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Memorable NASCAR moments at Atlanta
By Staff Report | Sunday, July 10, 2022
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NASCAR.com takes a look back at some of the sport's top moments at the 1.54-mile facility.
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2022
Dawsonville, Georgia native Chase Elliott won his first race at Atlanta and swept both stages while doing so. He added the Elliotts as the third father-son duo to win on the 1.54-mile track, alongside Ned & Dale Jarrett (1964, 1997), and Dale Earnhardt & Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1980, 2004).
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2022
Before the 2022 races at Atlanta, the track was repaved and reconfigured. The 1.54-mile track now has 28-degree banking in every corner. The March tripleheader weekend marked the first races on the next-generation re-profile.
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2022
After a back-and-forth race with 46 lead changes, William Byron raced his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead as the laps waned. Byron jumped out to a sizable margin on a late restart and fended off a host of win-hungry drivers behind him to secure the first win on the new layout.
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2021
Kurt Busch holds off his brother Kyle to win at Atlanta before the track is repaved in preparation for the 2022 race season. The win also marked the last for Chip Ganassi Racing, which sold its NASCAR operations to Trackhouse Racing (effective the end of 2021 season).
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2019
Kyle Busch's win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta put him atop the all-time wins list in the series. The victory gave him 52 in the series, breaking a tie he held with Ron Hornaday Jr. The NASCAR Cup Series race that weekend marked Busch's 500th Cup start.
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2018
Kevin Harvick paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt after his victory at Atlanta -- his first win there since winning there in 2001 when he was just a handful of starts into his NASCAR Cup Series career.
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2016
Jimmie Johnson picked up his 76th premier series win to tie Dale Earnhardt for seventh in all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins. Dale Earnhardt Jr. congratulated his teammate in Victory Lane.
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2011
NASCAR President Mike Helton presented a framed piece of artwork to Jeff Gordon after Gordon's 85th career win moved him into third place all time.
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2008
Kyle Busch became the first driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the same weekend.
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2005
The birth of the backflip -- Carl Edwards' first premier series win came at Atlanta in 2005. He would go on to win again at the track in the fall.
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2001
Kevin Harvick's first premier series win comes as a replacement driver three races after Dale Earnhardt's death.
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2000
A fierce battle over the final 20 laps ends with Dale Earnhardt nipping Bobby Labonte at the line for his 75th career premier series win.
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1992
In one of the most iconic races in NASCAR history, Richard Petty drove in his final premier series start, Jeff Gordon drove in his first premier series start and Alan Kulwicki won an unlikely championship.
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1986
Bill Elliott won the All-Star Race, the only time the event wasn't held at Charlotte Motor Speedway prior to 2020.
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1969
Cale Yarborough and the Wood Brothers mastered Atlanta in the late 1960s. Here, Yarborough won his third consecutive race at the track.
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1966
Richard Petty won this event, but the talk was about Fred Lorenzen's Ford. The infamous "yellow banana," a machine built by Junior Johnson, had several questionable aerodynamic modifications and would only run once in NASCAR. This race.
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