Ross Chastain wins NASCAR’s Coke 600 after dramatic late pass of William Byron
Ross Chastain earned a wild NASCAR victory Sunday night at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The 32-year-old Trackhouse Racing driver passed William Byron during the final laps of the longest race of the Cup Series season before a sellout crowd.
Chastain will race in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the third time in the past four years. He won at Kansas last September, and his Coke 600 triumph almost assuredly locks him into the sport’s postseason once again.
Byron swept all three stages, leading 283 of the 400 laps, but Chastain passed him with six laps left. Denny Hamlin, who also had a shot at the victory, had to pit late and fell out of contention. The driver of the No. 11 car was going to run out of fuel — the gas tank didn’t dispense anything in the car on the team’s final pit stop.
This is Chastain’s first crown jewel victory. The 32-year-old driver of the No. 1 Chevy started the race in the rear, at spot No. 40, and worked all the way through the field. The car started all the way back there because Chastain used a backup car after wrecking his first during practice Saturday. His team tuned up the car overnight — getting only a handful of hours of sleep in the process — and it delivered Chastain a win.
“Holy cow, we just won the (Coca-Cola) 600!” Chastain exclaimed on pit road, taking a bite of his signature winning watermelon after first smashing it into the asphalt. “My team built me another car. For about an hour-and-a-half, we thought we’d fix the primary. ... How we drove through the field tonight, we just stayed in it. I didn’t get too happy passing cars, didn’t get too sad when we couldn’t get around them.”
The way Chastain won the race is worth rehashing. It was a masterclass in seizing the moment — the only moment he truly had, it turned out, thanks to Byron’s utter dominance up until the final 10 laps. (To put Byron’s dominance in perspective, he led 223 laps by the end of Stage 3 and 60 more during Stage 4, trading blows with Hamlin before Hamlin peeled off due to fuel issues.)
But then, with 15 laps to go, Chastain appeared not only in Byron’s rearview mirror, but close behind. And then, on Lap 394, Chastain dove into Turn 2 while Byron slid a bit up the track, using some serendipitously placed lapped traffic plus a notoriously bumpy turn giving Chastain an opening.
Once Chastain seized the lead, he didn’t relinquish it, even as Byron tried to reclaim it. Byron was upset afterward, he said postrace. The winner of Saturday’s Xfinity race had every right to be, after all — down 3,000 calories and falling just short of a race win.
“Well, I was just defending, but yeah, he was catching me, and I was trying to just defend,” Byron said. “I was getting a little bit tight. Then the scenario there with the cars we were around, it was tough. So, yeah, he got a run on me and was able to get to the bottom and clear me off of (Turn) 2. ...
“I guess just could have anticipated that last run a little better. I ran in dirty air for a long time and heated my tires up. Then we lost a chunk of time, and the 45 about crashed in front of us. Yeah, sucks.”
In the end, there were eight cautions for 52 laps in this year’s rendition of the Coca-Cola 600 and 11 different leaders. The Top 5 in the race were all from different race teams.
Official results from the Coca-Cola 600
Post-race inspection is complete in the NASCAR Cup Series garage. There are no issues.
Position | Driver | Car Number |
1 | Ross Chastain | 1 |
2 | William Byron | 24 |
3 | Chase Briscoe | 19 |
4 | AJ Allmendinger | 16 |
5 | Brad Keselowski | 6 |
6 | Chase Elliott | 9 |
7 | Michael McDowell | 71 |
8 | Christopher Bell | 20 |
9 | Ryan Preece | 60 |
10 | Noah Gragson | 4 |
11 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 |
12 | Josh Berry | 21 |
13 | Erik Jones | 43 |
14 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 88 |
15 | Kyle Busch | 8 |
16 | Denny Hamlin | 11 |
17 | Joey Logano | 22 |
18 | Todd Gilliland | 38 |
19 | Ty Dillon | 10 |
20 | Austin Dillon | 3 |
21 | Cole Custer | 41 |
22 | Chris Buescher | 17 |
23 | Connor Zilisch | 87 |
24 | Ty Gibbs | 54 |
25 | Cody Ware | 51 |
26 | Tyler Reddick | 45 |
27 | John Hunter Nemechek | 42 |
28 | Riley Herbst | 35 |
29 | Alex Bowman | 48 |
30 | Justin Haley | 7 |
31 | Austin Cindric | 2 |
32 | Derek Kraus | 44 |
33 | Josh Bilicki | 66 |
34 | Carson Hocevar | 77 |
35 | Bubba Wallace | 23 |
36 | Daniel Suárez | 99 |
37 | Kyle Larson | 5 |
38 | Ryan Blaney | 12 |
39 | Zane Smith | 38 |
40 | Jimmie Johnson | 84 |
Live updates from Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
Stage 4
Lap 400: Ross Chastain wins!
Lap 399: White flag — Ross Chastain.
Lap 397: It’s a lead of about four car-lengths for Ross Chastain over William Byron. Chase Briscoe runs third, AJ Allmendinger fourth and Brad Keselowski fifth.
Lap 395: Ross Chastain gets to the lead!
Lap 394: Denny Hamlin is a lap down after pitting.
Lap 391: William Byron runs toward the bottom of the track with Ross Chastain pushing. Joey Logano, the final car on the lead lap and in 17th place, runs in front of Byron.
Lap 384: Ross Chastain gets close to William Byron on the backstretch, and Byron blows past him from the middle lane through Turn Four. The leaders are nearing lapped traffic.
Lap 377: Tyler Reddick gets into the wall in front of the leaders! William Byron gets to his left as Reddick nearly wrecked in front of him. Ross Chastain is making a run at Byron.
Lap 374: Ross Chastain passes Denny Hamlin for second place.
Lap 361: William Byron is officially back in the lead, holding a 1.5-second advantage over Denny Hamlin. Ross Chastain is up to third place in his backup car, Ty Gibbs falls to fourth (yet to pit) and Chase Briscoe runs in fifth.
Lap 356: William Byron and Denny Hamlin are back in the Top Five as the new leaders (Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott and Shane Van Gisbergen) finally come down pit road.
Lap 349: Green-flag pit stops come, and William Byron beats Denny Hamlin in the race off pit road. Ross Chastain moves into the lead before he pits.
Lap 347: William Byron maintains less than a split-second lead over Denny Hamlin.
Your Top 10: Byron, Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott.
Lap 334: William Byron leads, beating Denny Hamlin at the top of the race track as they get into lapped traffic.
Lap 326: Denny Hamlin passes William Byron once again.
Lap 315: William Byron gets back to the lead.
Lap 313: Denny Hamlin and William Byron bring us back to green once again.
Lap 310: Joey Logano will be the free pass.
Lap 307: Carson Hocevar slides back and wrecks! The No. 77 restarted on the second row and its engine failed in Turn Two.
Lap 306: Green for the final stage: Denny Hamlin and William Byron jump out.
Lap 301: William Byron held off Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar over the final laps to record his third stage victory of the night — after sweeping the stages in yesterday’s Xfinity Series race — and becomes just the third driver to sweep all three stages in the Coke 600 after Kyle Busch (2018) and Kyle Larson (2021) both did so and went on to win the race.
Drivers earning points following the third stage: Byron, Hamlin, Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece.
Stage 3
Lap 300: William Byron wins Stage 3!
Lap 296: William Byron jumps out in front of Denny Hamlin, who continues pushing Byron. Four to go.
Lap 295: William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar briefly go three-wide for the lead late in the stage.
Lap 289: Coming to the end of the third — of four — stages here at Charlotte, and William Byron is back out in front at his home track. Denny Hamlin continues battling the No. 24 for the lead. Carson Hocevar continues running in third place, Tyler Reddick fourth and AJ Allmendinger fifth.
Lap 264: Ty Gibbs, Zane Smith, Daniel Suárez, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson are the five drivers who are out of the race. There are 23 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 262: Denny Hamlin passes William Byron for the lead.
Lap 246: There’s a big wreck at Charlotte! Daniel Suárez got into Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe, collecting the cars of Kyle Larson, Justin Haley and several others. Larson is done for the night after what has been a rough day — his day at the Indianapolis 500 ended early, too, due to a crash.
Lap 243: Back to green. William Byron and Denny Hamlin are on the front row, ahead of Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick.
Lap 239: William Byron and Denny Hamlin win the race off pit road as the field pits — a longer fuel stop is expected — under this caution.
Lap 237: Caution — a big hit for Zane Smith. The 25-year-old Front Row Motorsports driver gets loose and spins, making hard contact with the wall.
Lap 232: William Byron has a commanding lead, but Denny Hamlin is running well behind him. Carson Hocevar is up to third place, Tyler Reddick fourth and AJ Allmendinger fifth.
Lap 209: Restart: William Byron leads the field back to green.
Lap 201: Kyle Busch spins on the frontstretch — now under caution for the conclusion of the stage.
Earning points after we only had one caution throughout Stage 2: William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott. Kyle Larson will be the free pass.
Stage 2
Lap 200: William Byron sweeps the first two stages! Halfway through at Charlotte, and the Charlotte native Byron is winning everything so far.
Lap 197: Carson Hocevar uses a strong run to get to the inside lane and pass John Hunter Nemechek for fourth place.
Lap 186: William Byron’s lead is up to nearly 10 seconds, and Denny Hamlin has plenty of speed here at Charlotte and is up to second place. Tyler Reddick runs third, John Hunter Nemechek fourth and Carson Hocevar fifth as we near the conclusion of the second stage.
Lap 160: Green-flag pit stops have begun. Pretty much everyone getting fuel and four tires. The first car to hit pit road of the contenders? Byron, who has just recaptured the lead. Twenty-eight cars are on the lead lap. The Top 10 as it stands right now (but you gotta figure the pit strategy hasn’t yet fully played out): William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragason, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott.
Lap 140: Drivers are settling into a rhythm after some aggressive racing through pretty much the whole first half of the race. Your Top 10: William Byron (who has a 1.307-second lead over the field), Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott.
Lap 111: Big crash! It involves both the vet and the up-and-coming rookie— seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and 18-year-old driver Connor Zilisch — spinning off the fourth turn. Cole Custer involved as well. Caution is out for the third time tonight.
Lap 107: Green for Stage 2.
Lap 104: William Byron will be the leader once again when we restart, on the front row alongside Tyler Reddick. Denny Hamlin jumped up to third place, Christopher Bell fourth and AJ Allmendinger fifth. More work being done on Kyle Larson’s car in pit road after he finished Stage 1 in 26th place.
Lap 103: Michael McDowell wins the race off pit road.
Lap 101: William Byron led 65 of the first 100 laps to claim the stage victory.
Your points-getters: Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell.
Stage 1
Lap 100: William Byron wins the opening stage, which ends under caution.
Lap 97: Caution! Alex Bowman’s toe link is busted, and the No. 48 car goes around. This will likely end the opening stage.
Lap 96: John Hunter Nemechek gets by Chris Buescher for fourth place.
Lap 92: Ty Gibbs has fallen back into 22nd place after initially starting in the Top 10.
Lap 85: William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell are out in front.
Your Top 10: Byron, Reddick, Bell, Chris Buescher, John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott.
Lap 79: William Byron runs at the top of the track, and Tyler Reddick is pushing from behind. The No. 45 car continues gaining speed, and Christopher Bell is running well behind Reddick.
Lap 73: William Byron’s lead is dominant, but he’s about to run into lapped traffic. Josh Bilicki is five laps down, and Byron is getting closer to the No. 66 car.
Lap 64: William Byron continues leading at Charlotte, where the local native won yesterday’s Xfinity Series race. Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek round out your Top Five more than halfway through the opening stage.
Lap 51: Green again! William Byron is your leader.
Lap 49: No major damage for Kyle Larson, who has already jumped up to 28th place under this caution prompted by his wreck coming out of Turn Four. Josh Bilicki lost a tire from the back of the field.
Lap 45: William Byron beat Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher in the race off pit road to take the lead once again. Coming to the restart soon. Larson is back in 33rd place, and his Hendrick Motorsports team worked on the No. 5 car in the pit stall.
Lap 44: Kyle Larson apologized on his radio, and crew chief Chris Daniels reassured him that there are still more than 350 laps in this race. Pit stops come here under caution, including the leaders.
Lap 41: Kyle Larson crashes! The No. 5 car gets loose out of the fourth turn, hits the wall hard and spins on the infield grass. Caution is out.
Lap 40: Green-flag pit stops: Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney are among several drivers who come down pit road under green.
Lap 38: Kyle Larson’s lead is less than one second over William Byron, pulling away from Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe. John Hunter Nemechek holds off Christopher Bell for sixth place.
Lap 27: Hendrick Motorsports drivers — Kyle Larson and William Byron — have led the entirety of this race early.
Your Top 10: Larson, Byron, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger.
Lap 12: Kyle Larson and William Byron are out in front of the pack. Tyler Reddick has surged up to third place from his P12 start, Chase Briscoe runs fourth and Chris Buescher is in fifth.
Lap 7: Kyle Larson passes William Byron from the inside.
Lap 6: William Byron leads from the outside lane of the race track as Kyle Larson charges behind him.
Lap 2: Three-wide for the lead already! William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe battle at the front of the pack.
Green flag, 6:29 p.m.: Here we go from Charlotte! Chase Briscoe jumps in front of Kyle Larson from the pole.
6:16 p.m.: “Gentlemen, start your engines!” Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, joins several military captains and gets the engines fired! All the action starts soon at America’s Home For Racing.
6:13 p.m.: Per race control, three cars are heading to the rear from the qualifying spots. Those three: Kyle Busch and Erik Jones for unapproved adjustments, as well as Ross Chastain for using a backup car (after wrecking in practice).
6:03 p.m.: As is a wonderful tradition, Black Hawk helicopters flew into the Charlotte Motor Speedway infield, as part of the pre-race festivities that are largely meant to honor the over 5,000 military members who are present today. All six branches of the military are here.
5:58 p.m.: Here’s some timing to tide you over before the Cup race begins. Invocation: 6:01:20 p.m., National Anthem: 6:05:45 p.m., Command: 6:16:45 p.m., Green Flag: 6:27:00 p.m.
Kyle Larson’s quest for 1,100 miles falls short again
Kyle Larson’s quest for a 1,100 miles on Motorsport Christmas fell short again on Sunday. The culprit: a late-race crash in the Indy 500 that knocked him out of contention for the biggest honor in IndyCar.
This marks the second straight year that Larson, one of the best drivers in across all racing disciplines, failed to complete “The Double.” Last year the Hendrick Motorsports superstar tried to do it, but rain on Sunday morning delayed his start in Indy and then rain on Sunday evening cut short the race in Charlotte. He didn’t get the chance to run in the NASCAR race.
Tony Stewart remains the only driver to complete all 500 miles in Indianapolis and all 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the same Memorial Day weekend, when he did so in 2001.
Larson said on the FOX Sports telecast of the accident that he was “bummed out” and would try to “forget about it” as he headed toward Charlotte. He was shortly after spotted getting lifted out of Indianapolis Motor Speedway by a Hendrick helicopter. Here’s a closer look at the wreck that ended the first half of his day:
Weather forecast improves
The weather forecast for Sunday’s race (which is supposed to go green at 6:27 p.m.) has improved. There’s now a 15% chance of rain at Charlotte Motor Speedway through 6 p.m., and after that the possibility drops to below 10% for the next four hours. Then, at 10 p.m., the forecast again goes to a 15-20% chance of rain until the race’s conclusion. Bottom line: A very good chance this race gets completed Sunday night — but there could be some delays along the way.
How to watch and stream the NASCAR race at Charlotte
- Race: Coca-Cola 600
- Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway (Concord)
- Track Length: 1.5-mile asphalt oval
- Date: Sunday, May 25
- Time: 6 p.m. ET
- The Purse: $13,651,450
- TV/Streaming: Amazon Prime, 5 p.m. ET
- Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
- Distance: 600 miles (400 laps)
- Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 100; Stage 2 ends on Lap 200; Stage 3 ends on Lap 300; and the final stage ends on Lap 400.
Starting lineup for the Coca-Cola 600
Position | Driver | Car Number |
1 | Chase Briscoe | 19 |
2 | Kyle Larson | 5 |
3 | William Byron | 24 |
4 | Chris Buescher | 17 |
5 | AJ Allmendinger | 16 |
6 | John Hunter Nemechek | 42 |
7 | Ty Gibbs | 54 |
8 | Noah Gragson | 4 |
9 | Alex Bowman | 48 |
10 | Christopher Bell | 20 |
11 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 |
12 | Tyler Reddick | 45 |
13 | Justin Haley | 7 |
14 | Austin Cindric | 2 |
15 | Michael McDowell | 71 |
16 | Joey Logano | 22 |
17 | Jimmie Johnson | 84 |
18 | Josh Berry | 21 |
19 | Ty Dillon | 10 |
20 | Denny Hamlin | 11 |
21 | Ryan Blaney | 12 |
22 | Chase Elliott | 9 |
23 | Zane Smith | 38 |
24 | Kyle Busch | 8 |
25 | Daniel Suárez | 9 |
26 | Austin Dillon | 3 |
27 | Erik Jones | 43 |
28 | Ryan Preece | 60 |
29 | Cole Custer | 41 |
30 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 88 |
31 | Riley Herbst | 35 |
32 | Bubba Wallace | 23 |
33 | Connor Zilisch | 87 |
34 | Todd Gilliland | 34 |
35 | Brad Keselowski | 6 |
36 | Cody Ware | 51 |
37 | Derek Kraus | 44 |
38 | Josh Bilicki | 66 |
39 | Carson Hocevar | 77 |
40 | Ross Chastain | 1 |
This story was originally published May 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Ross Chastain wins NASCAR’s Coke 600 after dramatic late pass of William Byron."
