NASCAR Cup Atlanta: Logano beats Suarez to win playoff opener

Team Penske's Joey Logano claimed victory in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, locking himself into the Round of 12 by defeating Daniel Suarez.

Logano won out in a two-lap dash in overtime following a push from team-mate Ryan Blaney, which was enough to see off Trackhouse driver Suarez on the top lane.

The winner of the February race at the track was pushed by his team-mate Ross Chastain but the Trackhouse drivers quickly became disconnected, clearing the way for Logano.

"Incredible execution from the team," said 2018 and 2022 Cup champion Logano. "When it's playoff time, it's our time."

Suarez reflected: "I was pretty confident that the top was going to be better.

"We got a great launch, but we just got disconnected too early, and that obviously hurt us. It's a little painful."

Early in the race, title favourite and top seed Kyle Larson crashed after losing control just a few laps shy of the Stage 1 finish. Fellow playoff contender Chase Briscoe was also collected, ending his race.

Beyond that, the opening two stages were fairly clean as Blaney won Stage 1 and fellow Penske driver Austin Cindric scooped Stage 2.

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Autotrader Ford Mustang (Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Fuel appeared to be tight for the leaders near the end of the race, but a caution with 56 laps to go provided a much-needed assist. Chris Buescher shot up the track, hitting Blaney, whose sideways car then collided with Martin Truex Jr.

Ty Gibbs then took control of the race, hoping to secure his first career Cup win, but a caution for debris forced another yellow with ten laps remaining. The closing laps evolved into a head-to-head fight between Penske and Trackhouse, but a wreck by Noah Gragson forced the race into overtime.

Logano chose the bottom and Suarez the top. They were even for a bit, but the Trackhouse drivers became disconnected in Turn 3. On the final lap, there was little Suarez could do against the Penske duo as Chastain got walled by Chase Elliott, igniting a race-ending crash that embroiled Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin among others.

Due to the timing of the yellow, Suarez was credited with second ahead of Blaney, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman.

Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Elliott, William Byron, and Cindric rounded out the top ten.

Leaving Atlanta, Brad Keselowski (-1pt), Burton (-16pts), Truex (-19pts) and Briscoe (-21pts) are all below the cut-off line, with Gibbs (at +1pt) and Hamlin (+2pts) just above.

NASCAR Cup Atlanta - Race Results

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22		Ford	266	3:06'11.598		6	47
2	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	266	+0.212 3:06'11.810	0.212	8	42
3	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12		Ford	266	+0.213 3:06'11.811	0.001	9	53
4	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	266	+0.368 3:06'11.966	0.155	10	34
5	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	266	+0.406 3:06'12.004	0.038	7	48
6	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45		Toyota	266	+0.446 3:06'12.044	0.040	8	31
7	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	266	+0.501 3:06'12.099	0.055	7	30
8	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	266	+0.589 3:06'12.187	0.088	7	36
9	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	266	+0.665 3:06'12.263	0.076	7	37
10	A. CindricTeam Penske	2		Ford	266	+0.826 3:06'12.424	0.161	7	46
11	D. HemricKaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	266	+0.923 3:06'12.521	0.097	8	26
12	J. HaleyRick Ware Racing	51		Ford	266	+1.146 3:06'12.744	0.223	7	25
13	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	266	+1.286 3:06'12.884	0.140	7	33
14	R. Stenhouse JrJTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	266	+1.287 3:06'12.885	0.001	11	34
15	C. LajoieSpire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	266	+1.579 3:06'13.177	0.292	8	22
16	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	266	+1.706 3:06'13.304	0.127	12	21
17	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	266	+1.928 3:06'13.526	0.222	7	23
18	R. PreeceStewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	266	+1.929 3:06'13.527	0.001	9	19
19	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6		Ford	266	+2.876 3:06'14.474	0.947	10	18
20	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	266	+3.602 3:06'15.200	0.726	10	17
21	Z. SmithSpire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	266	+3.603 3:06'15.201	0.001	9	16
22	M. McDowellFront Row Motorsports	34		Ford	266	+4.062 3:06'15.660	0.459	8	15
23	J. YeleyNY Racing Team	44		Chevrolet	266	+4.063 3:06'15.661	0.001	10
24	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	266	+11.809 3:06'23.407	7.746	8	13
25	B. McLeodLive Fast Motorsports	78		Chevrolet	266	+11.896 3:06'23.494	0.087	11
26	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	266	+17.459 3:06'29.057	5.563	13	11
27	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	38		Ford	266	+19.301 3:06'30.899	1.842	11	10
28	J. BerryStewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	266	+20.311 3:06'31.909	1.010	9	9
29	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23		Toyota	266	+36.036 3:06'47.634	15.725	8	8
30	C. WareRick Ware Racing	15		Ford	266	+38.337 3:06'49.935	2.301	8	7
31	H. BurtonWood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	265	+1 Lap 3:05'41.810	1 Lap	7	6
32	S. van GisbergenKaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	264	+2 Laps 3:06'27.346	1 Lap	11
33	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	262	+4 Laps 3:06'26.151	2 Laps	10	4
34	N. GragsonStewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	258	+8 Laps 2:56'34.767	4 Laps	8	3
35	M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	254	+12 Laps 3:05'12.597	4 Laps	16	4
36	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17		Ford	205	+61 Laps 2:17'06.205	49 Laps	8	1
37	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	55	+211 Laps 28'18.741	150 Laps	2	1
38	C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	55	+211 Laps 28'21.249	2.508	2	1