All three of NASCAR’s national series will race this weekend
at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, with the Camping World Truck
Series and Xfinity Series racing Saturday, February 24, and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series running Sunday, February 25.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and
tidbits for all three series heading into the weekend.
- This is the 170th series race in the state of Georgia and
111th race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The first race in The Peach State came in
1951 at Columbus Speedway, in a race won by Tim Flock. Fireball Roberts won the
first series race at AMS in 1960.
- The winner of the most series races at Atlanta Motor
Speedway is Dale Earnhardt, who won nine times.
- Brad Keselowski is the defending race winner of the Folds
of Honor QuikTrip 500 last March. It came in the 2,500th Cup Series race. It
marked Keselowski’s 22nd career victory.
- Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 last weekend. The last
driver to win the first two races of the season was Matt Kenseth in 2009; he
won Daytona and the race at California Speedway in Fontana.
- The last driver to win the Daytona 500 and Atlanta in the
same season was Dale Earnhardt Jr., in 2004.
- Drivers who have won at Atlanta (at least one of the
races) and gone on to win the series championship in the same season include
Richard Petty (1971, 1974, 1975); Dale Earnhardt (1980, 1986, 1990); Darrell
Waltrip (1982); Jeff Gordon (1995, 1999); Tony Stewart (2002, 2010); and Jimmie
Johnson (2007 twice, 2016).
- Kevin Harvick, who earned his first career victory in the
series in 2001 as a rookie, has won six times at the track: once in Cup, four
times in the Xfinity Series and once in the Truck Series.
- Kyle Busch is the last driver to win back-to-back races in
the series, having won last year’s playoff races at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway and Dover International Speedway.
- Martin Truex Jr. is the only driver to lead each of the
past two races, the 2018 Daytona 500 and last year’s season finale at
Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Daytona 500 was his 150th Monster Energy NASCAR
Cup Series race led.
- David Ragan, one of two Georgia drivers entered for this
weekend’s race, will be making his 400th series start at Atlanta.
- Harrison Rhodes, a 24-year-old from North Carolina, is
entered, and will make his series debut this weekend.
- Jimmie Johnson has led 330 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series races, the most of any driver in this weekend's field. The next closest is Kyle Busch with 265.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
(Rinnai 250; 2 p.m. ET Saturday)
- This is the 27th race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The first
race came in 1991, with Jeff Gordon taking the victory, his first of five in
the series.
- Kevin Harvick leads all drivers in Xfinity Series
victories at the track, with four.
- Kyle Busch is the two-time defending race winner at
Atlanta. Both of his victories have come from the pole position.
- Each of the last five Xfinity Series race winners at
Atlanta were Cup Series regulars (Harvick and Busch). The last non-Cup driver to
win the Xfinity Series race at Atlanta was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2012; he
competed in four Cup Series races that season.
- The last driver to win the first two races of the season
was Chad Little in 1995. He won the Xfinity Series race at Daytona then the
200-mile event at Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina the following weekend.
Tyler Reddick won the season-opening PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona and is the
series points leader.
- No driver has ever won the season-opening Daytona race and
the race at Atlanta.
- Drivers who have won at Atlanta and gone on to win the
series championship in the same season include Johnny Benson Jr. (1995) and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2012).
NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series (Active Pest Control 200; 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday)
- This is the 17th race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The first
race came in 2004, when Bobby Hamilton won.
- Kyle Busch has four Truck Series victories to lead all
drivers.
- Christopher Bell is the defending Truck Series winner at
Atlanta, but he will not defend his race victory as he has moved to the NASCAR
Xfinity Series fulltime.
- The last five races have been won by Truck Series regulars
(Ron Hornaday Jr., Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek and
Christopher Bell). Each of the last eight Truck Series races at the track have
been won by a different driver, dating back to Ryan Newman’s fall race win in
2008. There were no Truck Series races in 2013 or 2014 at Atlanta.
- Johnny Sauter was the last driver to win the first two
races of a season. In 2013, he won at Daytona, then won the next race more than
a month later at Martinsville Speedway. Sauter won the Truck Series race at
Daytona last weekend and is the series points leader.
- No driver has ever won the season-opening Daytona race and
the race at Atlanta.
- Drivers who have won at Atlanta and gone on to win the
series championship in the same season include Bobby Hamilton (2004); Todd
Bodine (first race in 2006); and Christopher Bell (2017).
No comments:
Post a Comment