The Coca Cola 600 – second leg of the NASCAR Grand Slam

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

May 24, 2007 3:11 pm UTC 4 Comments

There was a time when the four Majors of the NASCAR racing were the Daytona 500, Southern 500 at Darlington , World 600 at the then titled Charlotte Motor Speedway and for me at least, the Firecracker 400 in July at Daytona. You could argue for the Rebel 400 as number four, but I’m a Firecracker man.

The concept of a grand slam originated in golf. The great Bobby Jones is the only golfer to ever achieve an acknowledged grand slam, winning the U.S. and British Open Championships and the Amateur Championships for both countries, all during the 1930 season.

The present day grand slam of golf still includes the U.S. and British Opens. The amateur championships have been replaced by the PGA Championship and the Masters.

No player has won the modern day grand slam of golf. The Tiger slam doesn’t count.

Only one driver has ever won the NASCAR grand slam.

The late LeeRoy Yarbrough won my stock car grand slam in 1969.

My modern day NASCAR slam would replace the Firecracker 400 with the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500 with the night race at Bristol. No driver has come close to sweeping these races in the same year.

Oh, and for you Rebel 400 fans, like Steve, LeeRoy won that one in ’69 too.

Filed under: Nascar Legends, Nextel Cup Series

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Comments

4 Responses to “The Coca Cola 600 – second leg of the NASCAR Grand Slam”

Steve on May 24th, 2007 11:25 pm

Before Bill Elliott, my man was LeeRoy driving the #98 Jim Robbins sponsored Fords. Seeing him win in 69 and 70 on ABC’s Wide World of Sports is what got me interested in NASCAR.
michael on May 25th, 2007 6:50 am

How ’bout the Penske Slam? WOW!!
Is Kyle Busch the Best Driver in NASCAR? | Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on August 5th, 2008 8:27 pm

[...] Grand Slam. I hope Rowdy will decide to run the whole schedule of NASCAR’s majors. Taking the NASCAR Grand Slam would leave no doubt in my mind who the best in NASCAR [...]
Coca Cola 600 Bump Linkin’ Saturday : Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on May 23rd, 2009 8:45 am

[...] third leg of (my) Grand Slam of Sprint Cup racing is tomorrow. I’m layin’ in a supply of caffeine loaded consumables [...]

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