Written by Sean McKean
In a tense race from start to finish, Joey Logano held on to take his second victory of the season. It was the two-time champion’s second win at the Atlanta Motor Speedway – both of which coming at the superspeedway configuration.
As it unfolded
From pole, non-playoff driver Michael McDowell initially led, but Ryan Blaney took the lead with a high side run. Despite attacks from Kyle Larson, teammate Austin Cindric pushed the defending champion to the front each time.
Eventually, a single-file line materialised, led by Blaney, Cindric and Larson.
However, the run changed with a huge shunt for Kyle Larson on Lap 56. In Turn 1, his car snapped and slammed the outside wall. After coming down the track, Chase Briscoe then ran into the 2021 champion. Both walked away uninjured, but it put both out of the race.
Having gained a lot of playoff points, Larson remained above the cut line, but the same couldn’t be said about Briscoe.
This subsequently brought an end to the first stage. Blaney took it followed by Cindric and Alex Bowman.
Stage 1 Results:
Bowman and Cindric led the way on the restart, and a push from Blaney put the 2022 Daytona 500 winner into the lead.
The pair settled into the lead, but just before green flag pit stops, a caution for debris came out. Everyone elected to pit.
Austin Cindric led the way and swiftly took the lead on Lap 120. The two behind remained the same as prior: Bowman and Blaney.
With a high number of playoff drivers in the top ten, most took it easy to the end. Cindric won the stage followed by Blaney and Bowman.
Stage 2 Results:
Everybody took the opportunity to put on tyres and fuel under caution. Ross Chastain and McDowell came out first.
Chastain kept the lead when the green flag dropped on Lap 167. But, it only took eight laps for the caution to come back out. Coming off Turn 2, John Hunter Nemechek’s car snapped loose at the rear, sending him into the inside wall. He retired due to the accident.
With the fuel window looking close, most drivers took to the pits. A few notables stayed out though – such as playoff driver Ty Gibbs and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace.
Gibbs led the way on Lap 182 with Wallace following suit.
Kyle Busch started going for the lead on the preferred strategy on Lap 205, but the caution came out before the two-time champion could take the lead. Chris Buescher’s car snapped loose off Turn 2, slamming into Ryan Blaney and collecting Martin Truex. Blaney and Truex continued, but Buescher retired.
Entering this race, Truex and Blaney did not have a great playoff-point cushion – giving them a huge hit in the playoff standings.
Gibbs and Wallace took the opportunity to pit for fuel. Blaney pitted for minor repairs, tyres and fuel.
Busch and William Byron led the way once more on Lap 212, with the former taking it in stride.
Within ten laps of the restart, the pushes became more aggressive, and Byron started challenging for the lead with help from teammate Elliott. Thus, it did not take long for Ty Gibbs to find his way back towards the front – becoming the second car on the high line by Lap 230 (31 to go).
With help from Gibbs, William Byron found his way to the lead, but then had it quickly snatched away by Ty Gibbs. Suarez rallied for it too, briefly going to the lead with only 13 to go.
But a caution with ten laps remaining changed everything, caused by a piece of signage coming off the pylon and onto the racing surface.
Most of the frontrunners stayed out, but a few playoff drivers – notably Brad Keselowski – went into the pits.
Suarez led the way on the five-to-go restart, and he kept the lead. However, the Penske pair of Joey Logano and Blaney looked to drive by – leaving it as a two-team battle for the win. Then, a crash by Noah Gragson with a lap-and-a-half to go led to an overtime restart.
No major players elected to pit.
Logano took the green flag in overtime, prevailing over Suarez. A final push by Ryan Blaney on the high line gave Logano the solidified lead and eventually the win in Atlanta.
Behind, a crash between Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton took out a number of cars – notably Denny Hamlin.
Provisional Results:
#22 Joey Logano (Team Penske) [Playoffs]
#99 Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Racing) [Playoffs]
#12 Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) [Playoffs]
#20 Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing) [Playoffs]
#48 Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports) [Playoffs]
#45 Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing) [Playoffs]
#8 Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing)
#9 Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) [Playoffs]
#24 William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports) [Playoffs]
#2 Austin Cindric (Team Penske) [Playoffs]
#31 Daniel Hemric (Kaulig Racing)
#51 Justin Haley (Rick Ware Racing)
#47 Ricky Stenhouse (JTG-Daugherty Racing)
#1 Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing)
#7 Corey Lajoie (Spire Motorsports)
#77 Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
#41 Ryan Preece (Stewart-Haas Racing)
#54 Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) [Playoffs]
#6 Brad Keselowski (Roush Fenway-Keselowski Racing) [Playoffs]
#3 Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing)
#44 JJ Yeley (NY Racing)
#34 Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports)
#71 Zane Smith (Spire Motorsports)
#11 Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) [Playoffs]
#78 BJ McLeod (Live Fast Motorsports)
#43 Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club)
#38 Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports)
#4 Josh Berry (Stewart-Haas Racing)
#23 Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
#15 Cody Ware (Rick Ware Racing)
#21 Harrison Burton (Wood Brothers Racing) [Playoffs]
#16 Shane van Gisbergen (Kaulig Racing) +2 laps
#42 John Hunter Nemechek (Legacy Motor Club) +4 laps
#10 Noah Gragson (Stewart-Haas Racing) +8 laps
#19 Martin Truex (Joe Gibbs Racing) +12 laps [Playoffs]
#17 Chris Buescher (Roush Fenway-Keselowski Racing) [DNF] [Playoffs]
#5 Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) [DNF] [Playoffs]
#14 Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing) [DNF] [Playoffs]
Multiple drivers took big hits in the playoffs standings, notably Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.
Provisional Playoff Standings:
Playoff Cut Line
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