Take 5: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta

NASCAR.com's Jessica Ruffin provides five takeaways after the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

No growing pains here: Brad Keselowski's victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway marked the first win for the 2019 Ford Mustang, which made its debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season. Sunday's race was the second event for the series' Mustang and the first at an intermediate track.

"It seems like since I've been a part of Ford Performance here for the last five and a half years, each year just kind of incrementally ramps up their efforts in NASCAR," Keselowski said.

The Mustang wasn't the only new NASCAR model to enjoy a strong weekend in Georgia; the new Toyota Supra also went to Victory Lane with Christopher Bell in Saturday's Xfinity Series race.

New team, strong momentum: After a rough start in the season-opening Daytona 500, 2004 Monster Energy Series champion Kurt Busch seemed to jell just fine with his new Chip Ganassi Racing squad; the No. 1 driver nabbed a hard-fought third-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, marking his best finish at the 1.54-mile track since his win in 2010. Sunday also marked Busch's 650th start in the Monster Energy Series.

"I could say that wasn't anything fantastic or exciting, but it really was," Busch said. "To finish third on our second outing together ... just shows Ganassi's got the right stuff."

Big 3?: With Joey Logano nabbing the Monster Energy Series title in 2018 and the '19 rules package throwing new variables into the equation, the idea of "The Big 3" with Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch seemed to be a thing of the past. Sunday's race at Atlanta may beg to differ, though; all three drivers finished in the top six, with Harvick and Truex pacing the field during the race.

With nearly an entire season left to unpack, it's too early to speculate or jump to conclusions -- but Sunday was a promising start for last year's big-name drivers.

Rules review: With Daytona being a superspeedway event, Atlanta marked the first race of the season under the 2019 rules package. Sunday's 500-mile event featured the majority of the changes with the exception of the aerodynamic ducts, which will be on display for the first time in a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend.

"I thought the one thing that was amazing to me was someone on the high line could run the low line going into (Turn) 2 and stay with them and drag them back going down the straightaway. There's some things you don't see normally with the faster speeds," team owner Roger Penske said.

Hendrick's struggles: Heading into this weekend's race at Atlanta, Hendrick Motorsports had won three of the last five events at the Georgia track. But Sunday saw the organization struggle in the 500-mile event, with all four cars finishing 15th or worse. Five-time Atlanta winner Jimmie Johnson, who finished 24th, battled the handling of his No. 48 Chevrolet throughout the afternoon and Georgia native Chase Elliott's streak of top 10s at his home track came to an end with a 19th-place result. Alex Bowman and William Byron led the group, finishing 15th and 17th, respectively. By contrast, JTG Daugherty -- which switched to Hendrick engines this season in addition to its technical alliance with the team -- looked poised for both of its drivers to finish in the top 10 until Ryan Preece collided with BJ McLeod late on pit road. JTG's veteran driver Chris Buescher held on to finish ninth.