NASCAR fans will enjoy more than just racing this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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Hamlin won at Atlanta in 2012 and Busch took the checkered flag there in 2013.
Of those five drivers, they have combined to win four out of the last 10 races at Atlanta dating back to 2008. “No matter what the rules are, we’re going to get the absolute most downforce and sideforce we can and therefore just if NASCAR stays ahead of that curve, it will be better”. Roughly 20 percent of the downforce has been reduced through aerodynamic adjustment to the race auto, and not all drivers will adapt to the change as quickly or successfully as you might think.
After running 31 laps, Hamlin said during Saturday’s session his vehicle was “a little tight (in the center), but overall it don’t feel bad”.
“I have high expectations for this weekend”.
The nightcap on Saturday features the Camping World Truck Series in the Great Clips 200 (MRN – 4 p.m. ET). “We struggled a year ago being consistent”. When the trucks travel to an intermediate track, Matt Crafton regularly appears atop the leaderboard.
Over the last two seasons, the cars had become much easier to drive, and competitors felt the package didn’t really show off their talent. That’s a good indication those drivers will be faster relative to the field in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 than they were in Friday’s time trials, when Earnhardt qualified 16th, Johnson 19th and Elliott 24th.
Austin Dillon (Starting 8th)-Dillon’s numbers in the famed #3 have been disappointing so far, and Atlanta has not been a friendly track to him.
“If you don’t have teams that are interested in trying to get into the sport, that should tell you something”, said the 74-year-old Marcis, who retired from NASCAR in 2002 but still has a racing shop near Asheville, North Carolina. Atlanta will have its smallest field for a Cup race since 1983. He raced to glory here in the fall of 2002, the spring in 2009, and again in March the following year. I picked him as an A driver in Yahoo this week Check back before the race to see if I start him or keep him on the bench. Last season Kenseth finished fifth at Kentucky, another intermediate track, when NASCAR ran the “low-downforce” package.
Kyle Busch claimed the pole in Atlanta on Friday. Johnson has 75 victories in the Sprint Cup Series and will tie Dale Earnhardt for career wins with his next trip to victory lane. He will be going for his third victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with his last win coming in the fall race of 2013. Bill Elliott, a 16-time series “most popular driver” in a 37-year career, seems entertained as the marketing equivalent of a soccer dad, and was introduced in the Daytona 500 driver meeting by series president Mike Helton as “Chase’s dad”. He sits three points ahead of second-place Darrell Wallace Jr…. Although the track has a slightly different layout than other 1.5-mile tracks, we’re not talking apples and oranges like Daytona and other tracks.
He drove the No. 95 in the Daytona 500, where he started 12th and finished 25th.
What to Watch for: NASCAR Next members Cole Custer and William Byron make their intermediate track debuts….
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Last week: Johnny Sauter won the crash-filled opener at Daytona. Georgia natives John Wes Townley, Austin Hill, Reed Sorenson and Korbin Forrister will all compete at their home track.
