Kevin Harvick dominates, but Brad Keselowski wins Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta

Kevin Harvick has to be wondering what he needs to do to win a race at Atlanta this decade.

As he has for most of the recent Cup Series races at Atlanta, Kevin Harvick had the fastest car and led the most laps in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. He just made a mistake at the worst possible time, and Brad Keselowski was the beneficiary.

After a late caution caused by Austin Dillon’s electrical problems, Harvick led the lead lap cars back onto the track after a round of pit stops. But he was flagged for speeding on pit road, sending him to the back of the pack on the restart.

Kyle Larson took the lead after restarting in first, but Keselowski chased him down with less than 10 laps to go and went on to claim the checkered flag. Larson finished second, followed by Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott. Harvick’s furious charge back through the field simply ran out of time, leading to a ninth-place finish.

Keselowski’s first Atlanta victory in nine tries didn’t come easily. During Stage 2, the No. 2 had to make an extra pit stop with 27 laps to go, though he still managed to finish seventh. A worse gaffe occurred after Gray Gaulding blew up to force a caution with less than 63 to go. Keselowski won the race off pit road but had to return to his pit due to a loose lug nut on the left rear, sending him back out as the last car on the lead lap.

“These aren’t easy, and there’s all kinds of adversity no matter who you are,” Keselowski said to the Fox Sports crew in Victory Lane. “We had our issues with the loose wheel, but we just persevered.”

Harvick mentioned how close cars need to cut it when it comes to pit road speed at Atlanta, an assertion reinforced by the fact that there were double-digit pit road speeding penalties on the day.

Still, one ended up being more important than all the rest. Next year, maybe Harvick will have to go slower earlier because leading the most laps doesn’t seem to be the formula to ending up with his car up front at the end.

NOTES:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a miserable day in Atlanta, losing a lap early and only getting worse from there. Junior ended up finishing 30th, five laps off the pace.
Both Richard Childress cars had electrical issues, as Ryan Newman apparently had a battery go bad and Dillon had similar problems not long after to bring out the race’s final caution.
Ford has served notice to the other manufacturers early in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, with both of its premier teams — Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing — claiming victories in the first two races.
Did the rookies bounce back from a tough Daytona 500? Just a little. Erik Jones ran in the top 10 during the middle part of the race and led first-year drivers by finishing 14th. Ty Dillion ended up right behind him, while Daniel Suarez was never a factor and finished two laps down in 21st.
After wrecks aplenty at Daytona, the QuikTrip 500 was calm on the accident front. There were no cautions during the first two stages (both won by Harvick), and no multi-car incidents the entire afternoon.

Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Final Results from Atlanta

Brad Keselowski
Kyle Larson
Matt Kenseth
Kasey Kahne
Chase Elliott
Joey Logano
Kurt Busch
Martin Truex Jr.
Kevin Harvick (Stage 1 and 2 winner)
jamie McMurray
Clint Bowyer
Trevor Bayne
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Erik Jones
Ty Dillon
Kyle Busch
Danica Patrick
Ryan Blaney
Jimmie Johnson
Cole Whitt
Daniel Suarez
Landon Cassill
David Ragan
Chris Buescher
Paul Menard
A.J. Allmendinger
Aric Almirola
Matt DiBenedetto
Michael McDowell
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Reed Sorensen
Austin Dillon
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Corey Lajoie
Ryan Newman
Derrike Cope
Gray Gaulding
Denny Hamlin
Cody Ware

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