NASCAR Atlanta Sunday, March 12, 2023
Atlanta Motor Speedway NASCAR Cup Series Stats Highlights
Atlanta 3/22
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 3/22
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
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 7/22
Chase Elliott
Atlanta 7/22 winner – Started 1st, Stage 1 & 2 winner, 8 times led for 96 laps (most)
Winner pit stops: Chase Elliott (4 Stops) 63, 95, 162, 191 (All caution)
Top 5 Stage 1 & 2: Chase Elliott 1st & 1st, Ryan Blaney 4th & 4th
Best free pass finisher: Kyle Larson 13th
Best finisher with pit road speeding penalty: Martin Truex Jr. 11th
Best starting rear of field finisher: None
Best Hendrick: Chase Elliott 1st
Best Gibbs: Martin Truex Jr. 11th
Best Stewart-Haas: Aric Almirola 8th
Best Penske: Austin Cindric 3rd
Kyle Larson: 300th NASCAR Cup Series race – 7 Won in 300th race including Rusty Wallace at Atlanta 11/93
Most Atlanta wins: 9 Dale Earnhardt
2 of last 3 Atlanta winners not competing – Kurt Busch & Chase Elliott
William Byron: 152 Atlanta laps led last season (111 March & 41 July) – Most
Ross Chastain: Only driver to finish top 5 both Atlanta races last season – Finished 2nd & 2nd
Kyle Larson: 419 Atlanta laps led – Most of winless drivers
Daniel Suárez: 3 Atlanta top 10 finishes – Finished top 10 both Atlanta races last season
47 Different winners in 117 NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta races
17 Different winners in 41 NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta 1.54-mile track races
Jimmie Johnson & Bobby Labonte tied for all-time wins on 1.54-mile Atlanta track (5)
21 Champions won at Atlanta – 21 NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers won Atlanta
Chase Elliott only driver to win Atlanta Stage 1, 2 & race (7/22)
Bill Elliott & Chase Elliott only Georgia drivers to win Atlanta
Kevin Harvick 2nd Atlanta win came 17 years after first (3/01 & 2/18) – Most years between wins
Hendrick Motorsports won 16 Atlanta races with 8 different drivers
3 Won Atlanta in first try – Bob Burdick, Kevin Harvick & Fireball Roberts
Bob Burdick won in his only Atlanta race
Most tries before first Atlanta win: Benny Parsons won in 29th try
Driver starting first won only 1 of last 23 Atlanta races – Chase Elliott (7/22)
Pole failed to finish 30 of 117 Atlanta races
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 – Chase Elliott won last Atlanta race
6 Won first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta
Chevrolet leads all with 43 Atlanta wins
Toyota won 3 Atlanta races – Winless last 11 Atlanta races
Toyota: First NCS win – 3/9/08 Atlanta Kyle Busch
Ford: 5 Wins last 8 Atlanta races
8/10/69: Ford swept top 5
11/7/83: Buick swept top 6
6 Atlanta races rescheduled since track first reconfigured in 1997
5 Atlanta races ran shorter than scheduled distance – Darrell Waltrip won 2
6 Atlanta overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won 5
5 Atlanta races settled by last lap pass
Drivers won first race of season at Atlanta 47 times
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)
Drivers first win of championship season came at Atlanta 4 times
8/1/71 Atlanta win by Richard Petty was 5th consecutive win (Malta, Islip, Trenton, Nashville & Atlanta)
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
Atlanta Motor Speedway NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats Highlights
JAMIE MCMURRAY IN 2002
13 DAYS AFTER FIRST CUP SERIES WIN AT CHARLOTTE
MCMURRAY SCORED FIRST XFINITY SERIES WIN AT ATLANTA &
7 DAYS LATER FOLLOWED UP WITH XFINITY SERIES WIN AT ROCKINGHAM
JUSTIN ALLGAIER
Finished 2nd in 4 races since last win on a 1.5-mile track – Atlanta 3/21
JOSH BERRY
5 Career wins – 3 Wins on 1.5-mile tracks
SHELDON CREED
Finished 34th & 23rd first 2 races this season (20 Laps led) – Finished 9th & 3rd last 2 races (No laps led)
COLE CUSTER
10 Career wins – 4 Wins on 1.5-mile tracks
DANIEL HEMRIC
10 Career 2nd-place finishes – 6 2nd-place finishes on 1.5-mile tracks
RILEY HERBST
7 Straight top 10 finishes – Career-long streak
AUSTIN HILL
Only driver to finish top 5 in both Atlanta races last season – Finished 2nd & 1st
BRANDON JONES
1 Top 5 finish in 9 Atlanta races – Finished 4th (2019)
SAM MAYER
9 Top 10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks – 5 Straight top 10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
Finished 6th or better all 4 races this season (Avg. finish: 3.8) – 2 Top 2 finishes
CHANDLER SMITH
Only driver to finish top 5 all 3 races on West Coast Swing
SAMMY SMITH
Phoenix March winner at 18 years old – 4th youngest NXS winner
RYAN TRUEX
Finished 6th or better last 3 races – 2 Straight top 3 finishes
21 Different winners in 33 Atlanta Xfinity Series races
1 Winner from Georgia – Austin Hill (7/22)
Closest Atlanta finish: .111 Seconds – Austin Hill over Josh Berry (7/9/22)
Fewest laps led by Atlanta winner: 1 – Jamie McMurray (2002) & Ty Gibbs (3/22)
Only 2 swept Atlanta NXS & NCS races – Carl Edwards 3/05 (First career win both races) & Kevin Harvick 2018
3 Won Atlanta & championship in same season – Johnny Benson (1995), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2012) & Ty Gibbs (3/22)
7 of 33 Atlanta races won from first starting position
Pole failed to finish 7 of 33 Atlanta races
Most laps led in Atlanta race: 165 – Mark Martin (2000)
3 Atlanta races settled by last lap pass
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
Josh Berry won Stage 1 last 2 Atlanta races
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)