A Georgia Native Wins Two Days In A Row

What Happened?

Chase Elliott absolutely dominated at his home track, leading 96 of the 260 laps and sweeping all three stages to win the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Dawsonville, Georgia native picked up his first career win at his home track and solidified a weekend sweep of Georgia drivers only one day after Winston native Austin Hill won the Xfinity race.

Ross Chastain, after being involved in several incidents throughout the race, brought his battered No. 1 home second, followed by Austin Cindric finishing a solid third. Erik Jones finished fourth, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.

How Did It Happen?

Much like Road America, Elliott had been a contender all day, leading the most laps and sweeping the stages. But a couple of late race cautions involving Denny Hamlin (more on that later) bunched up the field and saw Elliott restarting in the back half of the top five. The leader on the final restart? Corey LaJoie. LaJoie had been a quiet threat all day and suddenly found himself with a legitimate chance to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent years with just three laps to go.

After Elliott stormed to the lead with two to go, LaJoie gained a bunch of momentum thanks to a push from Jones heading into turn 1 for the final time. Elliott blocked the oncoming run, but at the expense of LaJoie’s car hitting the wall, sliding back down into traffic, catching Blaney, and slamming the wall again while also collecting Kurt Busch.

The caution came out just before Chastain could make a pass on Elliott, solidifying his victory.

Who Stood Out?

I don’t know whether to put LaJoie as a driver who stood out or fell flat. After all, he had a phenomenal day, leading 19 laps, scoring stage points, and riding in the top 10 for a good chunk of the race. However, he leaves Atlanta with a “what-could-have-been” on his mind, and the race-winning move he made ended in a wrecked race car. To make things worse, he didn’t even finish in the top 20. Instead he ended up 21st on the day.

But that shouldn’t detract from the career day he had. Sure, he only really contends for wins on superspeedways, but much like a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. or Michael McDowell, LaJoie’s contention for wins on superspeedways is no joke. Somehow he always finds his way to the front at the end of a race.

LaJoie gave Spire Motorsports its best chance to win since the team’s shock win with Justin Haley at Daytona International Speedway in 2019, and it was a…