The 2014 Oral-B USA 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 31, 2014, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 335 laps on the quad-oval, it was the 25th race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports won the race, his first win of the season. Matt Kenseth finished second, while Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Kyle Larson (8th), Michael Annett (21st), and Austin Dillon (24th). This was Danica Patrick’s best career finish.
Report Background
The venue, Atlanta Motor Speedway, is a four-turn quad-oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five. The track's racing surface width varies from 55 feet to 60 feet. The defending race winner from 2013 was Kyle Busch.
Tony Stewart's status had been undecided going into the race. "It's just an emotional roller coaster all week, you know what I mean?" Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition at Stewart–Haas Racing, stated after the previous weekend's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. "It is what it is. We do the best we can with what we've got right now. We'll keep praying, keep our fingers crossed that we get the boss back sooner rather than later." On Thursday, it was announced by NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell, that Stewart would return to racing at Atlanta. O'Donnell added that NASCAR had "remained in constant contact with his race team and we will stay very close to this situation as Stewart returns to competition".
On Friday, Stewart spoke publicly for the first time since the events of August 9 at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York. Stewart described the situation as "one of the toughest tragedies I've ever had to deal with, both professionally and personally. It will affect my life forever". He said he reached out to the Ward family and said "I want them to know I'm thinking about them and praying for them." Stewart–Haas Racing executive vice president Brett Frood said "for Tony, it's all about the healing process. That's why he's in the car," when asked why Stewart decided to return while the investigation into Ward's death remained open. "I am not going to comment on the incident itself. It was a tragic accident." Stewart declined to answer any questions about the incident due to the ongoing investigation.
Later, NASCAR President Mike Helton spoke about Stewart and a waiver that he would receive, if he won at Atlanta or the following weekend at Richmond. With the waiver, Stewart would be eligible to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. While Stewart had not attempted to qualify the last two races and, therefore, would have been ineligible, NASCAR had the ability to grant an exemption to a driver for "unique circumstances". "We made our decisions based on the circumstances we've got currently," Helton said. "And I think most everyone in this room understands at NASCAR, our effort, our scope of responsibility and authority is limited to the NASCAR community. We take the current circumstances that we are dealt with and make what we hope to be the best absolute conclusion. That's what we're talking about today, is the current set of circumstances and our reaction to them."
Reaction to the waiver was mostly positive from fellow drivers. "I'm happy to know if I was out of the car for some reason that I'd get a chance to get back in the Chase," Brian Vickers said. "There's a lot of circumstances that I don't know exactly how they'd handle them. Obviously they've set a precedent here with Tony. One day I'd like to have kids. Does that mean I get to be at the hospital with my wife if she's having our first child even if it means missing a race but I can still make the Chase?" "I think the whole intent of eligibility for the Chase is so that somebody doesn't go take a vacation after winning a few races," Jeff Gordon said. "(NASCAR) wants the teams and the drivers that have earned their way in it. I believe if they win a race they should be in it."
Entry list The entry list for the Oral-B USA 500 was released on Monday, August 25, 2014 at 2:08 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-four drivers were entered for the race.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski (PC2) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Tony Stewart (PC3) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC5) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC6) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 J. J. Yeley (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Ty Dillon (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 37 Mike Bliss (i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 41 Kurt Busch (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC1) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Brett Moffitt Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 77 Joe Nemechek (i) Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing FordOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional
Practice First practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.747 and a speed of . Tony Stewart, who sat out the last three races, was tenth with a time of 29.234 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 99 Carl Edwards Ford 28.747 192.855 2 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.931 191.628 3 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 28.963 191.417Official first practice results
Qualifying
Kevin Harvick won the pole with a time of 29.118 and a speed of . Harvick felt that his car did not change much during qualifying, but felt that he "messed the first round up really bad trying to do something that I wasn't doing in practice". Brad Keselowski joined Harvick on the front row, stating that his qualifying run – 0.052 seconds off Harvick's pole time – was his best since he started competing at Atlanta, praising his team's work in the process. In his first Sprint Cup qualifying session, Nationwide Series regular Ty Dillon qualified in 29th position. Dillon described the situation as "touch to come in...and expect a great qualifying effort", before stating that "it was a lot of fun going out there and qualifying with the big guys". 44 drivers contested qualifying, with Michael McDowell failing to qualify.
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.442 29.115 29.118 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 29.181 29.150 29.170 3 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.189 29.201 29.197 4 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.487 29.247 29.272 5 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.026 29.044 29.334 6 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 29.442 29.280 29.346 7 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.984 29.266 29.391 8 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.173 29.277 29.409 9 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.432 29.221 29.419 10 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.377 29.256 29.440 11 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.204 29.222 29.480 12 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.447 29.246 29.504 13 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.468 29.308 — 14 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.450 29.318 — 15 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.436 29.358 — 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.304 29.363 — 17 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.428 29.389 — 18 16 Greg Biffle Racing Ford 29.394 29.410 — 19 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.309 29.422 — 20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.380 29.509 — 21 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.290 29.536 — 22 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.487 29.590 — 23 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.452 29.604 — 24 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 29.469 29.655 — 25 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 29.489 — — 26 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.505 — — 27 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.529 — — 28 37 Mike Bliss Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 29.571 — — 29 33 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.595 — — 30 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.597 — — 31 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.665 — — 32 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.704 — — 33 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.808 — — 34 77 Joe Nemechek Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 29.816 — — 35 66 Brett Moffitt Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 29.833 — — 36 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 29.844 — — 37 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.893 — — 38 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.998 — — 39 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 30.022 — — 40 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 30.032 — — 41 32 J. J. Yeley Go FAS Racing Ford 30.209 — — 42 40 Landon Cassill Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 30.284 — — 43 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 30.321 — —Did not qualify 44 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 30.025 — —Official qualifying results
Practice (post-qualifying) Second practice Joey Logano was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 29.279 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.279 189.351 2 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 29.438 188.328 3 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.514 187.843Official second practice results
Final practice Matt Kenseth was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.450 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 29.450 188.251 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.510 187.869 3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.629 187.114Official final practice results
Race First half Start