CONCORD, N.C. – The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, the home track of Dawsonville, Georgia, native Chase Elliott.
If he were to win on Sunday, he would become just the second Georgia-born driver to win a race at Atlanta, joining his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who won five races at the track.
As an organization, Hendrick Motorsports leads all Cup Series teams with 14 wins at Atlanta.
Below is a look at some key facts and figures from the organization's history at Atlanta Motor Speedway along with what to keep an eye on this weekend.
- Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of 14 active tracks on the circuit – 58 percent of the schedule – where Hendrick Motorsports owns the most wins among all Cup teams. The organization's most recent victory at Atlanta came in 2016 thanks to Jimmie Johnson. The organization has earned 59 top-five finishes, 90 top-10s and five pole positions at the Georgia track.
- Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick's first Atlanta Motor Speedway win in the Cup Series came on March 19, 1989, with driver Darrell Waltrip. The organization has posted Atlanta victories with six different drivers: Jeff Gordon (five wins), Johnson (five wins), Waltrip, Ken Schrader (1991), Jerry Nadeau (2000) and Kasey Kahne (2014).
- Hendrick Motorsports has a NASCAR Cup Series record 58 total wins on 1.5-mile tracks, 13 more than the next closest team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hendrick Motorsports has earned at least one win on a 1.5-mile track in a record 25 consecutive seasons. Chase Elliott most recently extended that streak from 24 to 25 seasons with his 2018 victory at Kansas Speedway, becoming the 10th different driver to win for the organization on a 1.5-mile track, which is also a Cup Series record ahead of Wood Brothers Racing's eight.
- Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last eight races at Atlanta (2011 – Gordon, 2014 – Kahne, 2015 and 2016 – Johnson). The organization has won the second race of the season a total of seven times between Gordon and Johnson, and those drivers went on to win the championship in five of those seasons (1995, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2016).
- Elliott has made starts at Atlanta in each of NASCAR’s top-three series – three in the Cup Series, two in the Xfinity Series and one in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. In those six starts, Elliott has never finished outside the top 10. Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of three tracks (Atlanta, Michigan, Charlotte Motor Speedway road course) where Elliott has never finished outside of the top 10 in his Cup career. The driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 currently holds the best average finish at the track among active drivers (7.67). He finished in the top five in all of his Xfinity Series and NASCAR Truck Series starts at Atlanta.
- Currently, Johnson has 28 intermediate track (1.5-mile) wins, which is the most all-time. He currently has five wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway – which is tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Gordon for the most all-time – the most recent of which came back-to-back in 2015 and again during his 2016 championship season. The last time the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway put asphalt down was 1997. It ranks third among the oldest racing surfaces on which the NASCAR Cup Series competes. All five of Johnson’s wins on the track have come on its current racing surface. The oldest track surface is Dover (1995), where Johnson has 11 wins, followed by California (1996), where Johnson has six wins.
- If William Byron or Alex Bowman were to claim the victory at Atlanta this weekend, either would be the seventh different driver for Hendrick Motorsports to claim victory at the 1.54-mile track. There have been six drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history to capture their first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.