Ryan Blaney “can’t complain” after losing by 0.003s at Atlanta

The reigning NASCAR Cup champion was one of the few drivers in Sunday’s wild race – which produced a track record 48 lead changes among 14 drivers – that was able to stay up front and in contention for any length of time.

Blaney grabbed the lead on a restart with five of 260 laps remaining and stayed out front until Kyle Busch powered to his inside on the start of the last lap.

Entering Turn 3, Daniel Suarez – who led on the final restart but fell back briefly – moved into the outside lane. By the exit to Turn 4, Suarez moved to the outside of Busch, who was racing alongside Blaney to create a three-fight for the lead.

Surprisingly, the trio remained side-by-side in a drag race to the finish line, with NASCAR finally determining Suarez had edged Blaney by 0.003 seconds.

Asked if he could have done anything different to change the outcome, Blaney said, “No. Not at the finish line. I thought I laid back enough in (Turns) 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run.

“I did that like the three laps before the end and I was able to manage it kind of fairly well, and they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom (lane), and it was the safest place to be.”

Despite being relegated to a runner-up finish, Blaney found some solace in the entertaining nature of Sunday’s race.

“What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that, race clean, three-wide finish to the end,” he said.

“Happy for Daniel. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle. I can’t complain. I’ve won them by very, very little, too, so I can’t complain too much when I lose them by that much.

“The Ford Mustang was fast. Close.”

The race was still a good rebound for Blaney, who ran well in last week’s season opening Daytona 500 but got caught up in a late-race 23-car pile-up which left him with a 30th-place finish.

Entering next weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – the first non-speedway race of the year – Blaney now sits fifth in the series standings.