Let the real racing begin
NASCAR heads to Atlanta, preps for season
HAMPTON, Ga. – Now the “real” racing begins.
After an eventful Daytona 500 full of crashes and emotion, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rolls on to suburban Atlanta for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, Fox) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
It’s the second race of the schedule but the first of a long year of competition on 1.5-mile intermediate tracks and the first chance for teams to test their cars on a fast, non-restricted track.
The Daytona 500, won in a flourish by Austin Dillon, is the most important race of the year, but Sunday’s 500-miler will set the tone for how drivers and teams handle new aerodynamic and pit rules through the run to November.
Daytona famously makes heroes who don’t necessarily carry momentum into and through the spring months. The
500 finish, marked by numerous crashes, had some unexpected names near the top (Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. second, Chris Buescher fifth and Michael McDowell ninth) and some even more unexpected names near the bottom (Jimmie Johnson 38th, Erik Jones 36th, Chase Elliott 33rd, Brad Keselowski
32nd and Kevin Harvick 31st).
The one-race points standings are similarly jumbled, so much so that the top 16 drivers own only four wins at At- lanta — three by Kurt Busch and one by Denny Hamlin.
The three-day Atlanta weekend — qualifying is scheduled Friday — will provide at least partial answers to questions raised at Daytona.
Will there be a Bubba bounce?
Wallace took a star turn at Daytona, finishing a surprising second in the 500 and underlining his presence as the first full-time African-American driver in the Cup series since the 1970s.
In a sport that sometimes is criticized for drivers failing to show real emotions, Wallace doubled down at Daytona, crying and losing control during a post-race news conference.
The goal this year at Richard Petty Motorsports is to lift the team from second-tier status.
Wallace turned in a magical start; now the hard part begins.
Wallace vs. Hamlin, Round Two?
The tight finish at Daytona — Wallace edged Hamlin for second — was accentuated by post-race squabbling and Twitter banter between the two.
Hamlin rarely backs down. Wallace is new to all this. Stay tuned.
Kyle Busch, where are you?
Busch, among the championship favorites in every season, was largely absent from the headlines at Daytona. Tire problems left him with a 25th-place finish, seven laps behind the leaders.
After a miserable Daytona 500, Busch is likely to be hungry at Atlanta, a track where he has won twice in 19 Cup starts. Winning there, Busch said, requires a laundry list of items.
“You have to have a lot of grip, you have to have a lot of downforce, you have to have tire management, a great engine and fuel mileage, too,” he said. “There are a lot of circumstances it can come down to at the end and what it will boil down to.”
To pave or not to pave?
Atlanta Motor Speedway reversed its plans to repave its 1.54-mile course when drivers overwhelmingly voiced the opinion that they like the surface like it is — bumpy and worn. Makes for better racing, they said.
When track surfaces are repaved, there typically is a “curing out” period in which competition suffers. Drivers prefer that tracks delay repaving as long as possible.
Of course, every surface eventually has to be redone, because the pavement wears away and there is the potential for potholes developing during events. For the moment, though, drivers are more than happy to race Atlanta Motor Speedway as is.