The 2023 Quaker State 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 9, 2023, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Originally scheduled for 260 laps on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway (with superspeedway rules), the race was shortened to 185 laps due to rain. It was the 19th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Report
Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway 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.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
Aric Almirola scored the pole for the race with a time 31.261 of and a speed of 177.346 mph (285.411 km/h).
Qualifying results
Race
Race results
Stage results
Stage One Laps: 60
Stage Two Laps: 100
Final Stage results
Stage Three Laps: 25 (shortened by rain)
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 18 among 12 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 7 for 43
- Red flags: 1 for weather
- Time of race: 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds
- Average speed: 118.475 miles per hour (190.667 km/h)
Media
Television
USA 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, Kim Coon and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.
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. 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, Brett McMillan, Doug Turnbull and Wendy Venturini.
Standings after the race
References
