Breaking It Down: The incredible finish at Atlanta
Editor's note: Due to technical difficulties, this story was delayed in being posted. We apologize for the delay.
What a finish! A 3-wide photo finish at the line with 0.003 seconds separating race winner Daniel Suarez from second place finisher Ryan Blaney, with 3rd place Kyle Busch slightly behind. This was perhaps one of the best NASCAR races of the decade, let alone finishes of the decade.
This was the 5th race at Atlanta with the new superspeedway configuration, being the 3rd spring race. Last time out in July, William Byron won a rain-shortened night race.
This time around, Atlanta returned to a daytime race, where the sunset caused some visibility issues heading into turn one during the latter stages of the race. Vision issues plus the lack of grip during the entire race, mixed in with track temperature changes and a superspeedway package lead you to this!
Let's break down this race, a chaotic exciting mess!
Three-Wide Photo Finish
This has to be the main talking point from Atlanta. Videos from fans in the stands have gone viral due to the exciting photo finish, which became the third-closest finish in NASCAR history.
Heading into turn three off the back straightaway Blaney had the lead but had too big of a gap behind him, therefore losing speed compared to both Busch and Suarez on the higher lanes. Luckily for Blaney, Bubba Wallace caught up to his bumper during turn three, and if there wasn't a double line rule, Wallace may have made it four wide on the bottom like we saw earlier in the day.
So Blaney got that push but Wallace lost the air behind, so Blaney would lose his help heading to the line. It became a three-horse race with every driver on their own. Heading to the line we saw Suarez side draft Busch right before the finish, which in the end might have been the race-winning move.
It's even more impressive that the three drivers held a clean line from turn 3 all the way to the finish line.
All three drivers had virtually the same thing to say about the clean finish.
Race winner Daniel Suarez said, "Every time you get to win races it's special. But to win in this fashion, this close, with two other great drivers is quite special."
You could imagine the race winner would have great things to say but even the two unfortunate drivers Blaney and Busch still had positive things to say about their competitors and the finish.
Said Blaney, "I can't complain. I've won them by very, very little, too, so I can't complain too much when I lose them by that much."
Added Busch, "I'm really proud of everybody at RCR, it's good to see Daniel get a win, being Chevy team partners, when you do have alliances and they can work. I was hoping to get a win!"
So, even with a heartbreaking finish for both Busch and Blaney, both drivers were in good spirits after the race.
As far as things go for Suarez, this win becomes his first oval win in the Cup Series and locks him into the 2024 playoffs early into the year. This comes as a really important win for both Suarez and Trackhouse Racing; a potential job-saving win after the disappointment of last year.
Now, Suarez can focus on getting extra playoff points throughout the year, and he no longer has to play catch-up like he did most of last season.
No Grip! Help Me I'm Out of Control!
Throughout the majority of the race, drivers were spinning out left and right. It didn't matter if you were on the bottom lane, middle lane, or top lane. Heck, drivers were spinning out trying to avoid wrecks. I'm looking at you, Justin Haley, and Chase Elliott.
The lack of grip was very apparent, especially if the driver in front of you lost a bit of grip, with the aero of the car, the following car would get really loose.
It all started on Lap 2, where checkups across the field caused a massive wreck, leaving a ton of cars damaged, and more importantly, aerodynamically damaged.
Chris Buescher was the first of many drivers to be seemingly fine, all to spin out and bring out a yellow. The biggest takeaway from all the wrecks was that it didn't seem to matter if you were involved in one. Drivers like Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Elliott were either laps down or involved in multiple wrecks, yet they were right there at the end.
On lap 200, Chastain got into the back of Elliott which seemed to be just another push, but due to the lack of grip, Elliott found himself spun around and involved in yet another incident. Later on, RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski suffered the same fate of seemingly racing fine in the top lane until all of a sudden he lost grip, which took out Kyle Larson as well, someone who has been involved in a wreck at now all five Atlanta races since the reconfiguration.
Finally, Austin Cindric was another driver who lost grip out of nowhere, which unfortunately caused Josh Berry to check up and spin out after a great day to that point.
To me, the biggest takeaway was the lack of grip we saw compared to the night race last year, and even the previous three daytime races in Atlanta. I wonder if we will see more of the same in September when Atlanta kicks off the playoffs?
Todd Gilliland
Finally, I want to make this last segment all about Gilliland. After getting hit with a bombshell in the 2023 offseason where he was told he wouldn't run a full season in the 38 car, which meant he couldn't compete for the playoffs, Gilliland took that to heart and came back even stronger.
In the races Gilliland did take part in last year, we saw constant improvement compared to the 2022 season, but nothing like we have seen to start 2024. Now, I did say Gilliland would be my dark horse playoff driver, and that is surely looking good right about now!
Front Row Motorsports has had a fantastic start to the year with McDowell winning the pole for Atlanta race, and that same speed in Daytona the previous week. FRM also increased its alliance with Ford this year and it is showing.
Gilliland led a career-best 16 laps in Daytona but failed to bring the car home near the front. The same situation happened in Atlanta. During this race, he would break his own record by leading 58 laps! I don't think many people expected that from the 38 car. Once again though, he would only finish 26th.
Through two superspeedways, Gilliland has raced the best he has ever raced in the Cup Series, but he doesn't have the points to support it as he currently sits 32nd in the standings, but is first in the series in terms of laps led.
The remainder of the season will be interesting to watch for Gilliand, and I wonder if he can keep this up at the short and intermediate tracks. Someone who has suffered that same fate would be Joey Logano, who is second in laps led, but also has nothing to show for it.
So, with the Ambetter Health 400 all wrapped up, I think most fans are now foaming at the lips with the idea that Atlanta kicks off the Round of 16 in September. We'll see you there!