After fans get their fill of open wheel racing at the Indianapolis 500, they can turn their attention to stock car racing’s longest race, the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

NASCAR’s top drivers competed in the sport’s All Star race at Lowe’s last week, and the return trip to the 1.5-mile track will be very different. Last week, the race consisted of short segments and drivers didn’t have a lot of time to make a move for the win. Sunday’s race is a marathon, and drivers will have to not only combat fatigue, but also hope their equipment will last over the course of the race. The race begins during the day and ends at night, and teams will need to adjust their cars to handle the changing track conditions.

Chevrolet has dominated the Nextel Cup Series, and with the added strains on the equipment this weekend, the large Chevy teams such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing will have the upper hand.

Reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has made 11 points race starts at Charlotte and has only finished outside of the top 10 once. He has five wins at the track and an average finish of 8.5.

Johnson will be using Chevrolet’s newly designed R07 race engine this weekend. The 600-mile event will be the first true test of the engine’s durability.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be another driver to watch. The fan favorite hasn’t won a race in more than a year, and the No. 8 team will face a greater challenge with crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. not at the track. Eury, Jr. is serving a six-race suspension because of a rule infraction on Earnhardt’s racecar at Darlington two weeks ago.

Drivers will have their eyes on rookie Juan Pablo Montoya this week. The Formula 1 phenom made headlines for causing a first-lap wreck last week. Montoya has been accused of being an over-aggressive driver, and has not been making friends on the racetrack.

Fox’s coverage begins at 4 p.m.

The race will run late into the night, but motorsports fans will certainly enjoy the full day of action on the track.

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