- I mean, didn't anyone else think this?

Kind of a Boring Race Right?

Boring or not, I'm giving you guys a recap of this Sunday's Atlanta 500!

3y ago
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So, a slow week in terms of racing. Only a NASCAR race to report on and, well……, it wasn’t great. This Sunday saw the Fields of Honor QuikTrip 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Another cool interesting track in terms of oval circuits because of two left hand kinks in between turns 4 and 1. Aside from the “extra corners,” the track is also old and worn. This means that the track has rough asphalt and bumps and slippery sections. The day started off with a huge race delay due to a possible cancellation of the event. This was brought on by rain Saturday night into Sunday morning. If you did plan on watching the race but didn’t because they took forever to start the race, don’t worry; you didn’t miss anything good. The coolest bit was randomly seeing Keenan Thompson from, "SNL," tell the drivers to start their engines. Don't believe me?

That's him.

That's him.

Here's a quick recap:

#41 Busch took pole but couldn’t quite hang on to the lead. #4 Harvick is almost always leading the race, won Stage 1 and the race because of it. #2 Keselowski fought for the lead multiple times and ended up winning Stage 2. The podium saw #4 Harvick in 1st, #2 Keselowski in 2nd, and #14 Bowyer in 3rd. I'll explain the key trick that Harvick used to win this race soon, but first and foremost Harvick kept his pace and when the herd thinned out, this is where we see Harvick never lose his momentum Harvick finally got his win.

#4 never lost his speed, that's what NASCAR's all about. // Fox Sports

#4 never lost his speed, that's what NASCAR's all about. // Fox Sports

What’s cool about this win is how Harvick obtained it. Like mentioned before, this circuit is sketchy, and definitely requires a concentrated driver at the wheel. There are very specific lines that you have to take around turns. The bumps will throw you off and there’s slippery spots you can’t put wheels on. A driver under pressure or just carelessly fast will get himself some wasteful wheelspin. What Harvick realized and managed was that slow and steady is more easily applied here than anywhere else. The first laps see drivers getting wheelspin and off-balance because they’re too rough on the gas and how they move their cars around each other mid corners. Harvick used this info AND followed it through to the end. It seems like everyone understood this in some sense at some point though, as we didn’t really have any major incidents this race. We got #48 Johnson spinning out at turn 2 but ended up placing 27, and only two DNF’s. #23 Gaulding hit the wall and got steering problems, and then #6 Bayne’s engine blew up. Aaaaaaaannnnnndd……..that’s it guys.

After Keenan, this was the next coolest thing that happened this Sunday. //Fox Sports

After Keenan, this was the next coolest thing that happened this Sunday. //Fox Sports

I know, not much. Here’s the new standings:

Logano is leading the championship with a solid 89 points being followed by Blaney with 83. The rest of the pack is following close behind with Hamlin @ 77pts, Harvick @ 75pts, Bowyer @ 74pts, and Dillon @ 70 pts. Only the second race and already some tight action. Let’s hope it stays that way.

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