The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had high hopes for the Daytona 500 after scoring the pole. Those were quickly dashed on lap 20 after his car spun off the exit of turn 4 and came to a halt in the infield grass.
Kyle Larson topped the chart in the one practice session before qualifying. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.740 and a speed of 192.902 mph.
Grant Enfinger topped the chart for first Camping World Truck Series practice. The driver of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.873 and a speed of 179.574 mph.
Erik Jones paced the field in the opening practice session of the weekend. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.236 and a speed of 183.358 mph.
With Speedweeks in the rearview, let's turn our attention to "Hotlanta." This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into the greater Atlanta area for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 325-lap event on the 1.54-mile quad-oval intermediate speedway will be the second race of the 2016 Sprint Cup season.
Stewart-Haas Racing confirmed that Ty Dillon will be the interim replacement driver for Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Tuesday morning, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced that the NASCAR traveling circus of the Camping World Truck, XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series will return on the weekend of Feb. 26-28, 2016 following the 58th Daytona 500.
With several of the sport’s biggest names starting from the back of the field, from missing qualifying sessions to missing driver introductions, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 56th annual Folds of Honor Quicktrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.