Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Dale Jr.’s reaction | Full race results

 

Sunday’s win at Atlanta Motor Speedway was the 76th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for Jimmie Johnson, a milestone that saw him match the win total of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt to tie him for seventh all-time on the wins list.

Only seven other drivers have reached at least 76 wins in the sport’s history.

“It’s such an honor,” Johnson said in Victory Lane after the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. “… There’s a huge void in my career that I never had a chance to race with him, but at least I was able to tie his record.”

 

Next up in Johnson’s sights: Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip.

 

An asterisk below denotes that driver is still active.

All-time NASCAR premier series wins

Driver Wins Starts Titles
Richard Petty 200 1,184 7
David Pearson 105 574 3
Jeff Gordon 93 797 4
Bobby Allison 84 718 1
Darrell Waltrip 84 809 3
Cale Yarborough 83 560 3
Jimmie Johnson* 76 509 6
Dale Earnhardt 76 676 7
Rusty Wallace 55 706 1
Lee Petty 54 427 3
Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Junior: ‘Dad would have loved Jimmie’ | Johnson wins at Atlanta

 

Six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson tied seven-time champ Dale Earnhardt’s mark of 76 career premier series victories by virtue of his overtime win at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

 

NASCAR Nation took to Twitter to congratulate “Six-Time” for reaching such a historic and revered mark.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing‘s three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars had trouble in pre-race inspection Sunday.

 

After multiple trips through the line, NASCAR pulled the Nos. 3 of Austin Dillon, 27 of Paul Menard and 31 of Ryan Newman out of inspection and confiscated the braces in the right rear corners of their respective vehicles.

 

According to NASCAR, the parts in question were optional braces (brackets) in the rear-wheel area of the cars. NASCAR officials had them removed and will take the parts back to the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

 

No penalties — such as a loss of starting position — are expected today or post-event, according to NASCAR.

 

Mike Dillon, general manager of Richard Childress Racing, said the team didn’t replace the parts due to time.

For the race, Dillon finished 11th, while Menard finished 18th and Newman finished 24th.

 

Kenny Bruce contributed to this story from Atlanta

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: NASCAR Fantasy Live

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway while the Camping World Truck Series has a week off. Check out the full weekend schedule below.


Note: All times are ET


SUNDAY, MARCH 6:

ON TRACK

1:30:00 p.m. ET: NSCS Driver/Crew Chief Meeting
3:00:00 p.m. ET: NSCS Drivers Introductions 

3:30:00 p.m. ET: Presentation of Colors by Nellis Air Force Base Honor Guard

3:30:20 p.m. ET: Invocation by Kurt Schulke, Chaplain, Las Vegas Motor Speedway

3:31:00 p.m. ET:  National Anthem by: Craig Morgan

3:32:30 p.m. ET:  Fly-By TOT: US Air Force Thunderbirds/Backstretch to Frontstretch

3:37:30 p.m. ET: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” command given by: Mike McDermott, Lowe’s, Chief Merchandising Officer

3:46:00 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 (267 laps, 400 miles), FOX (Results)


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 6:30 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race

DAILY ROUNDUP
Keselowski holds off Busch, wins at Las Vegas
Wind, dust made for ‘Wild West’ race in the desert
Busch encouraged by rally, has ‘work to do’
Blaney backs up Penske’s 1-2 punch at Las Vegas
Hard wreck impacts race contenders
No formal word on Furniture Row appeal

THURSDAY, MARCH 3:

ON TRACK
— Noon-2 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing, session No. 1 (Testing speeds)
— 3-6 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing, session No. 2 (Testing speeds)


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 2:05 p.m.: Carl Edwards
— 6:30 p.m.:  Ricky Stenhouse Jr.


FRIDAY, MARCH 4:

ON TRACK
— 1:30-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 3:30-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 6-6:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1 (Results)
— 7:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results)


GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 1 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
— 3 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 12:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.

— 1:15 p.m.: DC Solar announcement with Brennan Poole

— 3 p.m.: Tony Stewart with Mobil 1

— 8:45 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying & Brad Keselowski


DAILY ROUNDUP

Truex Jr.: ‘Not trying to pull something over’ on NASCAR
Stewart all smiles, but itching to return to racing
Keselowski, Logano pace practice
Elder Busch flies to Coors Light Pole
Edwards wrecks in qualifying, heads to backup


SATURDAY, MARCH 5:

ON TRACK

— 11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 12:45 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS2 (Results)
— 2:30-3:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Results)
— 4 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), FS1 (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 6:30 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR XFINITY Series race


DAILY ROUNDUP

Edwards, Kenseth top final practices at Las Vegas
‘Gnarly’ wind could play role at Las Vegas
Hometown fans embrace Busches more than ever
‘Rowdy’ cashes in NXS win at Las Vegas

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: NBC Sports Live Extra


All times ET

Monday, Feb. 29
8 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (re-air), FS1
11 a.m., 100,000 Cameras: Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Tuesday, March 1
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
9 a.m., 100,000 Cameras: Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1
9:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Heads Up Georgia 250 (re-air), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Wednesday, March 2
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Thursday, March 3
7 a.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Friday, March 4
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1

Saturday, March 5
4 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice (re-air), FS1
5:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (re-air), FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: XFINITY, FS1
4 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300, FS1

Sunday, March 6
6:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300 (re-air), FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series FOX Pre-Race Show, FOX
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400, FOX
11:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 (re-air), FS1

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Standings | SHOP: Johnson gear

HAMPTON, Ga. — With wrecks erupting behind him, Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag in overtime under caution in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway — and then he remembered.
 
Almost lost in the euphoria of Johnson’s second straight victory at the 1.54-mile track was the realization that, with his 76th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, he had tied the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list.
 
But as the No. 48 Chevrolet rolled around the track on its Victory Lap, heading in a clockwise direction a la Alan Kulwicki, the six-time champion thrust his arm out the driver’s side window with a three-finger salute to the crowd, acknowledging the bond he now shares with The Intimidator.

RELATED: Watch Johnson’s Victory Lap salute
 
“It’s such an honor,” Johnson said. “With the chaos at the end and the crash and wondering about overtime and how it worked these days, I kind of lost sight of that.
 
“I remembered it on my Victory Lap coming down, and I had to come by and throw a ‘3’ out the window to pay my respects to the man. There’s a huge void in my career that I never had a chance to race with him, but at least I was able to tie his record.”
 
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran second to his teammate, followed by Kyle Busch, who started 39th after his qualifying time was disallowed because the rear toe of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota exceeded NASCAR’s tolerances.
 
Polesitter Kurt Busch was fourth, and Carl Edwards came home fifth.
 
Johnson’s fifth victory at Atlanta probably wouldn’t have occurred had crew chief Chad Knaus not made a strategic call that wrested control of the race from Kevin Harvick, whose dominant No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet led a race-high 131 of the 330 laps.
 
As soon as Johnson hit the fuel window that would get him to the end of the race, Knaus brought the No. 48 Chevy to pit road for four tires and gas on Lap 276, nine laps before Harvick pitted from the lead. With the nine-lap advantage on fresh tires — not to mention issues with the left front tire that cost Harvick more than three seconds on pit road — Johnson was 13.631 seconds ahead of Harvick’s No. 4 when the green-flag pit stop cycle was completed on Lap 287.
 
“Definitely a gutsy call,” Johnson said. “It was just a great team effort. The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) car was awfully tough and it was going to take some strategy to get by him. When he told me to whip it as hard as I could there (after the lap 276 pit stop), I just felt like I was going to take too much life out of the tires. But, it worked. And I got rolling around the top and got to where I got this Lowe’s Chevy in Victory Lane.”
 
But it wasn’t easy. Harvick cut into Johnson’s advantage, reducing it to 5.1 seconds before the speeds of the top two cars leveled out. When Ryan Newman blew a left rear tire and spun at the end of the frontstretch with two laps left in the regulation distance of 325 laps, the eight lead-lap cars came to pit road for tires.
 
Johnson held the lead, with Harvick second and Kyle Busch third. But on the overtime restart, Harvick had trouble in the outside lane and Johnson surged ahead, pursued by Kyle Busch and Earnhardt.
 
A wild wreck on the backstretch caused the caution that ended the race under yellow five laps beyond its scheduled distance.
 
“We had issues about the last three runs,” said Harvick, who suffered late-race brake problems and finished sixth. “I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling. And then we had a slow pit stop there.
 
“We got way behind, and the No. 48 was way out front, and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear (tire) burned up. We just didn’t execute today, but everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Chevrolet hung in there all day, and we’ll keep at it.”
 
Notes: Rookie Chase Elliott finished eighth in his first race experience with NASCAR’s 2016 lower-downforce rules package. … The race stayed green for the first 210 laps, a track record from the start of a Sprint Cup event. The caution that ended the race was the third of the afternoon. … After his second straight third-place finish, Kyle Busch leads the series standings by three points over Daytona 500 runner-up Martin Truex Jr. Harvick is third, four points behind Busch.

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

RELATED: Smith talks Caution Clock

HAMPTON, Ga. — Time became a new factor in NASCAR for the first time on Saturday, with the Caution Clock coming into play twice in the Camping World Truck Series Great Clips 200.



The first competition yellow on Lap 38 caused issues for Christopher Bell in terms of tire strategy. The second competition caution as the 20-minute clock expired also was tied to issues for Bell, but under the surface, was playing into every team’s pit and tire strategy at Atlanta Motor Speedway.



NASCAR introduced the caution clock in 2016, starting at Daytona International Speedway. A 20-minute timer begins counting down at the beginning of each green-flag run. If no natural caution occurs before the clock runs out, a caution will come out, giving teams the opportunity to pit, change tires and make adjustments.

The Caution Clock yellow on Lap 38 came at exactly the wrong time for Bell, who was running second when a flat right front forced him to pit road on Lap 27.



The team got off tire strategy as the rest of the field capitalized on four fresh tires on the race’s first restart. The No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota team got back on sequence with the field when William Byron’s engine blew on Lap 60, bringing out the second caution of the race. He quickly moved back into the top five and was battling Matt Crafton for the lead by Lap 92.

The second Caution Clock yellow proved costly for Bell as well, but much more so for Matt Crafton and Daniel Suarez.



Bell overshot his pit stall with the setting sun in his eyes and had to be backed up, losing valuable time and falling to fifth place for the restart on Lap 111.



That put Bell behind Crafton and Daniel Suarez for the restart, and as Bell aggressively pushed to regain the lead, he made contact with his teammate’s No. 51 Tundra. That sparked a hard wreck that took out Crafton and Suarez, but Bell snuck through.



“We just had a tough day,” Suarez said after being released from the infield care center. “We had the fastest truck.”



MORE: Crafton, Suarez involved in big wreck at Atlanta



Bell’s luck ran out a few laps later as his right front tire went down, sending his Toyota hard into the outside wall.



Cameron Hayley was one of the drivers who got through that late wreck unscathed, and despite his own right front tire issues finished second.



Hayley said after the race that the Caution Clock affected all the teams Saturday, as it played heavily into tire strategy.



“It was definitely difficult. The tire was giving up really bad in the right front for a lot of us,” Haley explained, saying the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota didn’t have a tire go down, but did have two right fronts wear all the way down to the cords.



“The thing with that Caution Clock was everyone was trying to make it to that Caution Clock, and today the tire just almost didn’t make it to those 20 minutes,” Hayley said. “So the challenge was we had to get there when we wanted to pit sooner.”

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

RELATED: Full starting lineup

HAMPTON, Ga. — Engines fired early Saturday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with NASCAR XFINITY Series qualifying starting at 8:35 a.m.


It’s cold (41 degrees) and bright — and fast, which helped get the adrenaline pumping, at least, as some drivers suggested moving the session back to at least 10 a.m. ET next time around. The Heads Up Georgia 250 starts at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday (FS1, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.)


“I’m awake now,” Ryan Reed said after laying down his first-round qualifying time. “Going 180 mph, 190 mph into Turn 1. But no, I’m not a morning person.”


Darrell Wallace Jr. made it into the second round of qualifying, apparently with one hand tied behind his back — or something like that.


“One eye is closed right now, you just can’t see it,” Wallace told FS1’s Jamie Little, his sunglasses preventing him from proving it.


Ryan Sieg may have had the toughest morning, with flashing lights in his rearview before he even reached the track (he was running late.) 


Sieg seemed to be none the worse for wear, qualifying eighth in the No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet for the afternoon XFINITY race. And he told reporters he got a warning — he wasn’t saying how fast he was going.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings 


HAMPTON, Ga. — Erik Jones overcame an early-race stumble to finish third in Saturday’s Heads Up Georgia 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.



The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, winner of the Camping World Truck Series title a year ago, was penalized for jumping the start of the race. The subsequent pass-through penalty dropped him to 39th in the 40-car field.



Thanks to an early caution that regrouped the field barely 10 laps into the 163-lap race, the loss of track position wasn’t as painful as it could have been. Jones made steady progress and was just outside the top five at the halfway point in the race.



With 40 laps remaining, he was third and maintained his position as teammate Kyle Busch and fellow Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson battled for the win.



“I’d say I was disappointed and confused,” Jones said of the penalty. “I wasn’t really clear completely on the rule. The 18 (Busch) spun his tires; I tried to give it back but … you can’t beat the leader to the line on the initial start but you can on restarts. I forgot about that rule, honestly. … It was unfortunate, but it was a nice test for the team and a nice comeback.”



Busch shouldered the blame for the issue, saying contact from fellow JGR driver Daniel Suarez caused him to spin his tires, delaying his start and putting Jones ahead at the line.



“I could tell Jones was trying to check up and I was trying to get ahead of him so we didn’t have that problem,” Busch said. “He did all he could and did a good job of trying to rectify the situation but I hurt him more than he did anything wrong.”



Coming from the back wasn’t ideal, but it provided unexpected experiences for the 19-year-old rookie who was making just his second XFINITY Series start on the 1.54-mile track.



“It helped me learn a lot about the track,” Jones said. “I struggled a lot here last year and learned a ton today about where to, I guess, properly run around this place.”



Busch called Jones a “quick study” and said the youngster “learns on the fly, asks a lot of good questions and so that’s why he’s to the level that he is so far. He’s got nothing but the horizon left in front of him.”



The top-three finish was a solid rebound from last week’s season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, where Jones finished 31st. He is now 11th in points. 

Posted on by Nascar

HAMPTON, Ga. — Cole Pearn and his Furniture Row Racing team didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy last Sunday’s runner-up finish in the Daytona 500.
 
The Denver, Colorado-based team was back in the shop bright and early on Monday, the crew chief for driver Martin Truex Jr. said, thrashing to get ready for this weekend’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1 p.m. FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
 
“I’d like to say it carried over more but we were right in at 6 a.m. Monday, back to work and we worked massively long days just getting ready to come here,” Pearn said Saturday at AMS. “I think it’s good for the guys, the fact that they put in all that hard work over the winter and then to see the results gives them that confirmation that it was worth it. So hopefully we can carry that same type of feel this weekend.”
 
Truex’s No. 78 Toyota finished beside, but not ahead of, Denny Hamlin in the season-opening race.
 
The single-car entity, owned by Barney Visser, has been equally fast this weekend at AMS, ending final practice second only to Hamlin. He was eighth in Friday’s opening session and qualified ninth for Sunday’s main event.
 
A lack of on-track time, a new rules package and warmer temperatures forecast for Sunday leave a lot of room for concern.
 
“It’s a bit of a question mark,” Pearn said. “I think a lot of guys are going to be fighting it pretty hard. It’s going to be a lot warmer; I think that’s a big question mark. The track will be slicker … definitely some question marks but more so because of the new package. I think that’s the bigger thing.
 
“We’ve made good gains. Didn’t change a whole lot and seemed to have good speed the whole time (in final practice). The long-run speed was good. I feel reasonable about it anyway.”
 
The team unloaded its backup entry as soon as Saturday’s final practice had concluded, placing it on another transporter and sending it back to the race shop.
 
Pearn said the backup car will be used during Thursday’s open test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading into the weekend’s Sprint Cup race. A new car has been built for the race.
 
“We’re lean on parts,” he said of the team that lost two cars during Speedweeks in Daytona. “So getting it back a day and a half earlier really will just help them get all the data acquisition things on it, get it ready to go for Thursday.”
 
— A roof-flap violation during pre-qualifying inspection at Daytona kept Truex from posting a qualifying time and Pearn was placed on probation through the end of the year as a result.
 
“It was propped up too much,” he said. “(NASCAR) wanted to put (the car) back through templates before we adjusted it. We just didn’t have time to get back there and do that before we got back out.
 
“It’s kind of a new era so you just have to understand what’s going to happen. I would have like to have just knocked it down and seen what it would run.”