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NASCAR: 5 Lessons Learned From the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta

By Michael Guadalupe

Mar 5, 2017; Hampton, GA, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (42) leads NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (2) on a caution lap during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2017; Hampton, GA, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (42) leads NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (2) on a caution lap during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports /
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Stages are awkward and bring a race to a halt. We will see if they have any impact in future races, but it’s looking like they will make little change during 1.5 mile races. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Stages are awkward and bring a race to a halt. We will see if they have any impact in future races, but it’s looking like they will make little change during 1.5 mile races. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports /

Stages Will Not Improve 1.5 Mile Racing

We are now two races into the 2017 NASCAR season and the new stages added to each race is starting to look like it won’t fix the issues with 1.5 mile tracks.

The stages at Daytona last week setup some interesting scenarios and more than likely played a role in some of the wrecks that happened, but this weekend at Atlanta the different stages had almost no impact on the race.

Kevin Harvick managed to win two out of three stages, and the only cautions that were seen at Atlanta for the first two stages were cautions brought out by the ending of each stage.

It was only during the final stage that we saw cautions come out for debris, but even with stages and cautions it didn’t change the issue that continues to plague 1.5 mile tracks.

Kevin Harvick was fast on Sunday. So fast that no one could catch him, not even on restarts. Harvick didn’t win the race on Sunday though, not because he was out raced, but because he was caught speeding on pit road.

Stages might be a nice gimmick on certain tracks like Daytona and Talladega, but on 1.5 mile tracks the main issue remains; one driver gets out in front of clean air and can’t be caught by the rest of the field.

And while drivers might enjoy racing at a track like Atlanta, it doesn’t reflect in the actual racing. From a fan perspective Kevin Harvick dominated on Sunday. Harvick at some points of the race was over three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Who wants to watch a mostly green flag race where the leader is over three seconds ahead of second place?

This issue won’t be fixed by stages and NASCAR’s inability to realize that will only continue to make racing at tracks like Atlanta boring from a fan perspective.

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