Daniel’s Amigos take over Atlanta
| February 27, 2024 | Sports,
Atlanta Motor Speedway just played witness to one of the all-time greatest finishes in NASCAR history. Four wide racing for the lead, crazy blocks, and a photo finish is just the basic summary of what this race entailed.
With mother nature not being a part of the picture, Atlanta Motor Speedway was ready to roll on Sunday afternoon with beautiful sunny skies and 40 hungry drivers looking to win. William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports came into the race with all the momentum after winning the Daytona 500. With three full stages of aggressive racing on tap, which driver locked himself into the NASCAR Playoffs when the checkered flag waved in Georgia?
The race on Sunday afternoon featured three stages with Stage One ending at lap 60, Stage Two ending at lap 160, and Stage Three ending at 260. Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports qualified first with Joey Logano taking second place on Saturday morning. However, Joey Logano would start at the back of the field instead of second after being penalized due to webbing on his race gloves to gain a competitive advantage. With Logano starting in the back, Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing slid on up to second and took the green flag with McDowell.
We would not have to wait long for the first caution to occur, as the aggressive driving styles of all of the racers resulted in a lap two wreck when Todd Gilliand of Front Row Motorsports caused the field to stack up and Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing to hit and spin out Austin Dillion of Richard Childress Racing. Dillion would spin and end up collecting 17 other cars including Chase Elliott, Noah Gragson, Josh Williams, Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Preece, John H. Nemechek, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, BJ McLeod and Daniel Suárez. Noah Gragson of Stewart-Haas Racing and Josh Williams of Kaulig Racing were the only two cars knocked out from this wreck.
This wreck would also include the result of 15 penalties to drivers involved in the wreck for going to the pits too early. When the race started back up again at lap 10, it was the Kyle and Kyle show on the front row, as Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson got to start in the front. The next caution would come at lap 26. Chris Buescher of Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing spun out. He would not collect any other cars in his spin and kept his car safe and away from the wall to continue his day in Atlanta.
The chaotic caution-filled Stage One would have one more caution before its end with Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing going for a ride and spinning through the front stretch grass after making contact with Kyle Busch on lap 56. Like Buescher, Hamlin was able to keep his car clean enough to stay in the race. The final restart of Stage One saw Ryan Blaney of Team Penske beside our Pole sitter Michael McDowell. When the Green Checkered Flag waved to end Stage One, Micheal McDowell was out front in the lead.
Stage Two began with Todd Gilliand and Joey Logano on the front row, with these two in the lead the field was able to settle down and not cause any commotion. That was until the final two laps of the stage when a caution flag was waved at lap 160 when Chris Buescher hit the wall and collected Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Due to the wreck happening with two laps left in the stage, the leader, Austin Cindric of Team Penske, won Stage Two. With the stage ending, drivers went to pit road for changes to their cars. Todd Gilliand and Denny Hamlin were the first two off pit road, so they began Stage Three in the front.
After 20 laps of feeling each other out and getting comfortable with the changes made on pit road, Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing made contact with Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports on lap 200, which resulted in Chase spinning out. Once the field got reset, Michael McDowell and Martin Truex Jr, led the field back to green on lap 205. There was yet another caution on lap 220 when Brad Keselowski, Corey Lajoie, and Kyle Larson all got together and hit the wall. They went back to green on lap 225 and were not stopped until lap 241 with the emergence of the red flag.
The red flag was out for a total of 11 minutes and 24 seconds. The wreck that caused this red flag was between Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. They both were trying to race four wide to get to the front. Instead, the two drivers hit each other and hit Harrison Burton, Josh Berry, and Justin Haley as well. The green flag would be shown again at lap 245, and the race was stopped for the final time at lap 250. Austin Cindric got loose and checked up, this check-up caused Josh Berry to spin sideways and take out Carson Hocevar and Chase Elliott.
Daniel Suárez would benefit from the Austin Cindric check-up as he grabbed first place when the caution flew. When the green flag dropped again, at lap 255 Suárez would be in front with defending champ Ryan Blaney inches behind. On the final lap, which was 260, it was a three-driver battle coming out of turn three and would be a drag race to the start-finish line. The battle was between Daniel Suárez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch. It was a photo finish, and NASCAR Officials had to review the finish. It was then determined that Daniel Suárez used the side draft coming off of turn three to beat out Busch and Blaney by 0.003 seconds. Just picture the scene in Cars where Lightning McQueen stuck his tongue out to win by inches over King and Chick Hicks. That photo is the best representation of the finish you could get if you did not watch the race yourself.
Daniel Suárez took home his second Cup series win ever in the second-closest finish in NASCAR history. His fan club is called Daniel’s Amigos, and they sure were partying last night as when Suárez stepped out of the car he was met with cheers and tears.
“It’s an amazing feeling, this team did an amazing job all race long,” Suarez said after the race. “We wrecked on lap two. The guys fixed the car and we were able to make it good again, make it fast again. It took some tweaking, but unbelievable. It was so close. It was good racing with Blaney and Kyle Busch. Freeway Insurance, Trackhouse, Chevrolet, and all the people that believed in us from day one – it’s unbelievable to do this in this fashion.”.
The Cup Series heads to Vegas for a 2:30 p.m. start time on Sunday the third. With two races down and two drivers locked in. Who will be the ones screaming Viva Las Vegas when the Checkered flag is thrown on Sunday evening?