2005 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway

The Coca-Cola 600 is one of the most important races on the NEXTEL Cup schedule. Located in the heart of NASCAR country everyone wants to win at Lowes.

There is also no escaping the fact that for millions of Americans the Memorial Day holiday was meant for auto racing. The Indy 500 runs in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 the same night. It's a great day for motorsports.

No matter the reason, the Coca-Cola 600 is one of the events on the calendar that no race fan should miss.

Lowes Motor Speedway is a mile and a half tri-oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns. The track is fast and even though there is a preferred groove there is still enough room for a faster car to get by.

Lowes Motor Speedway is the home track for NASCAR. The majority of the teams are based within 30 miles of the speedway and everybody brings their best stuff to Lowes because everybody wants the bragging rights of winning their home race.

Bad luck for Johnson the last couple weeks has allowed Greg Biffle to close the gap considerably. For the first time since Daytona we have a decent points battle on our hands.

The current points top ten are: 1. Jimmie Johnson 1,562. 2. Greg Biffle 1,521. 3. Jeff Gordon 1,438. 4. Elliott Sadler 1,413. 5. Kurt Busch 1,407. 6. Tony Stewart 1,397. 7. Ryan Newman 1,370. 8. Kevin Harvick 1,364. 9. Jamie McMurray 1,351. 10. Mark Martin 1,344.

Lots to talk about this week. First, Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports field 9 of the regular 43 car field and so far in 2005 they have won 9 of the 11 races. Does NASCAR need to do something to encourage fair competition?

Also, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fired crew chief Pete Rondeau this week. Junior is only 11th in points. Is this move a little too drastic for a team that isn't doing too badly? Considering the massive restructuring at DEI in the off-season is this a sign of deeper problems?

TV: Fox Sunday, May 29, 5:00PM Eastern.

Radio: PRN and XM Satellite

Actual Race: 5:30 p.m. Eastern

In 2004 Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and went on to win his second Coca-Cola 600 in a row. Johnson dominated all night long leading the majority of the laps. A late race miscue in the pits caused a little drama as Johnson had to come from behind with just 30 laps to go but it proved not to be a problem as he made the pass for the win with 16 laps remaining and easily survived a late race red flag to score the win.

Jimmie Johnson has won the last two Coca-Cola 600s and three of the last four NEXTEL Cup points races held at the track. I just don't see any way to not pick him as the favorite for this weekend.

As a backup I'll go with the last person besides Johnson to win the 600. Since the 2002 winner is the same driver that won the All-Star Challenge last weekend it's another easy pick to say that Mark Martin is the other strong favorite to win.

The Roush/Hendrick domination continues?