02/20/2024

RFK Advance | Atlanta I

Atlanta Event Info:
Date: Sunday, Feb. 25
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Hampton, Georgia
Format: 200 Laps, Stages: 60-100-100
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 11:30 a.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts race No. 2 on the NASCAR Cup Series season this weekend, marking two-straight Speedway races to kick off the 2024 campaign.
• Jack Roush has 13 wins all-time in Atlanta including six in the Cup Series.
• Both RFK drivers in Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher led laps in both Atlanta races a season ago, with Keselowski finishing a close second in the spring event in 2023.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: King’s Hawaiian

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com

Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts: 18
Wins: 2 (2017, 2019)
Top-10s: 11
Poles: —

• Keselowski makes his 19^th Cup start at Atlanta this weekend where he is a two-time winner with an average finish of 13.9.
• Keselowski won at the now Superspeedway first in 2017 after starting fifth and again in 2019.
• Most recently, he led laps in each of the Atlanta races a season ago – a combined 66 laps – finishing second last spring after starting fourth. Last fall he finished sixth in a race shortened by rain.
• Overall he’s led laps in 10 different Atlanta races and finished top-10 11 times.
• He carries an average starting position of 14.9 into the weekend with a career-best effort of P2 in 2014. Overall he has six top-10 starts, including a P4 starting spot last spring.
• He also made eight Xfinity Series starts with six top-10s including two P2 finishes. He also made four Truck starts.

Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts: 11
Wins: —
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his 12^th Cup start in Atlanta where he has three top-10s and a best finish of seventh (twice – 2021, 2022). He also finished ninth in 2019.
• Last season he was leading laps in the spring and was caught up in an incident under 100 laps shy of the finish. He finished 15^th in the fall race after also leading 39 laps.
• Buescher has an average qualifying position of 18.9 with a career-best effort of seventh last spring.
• He also finish fourth in the Xfinity Series in 2015.

RFK Historically at Atlanta
Cup Wins: 6 (Mark Martin, 1991, 1994; Kurt Busch, 2002; Carl Edwards, 2005, 2005, 2008)

• RFK at Atlanta: RFK has 277 starts at AMS in NASCAR’s three major touring series totaling 13 wins, 60 top fives, 114 top-10s and nine poles while leading 3,264 laps and turning over 106,000 miles.
• AMS/RFK History: RFK competed in its first NASCAR event at AMS on March 20, 1988, finishing 31st after getting involved in an early crash. Just three years later the organization claimed its first win there in the fall of ‘91 with the No. 6 Ford. RFK won its first of seven NXS races at the track in the spring of ’97. The team’s top outing at AMS came in the fall of 2005, when the organization placed four cars inside the top seven, with three cars finishing in the top five including race winner Carl Edwards. Altogether, in the two races at AMS in 2005, RFK posted six top-five finishes and two wins.
• Spring Forward: All but one of RFK’s Cup wins at AMS came in the fall, with the only spring win coming in 2005. Three of RFK’s seven NXS wins came in the fall.

RFK Atlanta Wins

1991-2   Martin                  Cup

1994-2   Martin                  Cup

1997-1   Martin                  NXS

1998-2   Martin                  NXS

2000-1   Martin                  NXS

2002-2   Busch                    Cup

2005-1   Edwards               Cup

2005-1   Edwards               NXS

2005-2   Edwards               Cup

2008-1   Kenseth               NXS

2008-2   Edwards               Cup

2011       Edwards               NXS

2012       Stenhouse          NXS

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Daytona: All three of RFK Fords were unfortunately caught up in incidents in the Monday running of the Daytona 500. Buescher led the group with a 18^th-place finish, with David Ragan finishing 20^th in the No. 60 Ford, and Keselowski 33^rd.

Points Standings (17: 21^st, 6: 31^st): Buescher sits 21^st through the first race in the points season, with Keselowski in 31^st.

By the Numbers at Atlanta

Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles

196         6              39           75           4              57683    2193       17.7        17.8        86524.5

56           7              19           31           5              10362    961         10.8        11.3        15543

25           0              2              8              0              2988       110         12.6        17.3        4482

277         13           60           114         9              71033    3264       15.7        16.2        106549.5