This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
A cold and wet race day greeted NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Sunday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After the track was dried and NASCAR decided the surface was safe enough for racing, the proceedings got underway. Like the rest of the weekend, the early running produced a battle between Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. Unlike Saturday, however, it was Jimmie Johnson who put together the fastest car at the end of the race, driving away from the competition and claiming the second winner's trophy of 2015.
Sunday's race was one of attrition. Mistakes on pit road, tire failures and contact on track eliminated the competition one by one. Johnson, Harvick and Logano led nearly 300 of the race's 325 laps and rarely gave a sniff to any other competitor. In the end it was Johnson who drove away from the final restart to produce a two-second gap to the trailing car and earn his first victory of 2015.
The series packs up for its west-coast swing with next week's round at Las Vegas. Atlanta's cold weather will be in the rearview mirror, and teams will look to find a rhythm from which to pin their championship hopes for 2015.
UPGRADE
Jimmie Johnson - Punching his ticket for the 2015 Chase for the Championship is something Johnson wanted to get out of the way early, and he did just that Sunday in Atlanta. On the race's final restart, Johnson drove away from teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to gain a big lead,
A cold and wet race day greeted NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Sunday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After the track was dried and NASCAR decided the surface was safe enough for racing, the proceedings got underway. Like the rest of the weekend, the early running produced a battle between Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. Unlike Saturday, however, it was Jimmie Johnson who put together the fastest car at the end of the race, driving away from the competition and claiming the second winner's trophy of 2015.
Sunday's race was one of attrition. Mistakes on pit road, tire failures and contact on track eliminated the competition one by one. Johnson, Harvick and Logano led nearly 300 of the race's 325 laps and rarely gave a sniff to any other competitor. In the end it was Johnson who drove away from the final restart to produce a two-second gap to the trailing car and earn his first victory of 2015.
The series packs up for its west-coast swing with next week's round at Las Vegas. Atlanta's cold weather will be in the rearview mirror, and teams will look to find a rhythm from which to pin their championship hopes for 2015.
UPGRADE
Jimmie Johnson - Punching his ticket for the 2015 Chase for the Championship is something Johnson wanted to get out of the way early, and he did just that Sunday in Atlanta. On the race's final restart, Johnson drove away from teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to gain a big lead, and drove home to his first victory of 2015. The news of last week's win is not good for the rest of the field. Johnson has four Las Vegas wins in 13 tries, and an average finish of 9.2 in that time. Statistics like Johnson's are unmatched in the sport, and an early demonstration of strength could mean domination for the No. 48 team early in 2015.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Earnhardt continued to exercise his strength in 2015 despite not claiming a win. The driver of the No. 88 started Sunday's final restart in Atlanta in a battle with teammate Johnson, and held on to finish a solid third. That finish is Junior's second consecutive top-five finish, and puts him in impressive position to capitalize in the coming weeks. Though he has never won at Las Vegas, Earnhardt has an average finish of 14.7 in 15 career starts at the track, including four-straight top-10 finishes. Earnhardt has been positive about his car and team so far in 2015, and that confidence could mean a 2015 Chase berth in short order for the veteran contender.
Martin Truex Jr. - Points race or not, Truex has yet to finish outside of the top-10 yet this season. He finished eighth in the Daytona 500, and backed up a strong Daytona Speedweeks with a sixth-place finish in Atlanta. The No. 78 showed promise early in 2014, but never lived up to the potential. The current season appears to be producing a different result so far. This week could be difficult for Truex, though. His Las Vegas record hasn't been stellar. He holds two top-10 finishes from nine starts at the Nevada oval, and his performance in the third week of the season could be a harbinger of the future. Should he perform well, he will be rightly considered a Chase contender.
Joey Logano - Logano started on pole Sunday, and claimed his second top-five finish with a stout effort in Atlanta. That feat would be a bit less impressive if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the Ford contenders were so slow last week. Logano has led the charge for the marque two weeks now, and may be Ford's fastest driver at the moment. He already has one foot in the Chase field, and can focus on improving his consistency for a championship run later this year. Logano has two top-10s and a top-five from six Las Vegas starts, and next week could notch another top finish in his already gleaming 2015 season. Logano is the driver with momentum, and that means a lot for NASCAR fantasy rosters.
Carl Edwards - He may have finished 12th in Atlanta on Sunday, but that result came after a shredded tire seemed to eliminate any hopes he had of a top finish. He has yet to score a top-10 finish in 2015, but Edwards appears destined to notch a top result early in 2015. He finished 23rd in the Daytona 500 after leading three laps, and overcame an obstacle with the tire trouble last Sunday. Edwards could position himself to be a championship contender in 2015, but just needs to get on the same page with his team. Among active drivers he has one of the best Las Vegas records with two wins and six top-10s in 10 starts. His average finish is 9.2 in that time, making him one of the top fantasy selections next week.
DOWNGRADE
Austin Dillon - A driver's side rear tire caused Dillon more trouble than he wanted Sunday in Atlanta. The No. 3 had an early tire rub that brought out a caution before the same corner's rubber took him out of contention completely just a few laps later. Dillon used 2014 to learn all he could to make a charge forward in 2015, but this season's effort has stalled out of the gate. He finished 14th in the Daytona 500 before the trouble in Atlanta pushed him further down the order. Dillon's two Las Vegas Sprint Cup starts have produced a top finish of 16th. He'll need to improve on that number if he wants to work his way into fantasy rosters in the near future.
Jeff Gordon - Gordon was the victim of circumstance Sunday. The veteran driver in his final year of competition was tagged as Denny Hamlin lost control; an innocent bystander who's race was decimated too early. The former champion walks away from Atlanta with consecutive finishes outside of the top 30. This isn't the way Gordon wanted to start his final season in Sprint Cup competition, and will have to work a miracle to turn things around next week in Las Vegas. However, he is a past winner at that oval, and carries an average finish of 15th from 17 career starts at the track. Fortunes will have to turn around for Gordon to leave the sport on a high.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - Last season was a huge disappointment for Stenhouse. He couldn't come to grips with his car, and top results were few and far between. Unfortunately, the No. 17 was one of the many cars involved in Greg Biffle's accident Sunday afternoon, smashing the front of his car in his teammate's wreck. The contact forced Stenhouse out of the race. He finished 29th in Daytona, and is struggling to find top results early in 2015. In two Las Vegas starts the Roush Fenway Racing driver has yet to finish inside the top 10, and his best finish came two years ago when he came home 18th. His qualifying average is decent, though, at 6.5. However, fantasy owners need top finishes, not top starts.
Greg Biffle - Biffle lost control of his car late in Sunday's race, causing a multi-car pile up in the middle of the pack. The melee took out Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and damaged a number of other vehicles, bringing out a red flag. Eight cars were involved in the accident, but Sunday's damage stunted Biffle's start to the 2015 season. The No. 16 had a decent top-10 run in Daytona, but couldn't match that form in the second race of the season due to the accident. Biffle could rebound quickly this week, though. The Roush Fenway Racing driver has an average finish of 14.5 in 11 career starts at the track, and will need some success to drive his team toward a Chase berth.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Brett Moffitt - Competing last week in Atlanta for Brian Vickers was Moffit. The 22-year old stepped in and claimed a top-10 result for Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 team just before Vickers returns to the cockpit in Las Vegas. Moffit's previous best finish in the Sprint Cup series came last season when he raced to a 22nd-place finish for Identity Ventures Racing at Dover International Speedway. Last week's confident showing in tricky conditions will certainly gain him some attention from top teams in the future, and substitute or not, fantasy players will wants to keep their eyes on Moffit's progress in the coming seasons. Last week's eight-place finish was a great result for this young contender.
