Atlanta Motor Speedway a challege for Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing

Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing knew their first real test of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season would come at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track with the new low downforce package from NASCAR.  Unfortunately, the team’s hard work did not pay off during the weekend. 

Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 95 Thrivent Financial Chevrolet, qualified in 32nd position on Friday.  The team was unable to get more speed out of the car during practice on Saturday.

In Sunday’s race, the team raced between 30th and 35th position for a majority of the race and finished in 33rd place after 330 laps of primarily green flag racing.

“This weekend was a struggle for our team,” said McDowell.  “We knew it would be a real test of where we were at.  Having just switched to Chevrolet late in the off-season we’ve been playing catch-up to get everything ready for this season.”

“We are looking to improve each week with our competition program,” McDowell continued.  “We know we have a long way to go to get where we want to be.  We have a test coming up in Vegas before the race weekend and I know our team will be heads down and working on improvements for that race.”

The KOBALT 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will take place on March 6 at 3:30pm ET.  Fans can follow the race team on Twitter at @CSLFR95.

CSLFR PR