ExtenZe Racing Coca-Cola 600 Race Recap

Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Charlotte, North Carolina 

Kevin Conway, No. 34 ExtenZe Ford Team

The Coca-Cola 600, the longest race of the NASCAR season, is challenging enough.  But Kevin Conway, the leading NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate, also drove the entire race sick, battling severe stomach symptoms making this race seem even longer and that much more grueling during his Cup debut of this Memorial Day weekend event.

Before falling ill in the cockpit, Conway was running his best race of the year knocking off consistent lap times as those of the race’s leaders. Despite his physical condition, Conway held his own in the No. 34 ExtenZe Racing Ford for all 400 laps of Sunday evening’s race.  After starting in the 42nd position, he stayed out of the race’s wrecks, improved as the evening wore on and crossed the finish line running, ending the night in the 35th position.  This finish gives Conway his 12th straight Rookie of the Race award.  He was taken to the infield care center immediately after the race for treatment.

Next up for Conway and the ExtenZe Racing team is the Pocono 500 in Pocono, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 6.

Comments from ExtenZe Racing Ford Team Crew Chief Peter Sospenzo after the Coca-Cola 600: 

“Kevin reported about Lap 150 that he started throwing up and wasn’t feeling good and had real bad cramps and stuff like that.  He gutted it out and we ended up coming back with a decent finish but, like he even said, we had a better race car than that, but he just couldn’t do much with it because he wasn’t feeling good.  Once he started feeling a little bit better, like the last hundred, he ran some really good, competitive times. 

“All in all it was a good night for us, good experience.  We just keep moving forward like we’ve been doing all year.  He toughed it out.  I’m surprised he made it really, being the longest race of the the year, plus being sick and all that.  He did a good job, he really did.  He learned a lot, I’m sure.  When we come back here in the fall we’ll be that much further ahead than we are right now.  It was all positive.”