Sunday's race evolved into a head-to-head battle between Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing, and as the caution along with a checkered flag waved over the start/finish line, Joey Logano crossed as the winner ahead of Daniel Suarez. But in order to get a full view of how the finish played out, we have to rewind the clock a bit.
On Lap 178 of 260, most of the field came down pit road for the final time. This included Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, and Ross Chastain. As for Ryan Blaney, his race nearly ended nearly 30 laps later. A mistake from Chris Buescher sent Blaney into the outside wall with 56 laps to go before he slid down the track and into the side of Martin Truex Jr.'s car. Shockingly, the body damage wasn't enough to severely hinder the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. The team did extensive work to the left side and also gave him four fresh tires. (Appropriately, the car was sponsored by 'Dent Wizard' for the race weekend.)
Those tires proved advantageous, as another driver who pitted for fresh rubber quickly rocketed to the front -- Ty Gibbs. He was leading the way with Kyle Busch in hot pursuit when a curious caution for a wayward Wal-Mart banner on the track set up a sprint to the finish.
With a push from Logano, Suarez was able to take the lead from Gibbs, only for Busch to put the Mexican driver three-wide. This looked like it might be the end of his shot at the victory. But right then, his teammate Chastain dropped from the outside to the middle, finally connecting the two. At the same time, Chastain's move allowed Blaney to pull up behind fellow Penske driver Logano.
With these teammates locked together, Gibbs could do little to defend as both Suarez and Logano pulled to his outside. The far inside line with Gibbs and Busch then disintegrated and they were swallowed up by the pack.
Suarez and Chastain held the bottom lane, but that quickly changed as a crash by Noah Gragson pushed the race into overtime. Logano was scored as the race leader, giving him the option to pick a lane. He took the bottom, forcing the Trackhouse drivers to move up top. Suarez later said that he was "pretty confident" in the outside line's ability to prevail, so he was unconcerned.
However, there was another major factor to consider. Blaney had 30 lap fresher tires than anyone around him, allowing him to really keep that car planted while shoving Logano forward. The tandem drafters were neck-and-neck on the restart. The pivotal moment came in Turn 3. Blaney chose to back off Logano's bumper just before entering the corner while Chastain, on much older tires than Blaney, remained glued to Suarez. Chastain's No. 1 Chevrolet pushed up the track, breaking the drivers apart and leaving Suarez to fend for himself.
Chastain tried to get back to him and did for a moment entering Turn 1 on the white flag lap, only to push up again. The win was slipping away, but Chastain was now lined up with another Chevy [Chase Elliott] directly behind him. However, at the same time, Christopher Bell shot up the middle and ensured the Trackhouse drivers were never getting back together. Just then, an awkward bump sent Chastain into the outside wall while Logano skipped away with the race win. This igniting a race-ending crash, but either way, the race was lost the moment the Trackhouse drivers became disconnected.
Suarez was able to hold on for second place, leaving Atlanta with a 22-point advantage, but after coming agonizingly close to the sweep, all he could think about was the lost win.
“No, definitely not satisfied," he admitted. "I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it. Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But, that is part of racing, right?
Suarez now has two runner-up finishes and one win in his last three Cup races at Atlanta. "It was a good day," he added. "Every time you get second, it's that close, you feel like you were in position to win, and you didn't win, it doesn't matter if you got a good points day or not. I don't feel really good right now. But it's part of it."
Blaney was just shocked to be in contention after nearly enduring a race-ending crash with around 60 laps remaining.
"Honestly I can't believe we got back up where we did," said the reigning Cup champion. "The 12 boys did a really good job fixing it. I'm surprised it didn't have more damage than what it did. From my seat, I got drilled in the left rear or the door I guess is where he hit me. The right rear got off the fence. I didn't know how damaged we were. I was kind of able to carve up through traffic and could kind of get through the middle pretty good. Really proud of the effort"
Unlike Chastain, Blaney is part of the playoffs and so he wasn't just looking out for his teammate in the closing laps. He admitted that there was "a thought of going three-wide on the frontstretch," but he thought better of it. "I'm like, man, it's going to be tight, we already have a good day going, great points, all that stuff. Yeah, third, a really good day ... This thing looks ugly, but really good finish."
Blaney is now 45 points above the cut-line while Logano becomes the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12.
