The 2024 Fr8 208 was the 2nd stock car race of the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the 16th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, a permanent asphalt quad-oval shaped intermediate speedway (with superspeedway rules). The race took the scheduled 135 laps to complete. Kyle Busch, driving for Spire Motorsports, would make a late race pass for lead on Grant Enfinger with eight laps to go, and held off a charge from Ty Majeski to earn his 65th career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, and his first of the season. It was Busch's 21st consecutive season with a NASCAR national series (Cup, Xfinity, or Truck) Series win. Busch stayed consistent, running in the top ten throughout the entire race and winning the second stage. Tyler Ankrum started second and led a race-high 46 laps. To fill out the podium, Majeski, driving for ThorSport Racing, and Corey Heim, driving for Tricon Garage, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Report
Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series stock car races since 2004.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate 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, with a new official length of where before it was . The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit. In July 2021 NASCAR announced that the track would be reprofiled for the 2022 season to have 28 degrees of banking and would be narrowed from 55 to 40 feet which the track claims will turn racing at the track similar to restrictor plate superspeedways. Despite the reprofiling being criticized by drivers, construction began in August 2021 and wrapped up in December 2021. The track has seating capacity of 71,000 to 125,000 people depending on the tracks configuration.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
#DriverTeamMake1Colby HowardTricon GarageToyota02Mason MasseyYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet2Nick SanchezRev RacingChevrolet5Dean ThompsonTricon GarageToyota7Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet9Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet11Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota13Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord15Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota17Taylor GrayTricon GarageToyota18Tyler AnkrumMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet19Christian EckesMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet21Mason MaggioFloridian MotorsportsFord22Keith McGeeReaume Brothers RacingFord25Ty DillonRackley WARChevrolet32Bret HolmesBret Holmes RacingChevrolet33Lawless AlanReaume Brothers RacingFord38Layne Riggs (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord41Bayley CurreyNiece MotorsportsChevrolet42Matt MillsNiece MotorsportsChevrolet43Daniel DyeMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet45Kaden HoneycuttNiece MotorsportsChevrolet46Thad Moffitt (R)Faction46Chevrolet52Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota56Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota66Conner Jones (R)ThorSport RacingFord71Rajah CaruthSpire MotorsportsChevrolet76Spencer BoydFreedom Racing EnterprisesChevrolet77Chase PurdySpire MotorsportsChevrolet88Matt CraftonThorSport RacingFord91Jack WoodMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet98Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord99Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFordOfficial entry list
Qualifying Qualifying was held on Friday, February 23, at 3:05 PM EST.
No free practice session is used in Atlanta because of superspeedway rules. The rules for such circuits involve single-truck qualifying. Each driver has one warmup lap, then participates in one timed lap, and takes the chequered flag. The fastest ten drivers from the first round move on to the second round. Whoever sets the fastest time in Round 2 will win the pole.
Daniel Dye, driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, would advance from the preliminary round and set the fastest time in Round 2, with a lap of 31.817, and a speed of .
No drivers would fail to qualify.
Qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTime (R1)Speed (R2)Time (R2)Speed (R2)143Daniel DyeMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet32.136172.51731.817174.246218Tyler AnkrumMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet32.115172.63031.960173.467398Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord32.289171.69931.992173.293491Jack WoodMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet32.318171.54532.006173.218519Christian EckesMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet32.106172.67832.066172.89369Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet32.201172.16932.076172.84077Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet32.215172.09432.123172.587888Matt CraftonThorSport RacingFord32.209172.12632.134172.528977Chase PurdySpire MotorsportsChevrolet32.371171.26432.219172.0721066Conner Jones (R)ThorSport RacingFord32.367171.28632.314171.567Eliminated in Round 11113Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord32.372171.259——1271Rajah CaruthSpire MotorsportsChevrolet32.379171.222——1338Layne Riggs (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord32.400171.111——1499Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFord32.420171.006——151Colby HowardTricon GarageToyota32.494170.616——1652Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota32.495170.611——1725Ty DillonRackley WARChevrolet32.503170.569——182Nick SanchezRev RacingChevrolet32.519170.485——1911Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota32.531170.422——2041Bayley CurreyNiece MotorsportsChevrolet32.582170.155——2142Matt MillsNiece MotorsportsChevrolet32.628169.915——2215Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota32.640169.853——235Dean ThompsonTricon GarageToyota32.648169.811——2432Bret HolmesBret Holmes RacingChevrolet32.661169.744——2545Kaden HoneycuttNiece MotorsportsChevrolet32.721169.432——2621Mason MaggioFloridian MotorsportsFord32.745169.308——2756Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota32.750169.282——2846Thad Moffitt (R)Faction46Chevrolet32.804169.004——2933Lawless AlanReaume Brothers RacingFord32.824168.901——3002Mason MasseyYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet32.849168.772——3117Taylor GrayTricon GarageToyota32.884168.593——Qualified by owner's points3222Keith McGeeReaume Brothers RacingFord32.910168.459——3376Spencer BoydFreedom Racing EnterprisesChevrolet32.953168.240——Official qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup
Race results Stage 1 Laps: 30 Pos.#DriverTeamMakePts119Christian EckesMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet10218Tyler AnkrumMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet9338Layne Riggs (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord849Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet7598Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord6699Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFord5713Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord487Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet0991Jack WoodMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet21043Daniel DyeMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet1 Stage 2 Laps: 30 Pos.#DriverTeamMakePts17Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet0218Tyler AnkrumMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet939Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet8415Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota7511Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota662Nick SanchezRev RacingChevrolet5798Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord4871Rajah CaruthSpire MotorsportsChevrolet3917Taylor GrayTricon GarageToyota21041Bayley CurreyNiece MotorsportsChevrolet1 Stage 3 Laps: 75 FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPts177Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet13533Running02398Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord1353Running4531911Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota1350Running4043117Taylor GrayTricon GarageToyota1350Running355182Nick SanchezRev RacingChevrolet1350Running3762545Kaden HoneycuttNiece MotorsportsChevrolet1350Running317218Tyler AnkrumMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet13546Running4881271Rajah CaruthSpire MotorsportsChevrolet1350Running329143Daniel DyeMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet1350Running2910235Dean ThompsonTricon GarageToyota1354Running27112432Bret HolmesBret Holmes RacingChevrolet1350Running26122933Lawless AlanReaume Brothers RacingFord1350Running2513888Matt CraftonThorSport RacingFord1350Running24141725Ty DillonRackley WARChevrolet1350Running2315977Chase PurdySpire MotorsportsChevrolet1350Running22161113Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord1350Running2117151Colby HowardTricon GarageToyota1350Running20182756Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota1350Running19192215Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota1350Running25203002Mason MasseyYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet1350Running17213222Keith McGeeReaume Brothers RacingFord1340Running16223376Spencer BoydFreedom Racing EnterprisesChevrolet1340Running15231652Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota1330Running14242621Mason MaggioFloridian MotorsportsFord1330Running122569Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet13323Running26262846Thad Moffitt (R)Faction46Chevrolet1320Running10272142Matt MillsNiece MotorsportsChevrolet1326Running9281499Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFord1300Running13291066Conner Jones (R)ThorSport RacingFord1290Running7302041Bayley CurreyNiece MotorsportsChevrolet960Damage731491Jack WoodMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet570Accident732519Christian EckesMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet5020Brakes14331338Layne Riggs (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord1330Running4Official race results
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Tyler Ankrum 91 5 2 Ty Majeski 81 (-10) 1 3 Nick Sanchez 79 (–12) 2 4 Corey Heim 77 (–14) 3 5 Rajah Caruth 66 (–25) 2 6 Bret Holmes 64 (–27) 2 7 Matt Crafton 62 (–29) 7 8 Taylor Gray 59 (–32) 6 9 Christian Eckes 54 (–37) 9 10 Daniel Dye 53 (–38)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 80 2 Toyota 68 (–12) 3 Ford 64 (–16) Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.
References