Charlotte Motor Speedway:

Charlotte Motor Speedway:


History
· Construction began on Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1959.
· The track’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on June 19, 1960.
· The track was repaved midseason in 1994.
· The track name changed from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1999. It changed back to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 2010 season.
· The track was re-paved again before the 2006 season.

Notebook
· There have been 104 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, two races per year since the track opened in 1960. In 1961, there were two 100-mile qualifying points races held the week before the May race. The first six fall races at Charlotte were 400-mile events (1960-65).
· 37 drivers have posted poles, led by David Pearson with 14
· Fireball Roberts won the pole for the first race, in 1960.
· David Pearson posted 11 straight poles at Charlotte from the fall of 1973 through 1978.
· Ryan Newman leads all active drivers in poles, with nine. Jeff Gordon has eight.
· Jeff Gordon won five straight poles for the spring races between 1994 and 1998.
· 43 drivers have won races, led by Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson, with six each.
· Joe Lee Johnson won the first race, in 1960.
· There have been 13 back-to-back victories, including three consecutive by Fred Lorenzen (fall 1964 and both 1965) and four straight by Jimmie Johnson (both in 2004 and 2005).
· A sweep has occurred eight times, including each season from 2004-2007.
· 14 races have been won from the pole, the last by Jimmie Johnson (October 2009).
· Jimmie Johnson won the 2003 Coca-Cola 600 from the 37th starting position, the furthest back a race winner has started.
· Joey Logano is one of two drivers with more than two Charlotte races to average top-10 finishes (8.5); Jimmie Johnson is the other, with an average finish of 9.8.
· A number of active drivers earned their first win at CMS: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and David Reutimann. Inactive drivers David Pearson, Buddy Baker and Charlie Glotzbach also got their first series win at Charlotte.