- Atlanta 500
-
Atlanta 500 Venue Atlanta Motor Speedway Sponsor See below First race 1960 Distance 500.5 miles (805.48 km) Laps 325 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 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car race that was run every March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 until 2010. The race was the first of two races held at the Atlanta track every season, with the Emory Healthcare 500, originally the Dixie 500, being the second and run at various times (originally November, later October and currently Labor Day Weekend).
Both races were 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.
Contents
Past winners
Year Date Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)Laps Miles (km) 1960 October 30 Bobby Johns Cotton Owens Pontiac 334 501 (806.281) 4:36:44 108.408 1961 March 26 Bob Burdick Roy Burdick Pontiac 334 501 (806.281) 4:02:05 124.172 1962 June 10 Fred Lorenzen Holman-Moody Ford 219* 328.5 (528.669) 3:13:16 101.983 1963 March 17 Fred Lorenzen Holman-Moody Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:50:12 130.582 1964 April 5 Fred Lorenzen Holman-Moody Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:46:05 134.137 1965 April 11 Marvin Panch Wood Brothers Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:52:17 129.41 1966 March 27 Jim Hurtubise Norm Nelson Plymouth 334 501 (806.281) 3:49:02 131.247 1967 April 2 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:49:03 131.238 1968 March 31 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 334 501 (806.281) 3:59:24 125.564 1969 March 30 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 334 501 (806.281) 3:46:10 132.191 1970 March 29 Bobby Allison Mario Rossi Dodge 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:34:38 139.554 1971 April 4 A.J. Foyt Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:42:16 131.375 1972 March 26 Bobby Allison Richard Howard Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:53:37 128.214 1973 April 1 David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:34:52 139.351 1974 March 24 Cale Yarborough Richard Howard Chevrolet 296* 450.512 (725.028) 3:01:26 136.91 1975 March 23 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises Dodge 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:44:06 133.496 1976 March 21 David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing Mercury 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:52:16 128.904 1977 March 20 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises Dodge 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:27:51 144.093 1978 March 19 Bobby Allison Bud Moore Engineering Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:30:10 142.52 1979 March 18 Buddy Baker Harry Ranier Oldsmobile 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:41:47 135.136 1980 March 16 Dale Earnhardt Rod Osterlund Racing Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:42:32 134.808 1981 March 15 Cale Yarborough M.C. Anderson Buick 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:44:10 133.619 1982 March 21 Darrell Waltrip Junior Johnson Buick 287* 436.82 (702.993) 3:29:58 124.824 1983 March 27 Cale Yarborough Harry Ranier Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 4:01:27 124.055 1984 March 18 Benny Parsons Johnny Hayes Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:26:39 144.945 1985 March 17 Bill Elliot Melling Racing Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:33:32 140.273 1986 March 16 Morgan Shepherd Jack Beebe Buick 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:46:41 132.126 1987 March 15 Ricky Rudd Bud Moore Engineering Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:44:02 133.689 1988 March 20 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:37:42 137.588 1989 March 19 Darrell Waltrip Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:34:26 139.684 1990 March 18 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:10:58 156.849 1991 March 17/18* Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:33:14 140.47 1992 March 15 Bill Elliot Junior Johnson Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:22:44 147.746 1993 March 20* Morgan Shepherd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:17:26 150.442 1994 March 13 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:24:58 146.136 1995 March 12 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:19:32 150.115 1996 March 10 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:05:42 161.298 1997* March 9 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 328 499.216 (803.41) 3:45:40 132.731 1998 March 9* Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:35:16 139.501 1999 March 14 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:29:35 143.284 2000 March 12 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:47:55 131.759 2001 March 11 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:29:36 143.273 2002 March 10 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:22:18 148.443 2003 March 9 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:25:37 146.048 2004 March 14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:09:15 158.679 2005 March 20 Carl Edwards Roush Racing Ford 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:29:18 143.478 2006 March 20* Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:28:24 144.098 2007 March 18 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:16:23 152.915 2008 March 9 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 325 500.5 (805.476) 3:33:01 140.975 2009 March 8 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 330* 508.2 (817.868) 3:59:01 127.573 2010 March 7 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 341* 525.14 (845.13) 3:59:59 131.294 - 1962 & 1982: 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 an old layout.
- 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.
Notable races
- 1960: The first race at Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) was won by Bobby Johns in a 1960 Pontiac.
- 1971: A.J. Foyt outdueled Richard Petty for his fifth career NASCAR 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Dale Earnhardt's death. Although he was assigned a different number, Harvick used the same car and team Earnhardt won with the previous year.
- 2002: Tony Stewart posted his first 500-mile (800 km) win.
- 2005: Carl Edwards slithered past Jimmie Johnson on the final lap.
- 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 Martins's last consecutive race that he had participated in since 1991.
- 2008: Kyle Busch would win Toyota's first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was the first time an foreign auto maker won since Jaguar in 1954. It was also Kyles 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.
Television broadcasters
Notes
- 2006* - Race rained out, so it moved to FX (as well as some Fox affiliates) for Monday.
- The 1991 race was rained out after 51 laps on Sunday, ran the next day, but ABC decided not to televise the remainder of the race. No other network bothered to show the remainder of the race, leaving the race untelevised. To date it is the last untelevised Cup race.
- ABC was originally scheduled to televise the 1993 race on March 14, but the Storm of the Century had it postponed a week. ABC bailed out, so a frozen TNN crew stepped in to show the race, in trade they gave up the Busch Series race they were going to show on that weekend to ESPN.
- The 1998 race was initially going to be broadcast on ABC before being postponed from March 8. Also Ned Jarrett stepped in to call the race with Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons on Monday after the race had been postponed from Sunday.
References
- ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway Announces Schedule For 2011 NASCAR Season". www.atlantamotorspeedway.com. http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/media/news/576795.html. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
Races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Current Daytona 500 · Phoenix · Las Vegas · Bristol · California · Martinsville · Texas · Talladega · Richmond · Showtime Southern 500 · Dover · Coca-Cola 600 · Kansas · Pocono · Michigan · Infineon · Daytona · Kentucky · New Hampshire · Brickyard 400 · Pocono · Watkins Glen · Michigan · Bristol · Atlanta · Richmond · The Chase: Chicagoland · New Hampshire · Dover · Kansas · Charlotte · Talladega · Martinsville · Texas · Phoenix · Ford 400
Exhibition Budweiser Shootout · Gatorade Duel · NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
Previous North Wilkesboro · North Carolina · Riverside · Nashville · Texas World · North Wilkesboro · North Carolina · Riverside · Nashville · Texas World · Texas World · Ontario · Darlington · Trenton · Atlanta · California
Previous
ExhibitionNote:The Sprint Cup Series has multiple events at the same racing venue.Categories:- NASCAR races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Former NASCAR races
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
