The race was marred by a crash involving Larry Hedrick Motorsports driver Steve Grissom on lap 284. On the track's backstretch, Jimmy Spencer would spin in front of oncoming cars, causing Grissom to spin and fellow driver and rookie Mike Skinner to hit Spencer and become airborne. Grissom would proceed to spin towards an opening on the inside backstretch wall at over 180 miles per hour (290 km/h), eventually hitting the wall violently. Grissom's car would proceed to flip wildly, with the rear axle completely torn from the car and with the fuel cell ruptured, fuel would spill onto the track.[1] Grissom was eventually determined to be OK from the accident, with Grissom only suffering a "skinned ankle" according to Grissom himself.[3]
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
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 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 7, at 12:30 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, March 8, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time.[4] Positions 26-38 would be decided on time, while positions 39-43 would be based on provisionals. Four spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The fifth is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.
Robby Gordon, driving for Team SABCO, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.378 and an average speed of 186.507 miles per hour (300.154 km/h).[5]
