Hampton, Georgia – July 11, 2021 – ANTHONY HOLBROOK
The NASCAR Cup traveled to Hampton, Georgia Sunday June 11, 2021 to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400.
Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted the NASCAR Cup Series since its inaugural season in 1960, and on Sunday it will host its second race of the season. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s when the green flag dropped at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Quaker State 400 Stage 1 Recap:
Dawsonville, Ga., native Chase Elliott will have pole honors at AMS. Chase Elliott has finished in the top 10 four times in his first six NASCAR Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he has yet to win at his home track.
Kyle Busch gets a run on Chase Elliott in Turn 2 and the first lead change of the day goes to Rowdy on lap 14.
Kyle Busch shall forfeit his top position during the Competition Caution’s pit service stop as teammate Denny Hamlin takes charge of the field leading first out of the pit.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suarez unfortunately involved in a crash along with Cody Ware on lap 31 (second caution).
Halfway through the first stage of the 260-lap race, Kyle leads his older Brother Kurt by 0.57 seconds.
Kyle Busch controls the lead through 70 laps with only 10 laps to go in the first stage of this race.
Stage 1 complete Kyle Busch led majority of circuits after taking over the lead early from Chase Elliott.
Quaker State 400 Stage 1 Results
- Kyle Busch
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Alex Bowman
- Tyler Reddick
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- William Byron
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
Quaker State 400 Stage 2 Recap:
Kurt Busch lead the fields out of the pit onward to control the lead after Stage 2 pit service attention.
As Clouds umbrella the Hampton vicinity as race teams opt for pit service. Race leader Kurt Busch relinquish the lead as he hit pit row. Aric Almirola and Ryan Preece gamble and remain on track.
Lap 130 signify Half-Way through (race) and award to Aric Almirola. Ryan Preece rolls past Aric, but his stay at the lead is short lived. With the help of fresher Goodyears, Kurt Busch catches both of them and would view them from his rear view mirror.
Kurt joins his brother Kyle collecting Stage win at the Quaker State 400.
Quaker State 400 Stage 2 Results:
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Alex Bowman
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Blaney
- Brad Keselowski
- Austin Dillion
- Martin Truex Jr.
Quaker State 400 Final Stage recap:
Kurt Busch secures the position top off pit road. First four cars hold position, with Tyler Reddick the first to gain and Denny Hamlin the first to lose after Stage 2 service. For the moment, a notable piece of the track has come up on the front straightaway.
The red flag has come out in order for NASCAR to repair damage to the track, 8-10 minutes expected on the track repair.
After track maintenance, Kyle Busch has closed the lead significantly on Kurt Busch for the race lead with under 60 circuits remaining. Younger Kyle Busch prevails regaining the lead.
Alex Bowman was unable to make up time on the leaders during that round of stops, as he remains 3 seconds back of Kyle Busch.
Counting down 30 laps to go, Kyle Busch submerged to the leads Kurt Busch by 0.5 second with lap traffic to deal with. Kyle Busch ran into some troubles with lapped traffic as Kurt took advantage.
The brothers Busch were side-by-side for a while but Kurt gained top position by a quarter of a second.
Kurt would battle off a late test from his brother Kyle to emerge as the winner.
Quaker State 400 Results:
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Ga.
Lap length: 1.54 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (8) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 260 laps, 59 points.
2. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 260, 54.
3. (5) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 260, 37.
4. (17) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 260, 48.
5. (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 260, 36.
6. (7) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 260, 42.
7. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 260, 30.
8. (4) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 260, 29.
9. (12) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 260, 28.
10. (14) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 260, 30.
11. (21) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 260, 27.
12. (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 260, 27.
13. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 260, 38.
14. (24) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 260, 23.
15. (11) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 260, 22.
16. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 260, 21.
17. (23) Cole Custer, Ford, 260, 20.
18. (6) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 260, 31.
19. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 259, 22.
20. (19) William Byron, Chevrolet, 259, 20.
21. (9) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 259, 16.
22. (26) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, 258, 15.
23. (20) Aric Almirola, Ford, 258, 14.
24. (22) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 258, 13.
25. (34) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 258, 12.
26. (32) Anthony Alfredo, Ford, 257, 11.
27. (25) Michael McDowell, Ford, 256, 10.
28. (29) Ryan Newman, Ford, 256, 9.
29. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 255, 0.
30. (36) BJ McLeod, Ford, 254, 0.
31. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 253, 0.
32. (33) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 253, 0.
33. (31) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 253, 0.
34. (30) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 248, 3.
35. (35) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 248, 2.
36. (27) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 243, 1.
37. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, suspension, 178, 1.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 50 Mins, 8 Secs.
Average Speed : 141.207 Mph
Margin of Victory: 1.237 Sec
Caution Flags : 4 for 21 Laps
Lead Changes: 10 among 7 Drivers
The NASCAR Cup locates to New Hampshire for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, scheduled Sat. July 18th (3.00 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN SirisXM) hosted by New Hampshire Motor Speedway.