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  • Johnson’s Early Struggles Will Not Define His Success

    Johnson’s Early Struggles Will Not Define His Success

    Although Jimmie Johnson is currently 35th in points with back to back finishes of 27th or worse, he is still optimistic about the 2018 season.

    The uncharacteristic results of the 2017 season seem to have rolled over into the first two races and both exhibition events of the season. Last year, Johnson posted a career-worst 11 top-10 finishes and a 10th place finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. So far this season, he has been involved in a crash in every event, has a DNF in three of the four races, and has yet to lead a lap.

    In the Daytona 500, the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet crashed when the field entered Turn 3 coming to the green-checkered flag at the end of Stage 1, resulting in a 38th place finish. This past week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the team struggled with handling and car setup all weekend. Johnson spun on the backstretch on lap 159 after a right front tire came apart. He finished in the 27th position, five laps down.

    When asked about the crash at the Daytona 500, Johnson wasn’t pleased with how the competition was racing so early in the event.

    “Unfortunately, many thought that was the black and white checkered flag and not the green and white checkered flag,” Johnson said after he was released from the infield care center. “On Lap 59 to be throwing blocks like that just let to a lot of wrecked race cars.”

    The exhibition races proved no different. In the Advance Auto Parts Clash, Johnson was involved in a last-lap crash coming to the checkered flag. Later, during Daytona Speedweeks, he crashed on Lap 8 in the first Can-Am Duel qualifying race with a sudden flat left-rear tire at full speed at the exit of the tri-oval, collecting Aric Almirola.

    However, ‘Seven-Time’ is determined not to let the end of last season and the first two rounds of 2018 determine his success for this year. He reassured his fans and team through a tweet Monday after the Atlanta race.

    The Hendrick Motorsports veteran doesn’t seem fazed two races into the season and is confident about his pursuit of a record-breaking eighth championship. Johnson looks to break through this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he holds four career victories. To witness the race in person on March 4, you can order tickets for the Pennzoil 400 on the speedway’s website at http://www.lvms.com/tickets/pennzoil_400/.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to Atlanta Motor Speedway this past weekend following the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the only doubleheader of the season. The Active Pest Control 200 sure didn’t disappoint as it came down to the wire and the last restart of the race.

    Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Brett Moffit – Moffit surprised the field Saturday night by taking home his second career Truck Series victory. A late race caution came out on Lap 126 when Dalton Sargeant and Josh Reaume got collected to send the race into overtime. Moffit led the most important two laps of the race and won for the first time since 2016 at Michigan. With this win, Hattori Racing and Moffit are now locked into the Playoffs.
    2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter came into a track where he had no wins in the previous seven races. It looked like that streak could have ended Saturday, but he scored another third-place finish. This was Sauter’s second consecutive third-place finish at Atlanta. He will have to wait another year to check this track off. Sauter started ninth and finished seventh and second respectively in both stages, along with leading three times for 12 laps.
    3. Noah Gragson – Gragson scored his career-best track finish this past weekend. In last year’s race, he finished 14th after starting 10th. This year, Gragson started third, won the first stage and finished fifth in Stage 2. Gragson only led 43 laps before ultimately finishing second after restarting ninth with two laps to go.
    4. Matt Crafton – Crafton headed to one of his favorite tracks on the truck series circuit, Atlanta, in hopes of locking himself into the Playoffs early. After starting second, he took the lead on lap 44 and led for seven laps. This would be the only time Crafton led in the race. He finished second in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. However, the No. 88 Menards driver ultimately finished fifth at the end of the day. Crafton sits second in the point standings, 31 points behind Daytona winner Johnny Sauter.
    5. Jesse Little – Little competed in his first race of the 2018 season this past Saturday. The last time the No. 97 driver raced was at Phoenix where he started 24th and finished 18th due to a crash on lap 134. Atlanta saw Little make his track debut. After starting 12th, he finished fifth in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. After a late race restart, the scoring pylon showed the No. 97 team eighth. It was a solid outing for Little’s first start at Atlanta.
  • John Hunter Nemechek Places 4th in Xfinity Series Debut

    John Hunter Nemechek Places 4th in Xfinity Series Debut

    After a flat tire during Stage 1, John Hunter Nemechek battled back to finish fourth in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Saturday’s Rinnai 250.

    Chip Ganassi Racing announced back in December that Nemechek would make his debut in the stock car series. His performance, however, made it seem as if he was a veteran in the series. His first qualifying attempt for a Xfinity race placed him in the third overall position to start Saturday’s race with a speed of 180.769, one of only six drivers to break the 180 mph barrier.

    As for the race, the first 35 laps were eventful for Nemechek to say the least. On Lap 10, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler and John Hunter Nemechek bumped through Turns 3 and 4. The unfortunate victim was Cole Custer, who would crash into the wall with heavy damage and end his day early. On Lap 33, Nemechek would blow a right front tire. Miraculously, he saved the car from crashing, which allowed his team to change tires and get him back to racing action. Even though he fell a lap down early in the event, he would battle back to put himself in the Lucky Dog position and place himself back on the lead lap. His and the team’s hard work paid off as they finished in the fourth position, claiming the highest finish of any Chevrolet in the field.

    Nemechek shared his perspective of his weekend during a post-race interview.

    “I’m happy with the outcome that we had, finishing fourth there. My goal was to come here and run all the laps, learning as much as I could and hopefully bring home a top-five run. After we unloaded yesterday [Friday], my first ever lap in an Xfinity car was lap one of practice. I have definitely learned a lot from both practice sessions, qualifying and the race.

    “We blew a right front at the end of the first stage. It seemed like tire wear was really big today, and we were victim to circumstances. Luckily, we were able to get the Lucky Dog, get back on the lead lap and rebound from the back to come back to the front. At that last pit stop, we were able to get by Elliott [Sadler] to bring it home fourth.

    “I’m looking forward to getting in more races as the year goes on.”

    When asked about his performance during the final run of the race, Nemechek credited his spotter for his guidance and his crew chief for their relationship.

    “Listening to Mike Shiplett and Derek Kneeland. Derek up on the spotter’s stand just telling me to be patient. I feel like myself and Mike Shiplett have created a good communicational bond so far this year, being able to make adjustments on the race car and trying to fix what we need to fix to make it faster at the end.”

    Nemechek does come from a racing family. His father, Joe who is nicknamed “Front Row Joe,” made a solid career in the Monster Energy Cup Series with four wins and 10 poles across 23 years. He also gathered over a dozen victories in the Xfinity series. His uncle, John Nemechek, was also a NASCAR competitor, primarily in what is now the Camping World Truck Series. He competed in 43 events over three years until 1997 when he suffered a fatal crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway during a Truck race.

    John Hunter shared his excitement on his official Twitter account shortly after the race.

    Nemechek will pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet in multiple Xfinity Series races throughout the year, sharing the ride with Kyle Larson.

    “I feel like going over to Chip Ganassi Racing, an established team who have won races, has helped as well,” declared Nemechek. “I feel like going over there, being able to talk with the guys and create relationships definitely helps. Any lap that you’re on the track, you’re gaining experience, and experience is key. Nothing can outweigh that.”

    Chase Briscoe also made his debut in the Xfinity Series, finishing in the 15th position.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will race next at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 3 for the Boyd Gaming 300. You can order race tickets on the speedway’s website at http://www.lvms.com/tickets/pennzoil_400/.

  • Kevin Harvick dominates the Xfinity Series to win at Atlanta

    Kevin Harvick dominates the Xfinity Series to win at Atlanta

    Veteran driver Kevin Harvick schooled the field to bring home the trophy in the Rinnai 250 Friday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Once he got his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Ford up front, there was no looking back for Harvick. He led the most laps, 141-of-163, to capture the checkered flag at Atlanta.

    It was Harvick’s 47th win of his Xfinity career and his fifth victory at Atlanta. He also tied Tony Stewart for winning at Atlanta with four different teams. Harvick, age 42, is also the second oldest winner at Atlanta with Harry Gant being the oldest at age 54.

    Harvick commented on his domination of the race saying, “It’s just been a really good place for me obviously getting my first win here, and being able to run good cars here throughout the years.” He added, “The racetrack has stayed very similar to what it’s been for a number of years, it’s been a great racetrack for us.”

    Stage 1 would be the only stage for the caution to come out, one for Cole Custer hitting the wall and the other for debris on the track. Stages 2 and 3 would both go caution free. Harvick won all three stages.

    Joey Logano brought his No.22 Penske Ford home in second, 4.183 seconds behind Harvick. Logano did all he could do to try and catch Harvick to no avail. This was his third consecutive second-place finish at Atlanta.

    “I don’t think we were even close. Kevin played with us all day long, we just kinda rode out there,” Logano said after the race.

    Christopher Bell, who started on the pole, had a great run going in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota today, finishing in third place.

    Bell stated, “Our Ruud Camry was really fast, it just wasn’t quite good enough to get up there and run with the No. 98.”

    John Hunter Nemechek and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five. Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Kyle Benjamin, Ryan Truex and Ryan Reed finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will be heading next to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Boyd Gaming 300, on March 3.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/NXS-Atlanta-unofficial-results-Feb.-2018.pdf” title=”NXS Atlanta unofficial results Feb. 2018″]

     

  • Kyle Busch on Pole at Atlanta, First at 1.5-Mile Oval

    Kyle Busch on Pole at Atlanta, First at 1.5-Mile Oval

    Kyle Busch will have a front row seat when the field takes the green flag for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race after qualifying with the fastest speed of 184.652 mph at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Busch nabbed the top spot from Ryan Newman (184.419 mph) and clinched his first career pole at the iconic 1.5-mile oval.

    Busch was cautiously optimistic after winning the pole.

    “The pole run was really good with being able to start up front where we left off last year having strong qualifying efforts each week all year long.” But, he added, “Atlanta is a tough place. It certainly isn’t easy, you have to able to make sure you bide your time here with the tires and everything. Going through three rounds of qualifying is a challenge and it certainly was for us. But we got it right there on the last round and were certainly were able to hit a good lap there on the last one. We got everything we needed out of the racecar, so we certainly were glad the time popped up when it did to put us on the top of the sheet and we’re looking forward to Sunday.”

    Ryan Newman will join Busch on the front row after qualifying with the second fasted speed.

    “We’ve got a good racecar with our Liberty National Life Insurance Chevrolet. Obviously, the Camaro is strong out of the box, but wish we could have got that pole for them as well as us. Just in general, look forward to this weekend,” Newman said.

    Kevin Harvick (184.388 mph) will start third, placing all three manufacturers in the top-3 starting positions. Daniel Suarez (184.229 mph) and Brad Keselowski (183.856 mph) round out the top-five.

    “I think everybody did a great job on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Ford and the car still had speed. It just didn’t drive as good as we needed it to drive to cut to the center of the corner and it was just way too tight the whole time. We were that way in race trim too, and you don’t get a lot of chances at it in practice to try and make it better, so we took our best guess at it,” Harvick said.

    Perhaps the biggest news besides Busch’s first career pole at the speedway was the pre-qualifying inspection failure by defending Monster Energy Cup champion, Martin Truex Jr. After three failed attempts to pass through Optical Scanning Station, NASCAR’s rule book states that a crew member gets ejected and the team is docked 30 minutes of practice. Blake Harris, car chief for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota will be ejected for the remainder of the weekend. Truex will start at the rear of the field, as he and Harrison Rhodes did not turn a lap during qualifying.

    “NASCAR’s new inspection process is just that … new,” said Joe Garone, president of Furniture Row Racing. “The tolerances are very tight, within thousandths of an inch. It’s difficult to push the limits where you feel you need to and still be within the tolerances of the new system. One thing we won’t do is leave anything on the table and expect to get poles and wins. We will always push for the maximum.”

    Notable drivers eliminated during the first round of qualifying include Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and last week’s Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who topped first practice earlier in the day, backed up his run with a sixth-place start at 183.722 mph for Sunday’s race.

    “Some days you do and some days you don’t and we didn’t today. So, I don’t know. We were way off, not even close. So, I don’t really have much of an excuse for it. We just didn’t hit it right today and we’ll go to work tonight and work through it and hopefully get ready for tomorrow. It’s our only option now,” Elliott said.

    The green flag will wave on Sunday afternoon for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 shortly after 2 p.m. ET at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

  • Harrison Rhodes Will Make Cup Debut at Atlanta

    Harrison Rhodes Will Make Cup Debut at Atlanta

    With only 36 cars entered for this weekend’s Monster Energy Cup race at Atlanta, Harrison Rhodes will make his debut in NASCAR’s top-level series. The XFINITY Series veteran will pilot the Rick Ware Racing (RWR) No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro ZR1 chartered car in the second Cup Series race of the season. Justin Marks drove the car to a 12th place finish in the Daytona 500.

    In 2013, Rhodes made his XFINITY Series debut at ISM (Phoenix International) Raceway, also with RWR. Rhodes made his announcement on his Twitter page last week.

    Another notable driver that made his first career start at Atlanta in the Cup series was Jeff Gordon, 26 years ago.

    A primary sponsor for the No. 51 Chevrolet in the Atlanta race has yet to be announced.

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Atlanta

    Full Weekend Schedule for Atlanta

    By Staff Report – NASCAR.com

    After taking on the high banks of Daytona to kick off the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are off to Atlanta Motor Speedway for a tripleheader weekend. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.

    Note: All times are ET

    Friday, Feb. 23

    ON-TRACK
    11:35 a.m.-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    1:05 p.m.-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    2:05 p.m.-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    3:05 p.m.-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    4:05 p.m.-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    5:15 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    10 a.m.: Austin Dillon
    10: 30 a.m.: Brad Keselowski
    10:45 a.m.: Darrell Wallace Jr.
    1 p.m.: Jordan Anderson, Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes
    1:20 p.m.: Chase Elliott
    1:35 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    1:50 p.m.: Ryan Blaney
    2 p.m.: Folds of Honor/QuikTrip
    2:15 p.m.: Justin Allgaier, Kaz Grala, Brandon Jones, Tyler Reddick
    6:30 p.m. (approx.): Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post-qualifying

    Saturday, Feb. 24

    ON-TRACK

    9:10 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
    10:35 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
    12 p.m.-1:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    2 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Rinnai 250 (163 laps, 251.02 miles), FS1 (Follow live)
    4:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200 benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (130 laps, 200.2 miles), FS1 (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    4:15 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Xfinity Series post-race
    6:30 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-race

    Sunday, Feb. 25

    ON-TRACK
    1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (325 laps, 500.5 miles), FOX (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    4:45 p.m. (approx.): Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post-race

     

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads north of Daytona this weekend for the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be the second race of the 2018 season for what has already been an exciting start for the Truck Series. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at who will be hot and might end up in victory lane.

    There are 34 trucks currently entered on the preliminary entry list.

    In the last three races, there have been three different winners. And there is a high possibility that there could be a fourth different winner this Saturday.

    1. Kyle Busch – Busch will be competing in his first truck race of the season this weekend. It will be the first of five races on the schedule for the Las Vegas native. However, the last time Busch went to victory lane was eight years ago in 2010. Since the truck series returned to Atlanta in 2015, he has competed in one race which came in last year’s Active Pest Control 200. During the race, Busch ran second in both stages. Unfortunately, issues arose late in the race and relegated him to a 26th place finish. Although, you can never really count him out in any race that Busch races in. Be sure to keep an eye on him all weekend long. He also scored wins in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
    2. Matt Crafton – After a somewhat forgettable Daytona finish last weekend, Crafton is heading to one of his favorite race tracks statistically. In 16 races, he has one win (2015), five top fives and nine top 10 finishes, along with one pole and 173 laps led. Crafton also has an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finish of 12.0. He also will be using a truck that has three wins, especially at Atlanta. Crafton is the highest active driver statistically. In 2017, he finished runner-up. The previous year, Crafton was taken out in a multi-vehicle accident late in the race which put him 30th and he won the year before that. The No. 88 Menards driver will be up in contention for victory this weekend at Atlanta.
    3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is carrying momentum to Atlanta after scoring the victory last weekend at Daytona. In two of the past three races, he has a finish of third and sixth respectively. In 2016, he was caught with issues late in the race thus relegating him to a 28th place finish. Surprisingly enough, Sauter does not have a win in the past seven races at Atlanta. He has collected one top five and three top 10 finishes, with no laps led. His average starting position is 11.1 and he has an average finishing position of 14.7. Regardless of what the stats say, Sauter could use the momentum from Daytona and catapult for his first ever track win at the 1.5-mile speedway.
    4. Joe Nemechek – Nemechek will be back once again competing for the Nemco Motorsports team. This time, however, he will adorn the No. 8 Chevy. In two races, he has one top 10 finish which came in 2015 when Nemechek finished 10th. In his only other start that came last year, he ended up finishing 24th, two laps down. However, Joe’s son, John Hunter, took the truck to victory lane two years ago for his first ever victory. Joe finished third in the truck race last Friday night at Daytona.
    5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger could be a surprise winner this weekend. In two races, he has one top five and two top 10 finishes, and four laps led. The No. 98 Tundra driver finished ninth in Stage 1 before coming home eighth in the final running order.

    Last year’s winner Christopher Bell, who will not be competing, started first and finished first, and also led 99 of the scheduled 130 laps. In the past three races, the lowest a driver has ever won from a starting spot was John Hunter Nemechek who started 18th when he went to victory lane in 2016.

    Live coverage for the truck series starts Friday afternoon with two practice sessions scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET and final practice slated for 4:05 p.m. ET all on FS1. Qualifying will be held early Saturday morning at 10:35 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with race coverage starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. The green flag will wave at 4:49 p.m. ET.

     

  • Over a dozen speeding penalties levied in Atlanta Cup race

    Over a dozen speeding penalties levied in Atlanta Cup race

    HAMPTON, Ga. — An usually high number of cars were busted for speeding in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and one claimed the best car of the race.

    Kevin Harvick dominated the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, but was busted for speeding on pit road during the final caution of the race and wound up finishing ninth.

    “It’s my own doing today. I really didn’t think I was even close on pit lane. It gets to bouncing around, I thought I was being conservative, apparently I wasn’t,” Harvick said.

    There were two drivers busted for speeding twice.

    Matt Kenseth brought his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a third-place finish at Atlanta after being busted twice for speeding on pit road. His two were among the 13 speeding penalties issued to 11 different drivers in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

    “We just sped on pit road there some – all our lights were right, so I don’t know,” Kenseth said. “We must have – something happened there and that got us behind. Then we were trying to get caught up and it happened again, so we just had to forgot about our indications, just go real slow down pit road and finally came back from it all.”

    Jimmie Johnson finished 19th after two speeding penalties on the day.

    “Tough day with two speeding penalties. We will have to look at our math and figure out what was going on there,” Johnson said. “The first one, I’m sure I could have gotten popped. The second one I made sure I didn’t get popped again and I still got in trouble. So, we might have had something off on our end.”

    Other drivers busted included Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gray Gaulding, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Derrike Cope.

    This was the first race at the Hampton, Georgia race track since NASCAR expanded the number of timing lines on pit road last season. It significantly increased the number of speeding penalties called at Atlanta by 1300 percent, 13 this season compared to one* last season.

    *This article has been corrected to show the 2016 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 had one speeding penalty, rather than zero as originally reported.

  • Harvick blows another dominant performance in Atlanta

    Harvick blows another dominant performance in Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Leading over 100 laps for the fourth straight year at Atlanta Motor Speedway didn’t translate into a win for Kevin Harvick thanks to a late race pit road penalty.

    Starting on the pole, Harvick dominated the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from start to the closing laps, leading 292 of 325 laps. His No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was so dialed in, nobody passed him on track for the lead under green. He only lost the lead during pit stop cycles under green.

    The only driver who’s car could match Harvick was Brad Keselowski, but he could only match Harvick for a few laps before Harvick pulled away.

    It appeared Keselowski finally had Harvick’s number when he beat him off pit road under the event’s fourth caution, but Keselowski came back down pit road a second time because his crew didn’t tighten all the lug nuts.

    With 17 laps to go, Austin Dillon was running top-10 when his car suffered battery issues, the same issue that befell his teammate Ryan Newman. Dillon was told not to pit, his car came to a halt in Turn 2 and the sixth caution flew with 16 to go.

    After pitting, the call came in from the NASCAR Pro Trailer that Harvick sped on pit road.

    “Ya, this place, for whatever reason, I just feel like I’m snake bitten,” Harvick said after the race. “It’s my own doing today. I really didn’t think I was even close on pit lane. It gets to bouncing around, I thought I was being conservative, apparently I wasn’t.”

    Per NASCAR regulations, he was required to restart at the tail end of the field behind all the wave around cars.

    Restarting 18th* with 11 to go, Harvick worked his way past the wave around cars and brought his car home to a ninth-place finish.

    “I just made a mistake that I preach all the time that you don’t need to make and beat yourself and then you go out and make it yourself instead of following all the things you preach. That part is hard for me to swallow,” he said. “The good part about it is our Ford has been really fast. We didn’t know what we were going to have when we got here and we had a great weekend the whole time. Man, I just, one way or another I have figured out how to lose races here at Atlanta after being so dominant. We will pick ‘em up and start again next week.”

    The Hampton, Georgia facility that was the site of Harvick’s first career win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2001 has “snake bitten” him each of his last four visits.

    In 2014, Harvick started on the pole and led 195 of the 335 laps. But he was caught up in a late race restart wreck and came home 19th. In 2015, he led 116 of 325 laps, only to lose on the final restart and finish runner-up to Jimmie Johnson. Last season, he led 131 of 330 laps, but lost the lead under a green pit cycle to Johnson with around 40 laps to go. He cut a 14-second deficit down to five, but Ryan Newman cutting a tire and spinning out on the frontstretch brought out the caution and setup an overtime finish. He spun the tires on the final restart and came home sixth.

    *This story has been corrected to show that Harvick restarted 18th on the final restart, rather than 14th as originally reported.