The Coca-Cola 600 is one of the most difficult races on the Sprint Cup schedule, and it's not simply because it's 100 miles longer that any other event.

That's a factor, sure, on both driver and equipment. But there's more to the race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, as cars begin the race in sunshine.

But 600 miles later, the sun will have set, and the track will have cooled. Adjusting to the track throughout the race is crucial to success.

"First, you have to be mentally prepared to run that race," Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler said. "It is the longest one on the circuit. You start when it's daylight, and it ends under the lights at dark. It is a totally different mindset than any other race we run.

"Second, you have got have a car that will go the distance. The engine takes a lot of abuse going that many RPMs for that long."

Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart says strategy changes as the laps click off. Early in the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, you simply try to stay on the lead lap. A fast car on lap 10 might not be a fast car on lap 310.

"Early in the 600 you're running in conditions you're not going to finish the race in, obviously," Stewart said. "You start at what's typically a real hot part of the day, and the track is slippery without a whole lot of grip.

"You're basically just trying to stay on the lead lap, and with each pit stop, you're adjusting your car to keep up with the changing track conditions. You're making sure you keep some adjustability built into your setup, so that when the sun goes down and the track really starts changing, you're able to adjust your car accordingly."

And though it might sound counter-intuitive, starting position in the 600 is important, driver Jeff Burton said. One might think that with such a long race, it wouldn't matter where you qualifying because you have 600 miles to adjust your car.

Not so, the Richard Childress Racing driver said.

"The reason it's a big deal to start up front at Charlotte is the transition from day to night," Burton said. "You can set your car up to be better at night and be willing to give up some positions early. If you're starting deep in the field, you can't afford to do that. Typically, there are a lot of green-flag runs at Charlotte, and starting up front gives you a buffer if things don't go well early on when the sun is out."

Drivers will simply try to get through the first 100 laps without falling off the lead lap, and when darkness descends on the area, drivers and teams continue the adjustment process, trying to get the car right for the end of the race.

Drivers also have to keep an eye on themselves, for 600 miles can wear you out. But these days, that seems to have been taken out of the equation, simply because most drivers are in such good shape.

"A lot has been made about the length of the race, but, honestly, time-wise, it doesn't feel that long," Burton said. "Getting through the sunlight to where the car makes more grip is the biggest challenge. It is a long race and requires a great deal of flexibility with being able to make your car handle well both day and night. I don't view it as a longer race than anywhere else we go."

Once drivers and teams get through 300 laps, strategy for the end of the race is planned. The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race last weekend demonstrated that a driver needs to be at or near the front of the field to have a chance, given the difficulty in passing.

Strategy likely will help decide the race winner, as crew chiefs will try to position their drivers for the run to the checkered flag.

"We always work these races backward," Stewart said. "You really don't pay attention to how many laps you've run. You pay attention to how many laps you have left. You know how many laps are in a segment, and you know that when it comes to that last segment that you better have it right.

"And in the second to last segment, you better be working your way to the front so that you don't have to pass a lot of cars in that last green-flag segment. Everything that we do pretty much works from the end of the race backward, and that's how we plan our strategy."