News and views from race that featured 46 lead changes, a record for the track, which opened in 1960.
Call it the New Atlanta.
William Byron drove masterfully over the closing laps with chaos developing all around him and held on to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Sunday on an Atlanta Motor Speedway track that was debuting a new—and dangerous—surface.
The new track—completely resurfaced and redesigned with higher banking and tighter corners—produced frantic racing rarely seen on the previous surface. The 1.54-mile track had had a string of mostly placid races, and the changes were designed to make its racing more like that seen at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
The changes delivered, although at the cost of numerous crashed race cars and despite drivers facing risky conditions and tough tire decisions.
The racing in Atlanta was a bit on the wild side.
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The race became a hybrid of the superspeedway drafting familiar at Daytona and Talladega and the measured approach demanded by the tighter turns of a shorter track. Byron, 24, described it as “kind of intermediate style with a little bit of superspeedway.”
Two numbers were significant. There were 46 lead changes, a record for the track, which opened in 1960 as Atlanta International Raceway. There were 27 crashed cars. Blown tires were an issue for several teams. A Goodyear official said the company was still examining the tires but suspected the problems were tied to tire pressure choices by teams.
The most violent crash occurred at race’s end as drivers dueled for position behind Byron’s first-place Chevrolet. As Bryon swept across the finish line to score his third career victory, the cars of Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley and Chris Buescher crashed violently as they approached the checkered flag. There apparently were no serious injuries, although Wallace, who led late in the race, needed a few minutes to catch his breath.
Christopher Bell threaded through the final-lap madness to finish second, but officials ruled he dropped below the inside white line to pass and penalized him to the final position on the lead lap—23rd. Ross Chastain, who has had a surprisingly strong start to the season, was moved into second.
Eleven cars parked because of damages in accidents, and numerous others finished the race with parts held on by tape.
In a word, it was calamitous.
Elsewhere in and out of the garages at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
NASCAR star Herschel McGriff took a turn at Le Mans in 1976,
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NASCAR Stars Talk Le Mans 24
Over the years, many NASCAR drivers have looked outside the boundaries of stock car racing to explore other series, other cars and other tracks.
Cale Yarborough, Donnie Allison, Bobby Allison and others tried the Indianapolis 500. John Andretti raced stock cars, Indy cars and drag racers. Kyle Larson famously races on dirt at virtually every opportunity.
Richard Petty was the exception. He often said NASCAR was the Petty family business and that he had absolutely no interest in racing elsewhere. He did agree to race in the old International Race of Champions series but turned away from that opportunity after a hard crash at Daytona International Speedway.
Now, a few Cup drivers are on the verge of having the sort of racing opportunity that comes along all too rarely. With the likelihood that a modified Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will compete in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s biggest endurance race, there is interest in the Cup garage.
Kurt Busch got out of his comfort zone to race in the 2014 Indianapolis 500.
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Kurt Busch said the move is another extension of what’s possible with the Next Gen car.
“That’s exciting,” he said Saturday. “That’s what I believe the DNA of this Next Gen car can do. After the success of the coliseum (the Busch Light Clash race), there is already talk of what soccer stadium are we headed to across the pond. What road course can we go to where the cars are shipped in a container, and they show up similar to a F1 style event. That’s what this Next Gen car is already showing – what we can all do together.”
Busch, who drives Toyotas, obviously won’t be on the invitation list for the driver corps that will race the Hendrick Camaro at Le Mans, but he admitted that the concept is on his radar.
“That is on my bucket list—to drive in the 24 Hours of LeMans, to race in Australia in the Bathurst 1000, to race in Monaco—probably in a historic event,” he said. “I won’t be able to get in a fast F1 car for that. Anywhere, and if NASCAR is already making a push to have this happen with this Next Gen car, that is more exciting for me than the current Whelen Euro Series that I see over there.”
Hendrick Motorsports will choose three or four drivers to alternate stints in the Le Mans car. Expectations are that at least one member of the team will be a current Cup driver, largely because of the publicity value connected to having a “name” driver involved in the effort.
Hendrick driver Chase Elliott, voted the most popular driver in the Cup Series, probably will be considered. “I think it would be a lot of fun to go do that event one day,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s really possible the way our schedule is. I don’t know 100 percent how that is going to line up, but certainly would have interest in it.”
Although the Cup schedule always is crowded (and the 2023 schedule has not been released), there are numerous ways Cup regulars could participate at Le Mans. NASCAR could schedule an off week to coincide with the Le Mans race. If NASCAR’s annual all-star race was scheduled that week, drivers could be dismissed to run Le Mans. Or, NASCAR could simply give drivers a waiver for missing a race.
The Cup Series and the cars of the Next Gen return to Atlanta in July.
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Next Up for the Next Gen
Cup drivers face a tough road over the next month as the Next Gen car will roll into new environments.
The car’s first road-course race will be at Circuit of the Americas in Texas March 27. Then it’s on to Richmond Raceway for its regular-season short-track debut. And, on April 17 (Easter Sunday), there’s the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Bristol race is likely to present a different challenge because it has been moved to the evening, largely to allow fans who want to observe Easter at home to arrive later.
The race surface, Ryan Blaney said, is likely to require a different approach.
“I think it’ll make a pretty big difference, just the sun not sucking all the moisture out of the track,” he said. “It’s a fine line of how much moisture you can put in from what our cars can take as far as clogging up grilles and windshields, but you still need to water it to make sure it’s not a dust bowl like it was last year. I think the night race will help that.”
Rolling the Dice for Atlanta
AMS executive vice president Brandon Hutchison said the track continues to pursue the addition of a $1 billion casino/resort project to property adjacent to the speedway.
The project, which would include an amusement park, a concert area and a go-cart track, among other features, was announced in 2019. Work has been delayed while the Georgia legislature considers a bill that would allow casino gambling.
Former AMS president Ed Clark is running interference for the project.
Ty Gibbs (54) races Austin Hill at Atlant.
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Last-Lap Passes for the Wins in Xfinity, Truck Series
Ty Gibbs, grandson of NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs, continues to impress.
Gibbs pulled a slick last-lap pass in the second overtime Saturday to win the Nalley Cars 250 Xfinity Series race at AMS. Gibbs charged out of turn four on the final lap, moved to the inside and passed Ryan Sieg for the lead. He finished .178 of a second in front of Austin Hill for the win.
Gibbs has won six Xfinity races in 23 attempts.
Another last-lap pass produced a winner in the FR8 208 Camping World Truck Series earlier Saturday. Georgia driver Corey Heim passed Chandler Smith to win the race—his first Truck victory—by .173 of a second in front of Ben Rhodes.
NASCAR Cup
64th Annual Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway
1. (12) William Byron, Chevrolet, 325.
2. (7) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 325.
3. (9) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 325.
4. (13) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 325.
5. (33) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 325.
6. (6) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 325.
7. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 325.
8. (26) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 325.
9. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, 325.
10. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 325.
11. (22) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 325.
12. (24) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 325.
13. (19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 325.
14. (23) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 325.
15. (1) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 325.
16. (36) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 325.
17. (2) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 325.
18. (35) David Ragan, Ford, 325.
19. (34) BJ McLeod, Ford, 325.
20. (37) Greg Biffle, Chevrolet, 325.
21. (8) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 325.
22. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 325.
23. (27) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 325.
24. (29) Michael McDowell, Ford, 321.
25. (31) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 321.
26. (32) Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 300.
27. (25) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, DVP, 297.
28. (5) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, Accident, 245.
29. (15) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 212.
30. (21) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 212.
31. (28) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 200.
32. (16) Austin Cindric #, Ford, Accident, 200.
33. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 171.
34. (20) Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 150.
35. (17) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.
36. (18) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.
37. (30) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 23.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.584 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 57 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory: .145 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 11 for 65 laps.
Lead Changes: 46 among 20 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe 0;R. Blaney 1;C. Briscoe 2-6;K. Busch 7-12;C. Elliott 13-15;K. Busch 16-30;R. Chastain 31-34;W. Byron 35-40;R. Chastain 41-42;W. Byron 43-45;R. Chastain 46;R. Blaney 47-48;J. Logano 49-50;D. Hamlin 51;J. Logano 52-54;R. Chastain 55-64;J. Logano 65-69;R. Chastain 70-94;W. Byron 95-105;C. Bell 106-121;K. Harvick 122-124;M. Truex Jr. 125;J. Logano 126-127;K. Busch 128-129;R. Stenhouse Jr. 130;K. Busch 131-132;R. Stenhouse Jr. 133-137;J. Haley 138;T. Reddick 139-143;W. Byron 144-148;B. McLeod 149-150;W. Byron 151-153;K. Harvick 154-161;W. Byron 162-183;R. Blaney 184;R. Stenhouse Jr. 185-200;R. Blaney 201-207;K. Larson 208;R. Blaney 209-212;D. Suarez 213-224;M. Truex Jr. 225-228;C. Elliott 229-254;D. Suarez 255;A. Almirola 256-261;W. Byron 262-312;B. Wallace 313-315;W. Byron 316-325.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 8 times for 111 laps; Ross Chastain 5 times for 42 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 29 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 3 times for 22 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 21 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 16 laps; Ryan Blaney 5 times for 15 laps; Daniel Suarez 2 times for 13 laps; Joey Logano 4 times for 12 laps; Kevin Harvick 2 times for 11 laps; Aric Almirola 1 time for 6 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 5 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 5 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 5 laps; Kurt Busch 2 times for 4 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 3 laps; BJ McLeod 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 1 lap; Justin Haley 1 time for 1 lap; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,11,99,47,43,45,48,8,5,20
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,9,14,10,6,99,19,23,24,1
Keyword: William Byron, Next Gen Deliver the Goods in NASCAR Cup Race at Atlanta