Coca-Cola 600 Tag

NASCAR will be stationed in Charlotte, NC for the next two weekends as the league's top drivers prepare to tame Charlotte Motor Speedway.  This weekend NASCAR will feature their annual All-Star event and the track will host the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.  Most teams in NASCAR have their shops located in and around the Charlotte area so this event also serves as somewhat of a homecoming.

Most professional sports hold their all-star event much later in the season but NASCAR goes against the traditional all-star grain.  The Sprint Cup is just 11 races into the season and less than a third through the season, but this an all-star break nonetheless.  In light of the early season pause, lets take a moment to review the first 3 months or so of Sprint Cup racing.

In NASCAR there really is no such thing as a home track.  But for many drivers, Charlotte Motor Speedway is a home of sorts for the simple fact that most of the teams in NASCAR have their main shop located in North Carolina.

If you look at the week of the All-Star race as a break similar to that of baseball or basketball, then it makes total sense to have the All-Star race hosted by the track closest to the largest concentration of team shops.  Since the Coca-Cola 600 and the Sprint All-Star race are on back-to-back weekends, the drivers and teams can use the 2 week span to truly take a break from the road and use that time to prepare for the rest of the season.