The 2018 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

race held on February 25, 2018, at

Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (currently known as EchoPark Speedway for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as the Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Hampton, Georg ...

Hampton, Georgia Hampton is a city in southwestern Henry County, Georgia, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 8,368. It is a southeastern suburb in the Atlanta metropolitan area. History The city was once known as "Bear Creek" or "Bear Cre ...

. Contested over 325 laps on the asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the second race of the

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series file:William byron (40178678380).jpg, William Byron (racing driver), William Byron the 2018 NASCAR Rookie of the Year file:Joey logano burnout (48070037412).jpg, Ford Motor Company, Ford won the List of NASCAR Manufacturers' champions, Manuf ...

season.

Report

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a track in

, south of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. It is a quad-oval track with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a standard oval. In 1994, 46

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 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 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

circuit.

Entry list

First practice

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.745 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 30.024 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Final practice

Ryan Newman was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.989 seconds and a speed of .

Race

Morning rain delayed the start of the race by 2.5 hours, The race was originally to start at 2:00 p.m. but the race was pushed to 1:00 p.m. because of rain, Track drying allowed the start of the race to begin at 3:30 pm EST. Because of track lights they were able to complete the race in its entirety.

Stage 1

Start

Once racing began,

led the field to the green flag, but Ryan Newman took the lead on lap 1 and led 17 laps, but then

took the lead from Newman on lap 18 and led 2 laps, but then

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

took the lead on lap 21 and led 11 laps, but then the first caution of the race flew on lap 32 for a scheduled competition caution for rain, so

retook the lead once the caution came out and led one lap and

took the lead of the race on lap 33. Racing resumed on lap 35.

led 64 laps en route to his stage one victory, finishing 6.5 seconds in front of second place

Clint Bowyer Clinton Aaron Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado ...

. Also in the top five was

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, a te ...

Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Camry XSE for Tricon Garage. He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series ...

, and

Aric Almirola Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Almirola previously compete ...

. The second caution of the race came out on lap 87 for conclusion of the first stage, and

took the lead on lap 89 and led one lap, but then

took the lead from Truex on lap 90.

Stage 2

Back to green on lap 93.

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

took the lead on lap 101 and led 25 laps and

took the lead on lap 126 and led two laps, and

took the lead on lap 127. Caution flew for the third time on lap 160 for a single car spin in turn 2.

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

got through the second turn and spun out. He was lapped by leader

. Racing restarted on lap 164.

outran

to win the second stage. Following were

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No.22 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for NASCAR operations of Tea ...

and

. Caution #4 flew on lap 172 for conclusion of the second stage.

Final stage

Back to green on lap 178.

took the lead with 101 laps to go and rain threatened to end the race with about 100 laps to go, as three drivers including

and

wrestled to take the lead. Crew chiefs were concerned about watching the weather. The final stage developed in strategies as the teams of

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...

and

ran in green flag pit stops than other leaders, attempting to use one less stop as the other cars. With 27 laps to go, the fifth caution of the race came out when

Trevor Bayne Trevor Mitchell Bayne (born February 19, 1991) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, Dirt track racing, dirt racing driver, team owner, and businessman. He is currently a pit reporter for NASCAR on Prime Video, ''NASCAR ...

blew an engine in Turn 2, creating a plume of smoke behind him. Darrell Wallace Jr. slammed in the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which caused damage to Wallace Jr.'s car. Racing restarted with 20 laps to go, and

led 173 of 325 laps and drove on to score his second career Atlanta victory since 2001.

Post race

"To be able to pay tribute to

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

was cool, been waiting a long time to do that" Harvick said.

Stage Results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 85 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 85

Final Stage Results

Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 155

Race statistics

* 24 lead changes among 8 drivers * 5 cautions for 28 laps * Time of race: 3 hours, 29 minutes and 54 seconds * Average speed: * Margin of victory: 2.690 seconds

Media

Television

The

Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 The Ambetter Health 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Christopher Bell (racing driver), Christopher Bell is the defending race winner. This race was originally Atlanta ...

was carried by

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

in the United States.

Mike Joy Michael Kinsey Joy is an American TV sports announcer and businessman who serves as the play-by-play commentator for Fox Sports' NASCAR coverage. His color analysts are Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Joy has been part of the live broadcast cre ...

, five-time Atlanta winner

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

and three-time Atlanta winner

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports Color analyst, analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NAS ...

worked the race from the booth. Pit road was manned by

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter and play by play announcer for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting du ...

Vince Welch Vincent Welch (born August 4, 1964) is an American radio and television personality most recently for Fox Sports. Until 2022, Welch was the play-by-play commentator for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and occasionally, a pit reporter for FOX' ...

and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for ESPN as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2023 as well as for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for the ...

Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the

Performance Racing Network The Performance Racing Network or PRN for short is a radio syndication network controlled by Speedway Motorsports (SMI) founded in 1981. PRN airs NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events held at Speedway Motorsports owned tracks. PRN fi ...

and simulcast on

Sirius XM NASCAR Radio The following is a list of channels on Sirius XM and Sirius XM Canada. There are over 150 full-time channels on Sirius XM, over 140 of which are on Sirius XM Canada. Not included are channels that are specifically used for live sports programmin ...

. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and

Wendy Venturini Wendy Venturini (born January 30, 1979) is an American reporter for the Performance Racing Network (PRN). She works as broadcaster for NASCAR Cup Series races and sometimes as a pit reporter for races on PRN. She had been a pit reporter in the NA ...

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.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, 2018 2018 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state) 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway February 2018 sports events in the United States