Ross Chastain outraces William Byron, wins Coca-Cola 600 - ESPN

CONCORD, N.C. — Ross Chastain passed William Byron with six laps left and won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, becoming the first driver to win the event after starting at the back of the field.

William Byron won the first three stages and led 283 laps, but surrendered the lead to Chastain, who started in 40th place and led just eight laps in his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the year.

It was a huge boost to Trackhouse Racing, and a bitter disappointment for Byron, the Charlotte native who had signed a four-year contract extension Friday with Hendrick Motorsports. Byron has finished in the top three in the last three Coca-Cola 600s without winning.

Chastain said his crew stayed up all night to build him another car after a crash in practice on Saturday.

«To drive on that final run in the 600 and pass two cars that had been better than me all night, wow,» said Chastain, who celebrated by standing on his car and slamming a watermelon down on the track as has become his tradition following a victory. «Holy cow! We just won the 600.»

Chastain said the plan was the fix the original car after the wreck, but NASCAR intervened. It might have been a good thing they did.

«We thought we were going to have to fix the primary and NASCAR said, no, there is something bent (so) go build another one,» Chastain said. «That's how we did that.»

Byron left the track disappointed over his inability to maintain the lead.

«He was catching me and I was trying to defend and I was getting a little tight,» Byron said. «He got a run on me and was able to get to the bottom of the track off of two. It's disappointing to lead that many laps… It just sucks. We will try to keep going and put together some races like