Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Qualifying results | Practice results

HAMPTON, Ga. — If Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying is any indication, Hendrick Motorsports has work to do.

Of the 34 drivers who posted times in the knockout sessions, Daytona 500 pole winner Alex Bowman was 18th fastest, and that was the best performance among the four HMS entries.

Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson qualified 22nd, followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender William Byron in 23rd and Chase Elliott in 27th.

Asked what he and his team missed in preparation for the time trials, Elliott had a succinct answer.

“Everything, I think,” he said. “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 (Saturday’s practice). It’s our only option now.”

MORE: Full weekend schedule | Bowman welcomes new sponsor

On the other hand, qualifying was a relative success for Kasey Kahne, who landed a ride in the Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet after Byron took over Kahne’s former seat at Hendrick. Kahne failed to advance to the final round of qualifying by a mere .074 seconds and will start 14th in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX).

“We picked-up in the second round, which I thought was nice,” Kahne said. “It’s tough to do. I don’t feel great, but I doubt anybody does on this surface. But it’s been an interesting day just trying to understand.

“It’s a different car and a lot of different things going on. We’re trying to understand that. Working with the guys has been good, but we have a long way to go. So we’ll keep after it.”

Undoubtedly, the Hendrick drivers feel the same way. They just have farther to go after a qualifying session that saw only one of their cars earn a spot in the front half of the field.

Johnson was sixth fastest in final practice on Saturday, but his teammates continued to struggle. Bowman was 17th in Happy Hour, followed by Byron in 26th and Elliott in 28th.

Posted on by Staff Report

A look at the drivers with the top speeds over 10 consecutive laps during practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

PRACTICE 2: RESULTS 

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin 1 10 176.557
2 18 Kyle Busch 21 30 175.704
3 21 Paul Menard 1 10 175.649
4 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 175.542
5 78 Martin Truex Jr. 11 20 175.287
6 12 Ryan Blaney 1 10 174.868
7 4 Kevin Harvick 22 31 174.565
8 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 10 174.325
9 41 Kurt Busch 23 32 173.983
10 95 Kasey Kahne 1 10 173.964
11 42 Kyle Larson 43 52 173.619
12 88 Alex Bowman 1 10 173.523
13 48 Jimmie Johnson 1 10 173.271
14 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 173.264
15 22 Joey Logano 47 56 173.002
16 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 172.893
17 31 Ryan Newman 29 38 172.706
18 9 Chase Elliott 19 28 172.605
19 13 Ty Dillon 1 10 172.560
20 10 Aric Almirola 15 24 172.523
21 38 David Ragan 1 10 172.460
22 6 Trevor Bayne 1 10 172.369
23 19 Daniel Suarez 19 28 172.220
24 20 Erik Jones 9 18 171.870
25 3 Austin Dillon 41 50 171.224
26 47 AJ Allmendinger 37 46 171.190
27 34 Michael McDowell 1 10 171.133
28 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. # 28 37 170.529
29 24 William Byron # 32 41 169.651
30 32 Matt DiBenedetto 1 10 167.333
31 23 Gray Gaulding Jr. 1 10 164.018

Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
# Indicates driver is running for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

PRACTICE 1: RESULTS

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin 1 10 178.669
2 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 178.544
3 41 Kurt Busch 1 10 177.611
4 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 6 15 174.826
5 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 173.636
6 4 Kevin Harvick 10 19 173.376

Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Final practice results | Full schedule for Atlanta

Ryan Newman rolled to the fastest speed in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Newman, who just missed out on the pole position in Friday qualifying at the 1.54-mile track, pushed the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet to a speed of 184.868 mph. He’ll start second in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Martin Truex Jr. posted the second-fastest lap at 184.597 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. His speed came before his team served a 30-minute penalty at the end of practice for failing Optical Scanning Station inspection three times before qualifying. Truex did not log a qualifying speed and is set to start 35th in the 36-car field.

Paul Menard landed the third-fastest lap (184.566 mph) in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford. He was followed on the speed chart by Denny Hamlin (183.564) and Joey Logano (183.303), who rounded out the top five in the 80-minute session.

Kyle Busch, who won the pole in Friday qualifying, was 15th-fastest in final practice in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. Defending race winner Brad Keselowski logged the 29th-best lap in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford. Daytona 500 champ Austin Dillon turned in the 24th-fastest lap in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevy.

Truex was the only driver to serve a 30-minute penalty. Six other drivers had 15-minute deductions from their practice time:

  • Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet
  • Gray Gaulding, No. 23 BK Racing Toyota
  • Michael McDowell, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
  • Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
  • Harrison Rhodes, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet
  • Cole Whitt, No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet
Posted on by Brad Norman

Jeff Gordon’s answer during a #askJG question-and-answer session with fans online Saturday leaves the door open the exciting possibility of seeing him back on track.

A fan asked if Gordon would be open to part-time duty in either the NASCAR Xfinity Series or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Gordon said he’s happy in the booth with FOX and isn’t considering any driving at a 1.5-mile track or superspeedway. BUT (this deserves all caps) he might want to race a truck at Martinsville Speedway.

You can count Ray Evernham, NASCAR Hall of Famer and crew chief for three of Gordon’s championships, among those who like the idea.


Track personnel were also pretty excited at the possibility.

OK, really excited. And quick to provide context about Gordon’s long-standing love affair with the 0.526-mile ” Paperclip.” His career stats at Martinsville are impressive.

And Gordon’s last race at Martinsville as a full-time driver? “We’re going to Homestead!” is etched among the greatest Victory Lane moments of all time.

Yep, “giddy” accurately describes the reaction to possibly seeing Gordon race again for a Grandfather Clock.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR and track officials have moved up the start time for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway because of the threat of inclement weather.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | Complete starting lineup

The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was originally set for a green flag at 2:16 p.m. ET (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). That start time — and all pre-race ceremonies — have been rescheduled for one hour, 10 minutes earlier.

Officials reached that decision Saturday morning, faced with an 80 percent chance of precipitation in the race-day forecast at the 1.54-mile track, according to the National Weather Service.

Driver introductions are now scheduled for 12:15 p.m. ET. The revised green flag time is 1:06 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HAMPTON, Ga. – What’s next? 

That’s the question that confronts Austin Dillon after last Sunday’s last-lap victory in the 60th Daytona 500, NASCAR’s most important and prestigious race.

That triumph gave Dillon wins in two of NASCAR’s “majors.” Last year, he picked up his inaugural victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and qualified for the postseason playoff for the second straight season. 

So, again, what’s next, now that Dillon has knocked two gigantic items off the bucket list?

RELATED: How Dillon helped connect past, future

The obvious choice is a series title. As a former champion in the NASCAR Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series, Dillon is the only driver currently eligible to be the first to complete the trifecta. That’s something the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet already has thought about in depth.

“I definitely have thought about that,” Dillon said on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). “That’s my goal is to be the first to win all three. I feel like that would be a heck of an accomplishment. I’ve thought about it a lot this week. After you win a huge race like that, what’s next? 

“In my eyes, that’s the next goal. That’s what we need to go to work on hard this year, because we’ve already got a great opportunity with the way the Playoffs work as being locked in.” 

MORE: Dillon, team celebrate win by getting tattoos

Daytona is a restrictor-plate superspeedway, and conventional wisdom says the “real” open-motor season starts with the Monster Energy race at Atlanta. Dillon believes his team is prepared to run well at the intermediate speedways, too.

“We’ll just keep rocking it however we can,” Dillon said. “We still have a lot to work on. We want to make this Camaro ZL1 good at all tracks. We’re looking forward to that. Been excited about it. 

“It’s a great start to the season. It definitely gets the momentum going. We just need to keep pounding.”

RELATED: Crew member makes history with No. 3 team

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full qualifying results | Lineup in photos

HAMPTON, Ga. – Ryan Newman was within seconds of breaking a pole drought that dates to 2013 – until Kyle Busch made his final-round qualifying run at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Covering the 1.54-mile distance in 30.024 seconds (184.652 mph) in the money round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session, Busch edged Newman by .038 seconds to win his first pole of the young Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, his first at Atlanta and the 28th of his career.

Starting up front is certainly a benefit on the abrasive asphalt at Atlanta, but Busch added a word of caution after his pole-winning performance in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. And he identified the driver he sees as a primary threat – Kevin Harvick, who has led 734 of 1,315 laps without winning in his last four races at AMS.

RELATED: No. 78 team penalized after inspection failures | Scott Miller breaks down No. 78 penalty 

“It’s a long race here in Atlanta,” Busch said of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM), the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. “You’ve got a lot of guys that are fast on old tires and a lot of guys that are fast on new tires. You need to be the better car on both of those, and Harvick’s obviously really good at both of those and mitigating his runs and being able to figure out what he needs.

“We’ll work on it (Saturday) in race trim and see what we can do. But right now, qualifying on the pole today is a really good achievement for our team so far.”

Newman has seven poles at Atlanta and 51 total for his career, but the driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet hasn’t started first on the grid since claiming the top spot for the fall race at New Hampshire in 2013.

Though disappointed at the continuing pole drought, Newman believes his car will race well on Sunday.

“Yeah, I think in race trim it’s pretty good,” he said. “I think there are always things that you can work on here. The track conditions seem to change so much when you start practice like that with a green race track.

“I look forward to the weekend. It’s one of the best race tracks we come to for being able to handle and work your magic inside the race car, because that’s what it all comes down to.”

Harvick (184.388 mph) qualified third after posting the fastest lap in the second round. Daniel Suarez will start fourth, followed by Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kurt Busch.

Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon was bumped out of the top 24 in the first round by Denny Hamlin’s last-ditch run and will start 25th on Sunday.

But Dillon had a better day than defending series champion Martin Truex Jr., whose No. 78 Toyota failed to pass the Optical Scanning Station (OSS) three times during pre-qualifying inspection. As a result, Truex’s car chief, Blake Harris, was ejected from the track for the weekend, and Truex will lose 30 minutes of practice time on Saturday.

“We had body scan problems on the rear wheel openings, and we had rear toe failure as well,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition. “It was a combination of those three times through, and we just didn’t get a green light.”

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HAMPTON, Ga. — The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team of Martin Truex Jr. failed inspection three times ahead of qualifying Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and will thus lose car chief Blake Harris for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Truex also will lose 30 minutes of final practice time Saturday and start 35th in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, the second of the season.

RELATED: Complete lineup for Atlanta

“It’s unfortunate that we had a situation where we had multiple failures in what was otherwise a very successful debut for the Optical Scanning Station for a downforce track,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “We had rear-wheel alignment problems and we had body scan problems and we just weren’t able to get all of the things legal in those attempts. We had body scan problems for the rear-wheel openings and we had rear-toe failures, as well. Between the combination of those times through, we just didn’t get a great light by the third time.”

Per the rule book, a crew member — chosen at the discretion of NASCAR — will be ejected for failing inspection three times.

“It’s a new process and we’re working hard – collectively, the whole garage is – to figure it out, to figure the boundaries out and how to get through and NASCAR is working with their equipment the same way and it’s tough,” Furniture Row Racing President Joe Garone said. “It’s tough. One time you go through, the next time you don’t. You go through again and some things pass that didn’t pass the time before. It’s just frustrating. But we’ll get it all worked out. It’s just a matter of time.”

Crew chief Cole Pearn will tentatively remain atop the pit box, as the team did not make a fourth inspection attempt due to time, Garone said. The rule book states if a team fails four times then it will lose another crew member chosen at the discretion of NASCAR for the race.

“It’s just a weird set of circumstances,” Garone said. “The tolerances are very tight. It’s difficult to get through and push when you need to and be conservative when you need to and figure it all out.”

Inspection attempts will reset for pre-race inspection on Sunday.

In addition to Truex’s 30-minute practice penalty, Harrison Rhodes and Jimmie Johnson (failing inspection twice) and Jeffrey Earnhardt, Gray Gaulding, Michael McDowell and Cole Whitt (late to qualifying inspection) will all serve 15-minute holds.