The 2016 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on February 28, 2016, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The series was named after co-sponsors, QuikTrip and the nonprofit, Folds of Honor, and it helped raise funds to provide educational assistance to families of U.S. service members killed or disabled in the line of duty. Contested over 330 laps—extended from 325 laps due to an overtime finish, on the asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway, it was the second race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson won the race, the 76th of his career. This drew him level with Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list and third in NASCAR's post-1972 "modern era." Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, and Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five.

Kurt Busch won the pole for the race and led 62 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish. Kevin Harvick led a race high of 131 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish. There were 28 lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as three caution flag periods for 13 laps.

This was the 76th career victory for Johnson, first of the season, fifth at Atlanta Motor Speedway and 14th at the track for Hendrick Motorsports. It moved Johnson up to sixth in the points standings. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Chevrolet left Atlanta trailing by three-points to Toyota in the manufacturer standings.

The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway is a quad-oval track in Hampton, Georgia. Denny Hamlin entered as the points leader with a five-point lead over Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch entered third, six points back. Kevin Harvick entered fourth, eight points back and Carl Edwards entered fifth, nine points back.

Entry list The entry list for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was released on Tuesday, February 23 at 4:34 p.m. Eastern time. Thirty-nine cars were entered for the race, the smallest field for a Sprint Cup Series race since the 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400, the last Cup Series race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. It was also the fewest cars entered for a Cup Series race since 1993. The three driver changes for this weekend's race were Ty Dillon taking over the No. 14 Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet, Jeffrey Earnhardt driving the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford and Michael McDowell returning to the seat of the No. 95 Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet.

Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports ChevroletOfficial entry list

Practice

First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.740 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.740 192.902 2 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.904 191.807 3 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.030 190.975Official first practice results

Final practice Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.419 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime111Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota29.419188.450278Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota29.454188.226348Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet29.600187.297Official final practice results

Qualifying

Kurt Busch won the pole for the race with a time of 28.938 and a speed of after brother Kyle Busch had his time disallowed for a post-tech violation. The rear toe of the car – the degree to which the vertical angle of the rear wheels are skewed – was over the .15 degree maximum allowed after pre-inspection. NASCAR Senior Vice-president of Competition and Racing Development Scott Miller said that teams had "asked for it," NASCAR "instituted it" and the No. 18 car "didn't pass. The others [that went through tech] passed."

After scoring his 20th career pole, Kurt said that it was "an awesome run that the car had in it. The team did a good job to dial it in for the three rounds. I was just trying to make sure I didn’t slip a tire any extra. It’s really easy to overdrive Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track challenges the driver, the car and the tires. It’s a fun place to come and try to lay down a lap. Overall, with the way the developments came up from tech inspection this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to apply their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs.”

After being bumped up to the front row, Jamie McMurray said that he was "really proud of everyone at the entire shop. When you come to a 1.5-mile track you're really depending on your car. And our 1.5-mile program last year wasn't where it needed to be. They put a lot of effort into it. Like I said during Speedweeks and all the offseason, this is where you really need to be good. The No. 42 car (teammate Kyle Larson) was fast in practice. He got really loose, it looked like, in his qualifying laps. But then, we were really good as well. So I'm proud of the effort by everybody on the McDonald's Chevrolet. We're off to a good start at the 1.5-mile tracks, which is critical."

After his best qualifying performance on a non-restrictor plate track, Trevor Bayne said that his team is "really looking forward to this low-downforce package, as we've talked about over the offseason. We felt like our best races were at the low downforce tracks, Kentucky and Darlington, so everybody that's wondering what's going on at Roush Fenway Racing – a lot of hard work and a lot of attention to detail. We had a meeting last week talking about execution. Everybody's intentions are right. Everybody wants to go fast. Everybody wants to win races, but now we've got to execute and make sure we make these fast Fords last."

Adam Stevens, crew chief of the No. 18 car, explained that "parts move — everything moves — so you expect it to be a little bit different, but the first opportunity we’ve had to gather post information was right now, and it’s game time and it was too much. We were perfectly legal beforehand, which obviously or we wouldn’t have qualified. Just the amount of load on the track moves everything a little bit and that little bit was a little bit too much.”

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.930 28.930 28.938 2 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.09228.90029.159 3 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.85629.11129.181 4 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.07029.01829.185 5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.13029.08629.200 6 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.14729.09529.213 7 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.96928.95629.215 8 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.03128.94529.228 9 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 29.04429.02229.277 10 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.02529.09629.397 11 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.06829.05429.616 12 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.11029.120— 13 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.99229.139 — 14 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.20629.151 — 15 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 29.12629.156 — 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.19529.207 — 17 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 29.25429.311 — 18 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.15329.312 — 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.24129.366 — 20 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.89729.377 — 21 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.15529.378 — 22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.04829.390 — 23 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 29.215 29.576 — 24 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.273— — 25 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.321 — — 26 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.327 — — 27 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.401 — — 28 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.485 — — 29 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.515 — — 30 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 29.585 — — 31 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.628 — — 32 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 29.822 — — 33 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 29.842 — — 34 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.868 — — 35 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 29.887 — — 36 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 30.124 — — 37 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 30.160 — — 38 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 30.669 — — 39 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.68129.031 —Official qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race

First half

Start Under clear blue Georgia skies, Kurt Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:17 p.m. He pulled to a one-second lead after 15 laps. After 30 laps, Martin Truex Jr. caught up to the bumper Busch. He began to lose ground and got passed for second by Matt Kenseth. Kevin Harvick made an unscheduled stop on lap 40 for a flat right-front tire. Being near the end of the fuel window, a number of cars began hitting pit road. Busch gave up the lead to pit on lap 40 and gave the lead to Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Carl Edwards who also pitted that lap. Kyle Busch assumed the lead. He pitted on lap 42 and handed the lead to Cole Whitt. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Kurt Busch. Josh Wise was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.

By lap 60, Kenseth caught up to Busch and began battling him for the lead. Going into turn 1, Kenseth dove underneath Busch and took the lead on lap 65. He began putting distance between himself and Busch after three laps. A number of cars began pitting around lap 78 including race leader Kenseth. This handed the lead to Kurt Busch. He pitted on lap 80 and the lead cycled to Jimmie Johnson.

Second quarter