2021 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

2021 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 6 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	March 21, 2021 (2021-03-21)
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance	325 laps, 500.5 mi (806 km)
Average speed	144.595 miles per hour (232.703 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	269
Winner
No. 12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Nielsen Ratings	3.724 million[7]
Radio in the United States
Radio	PRN
Booth Announcers	Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
Turn Announcers	Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4)

The 2021 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 21, 2021, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 325 laps on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the sixth race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a track in Hampton, Georgia, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5-mile (2.4 km) ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.^[4]

Ryan Blaney won the race, driving a Ford. Kyle Larson led for 269 laps, but Blaney overtook him eight laps from the end because Larson's tires were wearing out.^[8]

Stage One Laps: 105

Stage Two Laps: 105

Stage Three Laps: 115

• Lead changes: 11 among 6 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 5 for 25
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 27 minutes and 41 seconds
• Average speed: 144.595 miles per hour (232.703 km/h)

The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried by Fox in the United States. Mike Joy, five-time Atlanta winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

The race was broadcast on radio by the Performance Racing Network and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race from the booth when the field raced down the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2 & Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. On pit road, PRN was manned by Brad Gillie, Doug Turnbull and Wendy Venturini.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hamlin 277 3 2 Kyle Larson 234 (–43) 3 Joey Logano 214 (–63) 4 Martin Truex Jr. 212 (–65) 3 5 Brad Keselowski 206 (–71) 1 6 Kevin Harvick 203 (–74) 6 7 Ryan Blaney 191 (–86) 1 8 William Byron 188 (–89) 1 9 Christopher Bell 183 (–94) 4 10 Chase Elliott 183 (–94) 1 11 Austin Dillon 170 (–107) 3 12 Kyle Busch 163 (–114) 2 13 Michael McDowell 158 (–119) 3 14 Alex Bowman 157 (–120) 5 15 Kurt Busch 152 (–125) 2 16 Chris Buescher 144 (–133) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 2 1 Ford 217 1 2 Chevrolet 215 (–2) 1 3 Toyota 213 (–4) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.