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Autosport

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 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
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