Lap 252: Green flag pit stops are underway. Rookies Reddick (P11) and Bell (P17) remain on the lead lap.

10:18 p.m., Lap 225: After leading 163 laps, Bowman gets passed by Truex. “Look at that beautiful track in front of you, make it work,” the No. 19 crew tells Truex.

10:12 p.m., Lap 218: Bowman leads, but Truex remains on his tail, just short of completing a pass around the turns. It’s a game of cat-and-mouse now.

10:02 p.m., Lap 203: Ky. Busch, in P2, gets a penalty for speeding on pit road and is sent to the rear of the field.

Stage 2

9:55 p.m., Lap 200: Alex Bowman dominates the second stage. Truex, Ky. Busch, Byron, Elliott, Jones, Logano, A. Dillon, Blaney and Johnson follow. Cars then slow to a halt on pit road for a moment of remembrance to honor service members of the armed forces.

9:37 p.m., Lap 171: Bowman, Truex and Ky. Busch return to running in line in top three.

9:34 p.m., Lap 165: Drivers continue to cycle through their pit stops. Ryan Preece makes a move to the lead and is quickly replaced by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. before Bowman regains the first position. Stenhouse pits.

9:30 p.m., Lap 162: After a handful of drivers pit on the green flag, Jimmie Johnson briefly emerges as the race leader before pitting for two tires. Matt Kenseth gets a penalty for speeding on pit road.

9:23 p.m., Lap 142: Ty Dillon makes another green flag pit stop, placing him three laps down. He runs in 33rd.

9:15 p.m., Lap 128: Bubba Wallace heads to the garage for a mechanical issue. Alex Bowman continues to dominate in the lead, followed by the same top-three: Truex, Ky. Busch and Elliott, respectively. Logano has moved up to fifth and Reddick has dropped to ninth place.

9:05 p.m., Lap 110: Drivers run two-wide on the restart. Busch quickly falls to P3 in line behind Bowman (P1) and Truex (P2). Elliott runs in P4 just behind Busch.

8:59 p.m., Lap 103: Kyle Busch has a very fast pit stop, nearly passing Bowman on pit road, but Bowman maintains his spot for the restart. Truex, Elliott and Reddick follow. Meanwhile, Stewart-Haas racing says Bowyer has been evaluated and released from the care center.

Stage 1

8:51 p.m., Lap 100: Alex Bowman wins the first stage under caution as Bowyer’s car is removed from the track. Truex, Elliott, Reddick and Logano run in the top-five. Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Johnson, Byron and Kurt Busch also finish the stage in the top-10 for points.

8:48 p.m., Lap 97: Clint Bowyer hits the wall rounding Turn 2 and the third caution of the night is called. Bowyer emerges from his smoking car. Suárez gets the free pass.

8:47 p.m., Lap 95: Truex is chasing Bowman with under 10 laps left in Stage 1. Truex is still four seconds ahead of Elliott in P3.

8:36 p.m., Lap 73: Ty Dillon hits pit road under green flag conditions to fix a loose tire. He returns two laps down.

8:27 p.m., Lap 57: Green flag! Alex Bowman took two tires on the restart and zooms to first. Elliott, Truex, Reddick and Ku. Busch follow in the top five.

8:22 p.m., Lap 53: Pit road opens with the race still under caution. Almost all cars on the lead lap pit for tires. Truex, in P3, takes four tires and Bowman takes two to come off of pit road first. The first stage ends on Lap 100.

8:15 p.m., Lap 50 RAIN DELAY: Drivers have reported to their cars and engines are re-fired after a rain delay that lasted a little over an hour. Let’s try this again.

8:06 p.m., Lap 50 RAIN DELAY: NASCAR says it is aiming to have the track dried and ready to race at 8:25 p.m. EST.

7:55 p.m., Lap 50 RAIN DELAY: The race is still under a red flag due to a wet track, but there is light (or no) rain at this point. NASCAR remains monitoring the weather as track-drying efforts continue.

7:21 p.m., Lap 50 RAIN DELAY: Cars remain covered on pit road, but the rain has stopped. Air Titans line up to dry the track.

7:04 p.m., Lap 48: Steady rain hits Charlotte Motor Speedway and a caution is called. Cars head to pit road.

6:42 p.m., Lap 34: Martin Truex Jr. moves to second after an efficient pit stop. Busch continues to lead all laps. Johnson and Reddick briefly ran side-by-side, but it looks like Johnson got loose and scraped the wall, so Reddick pulled ahead to fourth. Elliott runs in third and Logano is in fifth.

6:40 p.m., Lap 20: A competition caution is called for teams to make adjustments. Kurt Busch has led all laps. Hamlin starts the race eight laps down. Per the NASCAR rule book, Hamlin’s No. 11 team should have a four-race suspension for the crew chief, car chief and head engineer.

6:36 p.m., Lap 9: Kurt Busch has led all laps. Hamlin is on the field now, but needs to make up time. There will be a competition caution at Lap 20 for teams to make adjustments.

Pre-race

6:32 p.m.: The green flag waves at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin is still on pit road.

6:27 p.m.: Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car loses a ballast while making pace laps and he is forced to pit. Per the NASCAR rule book, there should be a four-race suspension for Hamlin’s crew chief, car chief and head engineer.

6:16 p.m.: United States Army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley gives drivers the command to start engines virtually.

6:10 p.m.: U.S. Marine Corps. veteran Edward Schrank performs the national anthem and four fighter jets (two F-16 Vipers and two SCF-22 Raptors) flyover the speedway.

6:07 p.m.: The 82nd Airborne Division performs a three-volley salute, followed by a performance of “Taps” by the United States Coast Guard Band and Chief Musician Gino Villarreal.

6:05 p.m.: NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway kick off the pre-race opening ceremony. The Navy Color Guard provides an introduction and prominent evangelist Billy Graham delivers the invocation. The Charlotte Fire Department Pipe Band performs “Amazing Grace.”

5:50 p.m.: There is activity on the track as teams move around their pit stalls and to their cars. Skies are overcast, but still no rain. You can find more weather updates here.

5:24 p.m.: NASCAR announces that Brad Keselowski, J.J. Yeley, Aric Almirola and Timmy Hill will move to the back of the field at the green flag for unapproved adjustments. Matt DiBenedetto will also fall to the back for switching to a backup car. DiBenedetto swiped the wall in his No. 21 car while running his qualifying lap.

5:03 p.m.: It is hot and humid at Charlotte Motor Speedway (currently 84 degrees), but storms have not yet hit. The sun is gone and the sky is grey, and slightly menacing. The pre-race ceremony has already been altered due to inclement weather. Two P-51 aircrafts, one F-16 and one F-22 were originally slated to perform a live flyover at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That lineup has been adjusted. Two F-16 Vipers will lead the flyover with two SCF-22 Raptors at 6:10 p.m.

NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 starting lineup

This story was originally published May 24, 2020 at 5:07 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription