HAMPTON, Ga. — Whereas final weekend’s season-opening Daytona 500 supplied all of the drama anticipated of The Nice American race, the Ambetter Well being 400 in subsequent up for the NASCAR Cup Sequence Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Final 12 months’s three-wide picture end amongst winner Daniel Suarez and runners-up, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch creates big pleasure for each followers and groups returning to the recently-revised 1.5-mile Atlanta high-banks that race like a small superspeedway.
Suarez’s 2024 victory – by lower than the blink-of-the-eye at .003 seconds – really turned out to be simply one of many amazingly shut finishes of the season topped solely by Kyle Larson’s win at Kansas by .001-second over Chris Buescher final Could. Suarez has now completed first or second within the final three Atlanta races.
“It was quite a lot of enjoyable,” Suarez smiled and recalled of the Atlanta race. “Much more enjoyable for me, proper, as a result of I used to be the one which gained the race. Most likely wouldn’t have been that a lot enjoyable if I completed second or third.”
Groups arrive this weekend after a full-contact version of the Daytona 500, gained for the second consecutive 12 months by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. Tyler Reddick, final 12 months’s Common Season Champion, was runner-up and seven-time collection champion Jimmie Johnson was third in his finest outing since stepping again from full-time competitors.
Final 12 months’s Atlanta February race ultimate standings learn like a typical superspeedway occasion – these drivers who’re up entrance at Daytona, had been largely within the group up entrance that subsequent week at Atlanta.
For instance, reigning collection champion, Group Penske’s Joey Logano, who led 43 laps final week within the 500, has a pair of Atlanta wins (2023-24) as does Daytona winner Byron (2022 and 23). They together with Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (2022) and Penske’s Blaney (2021) are the opposite most up-to-date Atlanta winners – all the time contending for wins at Daytona as properly.
Austin Cindric, whose 59 laps out entrance had been most within the Daytona 500, was fourth on this spring Atlanta race final 12 months. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who additionally led laps Sunday, was fifth at Atlanta. Former Daytona 500 winners Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell, in addition to Daytona summer season race winner Chris Buescher all had top-10s at Atlanta as properly.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin (2012), RFK Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski (2017 and 2019) and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch (2008 and 2013) are the opposite energetic drivers with Atlanta trophies too.
This race final 12 months, featured a report 48 lead adjustments by 14 drivers – a full-on day of tight racing. And that’s precisely what the sphere expects Sunday. The move for the win at Atlanta has come within the ultimate two laps in 4 of the final 5 races there; together with this one a 12 months in the past.
The work out entrance final week by Austin Cindric, Logano and Group Penske teammate Blaney was spectacular at Daytona and makes them favorites once more this week. All of them three led at the least 20 laps on the superspeedway – one thing a crew has completed solely 4 instances in collection historical past. In simply the final two years, the Penske crew has mixed to steer 898 laps – extra thrice that of another crew on drafting tracks comparable to Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega, Ala.
“It’s superb how a lot Atlanta has modified from the repave, after which to the brand new model of the automobile and the way a lot we’ve needed to adapt to the brand new fashion of racing at Atlanta,” Suarez’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain mentioned. “It’s sort of wild to suppose how Atlanta is now a drafting a observe but it surely has created some thrilling finishes. You look again finally 12 months’s race with my teammate Daniel’s win and the way shut that end was. It’s cool to see the fan’s excited for the racing at Atlanta and I hope to be the man in Victory Lane this weekend.”
Blaney’s seventh-place end at Daytona mixed with good stage factors, provides him a single-point edge over Byron and three-point lead over his teammate Cindric atop the NASCAR Cup Sequence championship standings.
