The Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600) is a six hundred mile (966 km) stock car race held annually at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) in Charlotte, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend. It is the longest NASCAR Nextel Cup
Series race and in fact is the longest regularly-scheduled automobile
race conducted on an oval track anywhere in the world, and just 21
miles shorter than major sportscar endurance 1,000 kilometer races.

Venue	Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Corporate sponsor	Coca-Cola
First race	1960
Distance	600 miles (966 km)
Number of laps	400
Previous names	World 600 (1960-1984) Coca-Cola World 600 (1985)

The event was begun as an attempt by NASCAR to stage a Memorial Day weekend event that would rival the open-wheel Indianapolis 500
in fan interest and it has succeeded, gaining larger TV ratings than
the Indianapolis race from 2002-2004. It was not until 1974, however,
that both races competed head-to-head on the same day. Prior to 1974,
the two races were held on different days of the week, and on a few
occasions, some drivers drove in both; this continued even after the
600 was moved to the same day, albeit to a smaller degree.

With the installation of lights in 1992, fans complained to circuit
management to have the race start later in the day because of the
notorious North Carolina heat and humidity. They wanted to follow The Winston’s
popularity the previous week and switch the race to a nighttime finish
to create cooler temperatures for spectators. The start time was moved
back several times throughout the 1990s, and finally settled at 5:30PM
in 2001, to attempt to have the race finished by 10 p.m. ET, in time
for local news on Fox affiliates.

With the new starting time came new challenges. Not only do race
teams have to deal with the blistering Carolina heat, but the
considerable temperature change at night make track conditions
completely different.The nighttime portion of the race is lit with a system that uses parabolic reflectors
so that dangerous glare that would otherwise be in the drivers’ eyes is
minimized. The move of the race to the early evening made it possible
for drivers to participate in both the 600 and the Indianapolis 500 by
flying from Indianapolis to Charlotte as soon as the Indianapolis race
was over. Experts disagree over whether, for health and safety reasons,
anyone should be allowed to race 1100 miles in one day, but no
regulation has been passed yet by any governing body to prevent it.
Beginning with the 2005 races, the issue became moot as the state of
Indiana finally decided to go to daylight savings time. This resulted
in only about a one hour span between the end of the Indianapolis race
and the start of the Charlotte race.
Until the Ferko lawsuit settlement took effect, the race was considered the third leg of the grand slam, and was once part of the Winston Million. It is considered one of the top five annual NASCAR races

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