Next stop Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik-Trip 500, second race of the 2016 Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR is debuting its low-downforce rules package. The so-called “low-drag” aerodynamic specifications were tested twice last year, at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Those races were won by Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, respectively. Jimmie Johnson is the defending winner of Sunday’s race and has four career victories on the mile-and-a-half Georgia oval. He’s the last driver with back-to-back Cup Series wins there, sweeping both races in 2007 en route to the second of his record five straight championships. Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers with six wins at A-M-S, the last of those coming in 2003.
Chevrolet and Toyota have combined to win the last six Cup Series races in Atlanta. Ford hasn’t gone to Victory Lane there since 2008 … Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin is bidding to become the first Cup Series driver to open a season with back-to-back victories since Matt Kenseth in 2009.