5 Things to Watch in Atlanta

Harvick's Happy Place: One of the top drivers in the sport returns to the site of his first cup series win.

5 Things to Watch in Atlanta

by Jared Turner

After last weekend’s thrilling start to the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s on to Round Two of the 36-race campaign with the running of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway — a fast, 1.54-mile track that has been a staple of the NASCAR tour for several decades. Here are five things to watch for at AMS.

5. The Debut of the New 2019 Aero Package

This weekend marks the debut of the new 2019 rules package, which features more downforce and less horsepower as its central components. The baseline elements of the 2019 aerodynamic package are a taller 8-inch by 61-inch rear spoiler, a larger front splitter with a 2-inch overhang, and a wider radiator pan than the one used in recent seasons. The totality of these elements will add downforce to stabilize handling, which marks a break from a trend of downforce reduction from 2015-2018. A hybrid of the new rules package was used to great success in the 2018 Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and at certain tracks on the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule. “The racing is going to change,” reigning series champion Joey Logano said. “It’s going to be different when we get to Atlanta than we’ve ever had before. We don’t really know — expect the unexpected, I guess.”

4. Drivers Seeking Redemption After Daytona

A lot of drivers harbored exceedingly high hopes for the Daytona 500, only to have their day fall short of expectations. Especially for the many drivers caught up in one or more accidents in the season opener, Atlanta offers an opportunity to put Daytona behind them and really begin the season in earnest. One driver looking especially forward to Atlanta is seven-time Monster Energy Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who saw a promising first points race with new crew chief Kevin Meendering take a sudden turn for the worse due to circumstances not of his own making. Another driver who can’t get to Atlanta fast enough is Johnson’s teammate and Dawsonville, Georgia native Chase Elliott, whose Daytona 500 effort went by the wayside after he was caught up in multiple accidents. Chase, the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, hopes for better fortune this weekend at his home track.

3. Atlanta’s Notoriously Abrasive Surface

Last repaved in 1997, Atlanta Motor Speedway features one of the most abrasive racing surfaces on the entire Monster Energy Series schedule. Despite the challenges that this presents, drivers love the aging AMS surface for what it is. In fact, the track cancelled plans for a scheduled repave in March 2017 when a number drivers insisted the surface be left alone. And so it remains, aside from a repairing and resealing that occurred in early January. “The track is such a challenge for both the drivers and the teams,” Jimmie Johnson said. “I’m stoked they decided not to repave it just yet — that was a popular decision among the drivers. The surface is so abrasive that the tire falloff is so great, you will see us pitting halfway through a fuel run just to gain four or five seconds. I can’t wait to get there and slide around on the track.”

2. Kevin Harvick’s Quest For An Atlanta Repeat

Kevin Harvick jumpstarted a careersetting 2018 season by winning at Atlanta in dominant fashion. Harvick, who hadn’t won at the 1.54-mile track since capturing Monster Energy Series career win No. 1 back in 2001 in just his third career start, took the 2018 Atlanta race by 2.69 seconds over second-place Brad Keselowski. Harvick, who led 181 of 325 laps last year at Atlanta, hopes for a similar performance this weekend in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. “Atlanta has been a really good racetrack to us to be able to lead a lot of laps. We’ve won some Xfinity and Truck races there, and we’ve dominated a lot of the Cup races and just haven’t gone to Victory Lane enough,” Harvick said. “So, it’s just one of those places where we went to a tire test there in 2008 and figured some things out and nothing’s really changed since then.”

1. Mission ContinuedFor Joe Gibbs Racing

Joe Gibbs Racing opened the 2019 season in electrifying fashion with Denny Hamlin winning the Daytona 500 and JGR drivers sweeping the top three finishing positions. The organization, which continues to mourn the recent death of cofounder J.D. Gibbs, will look to continue its strong start this weekend at a track where JGR has enjoyed great success. JGR most recently triumphed at Atlanta in 2013 with Kyle Busch, the driver who finished second to Hamlin last weekend at Daytona. Hamlin scored a victory at Atlanta in 2012. Both Busch and Hamlin and their fellow teammates, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones, hope to keep the organization’s early-season momentum going. Hamlin’s first-year crew chief, Chris Gabehart, is especially eager to build on the Daytona win. “My intent is to win 35 more times, and we may fall short, but I’m going to Atlanta to get another one,” he said.