Pit Stops : Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Ambetter Health 400
• Busch Light Pole Award Winner: Michael McDowell
• Age: 39
• Team : No. 34 - Benebone Ford
• Owner: Front Row Motorsports
• Crew Chief: Travis Peterson
• Michael McDowell won the Busch Light Pole Award for the Ambetter Health 400 with a lap of 30.999 seconds, 178.844 mph.
• This is his first pole in 467 NASCAR Cup Series races - the most starts by any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series prior to their first career pole; previous record was held by J.D. McDuffie at 404 starts.
• This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2024.
• This is his first pole in 17 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. McDowell becomes the 54th different driver to win a pole a Atlanta in the Cup Series.
• Joey Logano (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2024 and his 10th in 21 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Kyle Busch (third) posted his 19th top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his first in two races this season.
• Josh Berry (14th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Sunday, February 25th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Daniel Suarez wins Atlanta NASCAR Cup race in fantastic three-wide finish

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.

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 325
• Laps Actual: 260 - Race Shortened
• Margin of Victory: 0.003 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 28 Minutes 11 Seconds
• Average Speed: 115.398
• Cautions: 10 for 65 laps
• Lead Changes: 48
• Green Flag Passes: 6,536 (33.5 passes per green flag lap)

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Ambetter Health 400
• Race Winner: Daniel Suarez
• Age: 32
• Team : No. 99 - Freeway Insurance Chevrolet
• Owner: Trackhouse Racing
• Crew Chief: Matt Swiderski
• Daniel Suarez won the Ambetter Health 400, his second victory in 253 NASCAR Cup Series races.
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2024.
• This is his first victory and fifth top-10 finish in 11 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He is the 49th different Cup Series driver to win at Atlanta.
• Ryan Blaney (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 12 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his first top-10 finish in 2024.
• Kyle Busch (third) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 29 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Kaz Grala (14th) was the highest finishing rookie.
• This is Trackhouse Racing's seventh win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and the first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• The finish of today's race had a Margin of Victory of 0.003 second, the clostest finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the closest finish at a 1.5-mile track and the third closest in the NASCAR Cup Series since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993.
• Today's race has produced 48 lead changes - a new NASCAR Cup Series record at Atlanta Motor Speedway; previous record was 46 set in March of 2022.
• Today's race produced total of 14 different leaders. Fifth straight race with a dozen or more different leaders (2022-2024) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Today's race produced 110 Green Flag Passes For The Lead - the second-most all-time at Atlanta and on a 1.5-mile track, the record is 141 at Atlanta in March of 2022.