Atlanta Notebook

Atlanta Notebook

Notebook Items:

- Carl Edwards expects great things from Atlanta on Sunday

- Joey Logano hasn’t solved new competition package

- Final practice notes

Feb. 27, 2016

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

CARL EDWARDS EXPECTS GREAT THINGS FROM ATLANTA ON SUNDAY

HAMPTON, Ga. – One of the most outspoken advocates for removing downforce from the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, Carl Edwards expects the sanctioning body’s move in that direction with the 2016 rules package to have a profound effect in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX).

The combination of low downforce and a bumpy, abrasive racing surface should be a recipe for exciting, strategic racing in the first open-motor event featuring the 2016 rules.

“I think you’re going to see some good racing,” Edwards said. “I mean, this track is just perfect. There are three, four, five different grooves. The tires are falling off. The rubber lays onto this track really nicely, so that it changes. If you’re running in a groove, five or 10 laps later there might not be grip there, so I think you’re going to see that.

“I think strategy is going to be a big part of it. I think the other thing that this track’s going to bring out – it’s just going to be a tough race. It’s going to be tough to stay focused, to manage your car. You see guys out there really struggling – myself included. You hook the apron, car whips sideways.

“You’ve got to really stay on top of it. It’s like a big dirt race. It’s just really fun, so I think it will be a race for the fans that watch it, just know that that whole time in these cars – even in practice – you are just driving the heck out of them, steering right just as much as left, so I hope everybody can see that. I hope that comes through.”

LOGANO HASN'T SOLVED NEW COMPETITION PACKAGE

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole winner Kurt Busch seems to have adapted to the 2016 low-downforce competition without missing a beat, but the same can’t be said for Team Penske driver Joey Logano, one of the preseason favorites to win the series title this year.

Logano, who garnered the Coors Light Pole Award at Atlanta Motor Speedway last year, wasn’t close to having his No. 22 Ford dialed in when the series returned to the 1.54-mile track on Friday. The six-time pole winner from 2015 was 26th fastest in the first round of knockout qualifying, failing to transfer into the second round by .054 seconds.

“We were just really loose,” Logano said after his second attempt to crack the top 24. “I don’t really understand. We weren’t super-fast in practice, but we were a top-10 car for sure. We were really, really loose the first run and made some changes, but it’s hard to go fast here the second run when tires wear out so much. We did go a little faster, but that one kind of hurts. 

“We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got a little bit of work to do. It’s obviously a new package, and we apparently don’t have our heads wrapped around it perfectly yet, but we’ll get it. We’ve just got to keep our heads down and keep digging. It’s still a long weekend here. I thought we were pretty good in race trim. We just have to race a little bit from the back now.”

Based on Saturday’s final practice, however, Logano still has work to do. The No. 22 Ford was 32nd fastest on the Happy Hour speed chart.

SHORT STROKES

The drivers who finished 1-2 in last Sunday’s Daytona 500 held those same positions on the speed chart at the conclusion of final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice on Saturday at Atlanta.

Denny Hamlin had the fastest lap in the 80-minute session at 188.450 mph. Martin Truex Jr., whom Hamlin beat to the finish line by four inches in the 500, was close behind at 188.226 mph.

Three Hendrick Motorsports drivers followed the two Toyotas—Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott. That’s a good indication those drivers will be faster relative to the field in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 than they were in Friday’s time trials, when Earnhardt qualified 16th, Johnson 19th and Elliott 24th.