This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will make their second visit of the year to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coverage of
the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart will begin with NASCAR Nation Pre-Race at 6:30 p.m. ET on both TNT and TruTV. Race coverage follows at 7 p.m. ET and the green flag is scheduled to drop around 7:15 p.m. ET. In
addition, the event can also be heard on your local PRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 260 laps (400.4 miles) en route to the checkered flag.
Records and facts
Last year's Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart saw Austin Cindric dominate the early going. In the closing laps, there was a battle for the lead between Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez and Ty Gibbs.
However, right before the white flag would have flown, Noah Gragson and Harrison Burton collided on the backstretch, resulting in Gragson
spinning out and hitting the inside wall. That brought out the yellow.
Logano was able to hold on in overtime until the yellow came out for a multi-car crash in turn 4 on the final lap. That locked in his victory.
Suarez ended up second, followed by Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell. Alex Bowman was fifth.
Among active drivers, Jimmie Johnson (who is
not entered this week) is the winningest driver with five victories. Logano, Kyle Busch, William Byron and Brad Keselowski each have two. All-time, Dale Earnhardt tops the win charts with nine wins, while Cale Yarborough has seven. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison have six wins each.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.54-mile quad-oval, 260 laps (400.4 miles)
Banking: 28
degrees
Frontstretch: 2,332 ft, banked 5 degrees
Backstretch: 1,800 ft., banked 5 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 75,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace
Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1960
Website: http://www.echoparkspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/echoparkspeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/EchoParkSpdwy
Pre-Race Schedule:
Qualifying: Friday, June 27, 5:05 p.m. on TruTV/Max
"Racing at Echo Park Speedway is intense, so I guess that would be
exciting for us. The race certainly brings a lot of adrenaline and action. There’s something happening all the time so you’re trying to figure out your next move and seeing what lanes are moving, and what things are happening in order to get yourself further up front. It seems like there's a lot of maneuvering in the middle of the pack from those ten spots between eighth and 18th, but at the same time it might seem like it's dull up at the front. Although we're all trying to get there, it just
seems like it gets a little locked up because sometimes the track gets that one lane, that high lane moving in the bottom. It just doesn't materialize." - Kyle Busch
"It’s going to be a challenging race this weekend with how slick the track will be from the heat. Being a drafting racetrack, track position is always critical, but I
think this will probably be one of the toughest races since the repave just due to how hot the racetrack is going to be. In the past, we have had good runs, and I think we can do the same thing if we’re focused on the handling of the car and minimizing mistakes. It’s easy for something to happen there, but we will go out there with our best and look to get the momentum rolling headed into these next couple road courses." - AJ Allmendinger
"Atlanta has always been a strong track for me. We typically qualify well and run up front, but like Daytona and Talladega, it can be tough to avoid trouble. It’s great to have Rinnai on board this weekend at their home track—hopefully we can put together a solid run and take them to Victory Lane." - Todd Gilliland
"I’m looking forward to Atlanta. Obviously, it’s kind of become a wild card race a bit. It’ll be interesting to see with how hot it’s going to be and how the track is aging just exactly how this track will race on Saturday night. We’ve ran well there, and I’m excited for that. This could be a shot for us to win, for sure. I’m just proud of this team for
the strong runs this past month that have helped us in our climb in the points. I think we were 28th or 29th prior to Texas after the penalty at Martinsville. Now we’re back in the top-20 and on the cusp of the playoffs here – only about 60 points back. The hope is to have some really good races here to help us keep climbing. I’m excited to have that shot because it’s been a few years. Hopefully we can keep rolling and keep showing that speed to get some good finishes. Our team has done a really
good job at bringing fast cars and running well during the day. It just hasn’t worked out in the races to have some good finishes. If we can get the finishes, I think we’ll have a strong run at the playoffs." - Erik Jones
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for
Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.