Developing Story- Quotes and other developments coming
By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsport.net
HAMPTON, Ga. — The NASCAR Cup series moves to Atlanta, the site where one year ago, the closest three-way finish in history crowned the unlikely Daniel Suarez as the winner. Drivers are waiting for the track to cure and bring action to where it was before the repave a few years ago. Cup drivers also recognize that the intense action is what is bringing fans back to the track and fan/driver happiness resides somewhere in the middle.
For More NASCAR stories at Atlanta, check out They Said It and Fantasy Picks
Ryan Blaney- Atlanta Pole Winner
Blaney led ten Fords that took up the top all but one spot in the top 11 in qualifying. Blaney is a dynamo at the track. Blaney never leads a S1 lap after winning the pole. Blaney was caught up in two accidents and finished 4th but the official results were not available at press filing. “Blaney on the final wreck. YOU SLOWED AND THEN GOT HIT BY THE 77 (Carson Hocevar). WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? “I wasn’t slowing. He was drafting to me and he didn’t lift and just gave me a shot when I’m turning into one and it spun me out. I was just happy I didn’t hook a right back into everybody and was able to stay on the apron.”
Stage One- 60 Laps S-1 Leaders
Austin Cindric takes the lead from pole sitter Ryan Blaney as the Top 15 race single-file. Cindric leads the first 23 laps of the race and Todd Gilliland catches Cindric on lap 23. Michael McDowell and Josh Berry have moved past Blaney who is slowly sliding through the field. Cindric regains the lead on the same lap and Joey Logano has Cindric’s attention in his rearview mirror. Halfway S1 on lap 30, Cindric and Josh Berry are 1-2 with Logano third. Berry takes the lead on lap 31 as the front of the field now running two-wide. Berry cranked out 27 laps led in the stage while Cindric rode his bumper as William Byron closed strong. Pole sitter Blaney sank to 12th place before recovering to finish 8th in S1. Ford’s controlled the Top-10 with 5 of the Top Ten spots. The machines were losing handling toward the end of the stage. There were no cautions in the first 60 laps for the first time since the reconfiguration in 2021.
Stage Two
Joey Logano and Josh Berry duel to begin Stage Two after the between-stage pit stops. Logano builds the .002 lead over Berry single file with most of the field running two wide. The first competition flag of the day is called on lap 81 as Ty Dillon comes to a stop on turn four after making wall contact. Logano keeps the lead as the field comes in for a splash of fuel. Denny Hamlin serves a stop and go penalty for speeding in the pits. Gilliland takes a quarter car lead on Logano on lap 92 as the field is two wide racing. Logano and Gilliland trade the lead for most of the first half of Stage 2. The 43 Machine of Eric Jones gets on the wrong side of #17 Chris Buescher and crashes into the inside wall and blows all four tires with some race damage. Ford’s have led every lap of the race except for one when BJ McLeod stayed on the track while the rest of the field pitted.
Stage Two- Part 2.
Logano and Cindric go 1-2 with Chevy’s Alex Bowman third running single file. Logano, Cindric, Bowman and Gilliland run 1-4 single file and break away from the field. The action behind them is providing wild passes as Wallace, Carson Hocevar and Byron are taking chances to join the single-file leaders. A caution is called on lap 133 due to debris from Gilliland’s tire exploding. At lap 134 of 260, Joey Logano leads the race in the No. 22 Ford. The field has seen 18 lead changes among six different drivers, with three cautions totaling 18 laps. Gilliland went a lap down but stayed on the lead lap with a free pass as the only driver one lap down. Logano, Bowman, and Cindric are leading the pack. On lap 149, Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse connect and Chase Elliott goes into the wall just past the checkered flag. With only five laps left after the caution, Kyle Larson earns his first lead of the day with Bubba Wallace second and Logano third. In all, after two stages, 33 drivers are on the lead lap out of 39 starters. Larson earns his first Stage win on a drafting track in his career.
Stage Three
With the late Stage Two wreck, Ford’s disappeared from the leaders. Chase Briscoe cycles to the race lead and in all, six Toyota’s are in the Top Ten with four Chevy’s in the mix.
Just ten laps in the Stage, Chevy runs 1-2-3 with Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen, and Kyle Busch in the Top three. With the field flipped, machines are running two-wide behind the Watermelon Man Ross Chastain. van Gisrbergen leads lap 180 but Chastain takes it away one lap later. Lap 183 provides a lap in the rear of the field with JJ Yaley, Ty Gibbs, Cole Custer, and others are collected near turn one. In all, the seven-car accident thins the field. With the caution over on lap 190, Busch, Briscoe, and Byron are 1-2-3. Byron takes the lead on 192 over Briscoe and loses it to Berry two laps later. Berry, Busch, and Blaney are 1-3 by lap 203 as a caution is thrown when Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe collide.
With the flag dropped on lap 212, Josh Berry and Kyle Busch are one-two with several machines trading places. Busch builds a one-car lead. Berry boots Busch from the lead and Busch returns the favor and this lasts for several laps until Blaney pushes Berry and Busch falls back. Busch regains the lead on lap 220. With multiple drivers swapping the lead, Busch goes from first to sixth and Blaney, Chastain and Berry all swapping the lead with 30 laps to go. The surprising Carson Hocevar turns into Blaney spinning the No. 12. With the green flag dropped on 229, Kyle Larson’s power moves around Chastain. Cindric moves past both of them on lap 241. Cindric to the front by lap 244 with Cup cars running mostly single-file in the front. Larson runs Cindric into the wall and Byron is collected in the crash. Cindric leads a bunch of laps and has poor finishes due to no fault of his own.
Atlanta Champion- Christopher Bell << Click for all finishers
A turn-three crash with just over one to go and Bell is called the winner.It is significant because both the caution and one lap-to-go flag were simultaneously thrown. NASCAR ruled Bell the winner and it was the only lap he led all day and was Toyota’s only machine to lead. Hocevar and Larson are 2-3.
Final Stats
In the Mix 1
Ryan Blaney won the pole, but only led one lap in the race. He was in the mix all day but was reshuffled by two wrecks and still found a way to finish fourth. Blaney had a streak of nine straight Atlanta races of finishing and it is now ten. Blaney has had seven top-ten finishes in his last 11 races at AMS. RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a good comeback. I just fell back from getting spun there and I was able to pick our way through and ended up scrounging a good finish out of it, so not a bad recovery.”
In the Mix 2
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet –
Finished: 2nd – Everyone wants a piece of Carson Hocevar
CAREER BEST FINISH FOR YOU, BUT I HAVE TO ASK YOU — THERE WAS A LONG LINE OF DRIVERS HERE TO TALK TO YOU. RYAN BLANEY, ROSS CHASTAIN, VERY AGGRESSIVE RACE OUT THERE, WHAT DID THEY HAVE TO SAY?
“I will just leave those to myself. But first off, apologies to (Kyle) Larson, HMS, Mr. H and everybody. They help us out a lot and I didn’t realize we weren’t racing back to the line. The last two nights were kind of that way, and I hit the No. 20 to get him out of the way and filled the middle. A little bit longer and maybe we win the race. But big thanks to Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet and Delaware Life. I normally ride in the back and run last, so I was just trying to get a good, decent finish. For how bad we were at Daytona, I was not riding. But yeah, there is some stuff I have to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to win the race. I have never had that opportunity really before, especially on a big superspeedway. “
Kyle Busch is happy… Really- Finished: 7th
“It was a better finish than I thought we were going to get tonight. There were a lot of crashed cars there too, so we kind of cycled our way forward a little bit with some guys that wrecked out. Overall, the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy had really good speed, I just had a really hard time opening it up. When I got back in traffic, worse than third in line, I just really had to lift out of the throttle a lot and that was holding me up and holding my lane up. Not a lot of guys were willing to deal with that and have the patience for that, so it kind of shucked us back there a few times. But we were able to rally and get what we could for our Cheddar’s Chevrolet. Just wish we were closer to the front for the end, but that’s where all the wrecks were happening too, so maybe not.”
NASCAR moves to COTA next week for a road course race on Fox.
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
