Quaker State 400 Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – There’s no place like home. Coming off a win two weeks ago at Nashville and a runner-up finish at Road America, Chase Elliott would love nothing more than to add a third victory to his resume this season and pad his points lead with a win in Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Dawsonville, Georgia native and 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion watched his father, Bill Elliott, win at the track five times over the course of his Hall of Fame worthy career,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Half of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is now complete as Atlanta Motor Speedway comes calling this weekend to kick off the second half with Sunday’s running of the Quaker State 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 last July were the last on that particular surface as the track underwent a repave and reconfiguration for the 2022 season. The 24-degree banking in the turns wasRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer On paper, Martin Truex, Jr. started fifth in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That all changed during pre-race inspections when his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry failed twice. The first issue came from the deck lid, which NASCAR deemed to be too high. His Joe Gibbs Racing crew were able to fix the issue, but a new issue rose. The tail wasn’t compliant to the sanctioning body’s liking. By the rulebook, Truex had to give up his starting position and work hisRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kurt Busch out-dueled his younger brother Kyle Busch in the pair’s fourth career 1-2 finish to secure his 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs position and take his 33rd career victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart. Busch, 42, has been particularly good at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday’s win was his fourth there, most among the current field, and the last trophy given before the historic NASCAR track is repaved and reconfigured going forward. More importantly Sunday’s work was a bigRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The end of an era. With the oldest track surface in NASCAR, having not been repaved since it’s 1997 reconfiguration, Atlanta Motor Speedway always gets rave reviews from drivers who enjoy slipping and sliding around on the worn-out surface. To come home victorious in Sunday’s Quaker State 400, drivers will have a war on two fronts to battle. First, tire management will play a big role in the final outcome of the race with the abrasiveness that the track offers over the course of a run.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto scored a much needed third-place finish in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway after restarting in eighth with two laps remaining. The wild restart saw DiBenedetto giving tremendous push on Cole Custer, gaining some spots along the way. That exact push into Turn 1 played a pivotal role towards the 22-year-old’s sudden charge and mesmerizing four-wide pass for the race win on the last lap. With the race win was unfolding in front of DiBenedetto, he had a battle ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kevin Harvick has come close to winning at Kentucky Speedway over the years only to fall short in the end and Sunday’s Quaker State 400 was yet another example of how elusive a victory at the 1.5-mile track has been for the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Coming into the race with the momentum of two wins in the two weeks prior, Harvick would be looking to finally get the monkey off his back at Kentucky, but despite his third-place start, handling issues quickly came intoRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR Cup Series rookie Cole Custer pulled off a daring four-wide pass for the lead on the final lap to earn the victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway – the first rookie to win in NASCAR’s premier series in four years. Custer, who restarted fifth on a restart with two laps to go, made his way forward – daring to go high on track to the outside of a three-wide challenge for the lead among Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kentucky is known for horsepower of a four-legged kind with the state hosting the prestigious Kentucky Derby each year, but back in 2011, the state gained a new kind of horsepower when the NASCAR Cup Series rolled into Kentucky Speedway for the inaugural running of the Quaker State 400. After years of lobbying for a Cup Series date to go along with the Xfinity Series and Truck Series races the track had been hosting since opening its gates in 2000, the Speedway Motorsports Inc. owned trackRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer There was a time I’ve seen social media comments about Ross Chastain having a golden ticket to Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing ride after 2019 because the 40-year-old’s deal is a one-year contract. After a thriller in Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway where Kurt eked out his younger brother Kyle Busch, no way that’s going to happen. In fact, Kurt’s 31st Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory might’ve been his finest performance yet, further proving a point of making teams better. Yes,Read More