Jimmie Johnson booked his spot in the Chase with a race win on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after powerinf to victory in the Folds Of Honor Quick Trip 500.
Johnson took the lead with 120 laps to go from Kevin Harvick and held off late charges from Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to earn his first win of the season after just two races on the calendar.
Pole sitter Logano #22 was dominant for the first third of the race before Harvick #4 took charge for the next 100 laps around the 1.5 mile circuit before Johnson #48 shot off from the pack.
Late in the 325 lap contest there were incidents when Hamlin got loose and collected three other cars and soon after a ten car pile up ensued after Ricky Stenhouse Jr got into the back of Clint Bowyer.
Saturday saw a double header which began with the XFinity Series Hisense 250 where Kevin Harvick driving the #88 for Jr Motorsports went to Victory Lane after a dominant performance.
Harvick took the lead for the first time at lap 49 when he passed fellow Cup Series driver Joey Logano #22 on the outide going into turn three on the 1.5 mile oval.
The race for the most part of the 163 laps was a battle between the two as they lead an astounding 157 laps between them and ran away from the rest of the charging field.
Logano was back out front until a caution with 27 laps to go saw Harvick win the race off pit road and hold the lead until the chequered flag.
A total of 35 cars finished the race as there were only three cautions and a number of long green flag runs, which people have come to expect at Atlanta.
To round out the double header the Camping World Truck Series took to the track for the HCE 200 where defending champion Matt Crafton went to Victory Lane.
Crafton dominated from lap 50 in his Menards #88 as Dillon #33, Kennedy #11, Suarez #51 and Reddick #19 rounded out the top five.
The race started with a number of caution in the first 45 laps as Ray Black Jr #07 went spinning, Cody Ware #50 got into Mason Mingus #15 and Ware lost control and over corrected.
But from lap 54 onwards the race went green the whole way and Crafton took advantage to finish with a nine second lead over Dillon.
FRIDAY ON TRACK ACTION:
The important on track action at Atlanta Motor Speedway began on Friday at 10:00am with XFinity Series practice until 10:55am with Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano topping the first practice session with a speed of 182.807mph.
Logano was running double duty this weekend, firstly taking part in the Hisense 250 on Saturday night in the XFinity Series and finishing his weekend in the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday.
At the end of the first XFinity practice session Logano, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and rookie Erik Jones who was subbing for the injured Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
Elliott Sadler, rookie Darrell Wallace Jr, Regan Smith, Brendan Gaughan and Brian Scott made up the rest of the top ten on the board as the 55 minute practice came to an end.
The XFinity Series then had its second and final practice session from 11:30am - 12:55pm with Logano once again topping the session and Gaughan, Paul Menard, rookie Daniel Suarez, defending XFinity Series champion Chase Elliott, Kenseth, Harvick, Scott, Smith and Jones making up the top ten.
At 1:00pm until 2:25pm the Sprint Cup Series drivers got their chance to run some laps with Kyle Larson in the #42 topping the session with a speed of 192.989mph.
Harvick #4, David Ragan in the #18 subbing for Kyle Busch, Logano #22 and Denny Hamlin #11 made up the top five on the speed chart.
Ragan, who was told this week he would be the replacement driver of the Joe Gibbs #18, had a speed of 192.847mph in the Crispy M and M Chevrolet.
Tony Stewart #14, Justin Allgaier #51, Brad Keselowski #2, Kenseth #20 and Jamie McMurray #1 rounded out the top ten on the board at the end of the session.
The Camping World Truck Series drivers got their chance from 2:30pm until 5:25pm with their one and only practice session of the weekend on track.
Keselowski driving the #29 truck topped the session with a speed of 178.694mph as Jones #4, Cameron Hayley #13, Daniel Suarez #51 and John Wes Townley #05 made up the top five.
Defending Series champion Matt Crafton in the #88 had the best 10 lap average speed during the session with 176.268mph as all of the 31 drivers at the track running at least 15 laps during the three hour session.
Finally Sprint Cup Series qualifying rounded out the day's action at 5:45pm as Logano continued his fantastic start to the season by getting the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday's race.
Logano posted a speed of 194.240mph in the third and final round of qualifying, which was the fastest speed of the day's action.
Round 1 saw Logano #22, Hamlin #11, Carl Edwards #19, Larson #42 and Martin Truex Jr #78 make up the top five and the second round top five was Harvick #4, Logano #22, Hamlin #11, McMurray #1 and fans favourite Dale Earnhardt Jr in the #88.
SATURDAY ON TRACK ACTION:
Saturday began with a double header of qualifying, firstly in the form of the XFinity Series at 9:10am with Logano once again continued to dominate the opening few weeks as he took the Coors Light Pole Award with a speed of 184.162mph and a 30.104 second lap.
Round 1 saw Smith #7, Harvick #88, Ryan Sieg #39 and Menard #33 make up the top five on the chart with Smith posting a speed of 183.874mph and round 2 was topped by Logano as Larson, Harvick, Smith and Sieg completed the top five with Logano having a speed of 183.990mph.
Next came the Camping World Truck Series qualifying at 10:40am which was won by Ben Kennedy in the #11 truck.
Kennedy posted a lap time of 31.314 seconds after going out early in the third and final round, all of the other 11 drivers in round three did not get to the start/finish line in time, including Keselowski in the #29.
Round 1 saw Daytona winner Tyler Reddick #19, Suarez #51, Crafton #88, James Buescher #31 and Jones #4 make up the top five and round 2 was headed by Jones #4 with Hayley #13, Suarez #51, Townley #05 and Justin Boston round out the top five on the board.
From 12:00pm to 1:20pm the Sprint Cup Series drivers were back on track for their final practice session which was topped by Kevin Harvick.
Harvick posted a speed of 191.054mph in the #4 car but during the session he blew the engine in the car as Kasey Kahne #5, Austin Dillon #3, Hamlin #11, Edwards #19, Aj Allmendinger #47, Jimmie Johnson #48, Clint Bowyer #15, Casey Mears #13 and McMurray #1 made up the top ten.
The first race of the day was the Hisense 250 for the XFinity Series at 2:30pm and Harvick driving the #88 went to Victory Lane.
The Closer, as he is known, lead 101 laps and dominated most of the race along with Logano #22 who finished 2nd, with Ty Dillon #3, Chris Buescher #60 and Elliott #9 rounded out the top five as only ten cars finished on the lead lap due to long green flag runs and just three cautions.
In the Camping World Truck Series race which kicked off at 5:30pm defending series champion Crafton #88 took the win and Dillon #33, Kennedy #11, Suarez #51 and Reddick #19 rounded out the top five as only eight trucks finished on the lead lap and 27 finished the race thanks to a long green flag run to finish the 130 lap race.
SUNDAY ON TRACK ACTION:
Finally on Sunday afternoon the Sprint Cup Series took to the track and six time champion Jimmie Johnson went to Victory Lane as Harvick #4, Earnhardt Jr. #88, Logano #22 and Kenseth #20 rounded out the top five as only 16 drivers finished on the lead lap thanks to a big green flag stretch in the middle of the 325 lap event.