Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR: 5 fantastic Atlanta finishes in the modern era

By Marty Czekala

HAMPTON, GA - FEBRUARY 24: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Little Hug Ford, and Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield Ford, lead the field at the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 24, 2019 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
HAMPTON, GA - FEBRUARY 24: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Little Hug Ford, and Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield Ford, lead the field at the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 24, 2019 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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HAMPTON, GA – SEPTEMBER 06: Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, races Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)
HAMPTON, GA – SEPTEMBER 06: Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, races Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR) /

2. 2011 Advocare 500

  • Tuesday, September 6, 2011
  • Winner: Jeff Gordon
  • Margin of victory: .598 seconds

This was a wild weekend that started sour but ended on a high note.

First off, this race was delayed to Tuesday morning (from a Sunday night) because of Tropical Storm Lee, but the finish was outstanding. Two of the all-time greats in the sport, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, battled to take the checkered flag.

Johnson got up to Gordon’s door going side-by-side with under 10 laps remaining, but Goodyear brought an amazing tire that degraded well. Both drivers were sideways and nearly wrecked their cars in the final laps.

In fact, in the words of Allen Bestwick, who did the lap-by-lap broadcast for ESPN, it was “a sideways run to the checkered”. It wasn’t side-by-side in the end, but the fact that these two cars should have crashed and didn’t is amazing and showed the heart of both drivers.

This was also a legendary win for Jeff Gordon, as it was his 85th career victory, moving him to third place on the all-time Cup Series wins list, a position he still holds to this day after ending his career with 93 wins.

This was one of those classic races between the driver and the owner (Gordon was listed as the owner of the #48 car), and the experience among the two paid off.

Sorry, Jimmie, but I have another finish where you were on the losing end.

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