2018 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

2018 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
 Location
 Distance
 Average speed
 Driver
 No. 4
 Radio

The **2018 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500** is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 25, 2018, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 325 laps on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it is the second race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

## Report

### Background

**Atlanta Motor Speedway** (formerly **Atlanta International Raceway**) is a track in Hampton, Georgia, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5-mile (2.4 km) ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.

## First practice

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.745 seconds and a speed of 186.384 mph (299.956 km/h).[10]

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## Qualifying

Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 30.024 and a speed of 184.652 mph (297.169 km/h).[11]

## Final practice

Ryan Newman was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.989 seconds and a speed of 184.868 mph (297.516 km/h).

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## Race

Morning rain delayed the start of the race by two hours and 30 minutes. Track drying allowed the green flag to fall about 3:30 p.m. (ET). The race originally was scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, but that time was moved to 1 p.m. because of Sunday’s forecast of wet weather.

### Stage 1

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag once racing commenced at 3:32 p.m., and Ryan Newman took the lead on lap 1 and led 17 laps, The first caution of the race flew for a scheduled competition caution on lap 30, Harrison Rhodes won the free pass under caution, and Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 33.

The race restarted on lap 35, and Harvick dominated the first stage of the race, leading 64 laps and finishing 6.5 seconds in front of second-place Clint Bowyer. Also in the top five were Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola, The second caution of the race flew on lap 87 for the conclusion of stage one, Harvick pitted twice during the caution that ended the first stage. A pit gun failed during the first stop. He dropped from the lead to 19th place but methodically moved through the field to regain first.

### Stage 2

The race restarted on lap 94, and it remained green for 66 laps, The third caution of the race flew when Jimmie Johnson slid through the second turn on lap 160, His Chevrolet was off the pace during the race’s first stage, and he was lapped by leader Harvick on lap 83. Paul Menard won the free pass under caution.

The race restarted on lap 162.

Brad Keselowski outran Kurt Busch to win the second stage on lap 170. Following were Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, The fourth caution of the race flew for conclusion of the second stage.

### Final stage

The race restarted on lap 178, Rain in the track area threatened to end the race early with about 100 laps to go as Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch wrestled for the lead. Crew chiefs puzzled over when to pit as they watched the weather.

Ford teams showed strength at Atlanta Motor Speedway as Chevrolets struggled in the first non-restrictor plate outing for the new Camaro model. Ford teams won the race’s first two stages and led 144 of the first 170 laps. Chevrolet led 17 and Toyota led nine during that stretch.

The final segment of the race developed into a tussle of strategies as the teams of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano ran on a different pit-stop sequence than the other leaders, attempting to use one less stop to give them a shot at beating faster cars.

With 28 laps to go, the fifth caution of the race flew when Trevor Bayne’s engine blew creating a huge plume of smoke behind him. As the caution flag flew, Darrell Wallace Jr., his vision hampered, slammed into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s car, causing significant damage to the left front of Wallace’s car.

The race restarted on lap 305, Kevin Harvick drove on to score his second career victory at Atlanta

#### Post race

“To be able to do that and pay tribute to Dale was cool, been waiting a long time to do that,” Harvick said. ‘We’ve had so many days we could have done that. It’s good to be back in victory lane. Finally. It took a while.”

"It was great getting into this race car and knowing that everybody knew they needed to beat our car," Harvick continued. "This is a great start to getting ourselves into the playoffs. We overcame a lot of things today and had a late race restart that we drove off and won the race with.

"Things seemed to haunt us here for a long time. The cool thing was trying to replicate that first win. "

### Stage Results

**Stage One** *Laps:* 85

**Stage Two** *Laps:* 85

### Race statistics

* Lead changes: 8 among different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 5 for 28
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 3 hours, 29 minutes and 54 seconds
* Average speed: 142.925 miles per hour (230.015 km/h)

## Media

### Television

The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried by Fox in the United States. Mike Joy, five-time Atlanta winner Jeff Gordon and three-time Atlanta winner Darrell Waltrip worked the race from the booth. Pit road was manned by Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum.

 **Lap-by-lap:** Mike Joy
**Color commentator:** Jeff Gordon
**Color commentator:** Darrell Waltrip
Vince Welch
Matt Yocum

### Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the Performance Racing Network and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race from the booth when the field raced down the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. On pit road, PRN was manned by Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Doug Turnbull.

 **Lead announcer:** Doug Rice
**Announcer:** Mark Garrow
**Announcer:** Wendy Venturini
**Turns 3 & 4:** Pat Patterson
Brett McMillan
Jim Noble
Doug Turnbull

## References

1. "2018 schedule". *Jayski.com*. Jayski's Silly Season Site. May 5, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
2. **Jump up^** "Atlanta Motor Speedway". *NASCAR.com*. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
3. **Jump up^** "Entry List". *MRN.com*. Motor Racing Network. February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
4. **Jump up^** "First Practice Results". *MRN.com*. Motor Racing Network. February 23, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
5. **Jump up^** "Qualifying Results". *MRN.com*. Motor Racing Network. February 23, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
6. **Jump up^** "Final Practice Results". *MRN.com*. Motor Racing Network. February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
7. **Jump up^** "Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Results". *MRN.com*. Motor Racing Network. February 25, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
8. **Jump up^** "Points standings" (PDF). *Jayski.com*. Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
9. **Jump up^** "Manufacturer standings" (PDF). *Jayski.com*. Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
10. **Jump up^** Spencer, Lee (February 23, 2018). "Stenhouse tops first Atlanta Cup practice over Larson and Wallace". *Motorsport.com*. Hampton, Georgia: Motorsport Network. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
11. **Jump up^** Odum, Charles (February 23, 2018). "Kyle Busch nips Newman to win pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway". *Associated Press*. Hampton, Georgia: AP Sports. Associated Press. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
12. **Jump up^** Spencer, Lee (February 24, 2018). "Ryan Newman leads final practice at Atlanta". *Motorsport.com*. Hampton, Georgia: Motorsport Network. Retrieved February 24, 2018.