By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
HAMPTON, Ga. — It was a race of remarkable ebb and flow.
It was race of breathtaking four-wide action into corners not built to accommodate such derring-do.
And it was totally appropriate that Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway would end in a three-wide photo finish, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez eking out a victory over Ryan Blaney by what looked to be an inch or two at the finish line.
NASCAR timing and scoring showed Suárez ahead of Blaney by 0.003 seconds at the stripe, with Kyle Busch in third, 0.007 seconds behind the race winner.
As the three drivers sped through the final two corners, Suárez held the outside lane with Blaney on the bottom and Busch in the middle. Suárez surged forward approaching the finish line to earn his second career victory—and his first since June of 2022 at Sonoma—by the thinnest of margins.
Suárez, whose No. 99 Trackhouse Race Chevrolet suffered damage to the hood on a Lap 2 crash in Turn 1, had the lead for a restart with five laps left, after the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Josh Berry collided with Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Lap 249 of 260 to cause the 10th and final caution of the race.
Blaney, the defending series champion, grabbed the top spot almost immediately and held it for four laps, but Suárez and Busch mounted runs on the final lap on in the top and middle lanes, respectively. Blaney chose to make his bid for victory from the bottom lane and fell just short.
“It was so damn close, man,” said Suárez, still marveling that he was the winner. “It was so damn close. It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving pushes. In the back straightaway he didn’t push me because he knew I was going to (screw) his teammate, but, man, what a job.
“We wrecked (on) Lap 2. The guys did an amazing job fixing this car. I can’t thank everyone enough, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, all the amazing fans here. Let’s go!”
As the final lap unfolded, Blaney was shocked at the force of the runs challenging him.
“I thought I laid back enough in (Turns) 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “I did that like the three laps before the end, and I was able to manage it kind of fairly well, and they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom, and it was the safest place to be.
“What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that, race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle. 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.”
To Busch, the outcome was predictable, given the positions of the cars in the final two corners.
“Yeah, typically whoever is behind getting into (Turn) 3 prevails at the start-finish line with the side draft and everything, so I was… I think I was second to the 12 (Blaney) right there, and the 99 was the furthest back, and he made the ground back up with the side draft and stuff…
“It’s good to see Daniel get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. Shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work, and that was a good part of today.”
The start of the race was a harbinger of the wild finish.
Moments after crossing the finish line to complete the first lap of the race, Todd Gilliland checked up near the front of the field and stacked up the cars behind him. All told, 16 cars were involved, a track record for a single incident at the 1.54-mile speedway.
The machines of Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson all sustained heavy damage. Austin Dillon and Harrison Burton, early victims in last Monday’s DAYTONA 500, both were part of the melee.
Burton was able to continue, as was Suárez who made multiple pit stops as his crew worked to repair has car. Dillon lost two laps on pit road but regained them as the beneficiary under the third and fourth cautions.
If the Lap 2 wreck was an impediment for nearly half the field, the first attempt at green-flag pit stops in Stage 2 was equally discomfiting. Pole winner Michael McDowell locked his brakes near the pit road entrance in Turn 3 and collided with DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, costing both drivers a lap.
Speeding penalties impeded Busch, Berry, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, with Erik Jones’ crew drawing a penalty for a runaway tire. Like McDowell and Byron, those drivers all found themselves a lap down after their respective pass-throughs under green.
Through subsequent cautions, however, they regained the lead lap, and Busch raced his way into contention for the win.
Cindric finished fourth, followed by Wallace, Stenhouse, Chastain, McDowell and Chris Buescher, all of whom made commendable recoveries to earn top-10 results.
The race featured a record 48 lead changes among 14 drivers – the fifth straight race at Atlanta with more than a dozen leaders. Gilliland led a race-high 58 laps, a team record for a single race by a Front Row Motorsports driver. Cindric was out front for 32 laps, followed by Blaney (31) and Busch (28).
Suárez led twice for nine laps.
Joey Logano, the defending race winner, received unwelcome news before the start of the race. The driver of the No. 22 Ford was deemed to have violated NASCAR rule 14.3.1.1 governing driver protective clothing and equipment.
Logano’s left driving glove featured webbing between the thumb and forefinger, an unauthorized modification of SFI-approved equipment. Under an at-track penalty, Logano dropped from the second position to the rear of the field for the start and began to serve a pit-road pass-through when the pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 2 slowed the field.
The misery of others was serendipity for Logano, who completed his pass-through without losing a lap. By the end of Stage 1 he was 12th, and after the top 10 pitted during the stage break, Logano was second when Stage 2 went green.
On Lap 99, Logano passed Gilliland for the lead as part of a pack of six Fords at the front of the field. On the final lap the stage, however, Logano’s fortunes soured once again when his No. 22 Mustang pushed up the track on the backstretch and collected Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin.
Towed to his pit stall, Logano lost eight laps and any hope he might have had of defending his 2023 victory.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Ambetter Health 400
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Georgia
Sunday, February 25, 2024
(23) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 260.
(6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 260.
(3) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 260.
(8) Austin Cindric, Ford, 260.
(18) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 260.
(27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 260.
(21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 260.
(1) Michael McDowell, Ford, 260.
(7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 260.
(25) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 260.
(16) Harrison Burton, Ford, 260.
(12) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 260.
(32) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 260.
(33) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 260.
(28) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 260.
(20) Ryan Preece, Ford, 260.
(11) William Byron, Chevrolet, 260.
(26) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 260.
(35) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 260.
(31) Justin Haley, Ford, 260.
(34) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 260.
(10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 260.
(13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 259.
(36) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 257.
(37) Erik Jones, Toyota, 256.
(4) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 256.
(17) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 255.
(2) Joey Logano, Ford, 252.
(14) Josh Berry #, Ford, Accident, 250.
(19) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 243.
(9) Chase Briscoe, Ford, Accident, 239.
(5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 222.
(24) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 218.
(22) Christopher Bell, Toyota, Accident, 148.
(29) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, DVP, 75.
(15) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 66.
(30) Josh Williams(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 2.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 115.398 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 28 Mins, 11 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.003 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 65 laps.
Lead Changes: 48 among 14 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. McDowell 0;K. Busch 1-10;K. Larson 11;K. Busch 12-15;K. Larson 16;K. Busch 17-20;K. Larson 21-22;R. Blaney 23;K. Larson 24;R. Blaney 25-33;K. Busch 34-40;M. McDowell 41;K. Busch 42-43;M. McDowell 44-50;R. Blaney 51;M. McDowell 52-63;T. Gilliland 64-98;J. Logano 99-102;T. Gilliland 103;J. Logano 104-112;C. Buescher 113;J. Logano 114-127;K. Larson 128-131;B. Keselowski 132;K. Larson 133-134;R. Stenhouse Jr. 135;B. Wallace 136-138;A. Cindric 139-165;T. Gilliland 166-169;B. Keselowski 170;T. Gilliland 171-182;M. Truex Jr. 183-184;T. Gilliland 185-186;M. Truex Jr. 187-188;T. Gilliland 189-192;K. Larson 193-198;M. Truex Jr. 199-201;M. McDowell 202-206;M. Truex Jr. 207;M. McDowell 208-209;M. Truex Jr. 210;A. Cindric 211-215;D. Hamlin 216-230;R. Blaney 231-232;K. Busch 233;R. Blaney 234-247;D. Suárez 248-255;R. Blaney 256-259;D. Suárez 260.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Todd Gilliland 6 times for 58 laps; Austin Cindric 2 times for 32 laps; Ryan Blaney 6 times for 31 laps; Kyle Busch 6 times for 28 laps; Michael McDowell 5 times for 27 laps; Joey Logano 3 times for 27 laps; Kyle Larson 7 times for 17 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 15 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 5 times for 9 laps; Daniel Suárez 2 times for 9 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 3 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 2 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 1 lap; Chris Buescher 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 34,12,1,5,8,19,47,23,24,38
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,5,12,99,19,38,6,21,14,9
