2016 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

The 2016 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on February 28, 2016, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 330 laps—extended from 325 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 1.54-mile-long (2 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the second race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson won the race, the 76th of his career. This drew him level with Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list and third in NASCAR's post-1972 "modern era." Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five.

2016 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Race 2 of 36 in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date February 28, 2016 (2016-02-28)
Location Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance 330 laps, 508.2 mi (818.4 km)
Scheduled Distance 325 laps, 500.5 mi (806 km)
Weather Sunny, clear blue skies with a temperature of 64 °F (18 °C); wind out of the southwest at 8 mph (13 km/h).
Average speed 155.863 mph (250.837 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Stewart-Haas Racing
Time 28.938
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps 131
Winner
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network Fox
Announcers Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip
Nielsen Ratings 3.7/8 (Overnight)[11]
4.1/9 (Final)[12]
6.8 million viewers[12]
Radio in the United States
Radio PRN
Booth Announcers Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini
Turn Announcers Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4)

Kurt Busch won the pole for the race and led 62 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish. Kevin Harvick led a race high of 131 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish. There were 28 lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as three caution flag periods for 13 laps.

This was the 76th career victory for Johnson, first of the season, fifth at Atlanta Motor Speedway and 14th at the track for Hendrick Motorsports. It moved Johnson up to sixth in the points standings. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Chevrolet left Atlanta trailing by three-points to Toyota in the manufacturer standings.

The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

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Background

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Atlanta Motor Speedway, the track where the race was held.

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.

Denny Hamlin entered as the points leader with a five-point lead over Martin Truex Jr.[13] Kyle Busch entered third, six points back.[14] Kevin Harvick entered fourth, eight points back. Carl Edwards entered fifth, nine points back.

Entry list

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The entry list for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was released on Tuesday, February 23 at 4:34 p.m. Eastern time. Thirty-nine cars were entered for the race, the smallest field for a Sprint Cup Series race since the 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400, the last Cup Series race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway.[15] It was also the fewest cars entered for a Cup Series race since 1993.[16] The three driver changes for this weekend's race were Ty Dillon taking over the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, Jeffrey Earnhardt driving the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford and Michael McDowell returning to the seat of the No. 95 Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet.

No. Driver Team Manufacturer
1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford
3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford
7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet
14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet
16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford
18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford
22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford
23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota
24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet
31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
32 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford
34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford
38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford
41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet
47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota
83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet
98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet
Official entry list

First practice

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Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.740 and a speed of 192.902 mph (310.446 km/h).[17]

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.740 192.902
2 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.904 191.807
3 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.030 190.975
Official first practice results

Qualifying

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Kurt Busch scored the pole for the race.

Kurt Busch won the pole for the race with a time of 28.938 and a speed of 191.582 mph (308.321 km/h) after brother Kyle Busch had his time disallowed for a post-tech violation.[18] The rear toe of the car – the degree to which the vertical angle of the rear wheels are skewed – was over the .15 degree maximum allowed after pre-inspection.[19] NASCAR Senior Vice-president of Competition and Racing Development Scott Miller said that teams had "asked for it," NASCAR "instituted it" and the No. 18 car "didn't pass. The others [that went through tech] passed."[19]

After scoring his 20th career pole, Kurt said that it was "an awesome run that the car had in it. The team did a good job to dial it in for the three rounds. I was just trying to make sure I didn’t slip a tire any extra. It’s really easy to overdrive Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track challenges the driver, the car and the tires. It’s a fun place to come and try to lay down a lap. Overall, with the way the developments came up from tech inspection this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to apply their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs.”[20]

After being bumped up to the front row, Jamie McMurray said that he was "really proud of everyone at the entire shop. When you come to a 1.5-mile track you're really depending on your car. And our 1.5-mile program last year wasn't where it needed to be. They put a lot of effort into it. Like I said during Speedweeks and all the offseason, this is where you really need to be good. The No. 42 car (teammate Kyle Larson) was fast in practice. He got really loose, it looked like, in his qualifying laps. But then, we were really good as well. So I'm proud of the effort by everybody on the McDonald's Chevrolet. We're off to a good start at the 1.5-mile tracks, which is critical."[21]

After his best qualifying performance on a non-restrictor plate track, Trevor Bayne said that his team is "really looking forward to this low-downforce package, as we've talked about over the offseason. We felt like our best races were at the low downforce tracks, Kentucky and Darlington, so everybody that's wondering what's going on at Roush Fenway Racing -- a lot of hard work and a lot of attention to detail. We had a meeting last week talking about execution. Everybody's intentions are right. Everybody wants to go fast. Everybody wants to win races, but now we've got to execute and make sure we make these fast Fords last."[21]

Adam Stevens, crew chief of the No. 18 car, explained that "parts move — everything moves — so you expect it to be a little bit different, but the first opportunity we’ve had to gather post information was right now, and it’s game time and it was too much. We were perfectly legal beforehand, which obviously or we wouldn’t have qualified. Just the amount of load on the track moves everything a little bit and that little bit was a little bit too much.”[22]

Qualifying results

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Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer R1 R2 R3
1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.930 28.930 28.938
2 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.092 28.900 29.159
3 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.856 29.111 29.181
4 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.070 29.018 29.185
5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.130 29.086 29.200
6 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.147 29.095 29.213
7 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.969 28.956 29.215
8 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.031 28.945 29.228
9 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 29.044 29.022 29.277
10 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.025 29.096 29.397
11 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.068 29.054 29.616
12 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.110 29.120
13 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.992 29.139
14 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.206 29.151
15 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 29.126 29.156
16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.195 29.207
17 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 29.254 29.311
18 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.153 29.312
19 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.241 29.366
20 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.897 29.377
21 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.155 29.378
22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.048 29.390
23 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 29.215 29.576
24 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.273
25 10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.321
26 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.327
27 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.401
28 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.485
29 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.515
30 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 29.585
31 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.628
32 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 29.822
33 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 29.842
34 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.868
35 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 29.887
36 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 30.124
37 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 30.160
38 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 30.669
39 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.681 29.031
Official qualifying results
Official starting lineup

Final practice

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Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.419 and a speed of 188.450 mph (303.281 km/h).[23]

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.419 188.450
2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 29.454 188.226
3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.600 187.297
Official final practice results

Race

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Jimmie Johnson won the race.

First half

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Start

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Under clear blue Georgia skies, Kurt Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:17 p.m. He pulled to a one-second lead after 15 laps. After 30 laps, Martin Truex Jr. caught up to the bumper Busch. He began to lose ground and got passed for second by Matt Kenseth. Kevin Harvick made an unscheduled stop on lap 40 for a flat right-front tire. Being near the end of the fuel window, a number of cars began hitting pit road. Busch gave up the lead to pit on lap 40 and gave the lead to Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Carl Edwards who also pitted that lap. Kyle Busch assumed the lead. He pitted on lap 42 and handed the lead to Cole Whitt. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Kurt Busch. Josh Wise was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.

By lap 60, Kenseth caught up to Busch and began battling him for the lead. Going into turn 1, Kenseth dove underneath Busch and took the lead on lap 65. He began putting distance between himself and Busch after three laps. A number of cars began pitting around lap 78 including race leader Kenseth. This handed the lead to Kurt Busch. He pitted on lap 80 and the lead cycled to Jimmie Johnson.

Second quarter

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Kenseth took back the lead from Johnson on lap 85. Johnson began falling back through the running order being on older tires. After 30 laps, Kurt Busch began running down Kenseth. A number of cars began hitting pit road on lap 113. While that was happening, Harvick drove by Kenseth to take the lead on lap 117. He hit pit road the next lap and retained the lead. Kenseth was tagged for "improper fueling" and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.[24] He was given the black flag with the white cross marks for not pitting within three laps.[24] After eventually serving the penalty, he ended up in 31st two-laps down.[24] He said after the race that he "got black-flagged for some type of pit road penalty and I didn’t know it and pitted the lap they told me to do a pass through – I’m assuming they were black flagging us before that and they pulled our card. I never heard anything about it or at least saw the flag or anything, so I came when they told me to come and I guess they must have penalized us a couple laps or something. I don’t really know. I haven’t really seen it.”[24] Team owner Joe Gibbs said after the race that he thought "we’ve been doing that for a long time, and I was just curious when that change came. So if we missed something on the change, that’s what I was trying to find out. When did that come out and when they did change it because our guys have been laying it there for a long time.”[25] Wise was also tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty. After all that, Truex took over the race lead.

Harvick passed Truex for the lead on lap 136. A number of cars began pitting on lap 150. Harvick hit pit road on lap 151 and the lead cycled to Truex. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson were tagged for a commitment line violation and were forced to serve a pass-through penalty.

Second half

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Halfway

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Harvick took back the lead from Truex on lap 162. Regan Smith was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty. A number of cars began pitting on lap 183. Harvick hit pit road on lap 184 and handed the lead to Johnson. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Kyle Busch. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Harvick. Debris on the backstretch brought out the first caution of the race on lap 210.[26] Whitt was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and Aric Almirola was tagged for an uncontrolled tire. Both were forced to restart the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted with 108 laps to go. Harvick pitted with 80 laps to go and retained the lead.

Fourth quarter

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Truex passed Harvick for the lead with 68 laps to go.[27] Harvick passed him back for the lead with 67 laps to go.[27] Truex took back the lead with 65 laps to go.[27] A number of cars began pitting with 49 laps to go. Harvick hit pit road with 40 laps to go and handed the lead to Kyle Busch. Johnson cycled to the lead. Ryan Newman was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.

Going into the final 40 laps, Johnson had a 12-second lead over Harvick. With 20 to go, Harvick cut the deficit to half. With three laps to go and Harvick about 5 seconds behind, Ryan Newman spun on the front stretch, bringing out the day's second caution and forcing an overtime finish. The entire field went into the pits for new tires, and Johnson remained in the lead after returning to the track. The race ended under caution after the day's only wreck took four cars out.[28] Almirola, who was caught in the wreck, said that it was "not the finish that we had hoped for. This race was a game in tire management. The tire fall off caused our tires to slide all over the track and made it incredibly difficult to keep the car on the bottom. Once we fell a lap down, it was so hard to get back on the lead lap with how challenging it was to pass in a loose car. But we ran in the Top-20 all afternoon, and we had a competitive car. It was disappointing to have a wreck on the last lap, especially with how hard our team worked, but I know that we’ll be able to bounce back next week in Las Vegas.”[28] Johnson was in the lead at the caution and scored his 76th career victory.[29]

Post-race

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Driver comments

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The win tied Johnson with Dale Earnhardt for seventh on NASCAR's all-time wins list.[30] He said in victory lane that it was "such an honor. With the chaos at the end, with the crash and the overtime and how it works these days, I kind of lost sight of that. I remembered on my victory lap, and I had to come down and throw a 3 out the window to pay respects to the man. There's a huge void in my career that I was never able to race with him, but at least I was able to tie his record there."[31]

After finishing runner-up, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that he felt that his performance "was great because of how we did last week in Daytona. It was critical for us to rebound. Two terrible finishes in a row would put us in such a deep hole points-wise, and what if we could struggle through the year and come close but not win any races? We don't need to cut it close on points. I know we really don't worry about points racing anymore, but when you start the year with two bad runs, you start counting points."[32]

Speaking on the lower-downforce package after a fifth-place finish, Edwards said that NASCAR needs "to keep taking more. This is real racing. We’re driving hard. You can see the guys out here just digging for everything they’re worth. I’m worn out. That’s a tough race and just a lot of fun. I just can’t thank NASCAR enough and Atlanta – don’t ever pave this place – it’s a perfect race track. I hope the fans enjoyed the show. The thing is, just know that in that car we’re driving as hard as we can.”[33]

After leading the most laps in a race at Atlanta for the third straight year, Harvick stumbled on the final restart and finished sixth.[34] He said afterwards that his car "had issues about the last three runs. I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling. And then we had a slow pit stop there. We got way behind and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was way out front and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up. We just didn’t execute today but everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Chevrolet hung in there all day and we’ll keep at it.”[35]

Penalties

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On the Wednesday after the race, NASCAR issued a number of penalties to the following teams:

  • The No. 78 team was issued a P3 penalty for issues with the roof flap in pre-race inspection.[36] As a result, crew chief Cole Pearn was issued a one-race suspension and a 50-thousand dollar fine.[36] Martin Truex Jr. was also docked 15-points.[36]
  • The No. 3, No. 27, No. 31, No. 47 and No. 95 teams were all docked 10-points for P2 violations.[37]

Race results

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Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 330 44
2 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 330 39
3 39 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 330 39
4 1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 330 38
5 7 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 330 37
6 6 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 330 37
7 9 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 330 20
8 24 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 330 33
9 17 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 330 32
10 5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 330 31
11 8 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 330 20
12 26 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 330 29
13 14 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 329 28
14 15 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 329 27
15 27 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 328 26
16 12 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 328 25
17 18 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 328 0
18 21 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 328 13
19 13 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 328 23
20 25 10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 328 21
21 2 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 328 20
22 3 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 328 19
23 11 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 328 18
24 4 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 328 7
25 23 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 328 16
26 20 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 327 15
27 22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 326 4
28 31 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 326 13
29 35 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 326 12
30 34 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 325 11
31 10 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 324 10
32 33 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 323 9
33 32 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 323 –2
34 30 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 323 7
35 28 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 322 6
36 29 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 321 5
37 36 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 318 5
38 38 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) GoFas Racing Ford 313 3
39 37 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 312 2
Official race results

Race summary

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  • Lead changes: 28
  • Cautions/Laps: 3 for 13
  • Red flags: 0
  • Time of race: 3 hours, 15 minutes and 38 seconds
  • Average speed: 155.863 miles per hour (250.837 km/h)

Media

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Television

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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.

Fox
Booth announcers Pit reporters
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy
Color commentator: Jeff Gordon
Color commentator: Darrell Waltrip
Jamie Little
Vince Welch
Matt Yocum

Radio

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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 Steve Richards.

PRN
Booth announcers Turn announcers Pit reporters
Lead announcer: Doug Rice
Announcer: Mark Garrow
Announcer: Wendy Venturini
Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright
Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson
Brad Gillie
Brett McMillan
Jim Noble
Steve Richards

Standings after the race

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References

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  1. ^ "2016 schedule" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. January 26, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  2. ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  3. ^ "Entry List". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 23, 2016. Archived from the original on February 26, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  4. ^ "First Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 26, 2016. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  5. ^ "Qualifying Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 26, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  6. ^ "Starting Lineup". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 26, 2016. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  7. ^ "Final Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 27, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  8. ^ "Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. February 28, 2016. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  9. ^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 29, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  10. ^ "Manufacturer standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 29, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  11. ^ Paulsen (February 29, 2016). "NASCAR Atlanta Overnights Lowest For Second Race of Season on FOX". SportsMediaWatch.com. Sports Media Watch. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Paulsen (March 4, 2016). "NASCAR's Second Race of Season Hits 16-Year Low". SportsMediaWatch.com. Sports Media Watch. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  13. ^ Pistone, Pete (February 21, 2016). "Hamlin Wins Closest Daytona 500". MRN.com. Daytona Beach, Florida: Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  14. ^ Ullery, Rob (February 21, 2016). "Year after missing Daytona 500 with injury, Kyle Busch finishes 3rd". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, Florida: GateHouse Media. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  15. ^ Jeff Gluck [@@jeff_gluck] (February 26, 2016). "Will be smallest Cup field since Sept. 29, 1996 at North Wilkesboro (37 cars that day)" (Tweet). Retrieved February 26, 2016 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Pockrass, Bob (February 27, 2016). "Field of 39 cars at Atlanta smallest in nearly 20 years". ESPN.com. Hampton, Georgia: ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  17. ^ White, Tucker (February 26, 2016). "Kyle Larson leads the field in first practice at Atlanta". SpeedwayMedia.com. Hampton, Georgia: USA Today Sports Digital Properties. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  18. ^ Gluck, Jeff (February 26, 2016). "Kurt Busch gets pole after brother fails qualifying inspection at Atlanta". USA Today. Hampton, Georgia: Gannett Company. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  19. ^ a b Pockrass, Bob (February 26, 2016). "Kurt Busch takes Atlanta pole after Kyle Busch fails inspection". ESPN.com. Hampton, Georgia: ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  20. ^ White, Tucker (February 26, 2016). "Kurt Busch Wins Pole At Atlanta After Kyle Busch's Time Is Disallowed". SpeedwayMedia.com. Hampton, Georgia: USA Today Sports Digital Properties. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  21. ^ a b Spencer, Reid (February 26, 2016). "Kurt Busch on Atlanta pole after Kyle's time disallowed". NASCAR Wire Service. Hampton, Georgia: NASCAR Media Group, LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  22. ^ Turner, Jared (February 26, 2016). "One brother's loss is another's gain as Kyle Busch is stripped of Atlanta pole". Foxsports.com. Hampton, Georgia: Fox Sports Digital Media. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  23. ^ Bonkowski, Jerry (February 27, 2016). "Daytona winner Denny Hamlin fastest in final Sprint Cup practice at Atlanta". nascartalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  24. ^ a b c d Utter, Jim (February 28, 2016). "Kenseth knocked out of contention while oblivious to NASCAR penalty". Motorsport.com. Hampton, Georgia: Motorsport.com, Inc. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  25. ^ Crandall, Kelly (February 28, 2016). "Atlanta Penalty the Latest of Kenseth's Disappointments". PopularSpeed.com. Hampton, Georgia: Popular Speed. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  26. ^ White, Tucker (February 28, 2016). "Johnson Ties 'The Intimidator' With 76 Career Wins". SpeedwayMedia.com. Hampton, Georgia: USA Today Sports Digital Properties. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  27. ^ a b c Weaver, Matt (February 28, 2016). "Atlanta race harks back to the quality NASCAR racing of old". Autoweek.com. Hampton, Georgia: Crain Communications. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  28. ^ a b Buchanan, Mary Jo (February 28, 2016). "Biggest Surprise For NASCAR Drivers After Atlanta Race?". SpeedwayMedia.com. USA Today Sports Digital Properties. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  29. ^ Newberry, Paul (February 28, 2016). "Johnson earns 76th career Cup win in overtime in Atlanta". Associated Press. Hampton, Georgia: AP Sports. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  30. ^ Gluck, Jeff (February 28, 2016). "Jimmie Johnson wins at Atlanta, ties Dale Earnhardt Sr. on all-time list". USA Today. Hampton, Georgia: Gannett Company. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
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  36. ^ a b c Gluck, Jeff (March 2, 2016). "NASCAR hits Martin Truex Jr. and RCR cars with penalties". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  37. ^ Bromberg, Nick (March 2, 2016). "Truex Jr. docked 15 points, RCR cars penalized 10 points each". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved March 2, 2016.


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