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Tag: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

  • Truex frustrated with lapped cars after runner-up finish

    Truex frustrated with lapped cars after runner-up finish

    As Brad Keselowski climbed out of his car, with an American flag in hand, Martin Truex Jr. stood adjacent to his car a few hundred yards away, with arms crossed. The source of his frustration was lap traffic.

    “They just have no respect for the leaders running for the win,” he said. “It’s completely uncalled for, ridiculous. It’s a shame.”

    Truex was trapped a lap down when he pitted with 53 laps to go, because the caution flew for fluid on the track. He took the wave-around and restarted fourth with 43 to go, behind all the lapped cars.

    He particularly took issue with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He understood that Stenhouse was racing for the lucky dog, but believed he should’ve let him by when the field got strung out (thus making it unlikely Stenhouse would get his lap back).

    “He just kept hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom, hugging the bottom and knew that’s where I needed to run,” Truex said. “I kept telling – my spotter kept telling his we need the bottom.”

    “These cars punch such a big hole and it’s so bad in dirty air, it completely killed us for 25, 30 laps to the point my front tires were gone once I finally got by him.”

    Despite the holdup, Truex was cutting two-tenths off Keselowski’s lead with eight to go. With seven to go, after he passed Stenhouse, he ran six-tenths faster than Keselowski.

    With less than three to go, he was less than three-tenths of a second behind Keselowski. This time in Turn 1, Keselowski took the bottom from Truex. On the final lap, Truex made a late dive to the bottom, as he drove like he expected Keselowski to take it. While he kept within three-tenths, this moment of indecision cost him a chance at a victory.

    “We clearly had the best car and were in position to win,” he said.

    His runner-up finish was the end result of an afternoon in which he led four laps and finished fifth and third in the stages. He leaves Atlanta Motor Speedway 12th in points, 30 back of Denny Hamlin.

  • The White Zone: Some thoughts on Sunday’s race at Atlanta

    The White Zone: Some thoughts on Sunday’s race at Atlanta

    Race No. 2 of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is in the books. I had some observations of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 that I wish to share with the class.

    The package

    Let’s just get something out of the way first: It wasn’t the “full” aerodynamic package that we’ll see next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. So I’m not currently giving my “full” take on it as a whole.

    With that said, however, I had some observations on this version of the 2019 package that was run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and will be run in the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    The key things this package was designed to do, according to NASCAR, was tighten up the field and make passing the leader not such a Herculean task. And…It was hit and miss.

    Behind the leader, passing was relatively easy. You’d have to set up earlier in the straight, because the cars have so much more drag, but if you had momentum going into the turn, you’re more likely to catch the leading car.

    In terms of passing for the lead, there were still times when the lead car would pull away from the field; which is one of the biggest problems with the 1.5 mile track races. Unlike past races, however, reeling in and passing the leader wasn’t a Herculean task. Drivers like Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. cut down the gap to the lead car and, except in the case of Truex, passed the leader.

    Now it should be noted that the tire falloff, which was significant at Atlanta, probably played a great factor in being able to catch the leader.

    Bottom line: We got a taste of what this package offers, but next week at Las Vegas will be a greater indication of what we’ll see this season. Furthermore, it wasn’t a bad race. Cars could pass one another and catching and passing the leader wasn’t an insurmountable challenge.

    Bad luck for Ryan Preece

    Late in the afternoon, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece were running top 10 and looked in great shape to finish top 10.

    With 54 laps to go, however, Ryan Preece plowed into the back of BJ McLeod as he was leaving pit road and his day ended behind the wall in 35th.

    Preece said afterwards that he was looking down at his tachometer when McLeod dived down into his pit box in front of him.

    Buescher brought his car home ninth.

    Now one rather good afternoon isn’t necessarily an indicator of future success, but it shows that the JTG Daugherty Racing duo might be people to watch next week.

    The flu doesn’t keep Keselowski down

    Yesterday, Brad Keselowski sat out most of final practice, due to flu symptoms. Team Penske development driver Austin Cindric was on standby if he couldn’t race.

    He did, however, and won.

    Keselowski wasn’t the dominant car (that belongs to Kyle Larson). He didn’t even finish top 10 in either stage. He was even caught a lap down by the aforementioned pit road incident (he took the wave-around to get it back).

    What he did do, however, was reel in teammate Joey Logano and pass him for the lead with 32 to go. Even as his tires fell off and the handling went away, he held off a charge by Martin Truex Jr. with two laps to go to win at Atlanta.

    If he had any lingering side effects, he hid it well.

    It was his 60th combined victory across all series and disciplines of racing as a Team Penske driver, which puts him ahead of Mark Donahue as the winningest driver in team history.

    “I think any win means a lot, but that’s a big number. Now I get to wear that yellow Mark Donohue helmet.”

  • Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 entry list

    Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 entry list

    After 40 drivers competed in the season-opening Daytona 500 last week, the entry list for this weekend is smaller.

    For Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at the 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) high-banked Atlanta Motor Speedway, only 37 drivers will race the scheduled 325-lap distance.

    Live coverage begins on FOX at 2 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET.

    Here are the drivers that will be in Sunday’s race.

    1 – Landon Cassill – #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet
    2 – Kurt Busch – #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet
    3 – Brad Keselowski – #2, Team Penske, Ford
    4 – Austin Dillon – #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet
    5 – Kevin Harvick – #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
    6 – Ryan Newman – #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
    7 – Daniel Hemric – #8, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet
    8 – Chase Elliott – #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
    9 – Aric Almirola – #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
    10 – Denny Hamlin – #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
    11 – Ryan Blaney – #12, Team Penske, Ford
    12 – Ty Dillon – #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet
    13 – Clint Bowyer – #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
    14 – Ross Chastain – #15, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet
    15 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
    16 – Kyle Busch – #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
    17 – Martin Truex Jr. – #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
    18 – Erik Jones – #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
    19 – Paul Menard – #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford
    20 – Joey Logano – #22, Team Penske, Ford
    21 – William Byron – #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
    22 – Corey Lajoie – #32, Go Fas Racing, Ford
    23 – Michael McDowell – #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
    24 – Matt Tifft – #36, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
    25 – Chris Buescher – #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet
    26 – David Ragan – #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
    27 – Daniel Suarez – #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
    28 – Kyle Larson – #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet
    29 – Darrell Wallace Jr. – #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet
    30 – Ryan Preece – #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet
    31 – Jimmie Johnson – #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
    32 – Alex Bowman – #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
    33 – Matt DiBenedetto – #95, Leavine Family Racing, Toyota
    34 – Cody Ware – #51, Petty Ware Racing, Chevrolet
    35 – B.J. McLeod – #52 Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet
    36 – Garrett Smithley – #77, Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet
    37 – Parker Kligerman – #96, Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Keselowski steals win on late restart, while Harvick blows it on late penalty

    Keselowski steals win on late restart, while Harvick blows it on late penalty

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Larson six laps to go to win in Atlanta, but it’s nothing compared to Kevin Harvick blowing another dominant performance for the fourth straight year at Atlanta.

    Harvick was the dominant car from the start of the race to the final caution of the race, leading 292 of 325 laps. There was a potential obstacle in his way when Keselowski beat him off pit road under the fourth caution, but Keselowski’s crew didn’t get all the lug nuts tightened on his car and he surrendered the lead to come back down to get them tightened.

    The critical moment came with 17 to go when Austin Dillon’s car lost power and he missed the entrance to pit road. The No. 3 came to a rest on the apron in Turn 2 and brought out the sixth caution with 16 to go. After the leaders made their stops, the call came in from Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Director David Hoots.

    “4, too fast on pit road.”

    Larson assumed the race lead for the final restart with 11 to go. Keselowski reeled him in, passed him on the backstretch with six to go and took the checkered flag.

    When asked if he thought he had a chance to catch Harvick with all he had to overcome, Keselowski said you just “never know. That’s how these races are.”

    “We had a lot of adversity today there’s not doubt about that. These races aren’t easy,” he added. “They’re 500 miles and a lot can happen and when you think you’ve got it they slip away. I know how it goes. This one kind of fell in our lap at the end and my team put it all together when it counted. They gave me a great Autotrader Ford Fusion and we were able to get by Kyle there at the end. I knew that he wasn’t going to be easy to pass. His car was great and I was able to make the right moves to get by him.”

    It’s his 22nd career victory in 271 Cup Series starts.

    Larson led seven laps on his way to a runner-up finish.

    “I raced around Brad a lot throughout the day, Larson said. “Any time I was in front of him on short runs, he’s drive around me up top. And so, I knew I was going to have to take his line away on that start there for a couple of laps and try it. I just didn’t have enough grip or not as much as I’d hoped. He did a good job being a lane lower than me and getting to my inside. So, it was disappointing not to get the win, but I’m happy about our second place run at a 1.5-mile where I struggle at. I can’t thank everybody at the shop enough for building great race cars, and Hendrick engines for supplying us with some great engines, I had a blast today. The Target Chevy was good. I ran the bottom a lot, which is not typically something I do. So, it was a lot of fun to learn how to kind of use both feet to get around the bottom and to do a good job with that.”

    Matt Kenseth rallied past two speeding penalties to round out the podium.

    The Hendrick Motorsports teammates of Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five.

    Harvick came home to a ninth-place finish.

    “Ya, this place, for whatever reason, I just feel like I’m snake bitten,” Harvick said. “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. I want to thank everyone on our Jimmy Johns Ford for everything they did this weekend. I was just pushing it too hard.

    “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. 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 only two times the caution flew in the first 170 laps of the race was at the conclusion of the stages.

    In the final stage, the cautions started occurring more frequently.

    The third of the race flew with 86 to go for debris in Turn 4, the fourth flew with 63 to go for Gray Gaulding blowing an engine in Turn 4, the fifth flew with 47 to go for Clint Bowyer blowing a left-front tire and slamming the wall in Turn 1 and the final caution flew with 16 to go for Dillon stalling in Turn 2.

    Thirteen speeding penalties were issued to 11 different drivers in today’s race, a result of increased timing lines.

    The race lasted three hours, 33 minutes and eight seconds at an average speed of 140.898 mph. There were nine lead changes among five different drivers and six cautions for 32 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a four-point lead over teammate Kurt Busch.

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  • Elliott Fastest at Atlanta in Final Cup Practice

    Elliott Fastest at Atlanta in Final Cup Practice

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Elliott topped the chart in the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 29.487 and a speed of 188.015 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 29.552 and a speed of 187.602 mph while Kurt Busch was third in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 29.556 and a speed of 187.576 mph.

    AJ Allmendinger was fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet with a time of 29.565 and a speed of 187.519 mph and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 29.567 and a speed of 187.506 mph.

    Ryan Newman, who posted the sixth-fastest single lap, also posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 181.429 mph.

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  • Seven-Time’s Success at Atlanta

    Seven-Time’s Success at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Atlanta Motor Speedway has been dominated by a number of drivers over the years. There was Dale Earnhardt with nine wins, Bobby Labonte with six and Jeff Gordon with five. Now Jimmie Johnson owns the deed to the Hampton, Georgia facility.

    Although Kevin Harvick dominated the stat sheet in the last three visits, it’s Johnson who has stood in victory lane when all was said and done in two of those three years (the third belongs to Kasey Kahne in 2014). In 2015, Johnson pulled away on the restart with 13 to go to win, despite Harvick leading 116 of the 325 laps to Johnson’s 92. The following year, Harvick again led more laps than anybody (131), but a slow pit stop, compared to Johnson, saw Harvick lose the race to the driver of the No. 48 car.

    “I can say the last two races we have won here we didn’t really get our stuff situated until late in the going and been able to come out on top,” Johnson said. “Just because you might have a slow Friday or a slow start to the race I don’t think you can count anybody out. We have a lot of chances to work on the car and can make stuff happen here, which is really neat.”

    Atlanta was the location of the win that came when Hendrick Motorsports was at their lowest in 2004. A week after a plane crash in Stuart, Virginia that killed eight members of the Hendrick Motorsports organization/members of Rick Hendrick’s family, Johnson took the lead on the final restart and beat Mark Martin, who led 227 of 325 laps, by nearly three-tenths of a second (.293). It was also his third-consecutive win, with wins at Charlotte and Martinsville the preceding two weeks. This made him the first to do so since Gordon in 1998-99 (Rockingham, Atlanta (1998) and the Daytona 500 (1999)).

    In 2007, Johnson swept both Atlanta races, the last time this was accomplished prior to Atlanta scaling back to one race in 2011. The fall race was the second of four-straight wins, winning the previous week at Martinsville and winning the following weeks at Texas and Phoenix on the way to his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title.

    He was involved in a memorable battle for the win, despite coming up on the losing end, in 2011, with then teammate Gordon. For the final 10 laps, the two drivers battled side-by-side or in close proximity on worn out tires. Johnson made one final drive for the win, only to back off the gas exiting Turn 4 to avoid wrecking out and settled for runner-up.

    He admitted that he had trouble remembering what happened that day in 2011. But said he more vividly recalled his duel with Gordon at Martinsville in 2007 because “I came out on top.”

    Needless to say, Atlanta has been a great track for Johnson over his career, as well as Hendrick Motorsports.

    “When I look back over my career and when I think of Hendrick related race cars and success from (Jerry) Nadeau running well here, Jeff has obviously always been amazing here. (Kasey) Kahne, it has been a good track for (Dale Earnhardt) Junior over the years. It is a good track for all of us.”

  • Harvick Takes Pole Position in Atlanta

    Harvick Takes Pole Position in Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford scored the pole after posting a time of 29.118 and a speed of 190.398 mph.

    It adds on to the string of three straight years of dominance in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that Harvick has maintained at Atlanta. However, he’s been unable to translate that dominance into a second career victory at the track that played host to his first career victory in 2001. And he doesn’t know if a pole start is the missing link to getting the victory.

    “We have been in this position before and this really goes back to 2009 when we really started running well here. We have led a ton of laps here but just haven’t won a race,” Harvick said. “It is a little frustrating because we have won a whole bunch of races in the other two divisions with the same performance on Sunday. It just seems something happens at the end of the race. Hopefully, this is the year we can close it out.”

    Ryan Newman qualified second in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 29.199 and a speed of 189.870 mph. Kyle Busch qualified third in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 29.202 and a speed of 189.850 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified fourth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford after posting a time of 29.356 and a speed of 188.854 mph. Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 29.367 and a speed of 188.783 mph.

    Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.

    Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Prior to the start of qualifying, a large number of cars were still in the process of going through inspection after failing a station.

    NASCAR executive official Elton Sawyer addressed the media on the matter.

     

    At the conclusion of the first round, only five cars failed to post a timed lap.

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