Pete Pistone distributes this week’s checkered and black flags following the weekend of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Checkered Flags
Brad Keselowski
You know when you feel sick going to work is the last thing on our mind? Imagine if your job was driving a stock car for 500 miles while battling the flu. Keselowski was able to master the field in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 despite taking IV and losing five pounds due to illness.
Kurt Busch
Last week’s Daytona debut for Chip Ganassi Racing did not exactly go to form. Things were much better for Busch in Atlanta where he wheeled his Chevrolet home to a third-place finish in career Cup start number 650.
Kyle Busch
Not a bad overall weekend for the Busch boys in the ATL. Kyle became the all-time Gander Outdoors Truck Series winner with his 52nd career victory on Saturday. On Sunday he came from the back of the field in a back-up car to finish sixth.
JTG Daugherty Racing
Things went south late for Ryan Preece when he was involved in a pit road accident with BJ McLeod but otherwise it was still an impressive day for the team. Preece was in the top 10 when his incident happened and teammate Chris Buescher was able to come home with a ninth-place finish.
Daniel Suarez
A top-10 finish in his second outing for Stewart-Haas Racing is what Suarez earned Sunday in Atlanta. He also qualified fifth.
Black Flags
Hendrick Motorsports
A rough day all around for the Hendrick bunch who saw Alex Bowman’s 18th-place finish be the best of the bunch. Chase Elliott, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson, who wound up two laps down at the finish, had miserable days in Atlanta.
Michael McDowell
A promising start at Daytona and solid qualifying effort went for naught for McDowell. He experienced a number of challenges that added up to a very disappointing last place finish.
BJ McLeod
A flat tire forced him to pit road and a circuitous route into his pit stall collected Preece, who ran into the back of the No. 52 car severely damaging both vehicles.
Joey Logano
A bad qualifying performance forced him to start 27th. But despite getting to the front and actually leading 22 laps, Logano’s shot to win ended when he was forced to pit for a vibration and a loose wheel in the late going.
Saturday Doubleheader
It’s great when the Xfinity Series and Truck Series run on the same day as is done with Atlanta’s unique doubleheader. Unfortunately there’s not much that can be done when both races are punctuated by dominating performances and less than thrilling competition. You’ll have that when Christopher Bell leads 142 of 163 laps to the NXS opener and Kyle Busch paces the field for 92 of 130 laps in the Truck nightcap.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
