NASCAR Atlanta Sunday, July 3, 2022
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY NASCAR CUP SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Atlanta Motor Speedway Transformation
163 Days (5 Months)
Started after July 11, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series race & completed in December
17,000 Tons of asphalt (Previous paving 1997)
New drainage technology
March 2022 first race on reconfigured & repaved track
Banking: 28º – Previous banking: 24º
Frontstretch width: 52 Feet – Previous width: 55 Feet
Backstretch width: 42 Feet – Previous width: 55 Feet
Turn width: 40 Feet – Previous width: 55 Feet
Turn radius: 741 Feet – Daytona Int’l Speedway: 987 Feet
Atlanta March
William Byron
Atlanta 3/22 winner – Started 12th, Stage 1 winner & finished 9th in Stage 2, 8 times led for 111 laps (most), avg. running pos.: 4.7 (best)
Winner pit stops: William Byron (6 Stops) Lap 47, 106, 149, 204, 213, 255 (All caution)
Top 8 finishers all tied or scored their best finish of season
Bottom 7 finishers scored their worst finish of season
Top 5 Stage 1 & 2: None
Speeding: Chastain 2nd, Truex Jr. 8th, Bowman 10th, McLeod 19th, Biffle 20th
Best free pass finisher: Chastain 2nd (Free pass 5th & 6th cautions)
Rear of field: Keselowski 12th, Burton 25th
Best Hendrick: William Byron Winner
Best Gibbs: Martin Truex Jr. 8th
Best Stewart-Haas: Chase Briscoe 15th
Best Penske: Joey Logano 9th
Atlanta March
Green flag time: 2:09:47
Caution time: 1:47:24
Most involved in crash: 13 (Lap 145)
Green at start: 24 Laps
Longest green run: 44 Laps (52-95)
Green to finish: 13 Laps
Out of race: 12 Drivers
Most top 5 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks this season: 3 Kyle Buch
Alex Bowman only driver to finish top 10 all 4 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
Best average finish on 1.5-mile tracks this season: 6.8 Ross Chastain
Most laps led on 1.5-mile tracks this season: 282 Ross Chastain
117th NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta Motor Speedway race – First race: 1960 (Fireball Roberts winner)
19th of 36 races this season – 8 Races before Playoffs – 18 Races remaining this season
5th of 9 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
Atlanta wins:
Kurt Busch 4
Kevin Harvick 3
Kyle Busch 2, Brad Keselowski 2
Ryan Blaney 1, William Byron, Denny Hamlin 1
Champions winless at Atlanta:
Chase Elliott: 8 Races – Best finish: 5th (2017)
Kyle Larson: 9 Races – Best finish: 2nd (2017 & 3/21)
Joey Logano: 17 Races – Best finish: 2nd (2013)
Martin Truex Jr.: 25 Races – Best finish: 2nd (2019)
1.5-Mile track wins:
Kevin Harvick 17
Kyle Busch 16
Brad Keselowski 14
Denny Hamlin 13
Martin Truex Jr. 12
Kurt Busch 10
Joey Logano 8
46 Different winners in 116 NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta races
20 Champions won at Atlanta – 21 NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers won Atlanta
Bill Elliott only Georgia driver to win Atlanta
Kevin Harvick 2nd Atlanta win came 17 years after first (3/01 & 2/18) – Most years between wins
Kurt Busch won Atlanta at 24, 30, 31 & 42 years old
Atlanta Stage 1 winner failed to win 5 of 7 Atlanta races
Atlanta Stage 2 winner won only 1 Atlanta race – Kurt Busch 7/21
Hendrick Motorsports won 15 Atlanta races with 7 different drivers
Driver starting first failed to win last 22 Atlanta races
Driver starting first won only 1 of last 41 Atlanta races – Kasey Kahne 3/06
4 Won pole in first try at Atlanta
9 Won first career pole at Atlanta
Worst starting position of Atlanta winner: 39th – Bobby Labonte 11/01
5 Atlanta winners started 31st or worse
Consecutive Atlanta wins 14 times – William Byron won last Atlanta race
6 Won first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta
Chevrolet leads all with 42 Atlanta wins
Toyota won 3 Atlanta races – Winless last 10 Atlanta races
Toyota: First NCS win – 3/9/08 Atlanta Kyle Busch
Ford: 5 Wins last 7 Atlanta races
5 Atlanta races settled by last lap pass
Largest Atlanta margin-of-victory: 2 Laps – 4/5/64 Fred Lorenzen & 4/1/73 David Pearson
Longest green-flag run to start Atlanta race: 210 Laps (2016) – First 2 hours run under green conditions
Previous longest green-flag run to start Atlanta race: 175 Laps (11/79)
Longest green-flag run at Atlanta: 309 Laps (3/90)
Most laps led by driver failing to win Atlanta: 292 – Kevin Harvick (2017)
Atlanta speeding penalties – 2015: 5 / 2016: 1 / 2017: 13 / 2018: 1 / 2019: 4 / 2020: 8 / 3/21: 6 / 7/21: 2 / 3/22: 6
8/10/69: Ford swept top 5
8/1/71 Atlanta win by Richard Petty was 5th consecutive win (Malta, Islip, Trenton, Nashville & Atlanta)
11/7/83: Buick swept top 6
10/28/07 Atlanta win by Jimmie Johnson was 2nd win in 4-straight win streak
11/15/92 Alan Kulwicki wins championship after storybook battle with Bill Elliott
Jeff Gordon’s first NASCAR cup series race
Richard Petty’s final NASCAR Cup series race
3/11/01 Kevin Harvick first career win by .006 seconds over Jeff Gordon (Closest Atlanta finish)
3/9/08 Kyle Busch wins first NASCAR Cup Series race for Toyota (First win for Kyle Busch with Joe Gibbs Racing)
2/28/16 Jimmie Johnson 76th career win tying him with Dale Earnhardt
Jeff Gordon won championship in season-finale at Atlanta 1995 & ’97
Already clinched in 1998 when he won season-finale at Atlanta
Clinched championship at Atlanta in 2001 (season ended at New Hampshire)
Close finishes:
3/12/00 Dale Earnhardt over Bobby Labonte by .01 Seconds
3/20/05 Carl Edwards over Jimmie Johnson by .028 Seconds
(First NASCAR Cup Series win for Edwards – also won first NXS race a day earlier)
Savage Crashes:
3/7/10 Atlanta: Lap 323 Brad Keselowski vicious flip on frontstretch after Carl Edwards retaliation
3/9/97 Atlanta: Lap 284 Steve Grissom savage crash
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY NASCAR XFINITY SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Most 1.5-mile track wins this season: 2 Ty Gibbs
Most laps led on 1.5-mile tracks this season: 158 Justin Allgaier & Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson is only driver to lead laps all 4 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
Ty Gibbs:
Atlanta March winner – Started 4th, finished 14th in Stage 1 & 15th in Stage 2, lap 153 involved in crash, led only final lap
33rd NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Motor Speedway race – First race: 1992 (Jeff Gordon winner)
17th of 33 races this season – 10 Races before Playoffs – 17 Races remaining this season
5th of 9 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season
20 Different winners in 32 Atlanta Xfinity Series races
No winner from Georgia
Fewest laps led by Atlanta winner: 1 – Jamie McMurray (2002) & Ty Gibbs (3/22)
4 Won first career Xfinity Series race at Atlanta
including Jeff Gordon in 1992 (20-Years-old) & Jamie McMurray in 2002 (26-Years-old)
Kevin Harvick (2018), Christopher Bell (2019) & Kyle Busch (7/21) won Atlanta Stage 1, 2 & race
2 Won Atlanta & championship in same season – Johnny Benson (1995) & Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2012)
7 of 32 Atlanta races won from first starting position
Most laps led in Atlanta race: 165 – Mark Martin (2000)
3 Atlanta races settled by last lap pass
Toyota: 5 Atlanta Xfinity Series wins (2016, ’17, ’19, 7/21 & 3/22)
Joe Gibbs Racing: 5 Atlanta Xfinity Series wins (2016, ’17, ’19, 7/21 & 3/22)