NASCAR at Atlanta 2015 Results: Race Order, Final Times and Twitter Reaction
The location may have changed, but the name atop the leaderboard certainly hasn't. Joey Logano, who won his first Daytona 500 last Sunday, carried that momentum into Atlanta and took the pole with a speed of 194.683 mph and lap time of 28.477 seconds.
NASCAR provides a look at the final results for the Logano:
"No. 22 is feeling it. @joeylogano just captured the #CoorsLight Pole Award for the #FOHQT500! pic.twitter.com/KXmXjBXja5
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 27, 2015"
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Logano's pole was the ninth of his career and his first ever in Atlanta. His first time ever at the track, he qualified 42nd. Needless to say, he's turned things around quite a bit.
The 24-year-old driver voiced his excitement following the qualifying round:
Just behind Logano was 2014 champion Kevin Harvick, which, ironically enough, was exactly where he finished during the Daytona 500. Rounding out the top five was Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
Similar to last week's group qualifying, the pole-sitter for the race was far from the biggest story coming out of Friday evening. Here's a look at the race order and recap of the qualifying in Atlanta. Full results can be found at NASCAR.com.
| 1 | Joey Logano | LEADER |
| 2 | Kevin Harvick | .131 |
| 3 | Jamie McMurray | .156 |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | .189 |
| 5 | Carl Edwards | .228 |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | .256 |
| 7 | Ryan Newman | .257 |
| 8 | Sam Hornish Jr. | .351 |
| 9 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | .367 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | .377 |
| 11 | A.J. Allmendinger | .476 |
| 12 | Brad Keselowski | .488 |
| 13 | Paul Menard | N/A |
| 14 | Martin Truex Jr. | N/A |
| 15 | Austin Dillon | N/A |
| 16 | Justin Allgaier | N/A |
| 17 | David Ragan | N/A |
| 18 | Danica Patrick | N/A |
| 19 | Greg Biffle | N/A |
| 20 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | N/A |
Before the first round ever started, the qualifying was already off to a bumpy start.
With inspections taking place prior to the qualifying getting underway, there was a delay in the start times. Rather than starting at 5:30 p.m. ET, everything was moved to 6 p.m. ET due to the technical issues, via Bob Pockrass of ESPN:
That was not the end of it. Not by a long shot.
Of the 47 cars looking to hopefully make the field, just 34 actually recorded a lap in the first round of qualifying. All 47 cars made it into the garage to go through an inspection, but only 34 of them passed.
Those not qualifying included some of the biggest names in the sport. Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth all missed out on getting an opportunity to make it to the second round. Any driver that made it to the track for qualifying in the first round made the field, regardless of their speed.
None of those names will miss the actual race due to not posting a lap, as Jeff Gluck of USA Today notes:
It's a tough pill to swallow for Michael Annett, who made the 500 field and is a full-time driver in the series. The other three racers who missed out on a lap will have to pack up and hope to make races in the coming weeks.
Gordon, who took the pole for the Daytona 500, was none too pleased with the process.
"First time ever," Gordon said on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast. "First time for everything. This is absolutely embarrassing. ... The fans deserve an apology. When you have this many cars that didn't go, that's not on the teams. I can't believe how embarrassing this is. ... This is such a big letdown for me and for our series. There's not reason why this should ever happen."
Jim Utter of The Charlotte Observer passed along more information about the failed inspections for so many drivers:
Former Sprint Cup driver Mark Martin and Stewart offered his take on the situation:
If there was any positive coming out of the process, it was the improved speed of the cars. NASCAR made the decision to reduce horsepower this season, so the qualifying round would be one of the first tests to see how much it changed the process.
Despite the horsepower reduction, from 850 to 725, the speeds were still up for the qualifying round. Nate Ryan of NBC Sports points out just how big the leap was in the first runs:
Even with another strange round of qualifying for the Sprint Cup, some of the top drivers in the sport are still in the top 10. With Logano and Harvick showing some serious speed, both drivers will be worth watching on Sunday along with defending winner Kasey Kahne.
How the race shapes up over the weekend will be intriguing after what took place on Friday night. Several previous winners will make Sunday intriguing, even though they'll have to charge from the back to get up front.
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