2021 Quaker State 400
{{short description|NASCAR Cup Series race}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox NASCAR race report
| Type = CUST
| Description = Race 21 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
| Race Name = Quaker State 400
| Details ref = {{cite web |title=2021 schedule |url=https://www.jayski.com/nascar-cup-series/2021-nascar-cup-series-schedule/ |website=Jayski.com|publisher=Jayski's Silly Season Site |accessdate=June 1, 2021}}{{cite web|title=Atlanta Motor Speedway|url=http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/atlanta-motor-speedway.html|website=NASCAR.com|publisher=NASCAR Media Group, LLC.|accessdate=June 1, 2021|date=January 3, 2013|archive-date=February 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219053741/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/atlanta-motor-speedway.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Entry List|url=https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/7/2021-21cup-entry-1.pdf|website=Jayski.com|publisher=Jayski's Silly Season Site|access-date=July 6, 2021|date=July 6, 2021}}{{cite web|title=Starting Lineup|url=https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2021/07/07/busch-pole-award-atlanta-motor-speedway-starting-lineup/|website=NASCAR.com|publisher=NASCAR Media Group, LLC.|access-date=July 7, 2021|date=July 7, 2021}}{{cite web|title=Quaker State 400 Results|url=https://www.nascar.com/results/racecenter/2021/nascar-cup-series/quaker-state-400-presented-by-walmart/stn/results/|website=NASCAR.com|publisher=NASCAR|access-date=July 11, 2021|date=July 11, 2021}}{{cite web|title=Points standings|url=https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/11/2021-21cup-drivers.pdf|website=Jayski.com|publisher=Jayski's Silly Season Site|access-date=July 11, 2021|date=July 11, 2021}}
| Fulldate = {{Start date|2021|07|11}}
| Year = 2021
| Image = Atlanta Motor Speedway.svg
| Caption =
| Location = Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia
| Course_mi = 1.54
| Course_km = 2.48
| Distance_laps = 260
| Distance_mi = 400.4
| Distance_km = 644.244
| Weather =
| Avg = {{convert|147.207|mph|km/h}}
| Pole_Driver = Chase Elliott
| Pole_Team = Hendrick Motorsports
| Grid_from_prev_perf = yes
| Most_Driver = Kurt Busch
| Most_Team = Chip Ganassi Racing
| Most_laps = 144
| Car = 1
| First_Driver = Kurt Busch
| First_Team = Chip Ganassi Racing
| Network = NBCSN
| Announcers = Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
| Ratings =
| Radio = PRN
| Booth_Ann = Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
| Turn_Ann = Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Brad Gillie (3 & 4)
}}
The 2021 Quaker State 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 11, 2021, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 260 laps on the {{convert|1.54|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the 21st race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Kurt Busch, driving the No. 1 car for Chip Ganassi Racing, held off his younger brother Kyle to secure what would ultimately be CGR's final win in NASCAR. This was also the last race held at the track before it was re-configured into a superspeedway in 2022.
Report
=Background=
File:Atlanta Motor Speedway aerial 2006.jpg, the track where the race was held.]]
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a track in Hampton, Georgia, {{convert|20|mi|km}} south of Atlanta. It is a {{convert|1.54|mi|km|adj=on}} quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a {{convert|1.5|mi|km|adj=on}} 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 {{convert|1.5|mi|km|adj=on}} 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.
{{clear}}
==Entry list==
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
Chase Elliott was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.
=Starting Lineup=
Race
=Stage Results=
Stage One
Laps: 80
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%" | |||||
| Pos
! {{Tooltip|No|Car Number}} ! Driver ! Team ! Manufacturer ! Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 10 |
| 2 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 8 |
| 4 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 4 |
| 8 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 1 |
| colspan="6"|[https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/11/2021-21cup-results.pdf Official stage one results] |
Stage Two
Laps: 80
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%" | |||||
| Pos
! {{Tooltip|No|Car Number}} ! Driver ! Team ! Manufacturer ! Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 9 |
| 3 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 6 |
| 6 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 4 |
| 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 1 |
| colspan="6"|[https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/11/2021-21cup-results.pdf Official stage two results] |
=Final Stage Results=
Stage Three
Laps: 100
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%" | |||||||
| Pos
! Grid ! {{Tooltip|No|Car Number}} ! Driver ! Team ! Manufacturer ! Laps ! Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 260 | 59 |
| 2 | 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 260 | 54 |
| 3 | 5 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 260 | 37 |
| 4 | 17 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | 48 |
| 5 | 15 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 260 | 36 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 260 | 42 |
| 7 | 1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | 30 |
| 8 | 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 260 | 29 |
| 9 | 12 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 260 | 28 |
| 10 | 14 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 260 | 30 |
| 11 | 21 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 260 | 27 |
| 12 | 13 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 260 | 27 |
| 13 | 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 260 | 38 |
| 14 | 24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 260 | 23 |
| 15 | 11 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (R) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 260 | 22 |
| 16 | 18 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 260 | 21 |
| 17 | 23 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 260 | 20 |
| 18 | 6 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | 31 |
| 19 | 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 259 | 22 |
| 20 | 19 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 259 | 20 |
| 21 | 9 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 259 | 16 |
| 22 | 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 258 | 15 |
| 23 | 20 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 258 | 14 |
| 24 | 22 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 258 | 13 |
| 25 | 34 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 258 | 12 |
| 26 | 32 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 257 | 11 |
| 27 | 25 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 256 | 10 |
| 28 | 29 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 256 | 9 |
| 29 | 28 | 77 | Justin Haley (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 255 | 0 |
| 30 | 36 | 78 | B.J. McLeod (i) | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 254 | 0 |
| 31 | 37 | 53 | Garrett Smithley (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 253 | 0 |
| 32 | 33 | 15 | Bayley Currey (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 253 | 0 |
| 33 | 31 | 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Petty Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 253 | 0 |
| 34 | 30 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 248 | 3 |
| 35 | 35 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 248 | 2 |
| 36 | 27 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet | 243 | 1 |
| 37 | 16 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 178 | 1 |
| colspan="8"|[https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/11/2021-21cup-results.pdf Official race results] |
=Race statistics=
- Lead changes: 10 among 7 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 4 for 21
- Red flags: 1 for 19 minutes and 4 seconds
- Time of race: 2 hours, 50 minutes and 8 seconds
- Average speed: {{convert|147.207|mph|km/h}}
Media
=Television=
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2004 Atlanta winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Dillon Welch handled the pit road duties from pit lane. Rutledge Wood handled the features from the track.
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%" | ||
| colspan="3"|NBCSN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters | Features reporter |
| Lap-by-lap: Rick Allen Color-commentator: Jeff Burton Color-commentator: Steve Letarte Color-commentator: Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Dave Burns Marty Snider Dillon Welch | Rutledge Wood |
=Radio=
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 & Brad Gillie 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 Alan Cavanna, Brett McMillan and Doug Turnbull.
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%" | ||
| colspan="3"|PRN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Doug Rice Announcer: Mark Garrow | Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright Turns 3 & 4: Brad Gillie | Doug Turnbull Brett McMillan Alan Cavanna |
Standings after the race
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;Drivers' Championship standings
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%" |
| ! Pos
! Driver ! Points |
|---|
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 836 |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Kyle Larson | style="text-align:center;"| 826 (–10) |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Kyle Busch | style="text-align:center;"| 739 (–97) |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| William Byron | style="text-align:center;"| 733 (–103) |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 5 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Chase Elliott | style="text-align:center;"| 704 (–132) |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 6 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Joey Logano | style="text-align:center;"| 700 (–136) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Martin Truex Jr. | style="text-align:center;"| 671 (–165) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 8 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Ryan Blaney | style="text-align:center;"| 639 (–197) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 9 | style="text-align:center;"| 626 (–210) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 10 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Brad Keselowski | style="text-align:center;"| 623 (–213) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 11 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Alex Bowman | style="text-align:center;"| 609 (–227) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 12 | style="text-align:center;"| 571 (–265) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 13 | style="text-align:center;"| 563 (–273) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 14 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Kurt Busch | style="text-align:center;"| 530 (–306) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 15 | style="background:#FFDEAD;"| Christopher Bell | style="text-align:center;"| 492 (–344) |
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 16 | style="text-align:center;"| 467 (–369) |
| class="sortbottom"
!colspan="9"|[https://www.jayski.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/7/11/2021-21cup-drivers.pdf Official driver's standings] |
{{col-2}}
;Manufacturers' Championship standings
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%" |
| ! Pos
! Manufacturer ! Points |
|---|
| align="left"| 10px
| style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 782 |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 2 | Toyota | style="text-align:center;"| 720 (–62) |
| align="left"| 10px 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 3 | Ford | style="text-align:center;"| 718 (–64) |
| class="sortbottom" |
- Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
- . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
{{col-end}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{NASCAR next race
| Series = NASCAR Cup Series
| Monsteryear = 2021
| Previous_race = 2021 Jockey Made in America 250
| Next_race = 2021 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
}}
{{2021 NASCAR Cup}}
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