A pair of Chevy race cars and a single Ford machine streaked toward the finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25th, 2024, crossing the line three abreast in a photo finish that was decided by a fraction of a second. Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 99 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1, came out ahead to earn his second Cup Series win with a damaged race car.
On the final restart that left the field with just five laps to the checkered flag, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang surged ahead of the pack and held control for four laps while Suárez and Kyle Busch’s No. 8 NASCAR Chevy lurked. Then, on the last lap, Suárez and Busch each mounted a charge. Suárez swung close to the wall while Busch opted to slice into the middle lane as they headed out of Turn 4, and the three appeared to be evenly matched.
However, Suárez managed to eke ahead at the stripe. He finished with 0.003 seconds over Blaney and 0.007 seconds over Busch.
“It was so damn close, man,” said Suárez after the race. “It was so damn close. It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving pushes. In the back straightaway he didn’t push me because he knew I was going to (screw) his teammate, but, man, what a job.”
He added, “We wrecked [on] Lap 2. The guys did an amazing job fixing this car. I can’t thank everyone enough, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, all the amazing fans here. Let’s go!”
Busch, meanwhile, lamented his razor-thin third-place finish.
“Yeah, typically whoever is behind getting into [Turn] 3 prevails at the start-finish line with the side draft and everything,” he said. “It’s good to see Daniel get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. Shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work, and that was a good part of today.”
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 260 | 9 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
2 | 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford | 260 | 31 | Ford Mustang |
3 | 3 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 260 | 28 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
4 | 8 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Menards/Knauf Insulation Ford | 260 | 32 | Ford Mustang |
5 | 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | MoneyLion Toyota | 260 | 3 | Toyota TRD Camry |
6 | 27 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Blue Buffalo Chevrolet | 260 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
7 | 21 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Moose Fraternity Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
8 | 1 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Benebone Ford | 260 | 27 | Ford Mustang |
9 | 7 | 17 | Chris Buescher | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 260 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
10 | 25 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 260 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
11 | 16 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
12 | 12 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 260 | 9 | Toyota TRD Camry |
13 | 32 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Celsius Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
14 | 33 | 15 | Kaz Grala # | N29 Capital Partners Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
15 | 28 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hooters Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
16 | 20 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
17 | 11 | 24 | William Byron | Raptor High Heat Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
18 | 26 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
19 | 35 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Premier Security Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
20 | 31 | 51 | Justin Haley | Grady Medical Centers Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
21 | 34 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Family Dollar Toyota | 260 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
22 | 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
23 | 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Toyota | 259 | 15 | Toyota TRD Camry |
24 | 36 | 78 | * BJ McLeod(i) | Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet | 257 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
25 | 37 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 256 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
26 | 4 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Georgia Peanuts Ford | 256 | 58 | Ford Mustang |
27 | 17 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 255 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
28 | 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 252 | 27 | Ford Mustang |
29 | 14 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Harrison's Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
30 | 19 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Xfinity Mobile Toyota | 243 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
31 | 9 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | HighPoint.com Ford | 239 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 222 | 17 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
33 | 24 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | King's Hawaiian Ford | 218 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
34 | 22 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DEWALT Toyota | 148 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
35 | 29 | 71 | Zane Smith # | City of Refuge Chevrolet | 75 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
36 | 15 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford | 66 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
37 | 30 | 16 | Josh Williams(i) | Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet | 2 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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