Today marks the longest race of the year for NASCAR as the Cup Series holds the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The 400-lap race was first held in 1960 and has seen its fair share of defining moments.
Here are the five top moments from the first 60 years of the Coca-Cola 600.
1) New Kid on the Block (1994)
The first 46 years of NASCAR were defined by names like Petty, Earnhardt and Waltrip.
Arguably the first big moment for NASCAR’s next generation of racers came on May 29, 1994 courtesy of Jeff Gordon.
That was the day the 22-year-old kid from California scored his first Cup Series win.
After making his first start in the 1992 season finale, Gordon’s team, led by crew chief Ray Evernham, had to wait until their 42nd start together to visit Victory Lane.
The victory was aided by Evernham’s decision on a late pit stop to take two tires instead of four.
Gordon led the final nine laps and beat Rusty Wallace. In Victory Lane, an emotional Gordon called it the greatest day of his life.
2) One Turn Away (2011)
May 29, 2011 was not a good day to drive a race car sponsored by the National Guard.
The bad luck began on the last lap of the Indianapolis 500. Rookie J.R Hildebrand was leading Dan Wheldon when Hildebrand passed a slow car on the outside in the final turn and hit the wall, allowing Wheldon to steal the win.
Hours later, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s turn to experience misfortune in the Coke 600.
An overtime finish saw Earnhardt leading at the white flag. He still led in Turn 3, but then his No. 88 Chevrolet pulled up lame in Turn 4 as it ran out of gas.
That allowed Kevin Harvick to overtake him and streak to the checkered flag as Earnhardt limped to a seventh-place finish.
It was the first of two Coke 600 wins for Harvick.
3) The No. 3 Returns to Victory Lane (2017)
After Feb. 18, 2001 and the death of Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500, the No. 3 did not compete in the Cup Series for 13 years.
Richard Childress Racing brought the number back in 2014 with Childress’ grandson, Austin Dillon, behind the wheel.
Dillon and his team would have to wait until May 28, 2017 to bring the famous number back to Victory Lane.
The race ended with a 67-lap green flag run, which set up a fuel-mileage battle between Jimmie Johnson and Dillon.
Dillon won.
Johnson ran out of gas with two laps to go, which allowed Dillon to take the lead on the backstretch. Dillon took the checkered flag, giving the No. 3 a win in the Coke 600 for the first time since 1993.
4) The Silver Fox Arrives (1961)
1960 saw the inaugural Coke 600 - then called the World 600 - and the arrival of David Pearson on the NASCAR stage.
The following year Pearson began building his Hall of Fame resume in the 400-lap race.
Pearson, driving a car owned by Ray Fox, dominated the race by leading 225 laps.
But Pearson’s car didn’t finish the race in one piece.
With two laps to go, one of the tires on Pearson’s Pontiac blew. But Pearson managed to pilot the car to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line in sparks to beat Fireball Roberts by two laps.
It was the first of 105 career Cup wins for Pearson and his first of three Coke 600 wins.
5) Janet Guthrie Arrives in NASCAR (1976)
While David Pearson and Richard Petty finished first and second, the future Hall of Famers weren’t the highlight of the World 600 on May 30, 1976.
That was the driver who finished 15th in her first NASCAR race: Janet Guthrie.
Guthrie, a former aerospace engineer and a sports car driver, had been brought to the World 600 by Charlotte Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler after her bid to make the Indianapolis 500 failed.
Guthrie became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR race on a superspeedway. She started 27th and survived the 400-lap marathon as 16 cars dropped out. While she finished 21 laps behind Pearson and Petty, she placed ahead of future Hall of Famers Richard Childress, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Isaac.
It was the first of 33 career Cup starts Guthrie would make over the next four years and it was her only start in the 600.