The first-ever NASCAR street race is in the books after Shane van Gisbergen stunned the motorsports world with his victory in downtown Chicago. The stars of the Cup Series were quick to praise the Supercars champion on his performance, but many of them were just as angry that they were not able to get the job done for their team. It was a wild weekend filled with rain, wrecks, and a lot of new curveballs. How quickly things can change in the world of NASCAR.
The series goes from the streets of Chicago to the high-speed oval in Atlanta. Drivers are making the switch from tight turns, concrete barriers, and racing in the rain to the familiar feeling of bump drafting on a superspeedway. The Quaker State 400 will be the second visit to Atlanta Motor Speedway this year, after Joey Logano won the Spring race over former teammate Brad Keselowski in a 1-2 finish for Ford. The only other race that saw a Mustang get to victory lane was the Coca-Cola 600 with Ryan Blaney.
Logano will not be the only driver to watch next weekend. Hendrick Motorsports swept the two races at Atlanta last year with William Byron and Chase Elliott. Kevin Harvick has three wins at Atlanta to lead all active drivers, while Keselowski and Kyle Busch have a pair of wins themselves. Harvick leads virtually every statistical category at the 1.5-mile track, including his 1,360 laps led. The next highest driver is Busch with less than half (558) of that total.
The cars will head straight to qualifying on Saturday, which may not seem important on a superspeedway, but don't let that fool you. The last two Atlanta races have been won from pole position. This race is wide open though, which is the theme in these final nine regular season races. There are still five open playoff spots available, and plenty of hungry drivers that would like to claim one.
Race weekend schedule (Eastern Standard Time)
Saturday July 8
5:35 pm - Qualifying
Sunday July 9
7:00 pm - Race
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