atlanta motor speedway Tag

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor That was certainly a race weekend, wasn’t it? Atlanta Motor SpeedwayAtlantadegaAtlanta Superduperspeedway Whatever you want to call it nowadays, the Ambetter Health 400 weekend certainly produced no shortage of topics: The Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski superspeedway duelThe racing product prior to the final green flag runThe crashing product on Saturday during a Trucks, Xfinity doubleheaderThe Josh Williams situation That is to say nothing of the lingering effects in the aftermath of the historic penalties doled out to Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing PLUS the Denny HamlinRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Atlanta Motor Speedway has become a NASCAR Cup Series venue Corey LaJoie can shine on a regular basis. Since the 1.5-mile circuit became a superspeedway last year, the Spire Motorsports driver has become a frequent contender for strong results. More so, being in the hunt for the win when it mattered most. Although LaJoie’s No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro didn’t lead a single lap compared to 19 laps last summer when he was two laps away from victory, he improved his career-best Cup result of fifthRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor There was a moment with about five laps to go in the Ambetter Health 400 that Joey Logano thought ‘I screwed up’ with the most dominant car of the race. Logano had led 139 laps of the 255 completed to that point and was able to drive it through the field anytime circumstances separated him from clean air. To that point, he had done it again on the final run and had pulled himself side-by-side with leader Brad Keselowski but couldn’t bring himself to clear hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – In a race that started in chaos and ended in bedlam on the last lap, Austin Hill won his third NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season, beating Daniel Hemric to the checkered flag in Saturday’s RAPTOR King of the Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With his family in attendance, the Winston, Ga., native, led three times for a race-high 103 laps and dominated an event that featured a record 12 cautions for 68 laps.  NASCAR called the final yellowRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway—with a lot of turmoil in between.  Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and front-row position for a restart on lap 136 of 137.   After leading the first 30-lap stage of the race wire-to-wire, however, Eckes sped on pit road and lost track position. He spent the rest of the event working his way backRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Joey Logano added another memory at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, and seven other Ford drivers followed behind him.  Covering the 1.540-mile distance in 31.256 seconds (177.374 mph), Logano won the pole for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and led a parade of eight Ford drivers into the top eight starting positions.  That’s the first time since 1965 at Beltsville (Md.) that Fords have qualified for the top eight spots on theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a three-week stint out west, the NASCAR Cup Series is much closer to home this weekend as it heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second superspeedway race of the season – Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400. Atlanta’s aging racing surface, which had been in place since 1997, held together as long as possible, but the 260 laps around the 1.5-mile track in July 2021 were the last on that particular surface as the track underwent a repave and reconfiguration for the 2022 season. The 24-degreeRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – They knew he was here. While the final rundown shows the No. 7 Chevrolet in 21st place, that doesn’t tell the whole story of the run by Corey Lajoie and Spire Motorsports on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After finishing fifth at the track back in March, Lajoie was confident they could be a factor again this time around, even starting deep in the field in 30th place. By the end of the second stage, Lajoie had worked his way into the top-10Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Chase Elliott is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion and currently the 2022 title leader. But finally scoring a dramatic victory Sunday afternoon at his home track – Atlanta Motor Speedway – in front of a vocal and adoring home crowd ranks right up there as far as he’s concerned. Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led a race best 96 of the 260 laps and held off a charging field to win Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart, ultimately securing the trophyRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Michael McDowell is no stranger to success on the superspeedways and with Atlanta Motor Speedway now in that category, he is hoping to be in a position to strike when the checkered flag falls on Sunday’s Quaker State 400. The winner of the 2021 Daytona 500 is in the midst of one of his best seasons in recent years, even though he has yet to score a win thus far. Through the first 18 races of the season, McDowell has captured one top-fiveRead More