The Coca-Cola 600 returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday with Denny Hamlin in the rare position of being both the points leader and the bookmakers' favourite, a week after taking $1 million in NASCAR's revamped All-Star Race at Dover. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran sits at the front of the Las Vegas market to win the 600 — a number short enough to confirm the weight of his current form, long enough to acknowledge Charlotte's habit of producing left-field winners over 600 miles.
Hamlin himself put his recent run down to preparation more than late-career magic.
"Experience is carrying me more than ever," Hamlin said in the lead-up to the race, telling reporters that homework on tyre management and stage strategy had given him an edge his rivals were not matching.
The biggest storyline atop the entry list is the absence at the top of it. Kyle Larson, who attempted the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 "Memorial Day double" in 2024 and 2025, has stepped away from the 1,100-mile schedule for 2026, telling NASCAR media earlier this month that the toll on his Cup programme had become hard to justify. Hendrick Motorsports has handed Larson's Coca-Cola 600 seat in the No. 5 to Katherine Legge for the opening stints, with Larson swapping in after his Indy 500 commitments at the Brickyard wrap. Legge, the only female driver in this year's Cup field, becomes the first woman to start the Coca-Cola 600 since Danica Patrick.
The rest of the favourites read like a who's who of Charlotte history. Christopher Bell, William Byron and Ryan Blaney all sit inside the top of the market, with Chase Briscoe — second to Hamlin at Dover last weekend — also drawing solid backing. Chase Elliott has been quietly fast in the Next Gen car on mile-and-a-half tracks this spring but has not won at his home track since 2020.
Most paint schemes for the weekend lean into NASCAR's traditional Memorial Day military tribute, with Hendrick Motorsports' four cars and Joe Gibbs Racing's four running variants of patriotic livery and the names of fallen service members on rear quarter panels. NASCAR has confirmed pre-race honours and a flyover are scheduled, alongside the laying of a wreath by past Coca-Cola 600 winners.
On the track, the strategic puzzle is unchanged. Charlotte's surface has held up well in May practice and Goodyear's current option compound has not produced the falloff seen at Bristol or Darlington this season. Fuel windows and stage strategy in the second half — when temperatures drop and the surface releases — typically decide the race. Joe Gibbs Racing's tyre data from the April Goodyear test has been a closely held card.
Shane van Gisbergen, fresh off a dominant Watkins Glen win, is the headline wild card. The New Zealander's road-course speciality made him an easy long-shot pick a year ago, but his form on intermediate ovals has steadily improved since Trackhouse's alignment with Chevrolet's research arm. He remains a long way short of favourite status at Charlotte, but the speed is now there to make him a contender on a long green-flag run.
For Connor Zilisch, the Trackhouse rookie running 32nd in Cup points, Charlotte is a chance to reset.
"Running 32nd in points — it's not fun," Zilisch said earlier this month after another tough weekend. The 19-year-old needs a clean top-15 finish here to keep the Trackhouse seat conversation positive heading into the summer stretch.
Green flag is scheduled for the early evening, with the race traditionally pushing past 11:00 p.m. local on Sunday. Memorial Weekend in stock car racing — five hours, 400 laps and, this year, two of NASCAR's most marketable storylines starting in the same car.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/coca-cola-600-2026-preview-hamlin-favourite-katherine-legge-memorial-weekend). Visit for full coverage.*
