NASCAR: Three-way photo finish highlights exciting weekend in Atlanta
Feb. 26—This past weekend, NASCAR once again went super-speedway racing — this time at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), in Hampton, Georgia, where tires, fuel and good handling racing machines were what drivers needed to make it through their respective races. For race fans that understand, the "full moon effect" was on full display all weekend.
Sunday afternoon was a wreck-fest for the Cup Series starting on lap two with a 16-car wreck at the front of the field. By the end of the Ambetter Health 400, there were only three cars in the 37-car field that had not been involved in an on-track incident. This action-filled race did not disappoint all the way to the checkered flag, where Daniel Suarez (No. 99) edged out second-placed Ryan Blaney (No. 12) and third-placed Kyle Busch (No. 8) by .003-second margin of victory. That's three one thousandths of a second for the Mexican-born driver's first 1.5-mile oval track win, making Suárez the 49th different Cup Series driver to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"It was so damn close, man," said Suárez to Fox Sports' Jamie Little. "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 two. 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."
The 260-lap Ambetter Health 400 took three hours, 28 minutes and 11 seconds to complete at an average race speed of 115.398 mph. The race had 10 cautions for 65 total caution laps, and one red flag for wreck clean up that lasted 11 minutes and 25 seconds. The race also had 48 lead changes among 14 drivers.
Saturday evening, the Xfinity Series rolled off for their RAPTOR King of Tough 250. At the end, for the second week in a row Austin Hill (No. 21) took his car to victory lane. He also won the race at Atlanta last July.
In what turned out to be a fuel mileage race in the final laps, Hill restated in NASCAR overtime in sixth place. As the field came to the restart four of the top six cars ran out of fuel. Hill had the fuel the others did not and held off second-place finisher Chandler Smith (No. 81) to a .106-second margin of victory. He had enough fuel left for a massive burnout at the start/finish line post-race.
The 169-lap RAPTOR King of Tough 250 (originally 163 laps) took one hour, 55 minutes and 16 seconds to complete at an average race speed of 135.474 mph. The race had four cautions for 23 total caution laps, along with 11 lead changes among five drivers.
Saturday afternoon, the Craftsman Truck Series ran their Fr8 Auctions 208. At the end of the event, it was a very familiar name out front when the checkers fell: Kyle Busch (No. 7) driving a Spire Motorsports truck that was built by Kyle Busch Motorsports before Busch sold the team to Spire. The returning veteran finished with a .187-second margin of victory over second-place finisher Ty Majeski (No. 98).
The 135-lap Fr8 Auctions 208 took one hour, 51 minutes and 57 seconds to complete at an average race speed of 111.425 mph. The race had seven cautions for 37 total caution laps, along with 20 lead changes between seven drivers.
Up next, NASCAR's traveling circus, including the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series, head west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Who will place a bet and come out the winner?
