RFK Advance | Atlanta I

Atlanta Event Info:
Date: Sunday, Feb. 23
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Hampton, Georgia
Format: 200 Laps, Stages: 60-100-100
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 11 a.m. ET, Qualifying (Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

  • Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts race No. 2 on the NASCAR Cup Series season this weekend, marking two-straight speedway races to kick off the 2025 campaign.
  • There have been four different winners across six total races on the reconfigured Atlanta track.
  • Last season’s spring race saw a record number of lead changes at the track, 48, and there has been a final lead change with two or fewer laps to go in four of the last five Atlanta races.
  • Jack Roush has 13 wins all-time in Atlanta including six in the NASCAR Cup Series.
  • Chris Buescher brought home RFK’s lone top-10 finish in either of the Atlanta races a season ago, finishing ninth in the spring race.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal

60 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Derrick Finley
Partner: Kroger

Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts: 20
Wins: 2 (2017, 2019)
Top-10s: 11
Poles: —

  • Keselowski makes his 21st Cup start at Atlanta this weekend where he is a two-time winner with an average finish of 15.2.
  • Keselowski won at the now Superspeedway’s first race in 2017 after starting fifth, and again in 2019. He is one of four active drivers with multiple wins at Atlanta.
  • Overall, he’s led laps in 11 different Atlanta races and finished in the top-10 11 times.
  • He carries an average starting position of 15.6 into the weekend with a career-best effort of P2 in 2014. Overall, he has six top-10 starts, including a P4 starting spot in the spring of 2022.
  • He also has eight Xfinity Series starts with six top-10s including two P2 finishes. In the Truck series, he’s made four career starts.

Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts: 13
Wins: —
Top-10s: 4
Poles: —

  • Buescher makes his 14th Cup start in Atlanta where he has posted four top-10s and a best finish of seventh (twice – 2021, 2022). He also finished ninth in 2019 and 2024.
  • Buescher has an average qualifying position of 17.8, and has qualified seventh in each of the last two spring Atlanta races.

Preece at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts: 8
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —

Preece makes his 9th Cup start in Atlanta where he has best finish of 16th in the spring race last season.
He holds an average starting position of 23.6, including a 13th starting spot in the fall of 2023.

RFK Historically at Atlanta
Cup Wins: 6 (Mark Martin, 1991, 1994; Kurt Busch, 2002; Carl Edwards, 2005, 2005, 2008)

  • RFK at Atlanta: RFK has 281 starts at AMS in NASCAR’s three major touring series totaling 13 wins, 60 top fives, 115 top-10s and nine poles while leading 3,267 laps and turning over 110,000 miles.
  • AMS/RFK History: RFK competed in its first NASCAR event at AMS on March 20, 1988, finishing 31st after getting involved in an early crash. Just three years later the organization claimed its first win there in the fall of ‘91 with the No. 6 Ford. RFK won its first of seven NXS races at the track in the spring of ’97. The team’s top outing at AMS came in the fall of 2005, when the organization placed four cars inside the top seven, with three cars finishing in the top five including race winner Carl Edwards. Altogether, in the two races at AMS in 2005, RFK posted six top-five finishes and two wins.
  • Spring Forward: All but one of RFK’s Cup wins at AMS came in the fall, with the only spring win coming in 2005. Three of RFK’s seven NXS wins came in the fall.

RFK Atlanta Wins

1991-2 Martin Cup

1994-2 Martin Cup

1997-1 Martin NXS

1998-2 Martin NXS

2000-1 Martin NXS

2002-2 Busch Cup

2005-1 Edwards Cup

2005-1 Edwards NXS

2005-2 Edwards Cup

2008-1 Kenseth NXS

2008-2 Edwards Cup

2011 Edwards NXS

2012 Stenhouse NXS

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Daytona: Preece and Keselowski were unfortunately caught up in incidents in Sunday’s running of the Daytona 500. Buescher led the group with a 10th-place finish, with Keselowski finishing 26th and Preece 32nd.

Points Standings (17: 6th, 6: T18th, 60: T34th): Buescher sits 6th through the first race in the points season, with Keselowski tied for 18th and Preece tied for 34th.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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