Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Fast facts about low downforce package


HAMPTON, Ga. — NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams hit the track with the new low downforce rules package for the first time this season Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

But most say it will be months or more before the full impact of the changes will be seen on the track.

“There is still a lot to learn,” six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson said Friday at AMS.

Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports), Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing), Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) took part in a two-day tire test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month. It was one of only a handful of opportunities teams have gotten to shake down the new package, which includes a shorter spoiler and changes to the splitter and radiator pan.


MORE: What the low downforce package looks like


Johnson said the Las Vegas test “went really well.”

“That is our only true kind of measuring stick and how we think we will perform for the ’16 season with the new rules package,” he said. “But it’s going to be a constant evolution. The teams are going to continue to figure out how to create more downforce and more mechanical grip. It’s just kind of what we do every year.

“It’s just the way these engineers work and the evolution of race cars.”

Following Friday’s only practice for Sprint Cup teams, Roush Fenway Racing driver Greg Biffle said his No. 16 Ford “is definitely a lot freer, on top of the race track more” with the new package.

“It’s going to be tough to stay focused, to manage your car,” JGR driver Carl Edwards said. “You see guys out there really struggling — myself included. You hook the apron, (the) car whips sideways. I mean you’ve got to really stay on top of it. It’s like a big dirt race.”

Confirmation of Edwards’ assessment had come earlier — teammate Denny Hamlin, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, lost the handle on his No. 11 Toyota; which brought the practice to a momentary halt.

“I tend to use probably a little bit more of the apron,” Hamlin explained. “… I felt like I got on the apron a little bit too much and that just de-wedges the car a lot and that’s when it spun the car out. …

“You don’t like to practice down there a whole lot, but you race down there, so I was trying to get down there as soon as I could and just lost it.”

A high number of lead changes and more side-by-side racing may be in the cards for Sunday’s race (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR), but those characteristics are not unusual for Atlanta, where the series has been competing since 1960. There have been 28 lead changes in two of the last three races here — 2013 and 2015. There were 35 lead changes as recently as 2011.

“Atlanta puts on good races anyway with the way the surface is and having multiple grooves,” rookie Chase Elliott said. “Hopefully it takes a race that’s always been good and makes it a little better.”

Whether or not the package is a “game changer,” he said, remains to be seen.

“I don’t think the faces of who runs good is going to change,” Elliott said. “The same groups of guys and the same teams who have run well the past couple of years will continue to run well and continue to be the ones to beat. I do hope it opens doors for better racing and being around cars a little easier.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Stewart hospitalized with back injury | Full ‘Smoke’ coverage

 

Tony Stewart is still rehabbing following back surgery for an injury sustained in a January all-terrain vehicle accident that has forced him to miss the start of his final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, but he has made a return to the race track.

 

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver/owner was spotted at Atlanta Motor Speedway speaking with interim driver Ty Dillon after the Coors Light Pole Award Qualifying session.

 

After failing to make it to Daytona for all of Speedweeks — including the Daytona 500 — Stewart called into the broadcast to give a few updates during the season-opening “Great American Race” just five days ago. It was a pleasant surprise to see the three-time champion back in action, if just in an advisory role to the young Dillon — and it’s also a good sign of his continuing recovery and overall progression.

 

MORE: Stewart calls into FOX broadcast from bed

 

Dillon will start 18th in Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN).

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full practice results

 

Kyle Larson soared to the head of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series class Friday, leading opening practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Larson, driving the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet, registered a lap of 192.902 mph on the 1.54-mile track ahead of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Kasey Kahne, a three-time Atlanta winner in NASCAR’s top division, was second-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet with a lap of 191.807 mph. AJ Allmendinger (190.975 mph), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (190.646 mph) and Austin Dillon (190.404 mph) completed the top five in the 85-minute opening session.

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin had a near-miss at the 35-minute mark, enduring a long slide off Turn 2 in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin righted the car without damage and posted the 23rd-fastest lap of the 39 drivers entered.

Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson was 12th-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch turned the 10th-fastest lap in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series’ second race of the year is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. ET (FS1).

Posted on by Staff Report

Practice 3 | Full results

For the second time Friday, Grant Enfinger topped the Camping World Truck Series practice leaderboard at Atlanta Motor Speedway, wheeling his No. 33 Chevrolet at a 178.775 mph clip in the final session. Enfinger, who will make just his second Truck Series start since 2012 this weekend at Atlanta, also paced the field in the opening session this morning.

Veteran wheelman Matt Crafton was second-fastest, propelling his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota at 178.00 mph around the 1.54-mile track. Christopher Bell rounded out the top three with a fast lap of 177.938 mph behind the wheel of his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports ride.


GMS Racing’s Spencer Gallagher (177.681 mph) and JR Motorsports’ Cole Custer (177.635 mph) were fourth and fifth on the speed charts, respectively.

A blown tire from Garrett Smithley‘s No. 63 truck brought out the red flag briefly.

The final leg of the third practice was marked by mock qualifying runs, as the series will qualify Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. ET (FS1) for the Great Clips 200 (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Practice 2 | Full results

Clocking in at 178.224 mph in his No. 05 Chevrolet, John Wes Townley made a late surge to the top of the leaderboard in the second of Friday’s Truck Series practice trio at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Townley was fifth-fastest in opening practice.

Daniel Hemric came up second, wheeling his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford at 177.795 mph around the Georgia track. K&N Pro Series East champion William Byron was third on the charts, his No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota reaching a top speed of 177.368 mph. Reigning race winner and 2014 Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton was fourth-fastest, his No. 88 ThorSport Racing truck rounding the track at 176.882 mph. Red Horse Racing’s Ben Kennedy rounded out the top five with a fast lap of 176.701 mph in his No. 11 ride.

Grant Enfinger, who led the opening Truck Series practice, came up 10th on the speed charts, his No. 33 Chevrolet reaching 175.833 mph.

Korbin Forrister brought out the caution less than 10 minutes into practice, as his No. 59 truck spun across the track leaving pit road. No contact was made with any other trucks. 

Practice 1 | Full results



Grant Enfinger led the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ opening practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday with a high speed of 179.574 mph.


The No. 33 driver’s fastest speed came on Lap 2 of 20 laps.


Last week, Enfinger won the Keystone Light Pole Award for the season-opening race at Daytona.


Christopher Bell was second-fastest to Enfinger at 178.816 mph. Bell was involved in a scary last-lap wreck in last week’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 that had his No. 4 Toyota lifted off the track and sent barrel-rolling down the frontstretch.


Defending race winner Matt Crafton was third-fastest at 178.310 mph.


Daniel Hemric (177.858 mph) and John Wes Towny (177.858 mph) tied for fourth-fastest. William Byron was just behind them at 177.493 mph.

Posted on by Staff Report

Practice 3 | Full results

 

Erik Jones topped the third and final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, giving Joe Gibbs Racing a sweep of the day’s practice trio. Jones’ name soared atop the leaderboard quickly and stayed there throughout the entirety of the session with a fastest lap of 181.467 mph.

 

Next was Jones’ JGR teammate and 2009 series champ Kyle Busch in his No. 18 Toyota, posting a top speed of 180.934 mph.

 

The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Ty Dillon rounded out the top three after propelling his entry around the 1.54-mile track at 180.481 mph. Dillon is pulling double-duty this weekend after Stewart-Haas Racing announced Tuesday that Dillon would serve as an interim driver for the injured Tony Stewart .

 

The No. 19 JGR entry of Daniel Suarez posted the fourth-fastest speed (180.351 mph), while Kyle Larson‘s No. 42 Chevrolet (180.316 mph) rounded out the top five.

 

The field returns to the track Saturday for the Coors Light Pole Qualifying (8:35 a.m. ET, FS1).

 

Practice 2 | Full results

 

Daniel Suarez jumped to the lead late to end Friday’s second NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway, posting a top speed of 181.902 mph.

 

Suarez’s top speed came on his 22nd and final lap around the 1.54-mile track.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones was second-fastest at 180.975 mph. Jones was fastest in Friday’s opening practice session.

 

Brendan Gaughan (180.828 mph), Kyle Larson (180.281 mph) and Kyle Busch (179.685 mph) completed the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

 

Practice 1 | Full results

 

Erik Jones rose to the top of the early leaderboard Friday morning in the NASCAR XFINITY Series’ opening practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jones, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, turned a best lap of 183.358 mph on the 1.54-mile track. The 19-year-old is entering his first full season in the XFINITY Series after securing the Camping World Truck Series crown last year.

Ryan Reed was second-fastest in preparation for Saturday’s Heads Up Georgia 250 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, PRN, SiriusXM). He registered a fast lap of 182.880 mph in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford.

Blake Koch was third-fastest in a strong showing for first-year team Kaulig Racing. Koch, 30, clocked a 182.507 mph lap in the No. 11 Chevrolet.

Jeb Burton, in his first season driving Richard Petty Motorsports‘ No. 43 Ford, was fourth-fastest. Ty Dillon‘s Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevy completed the top five.

XFINITY Series points leader Elliott Sadler was 15th-fastest with a best lap of 180.012 mph in the JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet. Sprint Cup star Kevin Harvick, Sadler’s JRM teammate and winner of the series’ last three races at Atlanta, was ninth-fastest at 181.029 mph in the No. 88 Chevrolet.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Stewart-Haas Racing‘s blockbuster announcement of its impending move from Chevrolet to Ford in 2017 affects another NASCAR powerhouse — Hendrick Motorsports.

 

Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is confident team owner Rick Hendrick will make the adjustment in the 10 months between Tuesday’s announcement and SHR’s departure from the engine and chassis deal that has been in place since Tony Stewart partnered with Gene Haas in 2009.

 

“It was certainly a shock,” Johnson said on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “We have contracts in place with Stewart-Haas Racing that Hendrick has to honor and will honor and honor with integrity the way we always do. We have a lot of employees whose jobs count on that and rely on that.

 

“Nothing is different this year. Fortunately, we have a year to figure out if we service some other teams and provide engines and chassis or how we handle it. I know Rick’s goal is to keep the staff where it is. That gets me excited, because, if we maintain the staff, I think we’ll be able to develop much more cool stuff for our race cars.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full starting lineup for Sunday’s race | Kyle fails inspection

 

HAMPTON, Ga. — Kurt Busch fell just short of beating brother Kyle Busch on the track during Friday’s time trials at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch covered the 1.54-mile distance in 28.925 seconds (191.668 mph) in the money round of knockout qualifying for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), beating his older brother by .013 seconds.

But the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-qualifying inspection, and his time was disallowed. That gave Kurt Busch his first Coors Light Pole Award at Atlanta in the first event contested this year with the lower-downforce competition package that will be in place at all open-motor race tracks.


RELATED: See what the downforce package looks like | Drivers react to it


Kurt Busch was remarkably consistent in each of the three rounds, running 191.635 mph in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet in both the first and second sessions and 191.582 mph in the third.

“It was a good, consistent car and I hope that translates into race speed as well,” Kurt Busch said. “But thanks to (crew chief) Tony Gibson and everybody at Stewart-Haas.

“It’s a matter of preparing the best car during the offseason to come to these 1.5-mile tracks and seeing what you’ve got. It’s just great to feel this right away with the speed and the energy from the car.”

Kurt Busch also lauded NASCAR for the inspection process that ultimately put him on the pole.

“Overall, with the way the developments came up from tech inspection, this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to apply to their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs,” he said.

RELATED: See every car in the field

The disqualification to Kyle Busch — because his car failed the rear toe measurement on NASCAR’s laser platform — put Jamie McMurray‘s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (190.130 mph) on the outside of the front row for the start of Sunday’s race.

“I’m really proud of everyone at the entire shop,” McMurray said. “When you come to a 1.5-mile track you’re really depending on your car. And our 1.5-mile program last year wasn’t where it needed to be. They put a lot of effort into it.

“Like I said during Speedweeks and all the offseason, this is where you really need to be good. The No. 42 car (teammate Kyle Larson) was fast in practice. He got really loose, it looked like, in his qualifying laps. But then, we were really good as well. So I’m proud of the effort by everybody on the McDonald’s Chevrolet. We’re off to a good start at the 1.5-mile tracks, which is critical.”

Trevor Bayne (189.987 mph) qualified third, beating by 15 positions his previous best starting spot at an open-motor race track (18th last year at Darlington).

“This season, we’re really looking forward to this low-downforce package, as we’ve talked about over the offseason,” Bayne said. “We felt like our best races were at the low downforce tracks, Kentucky and Darlington (last year’s two trial runs), so everybody that’s wondering what’s going on at Roush Fenway Racing — a lot of hard work and a lot of attention to detail.

“We had a meeting last week talking about execution. Everybody’s intentions are right. Everybody wants to go fast. Everybody wants to win races, but now we’ve got to execute and make sure we make these fast Fords last.”

Ryan Newman was fourth fastest, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards. Denny Hamlin, last Sunday’s Daytona 500 winner, will start 12th.

Kyle Busch must take the green flag from the rear of the field.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Complete schedule for Atlanta

Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch expects this weekend’s racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be “nuts,” and if you know the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, then you know that such a description is meant in the most positive of ways.
 
The 1.54-mile track hosts all three NASCAR national series this weekend – an XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series doubleheader on Saturday and the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Sprint Cup event Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
 
“It’s going to be pretty fun for us drivers,” Busch said. “It can be a handful, for sure, with the tire falloff the way it is and how exciting that race track can be.
 
“Cars that run hard at the beginning of a run, they’re going to fade at the end of a run and vice versa. You’re going to see some comers and goers as we typically do there. I would say that the groove is going to move around a lot because everyone is going to want to search for as much grip as they can. Typically that’s always just by moving around the race track and trying to find what helps best.”
 
Busch didn’t compete at Atlanta last year as injuries suffered in the season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway kept him sidelined for the first 11 points races of the year. Tracks in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Fontana, California, are early-season stops and host only one Sprint Cup race annually.
 
Having missed last year’s early treks might impact Busch and his No. 18 team slightly, “but I’ve been at these places enough now over the years that I shouldn’t have any sort of issues,” he said.
 
“I won Atlanta a couple of years ago (2013) … and I think I was going for three (wins) in a row at Fontana before I had to miss that race,” Busch added. “So I’m definitely looking forward to those places and this aero package as well, seeing what it will show us.”
 
This weekend’s race will be the first for Sprint Cup teams with the base 2016 rules package, a package that is similar to what was used last season at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway. It features a 3.5-inch spoiler, a quarter-inch leading splitter edge and a 33-inch wide radiator pan.

RELATED: Fast facts on the 2016 rules package
 
The changes lessen downforce and should create more off-throttle time for competitors, likely decreasing corner speeds and providing more opportunities for passing.
 
It is hoped that such changes will also put the racing back into the hands of the competitors, lessening the aero advantages enjoyed by the leader under previous aero rules. Changes made for 2015 helped; now officials are looking to push the envelope just a bit further.
 
Such a move likely won’t be a hardship for Busch, who won last year’s race at Kentucky and finished seventh at Darlington.
 
Even without the rules package, Busch said he knows what to expect when he heads out onto the 1.54-mile track at AMS. Its worn surface dramatically affects tire falloff, which, in turn, impacts handling and speed throughout the course of a run.
 
“It tends to get exciting (at Atlanta),” he said. “For as worn out as the surface is, it’s crazy how fast you go. Our qualifying times are going to be in the upper 190s, yet the surface is old and worn and you definitely will fall off on the long runs.
 
“That’s one of the things that will weird you out – just how fast it is.”
 
Busch, third in last week’s Daytona 500, has two career wins (’08 and ’13) and five top-10 finishes in 17 starts at Atlanta.
 
While he has not won a pole at Atlanta, he has qualified ninth or better in his last eight attempts.