The last Sunday in May provides race fans of all shapes and sizes an opportunity to watch their favorite man or woman go racing. The Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 are two of the marquee events for the IRL and NASCAR respectively. The Indy 500 has a 3 week lead-up that has a variety of practice sessions as well as a qualifying day that has caused some of the biggest drama ever. The Coca-Cola 600 was held in Charlotte, N.C. with the all-star event for the NASCAR series being held the previous week. This was a race fans dream, as the pre-race for the Indy 500 started at noon and the Coke 600 finished up at almost midnight. There was about an hour break between the end of the Indy race and the beginning of the race in Charlotte.

The last two years at the Indy 500 were especially exciting with the emergence of Danica Patrick. Last year she became the first woman ever to lead at Indy 500 and this year the expectations were just as high. Many people felt that her and her teammate, Buddy Rice, winner of the 2004 Indy 500, had a great chance to claim a victory for Rahal-Letterman Racing. The early leader of the race was the 2005 champion Dan Wheldon. His car was the class of the field and he led many of the early laps. Towards the middle of the race, many cars began switching the lead back and forth. Patrick was running in the Top 10 when she had to go to the pit to fill her car with fuel. This was an unfortunate event, as a caution fell while she was still a lap down and this all but eliminated her from the race.

Another man who had an interesting day was Michael Andretti. And had been running in this race for many years, but this year was even more special as he had a chance to race with his son, Marco Andretti. Both of the men were racing for the legend Mario Andretti, father of Michael and grandfather of Marco.

In the ending laps of the race, Michael was leading, with his son Marco keeping a close second. Michael was in the lead because he had taken a gamble and decided not to pit. He was joined on this idea by Sam Hornish Jr. These turned out critical moves in deciding the race. Hornish had one of the fastest cars for the entire three weeks of testing and it showed in the closing laps. Marco took the lead from his father, but was eventually passed by Hornish at the finish line, making it one of the closest finishes in the history of the Indy 500.

The Coke 600 started with Jimmie Johnson as the race favorite. Johnson was going for his fourth consecutive win at Charlotte and was a hands down favorite to win this race. Johnson had won the races at the old setup of the track, but the owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway decided that the surface needed repaved after last winter. This was due in part to the two races last year as blown tires, very high speeds, and a bumpy surface caused two caution filled races that were very boring. This year to remedy the problem NASCAR decided that the 13.5 gallon fuel cell should be used instead of the usual 22 gallon cell. This caused a lot of different opinions amongst the drivers, as some were concerned that this was not going to be very good racing. Also the blown tires from the previous year caused Goodyear to reexamine the make up of their tire. This year they went with a much harder tire that caused conditions to be very slick and very treacherous at the beginning of the runs.

The combination of smaller fuel cells and the harder tires made the crew chiefs job much more difficult. They had to decide how many tires they wanted to take at each and every caution because the fuel cells were so small they could only last for roughly 30 green flag laps. Using the variety of strategies drivers positions were fluctuating up and down on each and every caution. In the end, it basically came down to a battle between the members of the Roush Racing team, Kasey Kahne, and Jimmie Johnson. Kahne was able to pass Johnson and held off the Roush team members to win the 600. This was his third victory of the season and ended Johnson’s streak.

After twelve hours of racing the night ended as quite a success. Both of the races went down to the wire and it featured some of the most popular people in either series. In a perfect world this is how every weekend would end up, with some of the most exciting racing in motor sports.

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