No. 24 Nascar Chevy Team Wins Wild 2022 Atlanta Race: Video

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Nascar Next Gen Camaro ZL1, survived a superspeedway-like race at Atlanta Motorspeedway, putting Chevrolet back in Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20^th, 2022.

Byron captured his first win of the year, and secured a third for Hendrick Motorsports. He passed Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota TRD Camry, for the lead on Lap 316, and didn’t look back until the checkered flag waved, even as cars wrecked behind him.

Sunday’s race at Atlanta marked the first since the track was reconfigured and repaved, giving the 1.54-mile track 28 degrees of banking, the most of any intermediate speedway. The result was a racing product that resembled a superspeedway such as Daytona, with fast drafting trains and a surprising amount of lead changes, along with wrecks abound. In fact, 28 out of 37 race cars were involved in some sort of collision.

Three Ford Mustangs led the field to green after the lineup was set using the formula instead of qualifying times, as qualifying was cancelled due to weather. As the race wore on, the Chevy racing teams had something to sweat about, as multiple incidents involving flat right rear tires felled several Camaros, such as the No. 1 of Ross Chastain. Chastain looked to be the car to beat, but his right rear tire went flat while he was leading on Lap 94. Despite this, his team performed extensive repairs, and Chastain rallied his damaged Camaro to a decent finish. While Christopher Bell, No. 20 Camry, technically finished ahead of Chastain, Bell was penalized for making an illegal pass below the yellow line on the last lap, and second place was awarded to Chastain. Bell was relegated to 23^rd.

Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Camaro traded the lead back and forth with Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Camry, for several laps. Elliott finished sixth after an incident involving Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry, and Kyle Larson, No. 5 Camaro. Larson was turned into Elliott’s side, ending the No. 5 Camaro’s day, while Elliott continued with minimal damage.

A last-lap wreck involved Wallace, No. 23 Camry; Justin Haley, No. 31 Camaro; and Chris Buescher, No. 17 Mustang. All drivers walked away from the heavy hits.

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