After taking on the high banks of Daytona to kick off the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are off to Atlanta Motor Speedway for a tripleheader weekend. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.
When Paul Menard driver of the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Menards/Moen Ford Fusion, talks about the racing surface at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of this weekend’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, he uses terms like old, worn out and hard on tires.
Austin Dillon passed Aric Almirola on the backstretch of the final lap in NASCAR overtime to win the 60th running of the Daytona 500. Dillon returned the No. 3 Chevrolet to Victory Lane in The Great American Race 20 years to the weekend the man who made the No. 3 car famous – Dale Earnhardt – won his lone Daytona 500.
Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series History at Atlanta Motor Speedway... In 143 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has earned nine wins and three pole awards, including Kevin Harvick's emotional victory in the Cracker Barrel 500 on March 11, 2001. Dale Earnhardt won eight times at the Hampton, Georgia-based track under the RCR banner.
Daytona Recap: Denny Hamlin finished third in Sunday’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, overcoming a pit road penalty and avoiding a number of multi-car wrecks to position himself and the #11 FedEx Express Toyota for a shot at the 2018 ‘Daytona 500 Champion’ title. Hamlin grabbed ahold of the lead with only two laps remaining in the 200-lap event, but a caution simultaneously appeared for a single-car incident, forcing the field to an overtime restart.
Atlanta Special Place for Toyota… Atlanta Motor Speedway will always be remembered as an important piece of Toyota Racing’s history, the location of its first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) victory during the 2008 season – won by Kyle Busch. Toyota would go on to win nine more races that season, including eight total by Busch, one by Denny Hamlin and former Toyota driver Tony Stewart winning one as well.
Driver Quote: “I’ve never been to Atlanta, but we’re optimistic. My crew chief Darrell (Morrow) and the guys on the Niece Motorsports team have been working hard on preparing our No. 45 Superior Essex Chevrolet, and I think start to finish from practice to qualifying and to the race, we’ll make significant gains so that we can contend for another strong finish.”
RACING AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Atlanta (Motor Speedway) is a really fun racetrack,” Allmendinger said. “We all begged them not to repave the racetrack and they didn’t. So, it’s about conserving tires. A car and driver that can be a little easier on their tires is definitely a huge advantage at Atlanta. Comparing last year’s Atlanta race to this year is really difficult. Our race cars are a lot different. I think the Camaro ZL1 body is going to be a big benefit to all Chevrolet teams. For us as a team, Chris Buescher had a good test at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) in January and I think we’re going to use some of those notes heading into this weekend."
This weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway the production counterpart of the all-new Camaro ZL1 race car, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will serve as the pace car for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENSC) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), for the Folds of Honor Quicktrip 500. Fans will get the opportunity to see just how close the production version is to the race car counterpart, which is now competing for victories in the 2018 MENCS.
Bo LeMastus on Atlanta... "I'm ready to get to Atlanta and see what we can do with this Tundra. I hate that we got caught up in an incident last weekend, but that's superspeedway racing. This weekend will be our first chance to work together as a team on a 1.5-mile track. We are ready to get down there and get to work."
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is currently in a battle to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, which will begin at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6.
It was just three years ago that one of the sport’s most iconic venues, North Wilkesboro Speedway, was revived to welcome NASCAR back to its hallowed grounds.
