1998 Coca-Cola 600

1998 Coca-Cola 600

Race details
Race 11 of 33 in the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Date	May 24, 1998 (1998-05-24)
Location	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance	400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km)
Weather	Temperatures averaging around 72.7 °F (22.6 °C); wind speeds up to 9.2 miles per hour (14.8 km/h)[1]
Average speed	136.424 mph (219.553 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Laps	164
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	TBS
Announcers	Eli Gold, Ken Squier, Buddy Baker, & Geoff Bodine

The 1998 Coca-Cola 600, the 39th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on May 24, 1998 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Contested at 400 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the 11th race of the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports won the race.

Elliott Sadler made his NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut in this event.^[2]

Jeff Gordon managed to take over the championship lead from Jeremy Mayfield after the event was resolved.^[2]

Background

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States. It is 13 miles away from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing such as the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, The Winston, and the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI).

Top 10 results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
2	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Ford
3	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac
4	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford
5	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford
6	42	Joe Nemechek	Team SABCO	Chevrolet
7	43	John Andretti	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac
8	99	Jeff Burton	Roush Racing	Ford
9	26	Johnny Benson Jr.	Roush Racing	Ford
10	33	Ken Schrader	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet

Race statistics

• Time of race: 4:23:53
• Average Speed: 136.424 miles per hour (219.553 km/h)
• Pole Speed: 182.976
• Cautions: 8 for 49 laps
• Margin of Victory: 0.41 sec
• Lead changes: 33
• Percent of race run under caution: 12.2%
• Average green flag run: 39 laps

^[2]

References

1. Weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. Race information at Race Database