Daniel Suarez, NASCAR both needed Atlanta photo finish buzz; Bubba Wallace, a model of consistency?
A photo finish was picture perfect for NASCAR.
And it was worth 1,000 screams of "Vamos!" for Daniel Suarez.
Needless to say, it had been a rough couple of weeks for the racing organization, after its opening Clash was moved up due to rain and its flagship event, the Daytona 500, was moved back a day just a week later. Both moves inevitably negated some eyeballs and some fans in stands, especially in the LA Coliseum that more resembled a COVID-year football crowd.
But nothing like a three-wide, mad dash to the checkers to set the sports world on fire and bandage an early wound.
Online reports had NASCAR President Steve Phelps exclaiming, "That was sick" as Suarez, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch crossed the line, joined at the tire well.
But the win was a cure-all for Suarez, who turned in one of the more disappointing 2023s of any driver, going winless and missing the playoff field after a victory at Sonoma and a berth in 2022. Suarez is now the first foreign driver to hold a Cup Series victory at a road course and an oval, and all those questions about the playoffs can now go away just two weeks into the 2024 season.
In 0.007 seconds, the time it took Suarez, Blaney and Busch to all cross the line, Suarez gave himself a year's worth of leeway with the critics and NASCAR got an eternity's worth of replays to deploy on TV broadcasts and track jumbotrons.
Vamos, indeed.
Let's go through the gears:
Joey Logano penalized for gloves (First gear)
The gloves are off for Joey Logano.
And they better stay off.
Logano was penalized before Sunday’s race for wearing altered gloves with webbing in between the fingers. He was caught during qualifying with the gloves and despite earning a second-place starting spot, was sent to the back before the race and forced to do a pass-through penalty. Further penalties are possible.
The webbed gloves allowed Logano to cover more surface area in his window net in an attempt to minimize drag and maximize speed.
No word about his 100-meter freestyle time.
Shane van Gisbergen notches top-3 Xfinity finish (second gear)
This Shane van Gisbergen guy may just have a future in motorsports.
How about a third-place finish in his second Xfinity Series start, having never made laps at the Atlanta track before?
“Just smiling the whole time, just really cool,” van Gisbergen said of the final laps.
Of course, having won his first-ever Cup Series start at the Chicago Street Race last summer, maybe immediate success shouldn’t be that shocking, especially for a driver with 81 wins in Aussie Supercars under his belt. SVG is currently ninth in the Xfinity points standings.
Bubba Wallace ... Mr. Consistency? (Third gear)
There’s only one driver in the Cup Series with top-10 finishes in both races this year and both were top fives.
His name? Bubba Wallace, who followed up a fifth-place showing in the Daytona 500 with another in Atlanta on Sunday. Wallace is currently in fourth place in points, three back of leader Kyle Busch and two behind a second-place tie between William Byron and Austin Cindric.
Las Vegas trends, stats (fourth gear)
Over the last six races at Las Vegas, Busch has averaged a fifth-place finish, best among all active drivers. Kyle Larson has the best career average finish at 9.9 while Logano and Brad Keselowski each have three career wins at the 1½-mile track to lead the Cup Series.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR photo finish big for Suarez, sport; Logano docked; SVG rolling
