{"id":14898,"date":"2018-02-23T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T22:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14898"},"modified":"2018-02-24T13:12:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T19:12:11","slug":"nascar-friday-atlanta-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/23\/nascar-friday-atlanta-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Atlanta Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/p>\n

Austin Dillon resets his goals after Daytona 500 victory<\/b><\/p>\n

HAMPTON, Ga. \u2013 What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question that confronts Austin Dillon after last Sunday\u2019s last-lap victory in the 60th Daytona 500, NASCAR\u2019s most important and prestigious race.<\/p>\n

That triumph gave Dillon wins in two of NASCAR\u2019s \u201cmajors.\u201d Last year, he picked up his inaugural victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and qualified for the postseason Playoff for the second straight season.<\/p>\n

So, again, what\u2019s next, now that Dillon has knocked two gigantic items off the bucket list?<\/p>\n

The obvious choice is a series title. As a former champion in the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series, Dillon is the only driver currently eligible to be the first to complete the trifecta. That\u2019s something the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet already has thought about in depth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely have thought about that,\u201d Dillon said on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Sunday\u2019s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX). \u201cThat\u2019s my goal is to be the first to win all three. I feel like that would be a heck of an accomplishment. I\u2019ve thought about it a lot this week. After you win a huge race like that, what\u2019s next? <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my eyes, that\u2019s the next goal. That\u2019s what we need to go to work on hard this year, because we\u2019ve already got a great opportunity with the way the Playoffs work as being locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daytona is a restrictor-plate superspeedway, and conventional wisdom says the \u201creal\u201d open-motor season starts with the Monster Energy race at Atlanta. Dillon believes his team is prepared to run well at the intermediate speedways, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just keep rocking it however we can,\u201d Dillon said. \u201cWe still have a lot to work on. We want to make this Camaro ZL1 good at all tracks. We\u2019re looking forward to that. Been excited about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great start to the season. It definitely gets the momentum going. We just need to keep pounding.\u201d<\/p>\n

WORDS OF WISDOM\u2014AND MERRIMENT\u2014FROM BUBBA WALLACE\u2019S FAMILY<\/b><\/p>\n

As Darrell \u201cBubba\u201d Wallace Jr. was addressing the media last Sunday after a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500, a visit to the dais and hug from his mother, Desiree Wallace, brought the driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet to tears.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 NASCAR Racing Experience Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 23, 2018 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Wallace had to regain control of his emotions before he could continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything about that week is going to stick out,\u201d said Wallace, the highest finishing African-American driver ever in the Great American Race. \u201cI\u2019ll remember that week for the rest of my life of what we did on our off-days, to Media Day, to getting sick, and everything\u2026 what I had for breakfast each and every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to remember it all, just because it was so vivid and just a great week to remember. Everything will stick out, especially me crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days after the race, though, Wallace\u2019s mother sent him a text that evoked a guffaw from the driver when he read it aloud on Friday in the Atlanta Motor Speedway media center.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Hey, babe, reading the comments from Sunday\u2019s race,\u201d Wallace said. \u2018Wow, I\u2019m so emotional right now. You did win on Sunday. You won the hearts of so many people. That\u2019s better than a first-place finish, because when you do get that first win, oh, my God, there is going to be a riot. LOL.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Love you and so very proud. And then aren\u2019t you glad I decided to have one more child.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my Mom,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThat\u2019s where you see I get it from. Talked to my sister last night. My nephew, he wanted to FaceTime me, but we were traveling back from a dinner, so by the time I called back he was already asleep. They will be back down this weekend \u2013 so my good luck charms, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHAIN OF FRIENDSHIP HELPS WALLACE THROUGH SPEEDWEEKS<\/b><\/p>\n

Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace are close friends, dating to their pre-adolescent days racing Bandoleros at Charlotte Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Blaney and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are close, too. So when Earnhardt perceived Wallace might be feeling the stress from all the attention he was receiving in the lead-up to the Daytona 500, he made a call to Blaney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was right when I got down to Daytona, maybe Friday (before qualifying), and I was watching quarter-midget races over there in the infield, and Dale Jr. gives me a call,\u201d Blaney said on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like, \u2018Hey, I need you to go call Bubba and calm him down, because I think he was getting really overwhelmed with all the media and the pressure that was kind of being bestowed upon him and we haven\u2019t even got started yet.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Blaney had a conversation with Wallace, trying to relax him and advise him not to be bothered by all the distractions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing that he\u2019s getting recognized in all forms of TV and entertainment and media and didn\u2019t see it as pressure \u2013 (saw) it as a well-deserved opportunity that he got.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think he dealt with it really well and he proved that Sunday when he was able to kind of put all this behind him and just go out there and race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. Wallace finished second to Austin Dillon in the 500. If anything, the media attention has increased exponentially since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he did a really good job of dealing with everything on the track and off the track, and I\u2019m pretty proud of him for that,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   Austin Dillon resets his goals after Daytona 500 victory HAMPTON, Ga. \u2013 What\u2019s next? That\u2019s the question that confronts Austin Dillon after last Sunday\u2019s last-lap victory in the 60th Daytona 500, NASCAR\u2019s most important and prestigious race. That triumph gave Dillon wins in two of NASCAR\u2019s \u201cmajors.\u201d Last year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[52,384,16],"class_list":["post-14898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-atlanta-motor-speedway","tag-folds-of-honor-quiktrip-500","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ATL_MENCS_DWallaceJr_022318.jpg?fit=4517%2C3011","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Si","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14901,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14898\/revisions\/14901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}