Daniel Suárez made a valiant effort to win two races in a row at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8th, 2024, but a pair of Ford Mustangs ganged up on his No. 99 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 in the closing laps, relegating him to a disappointing second-place result instead.
Suárez started alongside Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, when a late caution forced the race into Overtime. However, Logano had help from his teammate, the No. 12 Mustang of Ryan Blaney. Suárez was hung out to dry when his own teammate, Ross Chastain, washed up the track and out of the racing groove, causing his No. 1 NASCAR Chevy Camaro to plummet in the standings.
Without help, Suárez tried to hold of Logano, but the Ford duo proved too much to overcome. He fell to the runner-up position, mere inches ahead of the third-place Blaney and a full car-length behind the first-place Logano.
“No, definitely not satisfied,” Suarez said of finishing second. “I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it… Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But that is part of racing, right?”
Another dominant NASCAR Chevy driver, Kyle Larson, was involved in a bizarre incident on Lap 55. His No. 5 Camaro suddenly snapped loose and clobbered the wall, sustaining critical damage and sweeping fellow Playoffs driver, Chase Briscoe, into the melee. Larson was unhurt in the violent crash, but was obviously disappointed at his 37th-place result.
“I’m OK,” Larson said. “Thankfully, everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner, and it just stepped out. I don’t know, it all just happened really fast.”
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Autotrader Ford | 266 | 9 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 2 | 30 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | Quaker State Chevrolet | 266 | 9 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Dent Wizard Ford | 266 | 33 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 4 | 26 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Rheem Toyota | 266 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 11 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | Ally Chevrolet | 266 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 23 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (P) | Jordan Brand Toyota | 266 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 7 | 15 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Global Industrial Chevrolet | 266 | 24 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 16 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | NAPA/Children's Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 9 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Relay Payments Chevrolet | 266 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 5 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | Menards/Quaker State Ford | 266 | 92 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 11 | 14 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 29 | 51 | Justin Haley | Grady Health System Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 13 | 18 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 266 | 13 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 27 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Thomas' Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 25 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 32 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Delaware Life Chevrolet | 266 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 17 | 20 | 54 | Ty Gibbs (P) | He Gets Us Toyota | 266 | 37 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 18 | 21 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 266 | 2 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 19 | 19 | 6 | Brad Keselowski (P) | King's Hawaiian Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 20 | 8 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 21 | 34 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Ambetter Health Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 1 | 34 | Michael McDowell | B'laster Work It Like A Pro Ford | 266 | 30 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 23 | 37 | 44 | * JJ Yeley(i) | US Aviation Academy Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 38 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Mavis Tire Toyota | 266 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 25 | 36 | 78 | * BJ McLeod(i) | Delgado Stone Chevrolet | 266 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 33 | 43 | Erik Jones | Dollar Tree Toyota | 266 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 27 | 3 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | CITGARD Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 28 | 4 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Decisely Insurance Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 29 | 24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Leidos Toyota | 266 | 8 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 31 | 15 | Cody Ware | Mighty Fire Breaker Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 31 | 12 | 21 | Harrison Burton (P) | DEX Imaging Ford | 265 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 32 | 28 | 16 | Shane Van Gisbergen(i) | Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet | 264 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 33 | 35 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | OLIPOP Ridge Rush Toyota | 262 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 34 | 13 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Overstock.com Ford | 258 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 35 | 22 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. (P) | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 254 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 36 | 17 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 205 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 37 | 6 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 55 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 38 | 10 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford | 55 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible
Comment
Tuff race for most Hot teams. Atlanta is a lot like Daytona…just shorter. Still has plenty of crazy crashes. Chevy can still come back, There are 15 races yet to go. My guy still has a chance.. (Kyle Larson)