Next Race: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500The Place: Atlanta Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Sunday, June 7The Time: 3 p.m. ETTV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ETRadio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 500.5 miles (325 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 105), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 210), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 325)2019 Race Winner: Brad Keselowski“Thunder Valley” welcomes back NASCAR Keselowski looking to repeat in Atlanta Last week’s Bristol race winner, Brad Keselowski, has also been the cream of the crop when it comes to Atlanta Motor Speedway’s most recent NASCAR Cup Series races. He’s won two of the last three and finished second in the other. And after winning two of the last three races coming into this weekend, the 2012 series champion arrives at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) primed and ready to repeat. Two weeks ago, Keselowski took home the checkered in the Coca-Cola 600 for his first win of the year and Team Penske’s third (Joey Logano won at Las Vegas and Phoenix). He followed that up seven days later with the win on the Bristol short track. Results have traditionally met his high hopes for the Team Penske driver at Atlanta. In 11 starts at the 1.54-mile Atlanta track, Keselowski has earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes. He’s finished in the top 10 in the last five consecutive races. And he is the defending champion of this weekend’s race. Last year after winning at Atlanta (which was then the second race on the schedule), Keselowski earned top-three finishes in three of the next four events. He won his second race of the year at Martinsville Speedway four weeks after celebrating in Atlanta’s Victory Lane. And Keselowski has proven himself to be a favorite at the Georgia track – where he owns two wins. Of his 32 career wins, 14 of them have come on 1.5-mile venues such as Atlanta; his largest win tally among the NASCAR Cup Series style of race tracks. Harvick maintains points lead No one’s been more consistent than Kevin Harvick this season… his series best eight top-10 finishes in nine races backs that up. (He finished 11th at Bristol last week.) Following a runner-up finish at Phoenix Raceway in the last race before the pandemic-induced break in action, Harvick took over the NASCAR Cup Series points lead – by a single point over two-race winner Joey Logano. And he’s only strengthened it since, now leading Logano by 24 points heading into Atlanta. Since he took over the points lead, Harvick has earned his first win of the season – capturing the victory at the first race back after the break in Darlington. And Atlanta might just be the place where he secures his second win. Atlanta Motor Speedway has been both a productive and sentimental venue for the 44-year old Californian. He scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Atlanta in 2001 in the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – the same car that Dale Earnhardt drove (as No. 3) when he died in that season’s Daytona 500. A then-25-year-old Harvick, in only his third career series start, earned one of the most emotional wins in the sport’s history that afternoon. He answered it 17 years and 27 Atlanta races later with a victory in 2018. And he’s a favorite this weekend too. Harvick has 14 career top-10 finishes at Atlanta – 11 in the last 13 races. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has led an unmatched 960 laps in just the last six races, including 181 in his 2018 victory and an impressive 292 of the 325 laps in his 2017 ninth-place run. Seven-time champ banking on Atlanta success After putting together just three top-five results in 2019, Jimmie Johnson already has a pair of top-five results in 2020, and has shown speed that isn’t reflected in his finishing results at other tracks. While his results have been up and down (including a disqualification in the Coca-Cola 600 that dropped him from runner-up to 40th), he has contended – including nearly winning the opening stage of the first race back at Darlington before a crash just before reaching the green/white checkered. In the other three races since the break, he has an eighth-place result at Darlington-2, was 11th at Charlotte-2 and then finished third last weekend at Bristol. The sure-bet first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer hasn’t won a race since Dover in June of 2017 – a streak of 104 races without a victory – but nearly every race this season has had his fans thinking that this could be the day that he puts the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports back atop the scoring tower at the end of the day. Their hopes will probably be high again this weekend in Atlanta, where Johnson has five wins – a number that leads all active drivers – most recently back-to-back in 2015 and 2016. He’s finished in the top five in half of his 28 starts at the 1.54-mile circuit and also has 16 top 10s. Johnson also holds the honor of having started the deepest in the field in a march to victory at Atlanta – winning from the 37th-place starting position in 2015. And leads active drivers with the most runner-up finishes at the track with four (2005, 2006, 2008, 2011). And he has the backing of an organization that knows how to win at Atlanta – Hendrick Motorsports leads all teams with 14 victories. Home again, home again for Chase Elliott This week’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a home race for the sport’s Most Popular Driver, 24-year old Chase Elliott of Dawsonville, Georgia and Elliott would love nothing more than to earn his second victory of the season at the venue. It would be a fantastically popular win for the driver who won the second Charlotte race a week and a half ago. Elliott, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is in third in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 45 points behind leader Kevin Harvick. He’s climbed up the standings with a win at Charlotte and four top-five finishes on the season. Elliott has a series best five stage wins. And he’s led laps in all but two of the nine races this season. Atlanta Motor Speedway certainly is a prime prospect for Elliott to celebrate mightily in Victory Lane. He has three top-10 finishes in four NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track, including a best of fifth place in 2017. His worst showing was in 2019 when Elliott finished 19th. Interestingly, for as good as Elliott’s results have been, he’s never led a lap at Atlanta. But his dad, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, has won five times at the Georgia track. Joe Gibbs Racing gaining ground since the break After a historic 19-win NASCAR Cup Series season in 2019 – including Kyle Busch’s second series championship – the Joe Gibbs Racing organization is still largely fine-tuning its winning form this year. Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, won his second consecutive Daytona 500 to open the season in the same triumphant way JGR closed out the 2019 season. And since then, Hamlin won the second Darlington race after NASCAR returned to racing. But those two races have been the only visits to Victory Lane for the stars of JGR through the opening nine races. A year ago, they had combined for six wins in the opening nine events – three from Kyle Busch (Phoenix, Auto Club, Bristol-1), two from Hamlin (Daytona 500, Texas-1) and a Richmond win by Martin Truex Jr. Three JGR drivers – Busch, Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. – qualified for the Championship 4 season finale last year. And after a rough four races of the season that found all three outside the top 10 leaving Phoenix, the trio has worked their way into the top 10 since NASCAR returned to racing at Darlington. Truex leads the pack in sixth place in the standings while Hamlin is seventh. Kyle Busch sits in ninth. And the fourth JGR driver, Erik Jones, is in Playoff contention in 14th. This is his first season for Truex without longtime crew chief Cole Pearn, so there is a natural learning curve for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with James Small taking over atop the pit box. And the break in racing did the duo good. Through the first four races, they had an average finish of 24.5 – and didn’t crack the top 10. But in the five races back, their average finish has been 10.2, with a 20th-place effort at Bristol being the only result outside the top 10. And there’s more good news in that Truex has a good history at this week’s Atlanta Motor Speedway venue and was the race runner-up just last spring. He leads all drivers in laps run in the top 15 at Atlanta (80.7 percent) and quality passes (883). He’s scored top-10 finishes in nine of his 21 starts. Busch has put together top-five finishes in three of the last four races this season, and leads the Gibbs’ contingent with two wins (2008 and 2013) at Atlanta. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 21 races there, and was sixth at Atlanta last year. Three of Hamlin’s top-five runs this year have come since NASCAR returned at Darlington, including his win at Darlington-2. He has a victory at Atlanta (2012). And he has four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 20 starts there. Jones’ improvement since the break has mirrored that of his teammates. He’s finished in the top 10 in three of the five races since returning, and added an 11th-place result in a fourth race. He finished fifth at Darlington-2 and last weekend at Bristol. Jones has only three Atlanta starts, but the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has never finished worse than 14th (first start in 2017). He has one top 10 in three races and was a career best seventh there last spring. Next Race: EchoPark 250The Place: Atlanta Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Saturday, June 6The Time: 4:30 p.m. ETTV: FOX, 4:30 p.m. ETRadio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 251.02 miles (163 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 163)2019 Race Winner: Christopher Bell Xfinity Series readies for Atlanta, Dash 4 Cash kickoff Highspeed action this season has the NASCAR Xfinity Series ready for some more intense racing this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway as part of a double-header Saturday that will feature the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race, the Vet Tix Camping World 200, at 1 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) directly followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the EchoPark 250, at 4:30 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). As a bonus, this weekend is the kickoff for the Dash 4 Cash initiative for the Xfinity Series, too. Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted 28 NASCAR Xfinity Series races dating back to the inaugural event in 1992 (won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon). The 28 Xfinity races have produced 17 different pole winners and 17 different race winners. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch leads the Xfinity Series in poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway with six. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick leads the series in wins (five), top fives (11), top 10s (13) and laps led (973) at the 1.54-mile track. Joe Nemechek is the only former Atlanta race winner (2001) entered in this weekend’s race, and fans will be guaranteed to see a new Xfinity Atlanta pole winner this weekend as none of the former series pole winners are entered. Atlanta Motor Speedway has the oldest surface the NASCAR Xfinity Series competes on all season, which has made for great racing and has several drivers excited about this weekend’s challenge. “The old age and grittiness of the surface in Atlanta makes for great racing because the tires fall off and the cars will start slipping and sliding around,” said JR Motorsports Noah Gragson heading into this weekend at Atlanta. “It’s another one of those places that’s kind of slick and worn out, and I love that type of track,” said Chase Briscoe. “It plays into my dirt-racing background, and it’s just a lot of fun to be on those low-grip tracks.” This season’s Xfinity race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the EchoPark 250, will be 163 total laps that will be broken up into three stages. The first stage will end on Lap 40, the second stage will end on Lap 80 and the final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 163. Atlanta Motor Speedway has been the home to four drivers getting their first NASCAR Xfinity Series win – NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon (1992), Mike Skinner (1999), Jamie McMurray (2002) and Carl Edwards (2005). Twenty-six of the 36 drivers entered this weekend are looking for their first series win. Atlanta has also been the track four Xfinity drivers got their first series career pole, including the first pole by a female competitor in NASCAR national series history – Shawna Robinson (March 12, 1994), Tim Bender (1997), Ryan Newman (2001) and Chase Elliott (2014). Sieg and Jones are amped to compete at their home track Two drivers from Georgia entered in this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the EchoPark 250 (4:30 p.m. ET on FOX, 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 32-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. This season Sieg is having a career-best start to the season, in seven races he has gathered two top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 11.1. “It definitely makes you feel good to get some top fives early in the season,” said Sieg. “We’re super excited to get to Atlanta and race there.” Sieg heads to Georgia this weekend ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings, 85 points back from Chase Briscoe in the standings lead. Sieg has made six series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway posting a best finish of 11th in last season’s race. Atlanta’s own Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing, much like Sieg, is having a career best start to his season posting a win, three top fives, four top 10s, one pole and an average finish of 13.0. Not to mention, he won at Phoenix by out-racing arguably one of the best to ever compete in the series, his JGR teammate Kyle Busch. Jones has made four series starts at Atlanta posting an average finish of 11.5; including his career best finish of fourth at the track last season. Kaulig Racing chasing first win of 2020 After earning a pair of wins last year with then-part-time drivers Ross Chastain (Daytona-2) and AJ Allmendinger (Charlotte Roval), Kaulig Racing has shown that they are in the hunt this year. Kaulig had a rough start to the season in which Chastain didn’t qualify for the opener at Daytona (but ran in the No. 38 for RSS Racing, instead). But now with Chastain and Justin Haley running full-time, and Allmendinger running occasionally for the outfit, Kaulig has put together 10 top-10 results between the trio of drivers in the opening seven races. Chastain has five top 10s in the six races he’s contested in Kaulig equipment while Haley has four top 10s in seven races. Allmendinger has made one start – at Bristol last week – and finished in the top 10. Haley (two) and Chastain (one) have also paired up for three top fives. Allmendinger will be making his Xfinity Series track debut at Atlanta this weekend, although he has 13 starts at the track in the NASCAR Cup Series. Haley holds Kaulig’s best finish at Atlanta, an eighth-place result at the track last year. Stay in the loop on Dash 4 CashThe Dash 4 Cash program is back for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and this time the schedule is a little different compared to past years due to a revised 2020 schedule as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dash 4 Cash will kick off this weekend with the EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 6 (4:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Monday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway was the qualifier race. The top four Xfinity Series regulars in the race qualified for the money in Atlanta. The first of the four competitors to finish at Atlanta will win the $100,000 bonus. The Atlanta bonus winner and the top three highest finishing drivers (who have declared points in the series) will qualify for the next Dash 4 Cash event at Homestead-Miami Speedway – which will take place in the second of two Xfinity Series races being run in South Florida that weekend. In addition, Xfinity is planning to make donations in each Dash 4 Cash race market to continue showing their companywide commitment of connecting families, veterans and seniors to necessary digital tools during this difficult time. Dash 4 Cash Qualifiers for Atlanta: Noah Gragson (No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) – Gragson has one Xfinity Series start at Atlanta, a ninth-place finish last year. He’s also raced there twice in the Gander Trucks, finishing 14th in his debut and runner-up in the second race in 2018.Chase Briscoe (No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) – Briscoe has two Xfinity Series starts at Atlanta and put together 15th-place results in both races. He finished 25th in his one Gander Trucks race at the track in 2017.Brandon Jones (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) – Jones has the most Xfinity Series experience at Atlanta of the four Dash 4 Cash contenders, with four starts. He has an average finish of 11.5 with his best finish coming last year, placing fourth. He has not competed at the track in the Gander Trucks.Harrison Burton (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) – While this will be Burton’s Xfinity Series debut at Atlanta, he did finish eighth there last year in the Gander Trucks. “That’s a big opportunity. There is a lot of things you could do with that money. There is a lot of people in need right now, and a lot of situations that I feel like that could be used for which is a really cool opportunity for me. Obviously, you have to treat your guys with some of that as well if you get it,” said Burton. “No different than any other race, other than it’s a bigger payday in the end, which is obviously amazing, and we are pumped that Xfinity is doing that. The biggest thing for us is to just treat it like any other race and be aggressive and go and try to win.” Next Race: Vet Tix/Camping World 200The Place: Atlanta Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Saturday, June 6The Time: 1 p.m. ETTV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ETRadio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 200.02 miles (130 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)2019 Winner: Kyle Busch Trucks are back (again) and ready for Atlanta Following the Gander Trucks’ return to racing under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks ago to welcome the series back after the break from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series is back in action this Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Vet Tix Camping World 200 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio – the fourth race of the season. Saturday’s event will be the 19th race for the Gander Trucks at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first being on March 13, 2004. Bobby Hamilton started 12th in the inaugural event in a Dodge and won the race. The previous 18 series races have produced 11 different Gander Truck pole winners at Atlanta. Ty Dillon holds the record as the youngest at 20 years, 6 months and 4 days old (2012). The Gander Trucks has also produced 13 different race winners at Atlanta, including John Hunter Nemechek who is entered this weekend and holds the record as the youngest series winner at 18 years, 8 months and 16 days old (2016). Four of the last five Gander Truck race winners (Kyle Busch, Brett Moffitt, John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton) are all entered this weekend. The 2020 season has been a wild one, Grant Enfinger secured the season-opening win at Daytona International Speedway and Kyle Busch returned to the series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and took home the checkered flag. Then Chase Elliott made his return to the series at Charlotte Motor Speedway, battling for the bounty against Kyle Busch, and won the race. Matt Crafton, the 2019 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champion, will make his 19th start at Atlanta, the most of any active driver in the series. He is the only driver to have competed in every race since the inaugural one in 2004. Behind him is Kyle Busch, who will be back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Toyota, with 11 previous starts. Busch has dominated at Atlanta, winning five of the 18 races run at the track. He’s the only driver to have won back-to-back races (2007-2008) and he won the most recent race last season. Only five drivers in history have won the race at Atlanta from the pole and twice a driver has won from the 18th starting position. A Toyota has won the last three years and in total has eight victories. Dodge has the one win from the inaugural race and Chevrolet has nine wins. In 2018, Moffitt won at Atlanta and went on to win the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series championship. Home cooking in Georgia There’s no place like home and for three drivers making a start in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series this weekend, home is not too far away from the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway track. Austin Hill, driver of the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota, is from Winston, Georgia, approximately one hour away from the Atlanta track. Hill will be making his fifth start at his home track on Saturday. Last season, Hill started from the pole for the first time at the track. He also got his first top-10 finish of his career at Atlanta, finishing in seventh. Previous statistics show that Atlanta has not always been Hill’s best track, but his performances have continued to get better each year. Chase Elliott will be running in the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet for the second Gander Trucks race in a row. Elliott is from Dawsonville, Georgia, which is about an hour and a half away from the Atlanta track. In his only start at Atlanta in the series, he finished fifth after starting ninth. This will be Elliott’s 14th career start in the series. Spencer Davis, also from Dawsonville, will pilot the No. 11 Spencer Davis Motorsports Toyota at Atlanta. Davis will be making his 11th career start and second at his home track. In his series track debut he started fourth and finished 13th in 2018. Korbin Forrister is entered to race the No. 7 All Out Motorsports Toyota this weekend. Forrister is another driver that calls Atlanta his home track. He’s from Cedartown, Georgia, which is approximately two hours from the track. This will be Forrister’s fifth start at the track and 51st career start. His best finish at Atlanta was in 2018, when he started in 21st and finished 16th.
