Quaker State 400 (Atlanta)

Quaker State 400
NASCAR Cup Series
Venue	Atlanta Motor Speedway
Corporate sponsor	Quaker State, Walmart
First race	July 30, 1960
Distance	400.4 mi (644.244 km)
Laps	260; Stage 1: 60; Final 2 stages: 100 each
Previous names	Atlanta 500 (1960–1980); Coca-Cola 500 (1981–1985); Motorcraft 500 (1986); Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 (1987–1993); Purolator 500 (1994–1996); Primestar 500 (1997–1998); Cracker Barrel 500 (1999); Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 (2000–2001); MBNA America 500 (2002); Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (2003); Golden Corral 500 (2004–2006); Kobalt Tools 500 (2007–2010)

The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races held at the Atlanta track every season, with the Dixie 500, being the second and run at various times (originally November, later October and currently the second race of the season), now run as the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

The race was 500.5 miles (805.5 km) in length. In August 2010, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced that they would no longer run the spring race, instead choosing to focus on the Labor Day weekend race at the track beginning in 2011.[1] The end of the Atlanta 500 permitted the addition of a race at Kentucky Speedway starting in 2011, primarily from litigation by Kentucky's former owners and a settlement of that trial.

On September 30, 2020, Speedway Motorsports announced Kentucky would lose its Cup race and the event be moved back to Atlanta, to be held July 11, 2021.[2] The race will only be 400 miles (260 laps), owing to Shell's prior sponsorship agreements and the first since 1966 to be held at the track at 400.4 miles (644.4 km). When the start times for all of NASCAR's events were announced, due to recommendation by fans and the track, the event will be held under the lights in 2023, and will be the playoff debut race in 2024.

Notable races

1960: The first race at Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) was won by Bobby Johns in a 1960 Pontiac.
1961: Bob Burdick led 44 laps to his only career Grand National win. Polesitter Marvin Panch led 127 laps but faded to sixth, while Fred Lorenzen led 87 laps but fell out with engine failure. Rookie Bobby Allison finished 37th.
1964: Lorenzen led the last 168 laps and 206 in all to a two-lap win amid an epidemic of tire failures and resultant crashes; Paul Goldsmith led the first 54 laps but blew a tire, smashed the guardrail, and flipped over.
1966: Jim Hurtubise led the final 58 laps to his only career Grand National win.
1971: A. J. Foyt outdueled Richard Petty for his fifth career win.
1972: Bobby Allison posted the first win for Chevrolet on a superspeedway since the 1960s, as he held off a strong challenge from Foyt and Bobby Isaac.
1974: Cale Yarborough grabbed the lead when David Pearson pitted under green and was trapped by an ill-timed yellow; the race was shortened to 450 miles (720 km) due to the energy crisis.
1975: After winning the Dixie 500 four times, Richard Petty edged Buddy Baker for his first Atlanta 500 win.
1976: Pearson lost a lap early and spent 225 laps getting it back before winning. Yarborough lost four laps on a green-flag stop and got three of them back to finish third.
1977: Richard Petty, David Pearson, and Cale Yarborough finished 1–2–3 as they combined to lead all 328 laps. Yarborough finished third after his brakes wore out and at times he had to be stopped by Richard Childress' car on pit road. Only two yellows flew.
1979: Buddy Baker caught a late yellow, got four tires, and won in a late sprint, his first win since 1976.
1980: Sophomore Dale Earnhardt took the lead with 30 to go after Cale Yarborough broke while chasing down Bobby Allison. USAC stock car racer Rusty Wallace finished a strong second. Donnie Allison crashed out of the lead with sophomore Terry Labonte in what became his final race for car owner Hoss Ellington.
1981: Yarborough posted his first win for car owner M.C. Anderson, but the story of the race was a loud protest by Bobby Allison over NASCAR-mandated reduction of the spoiler of his 1981 Pontiac Lemans to reduce the car's aerodynamic efficiency. Car owner Harry Ranier threatened to boycott the race but got no support in the garage area and relented to the rule change.
1982: After Dale Earnhardt fell out rain hit the race and Darrell Waltrip edged Richard Petty to the race-ending yellow.
1983: Cale Yarborough drove a backup car to victory for the second time in 1983. He'd wrecked his primary Ranier Chevy a week earlier in Rockingham and used a car that had been a show car.
1984: Benny Parsons posted his final win.
1986: Morgan Shepherd outran Dale Earnhardt for his first win in five years and the first of three wins at Atlanta.
1987: Dale Earnhardt fell out late and Ricky Rudd edged Parsons and Rusty Wallace for his first win on an oval bigger than one mile (1.6 km).
1989: Darrell Waltrip came back from nearly a lap down to win; on a mid-race yellow Waltrip was slowed by the pace car picking up the wrong leader during pitstops and was trapped barely on the lead lap. The mishap led to the implementation of a rule closing pit road when the yellow comes out; the rule was designed to stop cars from pitting before taking the yellow, which was blamed for scoring mistakes in the days of manual lap scoring. Also, during this race, Richard Petty made a pit stop and his car caught fire injuring his gasman and leaving Dr. Jerry Punch some singed hairs (after this, pit reporters are required to wear firesuits).
1992: Bill Elliott won in unlikely fashion as a yellow trapped the entire field behind him a lap down during green flag stops in the final 30 laps.
1993: A major snowstorm, Superstorm 93, had the race (scheduled for March 14) rescheduled for March 20 with Morgan Shepard taking the win.
1995: Jeff Gordon posted his second win of 1995 on his way to his first title.
1997: Dale Jarrett dominated in a race where Steve Grissom tore open a concrete wall, flipped over, and his fuel cell hit the outside wall and erupted in flame.
1998: Bobby Labonte took the win in a race delayed to Monday by rain and in a weekend that saw numerous driver injuries, notably Mike Skinner and Derrike Cope.
2000: Dale Earnhardt edged Labonte by inches after Skinner dominated the race but blew up.
2001: Kevin Harvick edged Gordon by inches in his first win for RCR after Earnhardt's death. Although he was assigned a different number, Harvick used the same car and team Earnhardt won with the previous year. Prior to Earnhardt's death; this race was intended to be Harvick's Winston Cup debut as he was originally scheduled to run 7 races in 2001 before moving to the Winston Cup Series full-time in 2002.
2002: Tony Stewart posted his first 500-mile (800 km) win.
2005: Carl Edwards slithered past Jimmie Johnson on the final lap to score his first career win and also sweeps the weekend at Atlanta.
2006: Bill Lester becomes the first African-American driver to race in a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event since Willy T. Ribbs in 1986. Kasey Kahne would later on win this race and becomes the first of many wins for Kasey Kahne in 2006.
2007: It was the last race that the "old" racecar was run consecutively. The Car of Tomorrow would debut next week at Bristol. Also it was Mark Martin's last consecutive race that he had participated in since 1991.
2008: Kyle Busch won, giving Toyota their first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was the first time a foreign auto maker won since Jaguar in 1954. It was also Kyle's first win under the Joe Gibbs Racing banner.
2009: Kurt Busch dominated the race after a pit crew mistake by one of Marcos Ambrose's crewman trapped most of the cars that could challenge him a lap down.
2010: A scary flight by Brad Keselowski was a top story; Keselowski was spun out by the lapped car of Carl Edwards and nearly struck the fencing past the start-finish line in the final laps. This was also the last spring race at Atlanta until the track's surviving summer-autumn race was moved to March in 2015.

Past winners

Year	Date	No.	Driver	Team	Sponsor	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
Year	Date	No.	Driver	Team	Sponsor	Manufacturer	Laps	Miles (km)	Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
1960	October 30	5	Bobby Johns	Cotton Owens	Justus Pontiac	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	4:36:44	108.408	Report
1961	March 26	53	Bob Burdick	Roy Burdick	N/A	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	4:02:05	124.172	Report
1962	June 10	28	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	LaFayette	Ford	219*	328.5 (528.669)	3:13:16	101.983	Report
1963	March 17	28	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	N/A	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:50:12	130.582	Report
1964	April 5	28	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	LaFayette	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:46:05	134.137	Report
1965	April 11	21	Marvin Panch	Wood Brothers Racing	N/A	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:52:17	129.41	Report
1966	March 27	56	Jim Hurtubise	Norm Nelson	Plymouth	Plymouth	334	501 (806.281)	3:49:02	131.247	Report
1967	April 2	21	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	N/A	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:49:03	131.238	Report
1968	March 31	21	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	60-Minute Cleaners	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	3:59:24	125.564	Report
1969	March 30	21	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	60-Minute Cleaners	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	3:46:10	132.191	Report
1970	March 29	22	Bobby Allison	Mario Rossi	City Dodge	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:38	139.554	Report
1971	April 4	21	A. J. Foyt	Wood Brothers Racing	Purolator/Teleprompter/Bud Brown	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:42:16	131.375	Report
1972	March 26	12	Bobby Allison	Richard Howard	Coca-Cola	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:53:37	128.214	Report
1973	April 1	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Purolator	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:52	139.351	Report
1974	March 24	11	Cale Yarborough	Richard Howard	Kar-Kare	Chevrolet	296*	450.512 (725.028)	3:01:26	136.91	Report
1975	March 23	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	STP	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:06	133.496	Report
1976	March 21	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Purolator	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:52:16	128.904	Report
1977	March 20	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	STP	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:27:51	144.093	Report
1978	March 19	15	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Norris Industries	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:30:10	142.52	Report
1979	March 18	28	Buddy Baker	Ranier-Lundy	Spectra	Oldsmobile	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:41:47	135.136	Report
1980	March 16	2	Dale Earnhardt	Rod Osterlund Racing	Mike Curb/Hodgdon	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:42:32	134.808	Report
1981	March 15	27	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing	Valvoline	Buick	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:10	133.619	Report
1982	March 21	11	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates	Mountain Dew	Buick	287*	436.82 (702.993)	3:29:58	124.824	Report
1983	March 27	28	Cale Yarborough	Ranier-Lundy	Hardee's	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	4:01:27	124.055	Report
1984	March 18	55	Benny Parsons	Johnny Hayes	Copenhagen	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:26:39	144.945	Report
1985	March 17	9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Coors	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:33:32	140.273	Report
1986	March 16	47	Morgan Shepherd	Race Hill Farm Team	Race Hill Farm Team	Buick	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:46:41	132.126	Report
1987	March 15	15	Ricky Rudd	Bud Moore Engineering	Motorcraft	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:02	133.689	Report
1988	March 20	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	GM Goodwrench	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:37:42	137.588	Report
1989	March 19	17	Darrell Waltrip	Hendrick Motorsports	Tide	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:26	139.684	Report
1990	March 18	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	GM Goodwrench	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:10:58	156.849	Report
1991	March 17/18*	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Kodiak	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:33:14	140.47	Report
1992	March 15	11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates	Budweiser	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:22:44	147.746	Report
1993	March 20*	21	Morgan Shepherd	Wood Brothers Racing	CITGO	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:17:26	150.442	Report
1994	March 13	28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing	Texaco/Havoline	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:24:58	146.136	Report
1995	March 12	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	DuPont	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:19:32	150.115	Report
1996	March 10	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	GM Goodwrench	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:05:42	161.298	Report
1997*	March 9	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Quality Care/Ford Credit	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:45:40	132.731	Report
1998	March 9*	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Interstate Batteries	Pontiac	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:35:16	139.501	Report
1999	March 14	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	DuPont	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:35	143.284	Report
2000	March 12	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	GM Goodwrench	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:47:55	131.759	Report
2001	March 11	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	GM Goodwrench	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:36	143.273	Report
2002	March 10	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	The Home Depot	Pontiac	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:22:18	148.443	Report
2003	March 9	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Interstate Batteries/Advair	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:25:37	146.048	Report
2004	March 14	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Budweiser	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:09:15	158.679	Report
2005	March 20	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Racing	Scotts	Ford	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:18	143.478	Report
2006	March 20*	9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Dodge	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:28:24	144.098	Report
2007	March 18	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Lowe's/Kobalt Tools	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:16:23	152.915	Report
2008	March 9	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Snickers	Toyota	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:33:01	140.975	Report
2009	March 8	2	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Miller Lite	Dodge	330*	508.2 (817.868)	3:59:01	127.573	Report
2010	March 7	2	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Miller Lite	Dodge	341*	525.14 (845.13)	3:59:59	131.294	Report
2011 – 2020	Not held
2021	July 11	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	GearWrench	Chevrolet	260	400.4 (640.6)	2:50:08	141.207	Report
2022	July 10	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevrolet	260	400.4 (640.6)	3:22:18	118.754	Report
2023	July 9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Axalta	Chevrolet	185*	284.9 (458.5)	2:24:17	118.475	Report

Notes

1962, 1982, and 2023: Race shortened due to rain.
1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
1991: Race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.
1993: Race postponed one week due to snow from Blizzard of '93.
1997: Last race on Atlanta's original configuration.
1998 & 2006: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
2009 & 2010: Race extended due to a green–white–checker finish. 2010 race took 2 attempts.

Track length notes

1960–1969: 1.5 mile course
1970–1997: 1.522 mile course
1998–2010, 2021–: 1.54 mile course

Multiple winners (drivers)

# Wins	Driver	Years Won
6	Cale Yarborough	1967-1969, 1974, 1981, 1983
5	Dale Earnhardt	1980, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2000
3	Fred Lorenzen	1962-1964
	Bobby Allison	1970, 1972, 1978
	Kurt Busch	2009, 2010, 2021
2	David Pearson	1973, 1976
	Richard Petty	1975, 1977
	Darrell Waltrip	1982, 1989
	Bill Elliott	1985, 1992
	Morgan Shepherd	1986, 1993
	Jeff Gordon	1995, 1999
	Bobby Labonte	1998, 2003

Manufacturers wins

# Wins	Manufacturer	Years Won
20	Chevrolet	1972, 1974, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1988-1991, 1995, 1996, 1999-2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2021–2023
13	Ford	1962-1965, 1967, 1978, 1985, 1987, 1992-1994, 1997, 2005
6	Dodge	1970, 1975, 1977, 2006, 2009, 2010
5	Mercury	1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976
4	Pontiac	1960, 1961, 1998, 2002
3	Buick	1981, 1982, 1986
1	Plymouth	1966
	Oldsmobile	1979
	Toyota	2008

Sponsor wins

# Wins	Sponsor	Years Won
5	GM Goodwrench	1988, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2001
3	Purolator	1971, 1973, 1976
2	LaFayette	1962, 1964
	60-Minute Cleaners	1968, 1969
	Dodge	1970, 2006
	STP	1975, 1977
	Budweiser	1992, 2004
	DuPont	1995, 1999
	Interstate Batteries	1998, 2003
	Miller Lite	2009, 2010

References

"Atlanta Motor Speedway Announces Schedule For 2011 NASCAR Season". www.atlantamotorspeedway.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
"AMS gets second NASCAR weekend in 2021 with races in March and July". Atlanta Motor Speedway (Press release). WGXA. September 30, 2020. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.

External links

Atlanta Motor Speedway race results at Racing-Reference

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[1] "Atlanta Motor Speedway Announces Schedule For 2011 NASCAR Season". www.atlantamotorspeedway.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.

[2] "AMS gets second NASCAR weekend in 2021 with races in March and July". Atlanta Motor Speedway (Press release). WGXA. September 30, 2020. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.