Fresh off an historic sweep of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, Ford heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500. Here is a look at how the Blue Oval has done at the 1.5-mile facility.
Joey Logano followed up his career-year of 2014 with a stirring win in the Daytona 500, becoming the second youngest driver to win the Great American Race at 24 years old.
Gordon’s 85th career Cup victory occurred at the Georgia track on Sept. 6, 2011. That win moved the No. 24 Chevrolet SS driver into sole possession of third all-time in career Sprint Cup victories.
“Well we need to keep the momentum from Daytona going, first of all. I like Atlanta. We nearly had the thing won a few years ago and were in decent shape there last year.
“This is the first time I will be racing a Cup car in the spring at Atlanta. I had the opportunity to race there once before with the Wood Brothers back in 2012, and we were able to run pretty well.
“Atlanta is a tough place, the car from lap one is sliding out of control. Five or 10 laps into a run you’re slipping and sliding all over the place. I like the shift from Atlanta being later in the year to earlier in the year; I think it will help a little with the tire wear.
“Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. It’s an older track that is rough but fast. Last year we struggled on the mile-and-a-half tracks so we worked really hard this off-season to improve our Fords so Atlanta will be a good test to see if we have made gains.
Reed has competed at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) just once, earning an 18th -place finish after starting 12th and fighting loose conditions the entire race.
Chris Buescher makes his third career NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. In his two previous starts, Buescher earned two 13th-place finishes.
Wallace races the same chassis that Trevor Bayne used last season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Dover International Speedway in the spring and fall races and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This chassis never finished lower than ninth last season, earning its best finish of second at Dover in the spring.
Zilisch was originally scheduled to race at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race last year, but sat out due to the late-race Talladega crash, which resulted in a back injury.
One day after veterans dominated the speed chart, rookie Caio Collet rode the aerodynamic wave to the fastest overall speed of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test on Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
