1999 Coca-Cola 600

1999 Coca-Cola 600
Race details
Race 12 of 34 in the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Layout of Lowe's Motor Speedway
Layout of Lowe's Motor Speedway
Date May 30, 1999 (1999-05-30)
Location Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km)
Weather Temperatures averaging around 71.7 °F (22.1 °C); wind speeds up to 6.9 miles per hour (11.1 km/h)[1]
Average speed 151.367 mph (243.602 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Joe Gibbs Racing
Most laps led
Driver Jeff Burton Roush Racing
Laps 198
Winner
No. 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing
Television in the United States
Network TBS
Announcers Ken Squier, Dick Berggren, & Buddy Baker

The 1999 Coca-Cola 600, the 40th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on May 30, 1999 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested at 400 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the twelfth race of the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.

The race was won by Jeff Burton, driving the #99 Exide Batteries Ford Taurus for Roush Racing, after starting second and leading nine times for a total of 198 laps, including the last 17. It was his third victory of six he recorded during the 1999 season and his first of two wins in the Coca-Cola 600 (he later won the event in 2001). He also won a $1 million bonus from Winston as part of their No Bull 5 competition.

There were two other noteworthy stories from the race, both involving rookie drivers. After winning several races in the Busch Series for his father’s team, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his Winston Cup debut in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He finished the race in sixteenth place.[2] Another rookie, Tony Stewart, participated in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. At Indianapolis, he ran ninth driving the #22 car for Tri-Star Motorsports. After the race he flew to Charlotte and started the #20 Home Depot Pontiac Grand Prix for Joe Gibbs Racing, bringing it home in fourth place. He was the third driver after John Andretti in 1994 and Robby Gordon in 1997 to do so; he repeated this feat in 2001 and ran the entire distance of both events.[3]

  1. ^ Weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ^ Race results at Race Database
  3. ^ Jensen, Tom (May 23, 2015). "Stewart remembers Dale Earnhardt's act of kindness at Coke 600". Fox Sports. Retrieved October 15, 2018.