2017 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Race 2 of 36 in the2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Date	March 4, 2017 (2017-03-04)
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	1.54 miles (2.48 km)
Distance	325 laps, 500.5 mi (806 km)
Average speed	140.898 mph (226.753 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing
Time	29.118
Most laps led
Driver	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps	293
Winner
No. 2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy,Jeff Gordon andDarrell Waltrip
Nielsen ratings	3.6/7 (Overnight)[10] 3.8/7 (Final)[11] 6.6 million viewers[11]
Radio in the United States
Radio	PRN
Booth announcers	Doug Rice, Mark Garrow andWendy Venturini
Turn announcers	Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4)

The2017 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was aMonster Energy NASCAR Cup Seriesrace held on March 5, 2017, atAtlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Georgia. Contested over 325 laps on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the second race of the2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and the 2,500th race in the history of the Cup Series. The race was won by the #2Ford Fusion driven byBrad Keselowski forTeam Penske.

Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerlyAtlanta International Raceway) is a track inHampton, Georgia, 20 miles (32 km) south ofAtlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with aseating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46condominiums 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 theNASCAR circuit.

Ryan Newman was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.509 seconds and a speed of 187.875 mph (302.356 km/h).^[12]

Kevin Harvick scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.118 and a speed of 190.398 mph (306.416 km/h).^[13] He said in his last qualifying run, he "was able to carry more speed and do some things with the car that I wasn't able to do in the first two runs. At that point I just didn't want to screw it up, because I felt like I'd gotten to the green, which I didn't do in the second round. I got to the green good, I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 good. I just needed to hit the bottom and get that left front on the line so that it would hook and get up off the corner. That was by far the best of the three laps, and we saved it perfectly for the end."^[14]

Derrike Cope,Jeffrey Earnhardt,Michael McDowell,Cody Ware andCole Whitt failed to post a timed lap because their cars didn't pass pre-qualifying inspection in time.^[15] This was a result of new procedures that require cars that fail any station of inspection to return to the garage to make adjustments.^[16]

Chase Elliott was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.487 seconds and a speed of 188.015 mph (302.581 km/h).^[17]

Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 2:48 p.m.Joey Logano andJamie McMurray made contact exiting Turn 2, but both saved themselves from spinning and continued racing. A number of cars started pitting on lap 32. Harvick pitted on lap 38 andRyan Newman took the lead. He pitted on lap 40 and the lead cycled back to Harvick.Dale Earnhardt Jr. andMatt Kenseth were given pass through penalty's for speeding on pit road.^[18]

Ryan Blaney made an unscheduled stop for a loose right-front wheel on lap 48. Earnhardt made an unscheduled stop on lap 71 for a shredded right-rear tire. Harvick won the first stage and the first caution of the race flew for the completion of the stage.^[19]

The race restarted on lap 94.Brad Keselowski made an unscheduled stop for a tire issue on lap 117. Two laps later, teammate Logano pitted. He was cited for speeding and served a pass through penalty. Keselowski un-lapped himself on lap 125 by passing Harvick on the high side in Turn 4. The next lap, another wave of green flag stops commenced. When Harvick pitted on lap 130, the lead cycled to Keselowski.Jimmie Johnson was given a pass through penalty for speeding on pit road.^[20]

Harvick powered by Keselowski on the backstretch to retake the lead on lap 143.Denny Hamlin made an unscheduled stop on lap 161 for a vibration. After pitting, he failed to get up to speed and reported that “something is broken.” He took his car to the garage and retired from the race with a track bar issue. Harvick won the second stage and the second caution flew on lap 171 for the end of the stage.^[19]

The race restarted on lap 178. The next round of green flag pit stops started with 118 laps to go.Chase Elliott andMartin Truex Jr. were given pass through penalties for speeding.^[19]

Debris in Turn 4 brought out the third caution with 86 to go.^[19]

The race restarted with 80 to go.Gray Gaulding lost an engine in Turn 4, bringing out the fourth caution with 63 to go.^[21] Keselowski exited pit road first, but came back down pit road for a loose wheel, related to unsecure lug nuts, and Harvick assumed the lead once more.^[22]

The race restarted with 56 to go.Austin Dillon, restarting on the outside line, spun his tires and backed up the cars lined up on the outside.Clint Bowyer tagged the wall in Turn 1 and made contact withErik Jones. With 47 to go, Bowyer suffered a left-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 1, bringing out the fifth caution. Newman, who was running fourth, was sent to the tail end of the field on the restart for a crew member being over the wall too soon when he pitted.^[19]

The race restarted with 42 to go. Two laps later, Newman came back down pit road, and subsequently went to the garage, for a battery issue. He returned to the race with 19 to go, but the same issue befell teammate Dillon with 17 to go. He was told not to pit and his car stalled on the apron in Turn 2, bringing out the sixth caution with 16 to go.^[23] Harvick exited pit road as the race leader, but was cited for speeding and sent to the tail end of the field on the restart.^[24] He said after the race that he "just made a mistake that I preach all the time that you don’t need to make – (don’t) beat yourself. Then you go out and make it yourself instead of following all the things you preach. That part is hard for me to swallow.”^[25]Kyle Larson inherited the lead.^[26]

The race restarted with 11 to go. Keselowski took second from Elliott on the restart and set his sights on Larson. With seven to go, they were side-by-side for the lead, with Keselowski emerging with the lead and scoring the victory.^[27]

Keselowski said in victory lane that this victory "kind of fell in our lap at the end, and my team put it all together when it counted. They gave me a great Autotrader Ford Fusion, and we were able to get by Kyle there at the end. I knew that he wasn't going to be easy to pass. His car was great, and I was able to make the right moves to get by him."^[28]

After finishing fourth despite a poor handling car early on,Kasey Kahne said he thought in the first 50 laps '"[Oh] my god, this feels just like last year.' But then suddenly we figured out how to fix [the handling problems] and that was awesome."^[29]

Post-race inspection revealed thatA. J. Allmendinger's car had three insecure lug nuts.^[30] On the Wednesday after the race, he was docked 35 points, fined $65,000 and his crew chief Randall Burnett was suspended three races.^[31]

Stage 1Laps: 85

Stage 2Laps: 85

Stage 3Laps: 155

• Lead changes: 5 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 6 for 32
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 33 minutes and 8 seconds
• Average speed: 140.898 miles per hour (226.753 km/h)

TheFolds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried byFox in the United States.Mike Joy, five-time Atlanta winnerJeff Gordon and three-time Atlanta winnerDarrell Waltrip worked the race from the booth. Pit road was manned byJamie Little,Vince Welch andMatt Yocum.

The race was broadcast on radio by thePerformance Racing Network and simulcast onSirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow andWendy 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 Doug Turnbull.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 3 1 Kevin Harvick 90 1 2 Kurt Busch 86 (–4) 9 3 Brad Keselowski 84 (–6) 4 4 Chase Elliott 82 (–8) 2 5 Joey Logano 80 (–10) 1 6 Kyle Larson 79 (–11) 10 7 Martin Truex Jr. 67 (–23) 6 8 Ryan Blaney 63 (–27) 4 9 Kasey Kahne 63 (–27) 1 10 Trevor Bayne 58 (–32) 6 11 A. J. Allmendinger 50 (–40) 8 12 Jamie McMurray 49 (–41) 7 13 Aric Almirola 47 (–43) 9 14 Clint Bowyer 46 (–44) 5 15 Paul Menard 44 (–46) 16 16 Matt Kenseth 41 (–49) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Ford 80 2 Chevrolet 69 (–11) 3 Toyota 63 (–17) Official manufacturers' standings Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

• 2017 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
• 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• March 2017 sports events in the United States

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