This Weekend in NASCAR – Storylines – Atlanta

Next Race: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway
The Date: Sunday, March 21
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 500.5 miles (325 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 105), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 210), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 325)

Hot-lanta: Cup Series drivers ready to heat things up in the Peach State

Originally called Atlanta International Raceway, the track was then a 1.5-mile paved speedway, located in Hampton Georgia. The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta was on July 31, 1960 and won by Fireball Roberts from the pole position.

Over the years the track underwent several changes. It was re-measured to 1.522 miles in the spring of 1970. It was renamed Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1990. And then the track layout was reversed, and the track was re-configured to 1.54 miles between the two races in 1997.

From 1960 – 2010, Atlanta Motor Speedway hosted multiple NASCAR Cup Series races during each season; starting in 2011 the series began only visiting Atlanta once a year (2011-2020). This season marks the first time since 2010, the series will visit the facility more than once a year as the series is scheduled compete this weekend (March 21, 2021) and later this season (July 11, 2021).

From 1987 to 2000 Atlanta Motor Speedway held the final championship race of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. In total, there have been 113 NASCAR Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway since the first race there in 1960.

This weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be 325 laps (500.5 miles) and broken up into three stages. The first two stages are 105 laps each with the final stage being 115 laps.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin will start from the pole and his teammate and last weekend’s winner Martin Truex Jr. will join him on the front row.

Streaking: Five different winners to start the 2021 Cup season

With Martin Truex Jr. taking the checkered flag last weekend, the 2021 season marks the 15th time in the NASCAR Cup Series Modern Era (1972-Present) that the season schedule has opened with five different winners (2021, 2017, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2005, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1993, 1991, 1986, 1984, 1979). This weekend, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Atlanta Motor Speedway will have the chance to produce the sixth different NASCAR Cup Series winner of the 2021 season making it the eighth different season to start the year with six different drivers in Victory Lane; joining 2014, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1991, 1986, 1984.

The Modern Era record of different winners to start a NASCAR Cup Series season is 10 set back in 2000. Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapped the streak winning his second race of the 2000 season at Richmond (Race No. 11).

In the Modern Era (1972-2021), the record for the most different NASCAR Cup Series winners in a single season in its entirety is 19 set back in 2001. The series has also seen a total of 18 different winners (second-most) in a single season twice – in 2002 and 2011. Last season the series produced 13 different winners.

There are five former NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta Motor Speedway winners entered this weekend looking for their first win of the 2021 season: Kevin Harvick (three wins), Kurt Busch (three), Brad Keselowski (two), Kyle Busch (two) and Denny Hamlin (one).

Denny Hamlin continues to hold points lead without a win

While still looking for his first win of the 2021, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin captured his fourth top-five finish in five races this season extending his NASCAR Cup Series driver standings lead to 39 points over Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski in second last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Now the points leader is looking to get his second career victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and lock himself into the Playoffs.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is a special place for the Toyota camp. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, drove his Toyota Camry to Victory Lane in Atlanta on March 9, 2008, scoring Toyota’s first NASCAR Cup Series win. In total, Joe Gibbs Racing has won

Denny Hamlin has made 21 series starts at Atlanta putting up one win (2021), five top-fives, and eight top 10s. He finished fifth in the Atlanta Cup race last season.

Jeff Foxworthy to bring the laughs to Atlanta Motor Speedway with pre-race show

Georgia native Jeff Foxworthy is bringing his popular comedy act to Atlanta Motor Speedway with a pre-race performance on Sunday, March 21. Fans in attendance for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will enjoy Foxworthy’s observations about the humor found in everyday life during his performance on the pre-race stage.

Admission to Foxworthy’s show is included with every grandstand ticket for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. Foxworthy is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy Award nominee and best-selling author of more than 26 books.

Next Race: EchoPark 250
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, March 20
The Time: 5 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 4:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 251.02 miles (163 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 163)

Georgia on my mind
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is back on the east coast this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the EchoPark 250 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The Xfinity Series race will be the second of the day as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicks off a doubleheader at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Austin Cindric was victorious once again, this time at Phoenix Raceway, earning his second win in the opening five races of the season. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford beat 18-year-old rookie Ty Gibbs by .360 seconds on the final restart with two laps remaining.

The win marked the second consecutive win on the Phoenix oval for Cindric, as he won there last November en route to being crowned the NASCAR Xfinity Series 2020 champion. He led a race-high 119 of 200 laps and held off the field on three late-race restarts.

Gibbs, who finished second in the Xfinity race, started out the weekend at Phoenix with a win on Friday night in the ARCA Menards Series race. Brandon Brown finished in third in the Xfinity race and claimed a career-best finish for his No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports team. Riley Herbst was fourth and AJ Allmendinger, who won the previous weekend at Las Vegas, rounded out the top five.

Jeb Burton, Bayley Currey, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt and Jeremy Clements all finished out the top 10. The finish marked Currey’s first top-10 finish of his career.

This weekend’s race will be 251.02 miles and 163 laps with Stage 1 ending on Lap 40 and Stage 2 ending on Lap 80.

Cindric will start from the pole with Jeb Burton joining him on the front row. Allmendinger will start third, Brown will start fourth and Harrison Burton will round out the top five.

Allmendinger is the only current driver in the Xfinity Series with a previous win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and it came last season. He will look to get his second win of 2021 this weekend and go back-to-back.

Sieg and Jones head to home turf with lots of momentum

Two drivers from Georgia entered in this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the EchoPark 250 (5 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), are extra revved-up about racing at their home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway – RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg from Tucker and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones from Atlanta.

The 33-year-old driver Ryan Sieg and his family-owned organization, RSS Racing, are based in Tucker, Georgia, Sieg’s hometown. The team is run by Ryan’s father, Rod Sieg, and the duo have competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since 2013 when they made their series debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Last season Sieg had a career-best season, racking up seven top fives and 11 top 10s as well as a run at the championship title.

This weekend, Sieg will head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the eighth time of his career. He’s completed 1,042 of 1,173 laps attempted, which is 88.8 percent and has an average start of 17.4 and an average finish of 21.3. He has a best finish of 11^th at the track in 2019.

Because of his finish last weekend at Phoenix Raceway, Sieg will start 35^th on Saturday with hopes of moving his way to the front of the pack.

Atlanta, Georgia’s own Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing has had a strong start to his 2021 season. In the first five races of the season, he’s posted three top fives, three top 10s and has an average start of 11.0 and average finish of 16.0. Last weekend at Phoenix didn’t go as planned for the No. 19 team as they were involved in a crash that put them out of the race early. However, with each race at Atlanta, Jones has seen improvements. He will be making his sixth start on Saturday at the track with one top five and two top 10s.

Jones goes into this weekend seventh in the series points standings, 61 points from the Playoff cutline. He will start 16^th for the EchoPark 250 on Saturday.

Truex taking on Atlanta in Xfinity Series
Last weekend’s Cup Series winner at Phoenix Raceway will be hitting the track this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the EchoPark 250 on Saturday, March 20 at 5 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) behind the wheel of the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Truex competed in the Xfinity Series for 103 races beginning in 2001 and until 2010. He has not raced in the series since the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2010.

Of his 103 Xfinity starts, he has 13 wins, 40 top fives, 61 top 10s and 10 pole awards. He led 1,863 laps and has an average start of 9.2 and average finish of 11.4.

Saturday’s race will be Truex’s third race at the Georgia track in the Xfinity Series. The first was in 2004, when he started second and finished ninth. In 2005, he started 16^th and finished 11^th.

Truex will start 18^th in Saturday’s race.

Next Race: Fr8Auctions 200
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, March 20
The Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 200.02 miles (130 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 130)

Atlanta field packed with previous winners

Of the six different race winners at Atlanta since the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to the 1.5-mile circuit in 2015 after a two-year break, five are in the field for Saturday’s Fr8Auctions 200 (2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Grant Enfinger (2020), Kyle Busch (2019), Brett Moffitt (2018), John Hunter Nemechek (2016) and Matt Crafton (2015) are all looking to capture the checkered flag once again in Georgia. The only winner from that span not entered in the race is Christopher Bell (2017 winner).

Of those, Busch is the only driver who has won multiple races at Atlanta – five total, in fact. And only Nemechek has won thus far in 2021 (the most recent race in Las Vegas).

Crafton leads both the pack of previous winners and all active Camping World Truck Series drivers overall in top-10 finishes at Atlanta with 10. Busch trails with nine top 10s and leads all with eight top-five results.

Busch also has the most laps led at 516, while Crafton has led 184 at Atlanta. Moffitt (two laps led) may win the award for most efficient use of his time in getting to a win at Atlanta. Nemechek trails him slightly with eight laps led.

Toyota to lead field to green for Saturday’s race

After their one-two finish two weeks ago at Las Vegas, Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyotas will lead the field to the green in Saturday’s Fr8Auctions 200 (2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

John Hunter Nemechek starts on the pole while Kyle Busch will start second. And after their dominant performance in Las Vegas, Toyotas will occupy the next two rows, as well. Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing) and Stewart Friesen (Halmar Friesen Racing) will start in third and fourth, respectively, while Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing) and Austin Hill (Hattori Racing Enterprises) will hold down the third row.

Two weeks ago, Toyota Tundra trucks took the top five positions in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and they did it with four different teams.

Kyle Busch Motorsports took the top two positions with Nemechek winning while team namesake Busch finished second. Hattori Racing Enterprises driver Austin Hill was third, Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen finished fourth, and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton finished fifth.

Toyota book-ended the top 10 with Christian Eckes in ninth and Rhodes in 10^th – both being ThorSport drivers.

The balance of the top 10 was filled by Chevrolets. Zane Smith and GMS Racing were sixth, Grant Enfinger’s spot start for CR7 Motorsports netted a seventh-place finish, and Parker Kligerman’s first start of the season landed him in eighth with a Henderson Motorsports truck.

Bill Lester joins the field in Atlanta

Bill Lester made his first of two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2006, and 15 years later he returns to the scene to race the No. 17 Ford for Team DGR this Saturday in the Fr8Auctions 200 (2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

When Lester took the green flag that year, he was the first Black driver to race in the Cup Series in nearly 20 years (since Willie T. Ribbs in 1986). And while he made just two Cup Series starts in his career, he did race in 142 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races between 2000 and 2007, notching a trio of poles, two top fives and seven top 10s.

Part of Lester’s motivation to return to the grid came from the recent publication of his book “Winning in Reverse: Defying the Odds and Achieving Dreams” that he wrote with Jonathan Ingram.

“I talk about getting out of your comfort zone and this will truly be an example of me getting out of my comfort zone,” Lester said. “I could very easily continue to sit on the couch and watch, but here I am going to jump back in the deep end at one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.”

Lester will start 31^st this weekend.

source – NASCAR communications