Who… should you be talking about after the race?
After a lap 2 crash set the tone for the day, the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway came down to a daring last-lap move that set up one of the closest finishes in Cup Series history. Ryan Blaney almost had the win in his pocket, but Kyle Busch made a daring move to his outside as Daniel Suarez came along with him in the top lane. The trio crossed the line in almost a dead heat.
A photo finish told the tale: Suarez was the winner by .003 seconds over Blaney and Busch.
After a somewhat lackluster 2023 season, Suarez has been strong in 2024. He was in contention in the Daytona 500 before getting taken out in a late crash where he was just a passenger. This week, he made his own luck, overcoming that early crash and putting himself in position when it mattered. Suarez is playoff bound this year after missing out in ’23.
And don’t forget Busch. He drove an outstanding race, keeping his cool in some tense situations, and was able to work his way through the field when he needed to.
His last-lap move on Blaney could have ended in disaster with the smallest slip, but Busch timed and executed his run perfectly. Unfortunately, the middle is a tough place to be, as the driver on top has momentum and the one on the bottom has less distance to cover — and in this case the advantage of being the leader when Busch made the move.
Busch took the outcome in stride, and while disappointed (and who wouldn’t be in his shoes?), he didn’t lose his temper or pout, but rather takes the momentum on to next week.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
In 2021, Michael McDowell took his first Cup Series win in its biggest race, the Daytona 500. That got him into the playoffs, but his Front Row Motorsports team was overmatched. McDowell finished 23rd in 2022 driver points despite a career-high 12 top 10s.
Last year, McDowell had the best season of his 17-year Cup career, including a dominant win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. That put him in the playoffs for the second time, but also overshadowed another small detail: He’d have qualified on points anyway.
A front-row start at Daytona International Speedway last week ended in a 36th-place heartbreak after mechanical issues, but McDowell followed that up with his first career Cup pole to start the day in Atlanta. A mistake getting to pit road, when he locked up his…
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