NASCAR Cup Series | Results and 3 takeaways from Sunday’s race at Atlanta
Kevin Harvick won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 on Sunday, his first win of the 2018 season, but there are other implications from the race as well. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
1. Talk about a dominant win
It’s easy to look at the top of the leaderboard and say someone won a race, but to do so the way Harvick did Sunday was as impressive as it gets. Harvick led 173 of 325 laps, but the lead he built up in the process was daunting. At one point, Harvick was in the lead by eight car lengths or so. It was Harvick’s first win at Atlanta since his first career Cup Series win there 17 years ago, and what a way to do it.
2. New Chevy, as expected, will take time to understand...
When Toyota unveiled its new Camry before the 2017 season, there were questions about how long it would take teams to fully utilize the equipment. As it turned out, that ended up being about halfway through the season. And then, once teams did figure it out? Well, the Toyota drivers became untouchable and tore through the remainder of the schedule. Expect a similar grace period for the new Chevy Camaro. The best finish from a Chevy at Atlanta was Kyle Larson in ninth – it might take a few more months before the Chevy drivers are consistently fighting for race wins.
3. And in the meantime?
Ford cars, Harvick included, have been surprisingly good this year. Considering there was no new body this season, (and one won’t be coming until 2019), the fact that the Fords have done so well is unexpected. But Brad Keselowski won the Clash at Daytona, and now Harvick has a win at Atlanta, and the top three finishers this weekend were all Fords (Keselowski and Clint Bowyer were second and third, respectively). Will this keep up all season? Probably not, especially once the new Chevy rounds into form. But for now, Ford has to be happy.
Brendan Marks: 704-358-5889, @brendanrmarks
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Sunday’s full race results, from the Associated Press:
NASCAR Monster Energy Cup
At Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta
Lap length: oval, 1.5 miles
St | Driver | Car | Laps | * | Rating | ||
1 | 3 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 325 | 0 | 56 | |
2 | 5 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 325 | 0 | 53 | |
3 | 9 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 325 | 0 | 45 | |
4 | 12 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 325 | 0 | 40 | |
5 | 35 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 325 | 0 | 39 | |
6 | 16 | Joey Logano | Ford | 325 | 0 | 39 | |
7 | 1 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 325 | 0 | 43 | |
8 | 7 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 325 | 0 | 41 | |
9 | 8 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 325 | 0 | 36 | |
10 | 27 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 325 | 0 | 27 | |
11 | 10 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 325 | 0 | 26 | |
12 | 26 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 325 | 0 | 25 | |
13 | 11 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 325 | 0 | 33 | |
14 | 25 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 324 | 0 | 23 | |
15 | 4 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 324 | 0 | 23 | |
16 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 324 | 0 | 21 | |
17 | 15 | Paul Menard | Ford | 324 | 0 | 20 | |
18 | 23 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 323 | 0 | 19 | |
19 | 13 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 323 | 0 | 18 | |
20 | 18 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 322 | 0 | 17 | |
21 | 14 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 322 | 0 | 16 | |
22 | 2 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 322 | 0 | 15 | |
23 | 29 | David Ragan | Ford | 321 | 0 | 14 | |
24 | 17 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 321 | 0 | 13 | |
25 | 24 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 321 | 0 | 12 | |
26 | 28 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 321 | 0 | 11 | |
27 | 22 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 321 | 0 | 10 | |
28 | 32 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 320 | 0 | 9 | |
29 | 21 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 320 | 0 | 8 | |
30 | 34 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 319 | 0 | 0 | |
31 | 30 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 319 | 0 | 6 | |
32 | 19 | Darrell Wallace Jr | Chevrolet | 319 | 0 | 5 | |
33 | 36 | Harrison Rhodes | Chevrolet | 310 | 0 | 4 | |
34 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 305 | 0 | 3 | |
35 | 20 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 292 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
36 | 31 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 99 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
*Reason out: 1-engine, 2-accident.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 143.071 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 29 minutes, 54 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 2.690 seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 0 laps.
Lead Changes: 24 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Ky.Busch 0; R.Newman 1-17; Ky.Busch 18-20; K.Harvick 21-31; Ky.Busch 32; K.Harvick 33-88; M.Truex 89; B.Keselowski 90-100; Ku.Busch 101-125; K.Harvick 126-127; Ky.Busch 128-131; K.Harvick 132-159; Ku.Busch 160; B.Keselowski 161-172; Ku.Busch 173-198; B.Keselowski 199-213; Ky.Busch 214; D.Hamlin 215-225; K.Harvick 226-252; D.Hamlin 253-265; K.Harvick 266-288; D.Hamlin 289-290; K.Harvick 291-299; J.Logano 300; K.Harvick 301-325
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Harvick, 8 times for 173 laps; Ku.Busch, 3 times for 49 laps; B.Keselowski, 3 times for 35 laps; D.Hamlin, 3 times for 23 laps; R.Newman, 1 time for 16 laps; Ky.Busch, 5 times for 5 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 0 laps; M.Truex, 1 time for 0 laps.
Wins: A.Dillon, 1; K.Harvick, 1.
Top 16 in Points: 1. J.Logano, 89; 2. R.Blaney, 83; 3. D.Hamlin, 77; 4. K.Harvick, 75; 5. C.Bowyer, 74; 6. A.Dillon, 70; 7. M.Truex, 69; 8. Ku.Busch, 68; 9. A.Almirola, 66; 10. P.Menard, 66; 11. Ky.Busch, 61; 12. B.Keselowski, 58; 13. K.Larson, 54; 14. M.McDowell, 52; 15. D.Wallace, 52; 16. R.Newman, 49.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
This story was originally published February 25, 2018 at 8:33 PM.