Two races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Chevrolet teams have earned victories in both full-field races. William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports captured the Daytona 500 one week ago. This past weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daniel Suarez took his Trackhouse Racing Chevy to the winner’s circle. Suarez scored his second career victory in a three-wide photo finish, edging out Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch by the slimmest of margins. The Bowtie Brigade is off to a flying start.
It is a surprise to see the first two races of the year won by Chevy drivers. Most of the anticipation during the offseason was with the other two manufacturers, which released new bodies for their Cup Series cars. Ford debuted its Mustang Dark Horse this season, while Toyota unveiled an updated design based on the 2025 Camry.
The Chevy teams, on the other hand, stuck with the Camaro ZL1 of the last several years. While Hendrick, Trackhouse and the other Chevy teams do have familiarity on their side, you have to wonder if there were some nerves in the Chevy camp about what the competition might unleash when the season began.
Things started well for Ford when Joey Logano captured the pole at Daytona International Speedway. He and Team Penske broke up a Chevy stranglehold on the Daytona 500 pole that stretched back to 2013. Then, the Toyotas took center stage when Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell won the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels. Most of the Toyotas were buried during single-car qualifying, but the new Camry proved to be strong at navigating the draft during race conditions. With Fords showing raw speed and Toyotas displaying superior handling, the Chevy teams suddenly looked like underdogs.
Once the rain finally cleared up and the race began, the Fords and Toyotas still appeared to hold the upper hand. Logano and Blaney were particularly strong for Penske, as were Bell and Denny Hamlin for Joe Gibbs Racing. But the complexion of the race changed dramatically on lap 192 when a massive wreck wiped out most of the frontrunners. The Fords got hit particularly hard with Logano, Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Todd Gilliland all caught up in the crash. Bell escaped serious damage, but his JGR teammates were not so lucky.
When the smoke cleared and final pit stops were complete, Chevrolet held eight of the top 10 spots, led by Ross Chastain, Byron and Alex Bowman. With the odds now firmly in Chevy’s favor, the race ended as Chastain…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …