Loop Data Box Score
The post-race loop data for the 2024 Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway includes in-depth driver stats, average speeds, and key performance metrics from the NASCAR CUP Series race.
Quaker State 400
Sunday, September 8th, 2024
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA
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- Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
First round of NASCAR Cup Playoffs features plenty of peril
After a dramatic regular-season finale that saw Chase Briscoe charge into the Playoffs with an 11th-hour victory at Darlington Raceway, the NASCAR Cup Series begins the 10-race process of identifying a champion.
Arguably, this is the most unpredictable Playoff since NASCAR implemented the elimination format in 2014, and not just because the first race of the postseason is the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I’ll be honest, the first round is the scariest it’s been in a long time with Atlanta, a superspeedway starting us off,” said Christopher Bell, who enters the Playoffs as the No. 2 seed with 32 Playoff points. “We all know how that can go.
“And then we go to Watkins Glen, which should be a normal race track, but with the expected tire degradation with the tire change that we’ve had, it could be a Bristol-style race where people are wearing tires out really early and struggling to make laps and having to pit all of the time.
“So, that could be another wild card race. And then Bristol, I think everybody is expecting it to be more of the same as what we had in the spring. So, the first round could be very different than what we’ve seen in the past.”
Thanks to a repaving and reprofiling of the track in 2021, NASCAR has adopted a superspeedway competition package at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which produced the closest three-wide finish in the sport’s history earlier this year.
On February 25, in the second race of the season, Daniel Suarez earned his Playoff spot by 0.003 seconds over reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, with third-place Kyle Busch trailing the winner by a mere 0.007 seconds.
That was the high point of the season so far for Suarez, who has posted only one other top-five result, a fifth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. But with the Cup Series returning to Atlanta for the first Playoff race, the Trackhouse Racing driver has cause for optimism.
“It’s going to be around 20 degrees warmer than last time, so we’re going to have less grip,” said Suarez, who enters the postseason as the No. 11 seed, with six Playoff points. “So, if you were seeing cars moving around, you will see it even more.
“I believe we had a great car last time there, and we’re hoping we have even a better one there this time. We just have to continue to push, continue to work hard and focus on one race at a time.”
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson, the 2021 series champion, enters the Playoffs as the top seed with 40 Playoff points. Atlanta, however, has been problematic for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.
In five races since the repaving, Larson has a best finish of 13th and four other results of 30th or worse.
“Yeah, I don’t love seeing Atlanta in the Playoffs at all,” Larson said. “And even Watkins Glen, for that matter, just because—yes, I like those tracks, but they’re just sketchy places. But if they’re going to be in the Playoffs, I would rather them be in the first round than the second or third round.
“So, yeah, I mean I think having the bonus points and Playoff points that we’ve earned throughout the regular season is nice. But it still doesn’t guarantee anything. You still have to not run into any trouble, especially in back-to-back weeks, and hopefully you can just make it through.”
- Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart
- Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Michael McDowell
- Age: 39
- Team : No 34 - B'laster Work It Like A Pro Ford
- Owner: Bob Jenkins
- Crew Chief: Travis Peterson
- Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart with a lap of 30926 seconds, 179267 mph
- This is his fifth pole in 492 NASCAR Cup Series races
- This is his fifth pole and 13th top-10 start in 2024
- This is his second pole in 18 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Ryan Blaney (second) posted his 14th top-10 start of 2024 and his eighth in 13 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Todd Gilliland (third) posted his third top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his fifth in 27 races this season
- Josh Berry (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie
- Sunday, September 8th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Joey Logano advances in NASCAR Cup Playoffs with dramatic win at Atlanta
With a strong last-lap push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano rocketed into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an overtime victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In a two-lap shootout that sent the first Playoff race of the 2024 season six laps past the posted distance of 260 laps, Logano had the lead by more than a car-length when NASCAR called a caution on the final circuit for a mid-pack wreck behind the leader.
The victory was Logano’s second at Atlanta, his second of the season and the 34th of his career. The driver of the No. 22 Ford vaulted to fifth in the Playoff standings, but the win guaranteed him a spot in the next round.
“They just give me really fast cars on superspeedways, and we always find ourselves towards the front of them, (but) we just end up wrecking more times than not,” said Logano, who led twice for nine laps, a far cry from teammate Austin Cindric’s race-high 92.
“So, to be able to finally capitalize on a fast race car and win here in Atlanta again, I lived right over there in condo 805 for a long time (as a child racing Legend Cars), waking up dreaming of just racing on this racetrack.
“So pulling into Victory Lane here is always a special one. We had such a really good team here today. It’s awesome to get (sponsor) Autotrader into Victory Lane, and the JL Kids Crew (one of Logano’s charitable enterprises) are here today, so it’s really cool to finally win with them here.”
When NASCAR called the caution on the final lap, February Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez was inches ahead of Blaney, the defending series champion. But with the third-place finish that entailed surviving a three-car wreck on Lap 205, Blaney took over the series lead by five points over Christopher Bell, who finished fourth.
After a strong, consistent run throughout the race, Alex Bowman finished fifth, as Playoff drivers claimed nine of the top 10 positions.
The Lap 205 wreck Blaney survived proved the undoing of Martin Truex Jr. After repeated trips to pit road, Truex left the race 12 laps down and heads for next Sunday’s second Playoff race at Watkins Glen International 15th in the standings, 18 points below the current cutoff for the Round of 12.
Suarez raced beside Logano on the first lap of overtime but lost his pusher when Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain washed up the track in Turn 3 and fell back.
“No, definitely not satisfied,” Suarez said of the second-place result. “I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it.
“Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But that is part of racing, right?”
The race was incident-free for the first 55 laps, but on the 56th circuit, calamity struck top-seeded Kyle Larson and fellow Playoff driver Chase Briscoe.
As cars at the front of the field were exiting Turn 2 on Lap 56, Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet, running third, broke loose and shot into the outside wall at roughly 160 mph.
As the car rebounded off the SAFER barrier and slid sideways in the middle of the track, Briscoe’s Ford slammed into Larson’s Camaro, ripping the left front quarter panel off the No. 14 Mustang.
Both Larson and Briscoe exited the race, in 37th and 38th, respectively, and scored one point each for their efforts on Sunday.
“I’m OK,” Larson said after leaving the infield care center. “Thankfully, everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it.
“I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner, and it just stepped out. I don’t know, it all just happened really fast.”
Briscoe, who earned his Playoff spot with a victory a week earlier at Darlington Raceway, leaves Atlanta below the current cut line with a win-or-bust mentality.
“It was a big hit, one of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time,” Briscoe said. “I’m glad I’m all right, and we just have to go win. That’s what we had to do at Darlington, and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”
Larson leaves Atlanta in 10th place, 15 points above the current cut line for the Round of 12. Briscoe is 16th in the standings, 20 points on the wrong side of the equation.
Regular-season champion Tyler Reddick came home sixth, overcoming issues on pit road. Non-Playoff driver Kyle Busch finished seventh after leading 24 laps in the final stage. Chase Elliott was eighth, followed by William Byron and Cindric.
Collected in the last-lap wreck, Playoff driver Harrison Burton finished 31st and is 15 points behind Ty Gibbs, who finished 17th after leading 37 laps and is 12th in the standings. Brad Keselowski ran 19th and is tied with Gibbs.
Denny Hamlin ran at the back of the pack throughout the race and was collected in the last-lap wreck, finishing 24th. He heads for Watkins Glen 11th in the standings, a mere two points ahead of Keselowski.
- Drivers Entered: 38
- Laps Scheduled: 260
- Laps Actual: 266 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
- Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
- Time of Race: 3 Hours 6 Minutes 12 Seconds
- Average Speed: 132.000
- Cautions: 24 for 14 laps
- Lead Changes: 24
- Green Flag Passes: 8,963 (35.6 passes per green flag lap)
- Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart
- Race Winner: Joey Logano
- Age: 34
- Team : No 22 - Autotrader Ford
- Owner: Roger Penske
- Crew Chief: Paul Wolfe
- Joey Logano won the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart, his 34th victory in 570 Cup Series races
- This is his second victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2024
- This is his second victory and eighth top-10 finish in 22 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Daniel Suarez (second) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 12 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his seventh top-10 finish in 2024
- Ryan Blaney (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 13 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Carson Hocevar (16th) was the highest finishing rookie
- Ryan Blaney leads the point standings by 5 points over Christopher Bell
| DRIVER | ST | MID | CLO | FIN | HI | LOW | ARP | PL DIF | GFP | GFxP | PD | QPS | % QPS | FST | % T15 | LED | % LED | LAPS | DR | TOT PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Logano | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 8.8 | 6 | 339 | 344 | -5 | 292 | 86.14 | 2 | 89.5 | 9 | 3.4 | 266 | 107.00 | 47 |
| Daniel Suarez | 30 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 11.9 | 28 | 354 | 309 | 45 | 247 | 69.77 | 6 | 69.6 | 9 | 3.4 | 266 | 102.10 | 42 |
| Ryan Blaney | 2 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 32 | 6.0 | -1 | 286 | 262 | 24 | 223 | 77.97 | 6 | 89.9 | 33 | 12.4 | 266 | 119.70 | 53 |
| Christopher Bell | 26 | 22 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 17.3 | 22 | 328 | 277 | 51 | 133 | 40.55 | 10 | 38.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 84.60 | 34 |
| Alex Bowman | 11 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 5.2 | 6 | 356 | 351 | 5 | 334 | 93.82 | 2 | 100.0 | 5 | 1.9 | 266 | 115.90 | 48 |
| Tyler Reddick | 23 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 35 | 17.8 | 17 | 320 | 282 | 38 | 120 | 37.50 | 4 | 34.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 79.20 | 31 |
| Kyle Busch | 15 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 11.7 | 8 | 287 | 290 | -3 | 210 | 73.17 | 5 | 66.2 | 24 | 9.0 | 266 | 92.50 | 30 |
| Chase Elliott | 16 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 8.7 | 8 | 330 | 321 | 9 | 311 | 94.24 | 5 | 98.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 97.20 | 36 |
| William Byron | 9 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 5.6 | 0 | 299 | 302 | -3 | 293 | 97.99 | 2 | 100.0 | 2 | 0.8 | 266 | 104.80 | 37 |
| Austin Cindric | 5 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 24 | 7.3 | -5 | 220 | 215 | 5 | 154 | 70.00 | 5 | 84.2 | 92 | 34.6 | 266 | 109.70 | 46 |
| Daniel Hemric | 14 | 20 | 23 | 11 | 4 | 33 | 20.4 | 3 | 275 | 277 | -2 | 31 | 11.27 | 7 | 19.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 69.20 | 26 |
| Justin Haley | 29 | 15 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 31 | 17.3 | 17 | 363 | 346 | 17 | 141 | 38.84 | 6 | 41.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 78.00 | 25 |
| Ross Chastain | 18 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 25 | 6.6 | 5 | 299 | 290 | 9 | 280 | 93.65 | 5 | 97.0 | 13 | 4.9 | 266 | 101.70 | 33 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 27 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 34 | 14.5 | 13 | 328 | 293 | 35 | 213 | 64.94 | 4 | 63.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 89.50 | 34 |
| Corey Lajoie | 25 | 23 | 13 | 15 | 9 | 29 | 20.3 | 10 | 295 | 308 | -13 | 62 | 21.02 | 4 | 20.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 65.50 | 22 |
| Carson Hocevar | 32 | 34 | 26 | 16 | 2 | 36 | 29.9 | 16 | 124 | 128 | -4 | 0 | 0.00 | 14 | 0.8 | 1 | 0.4 | 266 | 52.10 | 21 |
| Ty Gibbs | 20 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 34 | 11.7 | 3 | 272 | 249 | 23 | 178 | 65.44 | 6 | 71.1 | 37 | 13.9 | 266 | 91.20 | 23 |
| Ryan Preece | 21 | 29 | 21 | 18 | 1 | 38 | 28.9 | 3 | 161 | 179 | -18 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 1.5 | 2 | 0.8 | 266 | 46.00 | 19 |
| Brad Keselowski | 19 | 9 | 17 | 19 | 6 | 36 | 18.6 | 0 | 322 | 314 | 8 | 124 | 38.51 | 6 | 28.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 71.60 | 18 |
| Austin Dillon | 8 | 17 | 22 | 20 | 5 | 32 | 19.1 | -12 | 274 | 304 | -30 | 74 | 27.01 | 5 | 25.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 62.40 | 17 |
| Zane Smith | 34 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 9 | 34 | 26.1 | 13 | 232 | 252 | -20 | 4 | 1.72 | 11 | 1.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 50.90 | 16 |
| Michael McDowell | 1 | 25 | 16 | 22 | 1 | 34 | 13.6 | -21 | 276 | 304 | -28 | 140 | 50.72 | 5 | 58.3 | 30 | 11.3 | 266 | 73.80 | 15 |
| JJ Yeley | 37 | 36 | 29 | 23 | 2 | 38 | 33.2 | 14 | 50 | 77 | -27 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 36.60 | 0 |
| Denny Hamlin | 38 | 32 | 30 | 24 | 2 | 38 | 30.8 | 14 | 91 | 119 | -28 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 39.80 | 13 |
| BJ McLeod | 36 | 31 | 31 | 25 | 1 | 36 | 32.1 | 11 | 67 | 84 | -17 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1.1 | 1 | 0.4 | 266 | 36.90 | 0 |
| Erik Jones | 33 | 12 | 32 | 26 | 5 | 35 | 23.2 | 7 | 272 | 244 | 28 | 101 | 37.13 | 9 | 24.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 53.70 | 11 |
| Todd Gilliland | 3 | 10 | 10 | 27 | 3 | 30 | 13.3 | -24 | 298 | 333 | -35 | 217 | 72.82 | 4 | 68.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 72.00 | 10 |
| Josh Berry | 4 | 30 | 27 | 28 | 3 | 36 | 23.6 | -24 | 103 | 152 | -49 | 36 | 34.95 | 5 | 25.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 45.20 | 9 |
| Bubba Wallace | 24 | 28 | 20 | 29 | 1 | 34 | 18.6 | -5 | 263 | 252 | 11 | 56 | 21.29 | 9 | 24.4 | 8 | 3.0 | 266 | 54.00 | 8 |
| Cody Ware | 31 | 35 | 28 | 30 | 17 | 38 | 31.4 | 1 | 94 | 141 | -47 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 266 | 34.40 | 7 |
| Harrison Burton | 12 | 14 | 18 | 31 | 8 | 31 | 16.4 | -19 | 323 | 337 | -14 | 153 | 47.37 | 5 | 47.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 265 | 62.20 | 6 |
| Shane van Gisbergen | 28 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 19 | 37 | 31.2 | -4 | 121 | 125 | -4 | 0 | 0.00 | 12 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 264 | 40.30 | 0 |
| John Hunter Nemechek | 35 | 24 | 34 | 33 | 20 | 36 | 29.5 | 2 | 163 | 156 | 7 | 0 | 0.00 | 6 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 262 | 36.20 | 4 |
| Noah Gragson | 13 | 26 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 36 | 23.3 | -21 | 298 | 315 | -17 | 55 | 18.46 | 8 | 9.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 258 | 45.10 | 3 |
| Martin Truex Jr | 22 | 16 | 35 | 35 | 8 | 35 | 20.1 | -13 | 204 | 164 | 40 | 122 | 59.80 | 4 | 41.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 254 | 50.80 | 4 |
| Chris Buescher | 17 | 19 | 36 | 36 | 7 | 35 | 24.7 | -19 | 188 | 198 | -10 | 45 | 23.94 | 7 | 13.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 205 | 52.50 | 1 |
| Kyle Larson | 6 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 1 | 6 | 30.0 | -31 | 54 | 51 | 3 | 54 | 100.00 | 3 | 20.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 55 | 64.40 | 1 |
| Chase Briscoe | 10 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 5 | 16 | 32.3 | -28 | 34 | 38 | -4 | 34 | 100.00 | 1 | 20.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 55 | 48.80 | 1 |