The 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a NASCAR Cup Seriesrace held on March 20, 2022 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 fifth race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. It was the first race at Atlanta to use superspeedway rules (in line with the traditional restrictor plate tracks with a reduced horsepower package and track limits rules), with the new reconfiguration increasing the banking from 24 degrees to 28 degrees and new pavement.
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 front stretch and back stretch 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.
Entry list
(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Friday's practice session was canceled due to inclement weather. Practice replaced qualifying Saturday.[8]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.708 seconds and a speed of 186.616 mph (300.329 km/h).[9]
Qualifying was cancelled because of a need to add additional practice to the reconfigured circuit. Chase Briscoe was awarded the pole for the race as a result of the pandemic formula with a score of 2.850.[10]
Average speed: 126.584 miles per hour (203.717 km/h)
Post-race
Brad Keselowski, who finished 12th, was penalized 100 playoff points when an illegally modified body part was found on his car during a post-race inspection. In addition, Matt McCall, his crew chief, was fined $100,000 and suspended for the next four races. The penalty dropped Keselowski from 6th in the point standings to 35th.[11]
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, and 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.
^"Atlanta Motor Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
