Atlanta 500

Atlanta 500

Venue	Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sponsor	See below
First race	1960
Distance	500.5 miles (805.48 km)
Laps	325
Previous names	Atlanta 500 (1960–1980) Coca-Cola 500 (1981–1985) Motorcraft 500 (1986) Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 (1987–1993) Purolator 500 (1994–1996) Primestar 500 (1997–1998) Cracker Barrel 500 (1999) Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 (2000–2001) MBNA America 500 (2002) Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (2003) Golden Corral 500 (2004–2006) Kobalt Tools 500 (2007-2010)

The Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car race that was run every March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 until 2010. The race was the first of two races held at the Atlanta track every season, with the Emory Healthcare 500, originally the Dixie 500, being the second and run at various times (originally November, later October and currently Labor Day Weekend).

Both races were 500.5 miles (805.5 km) in length. In August 2010, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced that they would no longer run the spring race, instead choosing to focus on the Labor Day weekend race at the track beginning in 2011.^[1] The end of the Atlanta 500 permitted the addition of a race at Kentucky Speedway starting in 2011.

Contents 1 Past winners 2 Notable races 3 Television broadcasters 3.1 Notes 4 References

Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
					Laps	Miles (km)
1960	October 30	Bobby Johns	Cotton Owens	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	4:36:44	108.408
1961	March 26	Bob Burdick	Roy Burdick	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	4:02:05	124.172
1962	June 10	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	219*	328.5 (528.669)	3:13:16	101.983
1963	March 17	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:50:12	130.582
1964	April 5	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:46:05	134.137
1965	April 11	Marvin Panch	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:52:17	129.41
1966	March 27	Jim Hurtubise	Norm Nelson	Plymouth	334	501 (806.281)	3:49:02	131.247
1967	April 2	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:49:03	131.238
1968	March 31	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	3:59:24	125.564
1969	March 30	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	3:46:10	132.191
1970	March 29	Bobby Allison	Mario Rossi	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:38	139.554
1971	April 4	A.J. Foyt	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:42:16	131.375
1972	March 26	Bobby Allison	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:53:37	128.214
1973	April 1	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:52	139.351
1974	March 24	Cale Yarborough	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	296*	450.512 (725.028)	3:01:26	136.91
1975	March 23	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:06	133.496
1976	March 21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:52:16	128.904
1977	March 20	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:27:51	144.093
1978	March 19	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:30:10	142.52
1979	March 18	Buddy Baker	Harry Ranier	Oldsmobile	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:41:47	135.136
1980	March 16	Dale Earnhardt	Rod Osterlund Racing	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:42:32	134.808
1981	March 15	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson	Buick	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:10	133.619
1982	March 21	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Buick	287*	436.82 (702.993)	3:29:58	124.824
1983	March 27	Cale Yarborough	Harry Ranier	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	4:01:27	124.055
1984	March 18	Benny Parsons	Johnny Hayes	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:26:39	144.945
1985	March 17	Bill Elliot	Melling Racing	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:33:32	140.273
1986	March 16	Morgan Shepherd	Jack Beebe	Buick	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:46:41	132.126
1987	March 15	Ricky Rudd	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:44:02	133.689
1988	March 20	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:37:42	137.588
1989	March 19	Darrell Waltrip	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:34:26	139.684
1990	March 18	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:10:58	156.849
1991	March 17/18*	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:33:14	140.47
1992	March 15	Bill Elliot	Junior Johnson	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:22:44	147.746
1993	March 20*	Morgan Shepherd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:17:26	150.442
1994	March 13	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:24:58	146.136
1995	March 12	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:19:32	150.115
1996	March 10	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:05:42	161.298
1997*	March 9	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	328	499.216 (803.41)	3:45:40	132.731
1998	March 9*	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:35:16	139.501
1999	March 14	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:35	143.284
2000	March 12	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:47:55	131.759
2001	March 11	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:36	143.273
2002	March 10	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:22:18	148.443
2003	March 9	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:25:37	146.048
2004	March 14	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:09:15	158.679
2005	March 20	Carl Edwards	Roush Racing	Ford	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:29:18	143.478
2006	March 20*	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:28:24	144.098
2007	March 18	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:16:23	152.915
2008	March 9	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	325	500.5 (805.476)	3:33:01	140.975
2009	March 8	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Dodge	330*	508.2 (817.868)	3:59:01	127.573
2010	March 7	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Dodge	341*	525.14 (845.13)	3:59:59	131.294

• 1962 & 1982: Race shortened due to rain.
• 1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
• 1991: Race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.
• 1993: Race postponed one week due to snow from Blizzard of '93.
• 1997: Last race on an old layout.
• 1998 & 2006: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 2009 & 2010: Race extended due to a Green-white-checker finish. 2010 race took 2 attempts.

Notable races

• 1960: The first race at Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) was won by Bobby Johns in a 1960 Pontiac.
• 1971: A.J. Foyt outdueled Richard Petty for his fifth career NASCAR win.
• 1972: Bobby Allison posted the first win for Chevrolet on a superspeedway since the 1960s as he held off a strong challenge from Foyt and Bobby Isaac.
• 1974: Cale Yarborough grabbed the lead when David Pearson pitted under green and was trapped by an ill-timed yellow; the race was shortened to 450 miles (720 km) due to the energy crisis.
• 1975: After winning the Dixie 500 four times Richard Petty edged Buddy Baker for his first Atlanta 500 win.
• 1976: Pearson lost a lap early and spent 225 laps getting it back before winning. Yarborough lost four laps on a green-flag stop and got three of them back to finish third.
• 1979: Buddy Baker caught a late yellow, got four tires, and won in a late sprint, his first win since 1976.
• 1980: Sophomore Dale Earnhardt took the lead with 30 to go after Cale Yarborough broke while chasing down Bobby Allison. USAC stock car racer Rusty Wallace finished a strong second. Donnie Allison crashed out of the lead with sophomore Terry Labonte in what became his final race for car owner Hoss Ellington.
• 1981: Yarborough posted his first win for car owner M.C. Anderson, but the story of the race was a loud protest by Bobby Allison over NASCAR-mandated reduction of the spoiler of his 1981 Pontiac Lemans to reduce the car's aerodynamic efficiency. Car owner Harry Ranier threatened to boycott the race but got no support in the garage area and relented to the rule change.
• 1982: After Dale Earnhardt fell out rain hit the race and Darrell Waltrip edged Richard Petty to the race-ending yellow.
• 1983: Cale Yarborough drove a backup car to victory for the second time in 1983. He'd wrecked his primary Ranier Chevy a week earlier in Rockingham and used a car that had been a show car.
• 1984: Benny Parsons posted his final win.
• 1986: Morgan Shepherd outran Dale Earnhardt for his first win in five years and the first of three wins at Atlanta.
• 1987: Dale Earnhardt fell out late and Ricky Rudd edged Parsons and Rusty Wallace for his first win on an oval bigger than one mile (1.6 km).
• 1989: Darrell Waltrip came back from nearly a lap down to win; on a mid-race yellow Waltrip was slowed by the pace car picking up the wrong leader during pitstops and was trapped barely on the lead lap. The mishap led to the implementation of a rule closing pit road when the yellow comes out; the rule was designed to stop cars from pitting before taking the yellow, which was blamed for scoring mistakes in the days of manual lap scoring.
• 1992: Bill Elliott won in unlikely fashion as a yellow trapped the entire field behind him a lap down during green flag stops in the final 30 laps.
• 1995: Jeff Gordon posted his second win of 1995 on his way to his first title.
• 1997: Dale Jarrett dominated in a race where Steve Grissom tore open a concrete wall, flipped over, and his fuel cell hit the outside wall and erupted in flame.
• 1998: Bobby Labonte took the win in a race delayed to Monday by rain and in a weekend that saw numerous driver injuries, notably Mike Skinner and Derrike Cope.
• 2000: Dale Earnhardt edged Labonte by inches after Skinner dominated the race but blew up.
• 2001: Kevin Harvick edged Gordon by inches in his first win for RCR after Dale Earnhardt's death. Although he was assigned a different number, Harvick used the same car and team Earnhardt won with the previous year.
• 2002: Tony Stewart posted his first 500-mile (800 km) win.
• 2005: Carl Edwards slithered past Jimmie Johnson on the final lap.
• 2006: Bill Lester becomes the first African-American driver to race in a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event since Willy T. Ribbs in 1986. Kasey Kahne would later on win this race and becomes the first of many wins for Kasey Kahne in 2006.
• 2007: It was the last race that the "old" racecar was run consecutively. The Car Of Tomorrow would debut next week at Bristol. Also it was Mark Martins's last consecutive race that he had participated in since 1991.
• 2008: Kyle Busch would win Toyota's first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was the first time a foreign auto maker won since Jaguar in 1954. It was also Kyles first win under the Joe Gibbs Racing banner.
• 2009: Kurt Busch dominated the race after a pit crew mistake by one of Marcos Ambrose's crewman trapped most of the cars that could challenge him a lap down.
• 2010: A scary flight by Brad Keselowski was a top story; Keselowski was spun out by the lapped car of Carl Edwards and nearly struck the fencing past the start-finish line in the final laps. This was also the last spring race at Atlanta.

Television broadcasters

Year	Network	Lap-by-lap	Color commentator(s)
2010	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2009	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2008	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2007	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2006	FX*	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2005	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2004	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2003	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2002	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2001	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2000	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ray Evernham
1999	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1998	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1997	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1996	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1995	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1994	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1993	TNN	Mike Joy	Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnett
1992	ABC	Paul Page	Benny Parsons and Bobby Unser
1991	ABC	Paul Page	Benny Parsons and Bobby Unser
1990	ABC	Paul Page	Benny Parsons and Bobby Unser
1989	ABC	Paul Page	Bobby Unser
1988	ABC	Keith Jackson	Jerry Punch
1987	ABC	Jim Lampley	Sam Posey
1986	ABC	Jim Lampley	Sam Posey
1985	ABC	Keith Jackson	Sam Posey
1984	ABC	Keith Jackson	Sam Posey
1983	ABC	Keith Jackson	Jackie Stewart
1982	ABC	Keith Jackson	Jackie Stewart
1981	ABC	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki
1980	ABC	Al Michaels	Jackie Stewart and Chris Economaki
1979	ABC	Al Michaels	Chris Economaki
1978	ABC	Al Michaels	Jackie Stewart and Chris Economaki
1977	ABC-TV	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki
1976	ABC	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki
1975	ABC	Keith Jackson	Jackie Stewart
1974
1973	ABC	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki
1972	ABC	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki
1971	ABC	Bill Flemming	Chris Economaki
1970
1969	ABC	Bill Flemming	Chris Economaki
1968
1967
1966
1965
1964	CBS

Notes

• 2006* - Race rained out, so it moved to FX (as well as some Fox affiliates) for Monday.

• The 1991 race was rained out after 51 laps on Sunday, ran the next day, but ABC decided not to televise the remainder of the race. No other network bothered to show the remainder of the race, leaving the race untelevised. To date it is the last untelevised Cup race.

• ABC was originally scheduled to televise the 1993 race on March 14, but the Storm of the Century had it postponed a week. ABC bailed out, so a frozen TNN crew stepped in to show the race, in trade they gave up the Busch Series race they were going to show on that weekend to ESPN.

• The 1998 race was initially going to be broadcast on ABC before being postponed from March 8. Also Ned Jarrett stepped in to call the race with Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons on Monday after the race had been postponed from Sunday.

References

Races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Current Daytona · Phoenix · Las Vegas · Bristol · California · Martinsville · Texas · Kansas · Richmond · Talladega · Darlington · Charlotte · Dover · Pocono · Michigan · Infineon · Kentucky · Daytona · New Hampshire · Indianapolis · Pocono · Watkins Glen · Michigan · Bristol · Atlanta · Richmond · The Chase: Chicagoland · New Hampshire · Dover · Talladega · Charlotte · Kansas · Martinsville · Texas · Phoenix · Homestead Exhibition Budweiser Shootout · Gatorade Duel · NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Previous North Wilkesboro · North Carolina · Riverside · Nashville · Texas World · North Wilkesboro · North Carolina · Riverside · Nashville · Texas World · Texas World · Ontario · Darlington · Trenton · Atlanta · California Previous Exhibition Suzuka · Motegi · Calder Park Note:The Sprint Cup Series has multiple events at the same racing venue.