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NASCAR America: Winning Coca-Cola 600 is a memorable feat

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A number of NASCAR drivers, including Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon and Landon Cassill, try to explain why the Coke 600 is the toughest race in the world.

The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of NASCAR’s toughest events. Starting under the sun and finishing under the lights, every stock car driver wants to win it at least once – and 33 of NASCAR’s best can say they have.

It’s even more special when it marks the first time a driver has won at the top level.

“Everybody remembers the first time they do most things and obviously the first Cup win is something I’ll never forget,” Matt Kenseth said about his 2000 victory. “I caught Bobby Labonte and passed him with like 15 to go, or something like that, so it was obviously a very exciting day. You couldn’t pick a better one to win for your first one.”

Kenseth is one of seven drivers who won their first NASCAR race in the sport’s most grueling event. Notably, the driver he passed for the win that day won his first NASCAR race exactly five years earlier. Labonte won the 1995 edition of the Coke 600.

Last year, Austin Dillon added his name to the list.

“For me, it starts as a challenge from day one of the entire Speedweeks,” Landon Cassill said. “Because the industry is at home in Charlotte, when the fans come to town we get pulled in many directions.”

“For me, it was just kind of forgetting how long the race was and just focus on every lap,” Jeff Burton said. “If you make good lap times and you focus on getting a 100 percent out of the car every single lap, time goes by pretty quickly.”

Burton won two Coke 600s – in 1999 and 2001.

For more, watch the above video.