Coca-Cola 600 long, unpredictable and immensely entertaining

By STEVE REED
AP Sports Writer

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 was many things. It was excruciatingly long, wildly unpredictable and perhaps above all else, immensely entertaining. It was, as William Byron described after getting caught up in a 12-car crash, “chaos out there.” In race that took five hours, 13 minutes to complete and included 18 cautions and 17 cars winding up in the garage in various states of disrepair, the first Next Gen race at Charlotte Motor Speedway left many shaking their heads over the events of the night. Denny Hamlin ultimately won the longest race in NASCAR history at 619.5 miles by beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line by 0.014 seconds in double overtime.