Logano Wins NASCAR Cup Race at Atlanta
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HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Joey Logano broke the Chevrolet winning streak by taking his Ford Mustang to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. Logano dominated early and came roaring back in final laps to beat former teammate Brad Keselowski to the finish line.
Logano won the pole and led a strong showing of three straight Team Penske drivers in qualifying, but Keselowski looked like the Ford driver to beat late in the race. Keselowski had help from Corey LaJoie, but Logano got a push from Christopher Bell that proved decisive on the final lap.
Bell finished third in a Toyota and LaJoie finished a career-best fourth in a Chevrolet.
“The first win of the season always feels better,” said the reigning Cup champion, who led 141 of the 260 laps.
Pushed by his Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric, Logano passed Keselowski to regain the lead with 34 laps to go. Keselowski regained the lead to setup the last-lap drama.
After no cautions during the second stage, the competition — and crashes — picked up late in the race.
Kevin Harvick, who won in Atlanta in 2018 and 2020, was leading late when he was lost control while being pushed by Ross Chastain. Replays indicated Chastain’s Chevrolet didn’t hit Harvick’s Ford, but Harvick’s spin caused a major crash. Chastain had been under fire for causing such mishaps lately.
“I think he was just so close to me he caught me right in the corner,” Harvick said of Chastain. “The way he came from right to left took the car away from me.”
Another wreck involving the leaders followed 20 laps later when Aric Almirola blew a tire, causing a spin that also took out Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez.
Hendrick Motorsports’ four drivers had fill-in crew chiefs following the largest combined fine on one team in series history for modifying air-deflecting pieces last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Hendrick was issued a combined $400,000 in fines along with four-race suspensions for the crew chiefs .Of course they are awaiting a hearing with NASCAR soon.
The NASCAR Cup series now goes to Austin, Texas and the Circuit of the Americas next Sunday. Ross Chastain scored his first career Cup win on the road course last year
“This is so special to win Atlanta for me,” Logano said. “So many memories of me and my dad racing right here on the quarter mile. This is the full circle for us. So many memories gritting over there with the Legends car, racing, having a big time. Dreaming of going straight at the quarter-mile and going on to the big track. That was always the dream to do it. To finally win here means so much to me here personally, but the team.
“This thing was an animal. Very, very fast. Able to lead a ton of laps, race really hard there at the end, get a good push from the 20 (Bell) to clear myself. Enough of a push to get in.”
The win was the 32nd of Logano’s career.
Unofficial Results: Ambetter Health 400, March 19, 2023, Atlanta Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Joey Logano, No. 22 Autotrader Ford, 260, 1, 2, 5, 140, 6, 59, Running
2) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 King's Hawaiian Ford, 260, 3, 9, 2, 47, , 45, Running
3) 10, Christopher Bell, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 260, 6, , 1, 6, , 39, Running
4) 31, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet, 260, , 10, , , , 34, Running
5) 16, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Xfinity 10G Network Toyota, 260, , 4, , , , 39, Running
6) 14, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Shingrix Toyota, 260, 5, 8, 2, 14, , 40, Running
7) 3, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor Smart Water Ford, 260, 4, , 1, 5, , 37, Running
8) 28, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 35, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 260, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 17, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet, 260, 7, , 2, 7, , 31, Running
11) 2, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Knauf Ford, 260, 2, 1, 1, 5, 1, 45, Running
12) 22, Noah Gragson #, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 18, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Chevrolet, 260, , , 1, 5, , 24, Running
14) 15, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 260, , 3, , , , 31, Running
15) 23, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Gary Martin Hays Ford, 260, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 30, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 27, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Nature Valley Chevrolet, 260, , , 1, 7, , 20, Running
18) 21, Josh Berry(i), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 29, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 260, 10, 7, , , , 23, Running
20) 13, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Andy's Frozen Custard Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 12, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Fr8Auctions.com Ford, 260, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 20, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 26, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet, 260, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 8, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford, 259, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 32, Cody Ware, No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford, 258, , , 1, 1, , 12, Running
26) 34, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Barnett Southern Corporation Ford, 258, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 19, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 255, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 24, Ryan Preece, No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford, 244, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 25, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet, 213, 9, , , , , 10, DVP
30) 5, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 208, , , 2, 17, , 7, Accident
31) 9, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 208, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 11, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 192, , 5, , , , 11, Accident
33) 6, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 190, , , 1, 1, , 4, Accident
34) 33, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 190, , , , , , 3, DVP
35) 7, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Violet Defense Ford, 189, 8, 6, 1, 5, , 10, Accident
36) 36, BJ McLeod, No. 78 B'laster Chevrolet, 189, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie
Race Length: 260 Laps, 400.4 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 53 Mins, 5 Secs.
Average Speed: 138.8 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.193 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 2, 6, 12, 11, 20, 8, 17, 99, 19
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 22, 48, 45, 24, 17, 19, 11, 6, 7
Comments: Joey Logano has won the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his 32nd career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 20 (unapproved adjustments)
Cautions: 5 for 34 laps;
Laps: 11-15 (No. 23 Incident Backstretch [None]);
62-67 (Stage 1 Conclusion [23]);
162-168 (Stage 2 Conclusion [78]);
191-199 (Nos. 4, 17, 9, 24, 1, 8, 45, 23, 14, 3, 21, 78 Incident Backstretch [12]);
210-216 (Nos. 10, 5, 99, 45, 31 Incident Turn 4 [14]).
Lead Changes: 20 among 13 drivers;
J. Logano 1-63;
C. Ware 64;
K. Busch 65-69;
R. Blaney 70-74;
K. Busch 75-76;
J. Logano 77-131;
C. Buescher 132-136;
C. Bell 137-142;
J. Logano 143-159;
A. Cindric 160-164;
A. Almirola 165-168;
R. Stenhouse Jr. 169-175;
D. Hamlin 176-188;
K. Harvick 189;
R. Chastain 190-194;
D. Hamlin 195;
A. Almirola 196-208;
B. Keselowski 209-226;
J. Logano 227-230;
B. Keselowski 231-259;
J. Logano 260.
Unofficial Points: Ambetter Health 400, Atlanta Motor Speedway
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1) Joey Logano 22 5 7 177 0 0 1 1 6
2) Christopher Bell 20 5 1 176 -1 1 0 0 0
3) Ross Chastain 1 5 -1 172 -5 4 0 3 3
4) Ryan Blaney 12 5 0 161 -16 11 0 0 0
5) Brad Keselowski 6 5 4 160 -17 1 0 1 1
6) Kevin Harvick 4 5 -5 155 -22 5 0 0 0
7) Kyle Busch 8 5 -2 153 -24 2 1 0 5
8) Martin Truex Jr 19 5 -2 145 -32 8 0 0 0
9) Denny Hamlin 11 5 3 140 -37 5 0 0 0
10) Daniel Suarez 99 5 -3 129 -48 11 0 0 0
11) Austin Cindric 2 5 3 126 -51 3 0 1 1
12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr 47 5 -1 124 -53 2 1 0 5
13) Chris Buescher 17 5 -3 122 -55 2 0 0 0
14) Corey LaJoie 7 5 1 113 -64 9 0 0 0
15) Tyler Reddick 45 5 2 111 -66 2 0 0 0
16) Bubba Wallace 23 5 -3 102 -75 9 0 0 0
17) AJ Allmendinger 16 5 1 92 -85 10 0 0 0
18) Michael McDowell 34 5 -2 92 -85 0 0 0 0
19) Ty Gibbs # 54 5 1 90 -87 2 0 0 0
20) Alex Bowman 48 5 3 85 -92 5 0 0 -10
21) Erik Jones 43 5 4 82 -95 3 0 0 0
22) Austin Dillon 3 5 -3 80 -97 2 0 0 0
23) Chase Briscoe 14 5 -2 72 -105 8 0 0 0
24) Noah Gragson # 42 5 6 68 -109 4 0 0 0
25) Todd Gilliland 38 5 3 68 -109 0 0 0 0
26) Ryan Preece 41 5 -2 63 -114 5 0 0 0
27) Aric Almirola 10 5 -5 63 -114 0 0 0 0
28) William Byron 24 5 1 55 -122 8 2 3 3
29) Harrison Burton 21 5 -2 51 -126 4 0 0 0
30) Cody Ware 51 5 1 50 -127 1 0 0 0
31) Chase Elliott 2 -5 49 -128 1 0 0 0
32) Kyle Larson 5 5 0 43 -134 6 0 1 -9
33) Ty Dillon 77 5 2 31 -146 12 0 0 0
34) BJ McLeod 78 5 0 27 -150 4 0 0 0
35) Travis Pastrana 1 -2 26 -151 1 0 0 0
36) Jimmie Johnson 1 0 10 -167 16 0 0 0
37) Josh Berry(i) 9 3 7 0 -177 10 0 0 0
38) Riley Herbst(i) 1 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
39) Zane Smith(i) 2 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
40) JJ Yeley(i) 15 3 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
41) Conor Daly 1 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
42) Austin Hill(i) 0 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
43) Chandler Smith(i) 0 -1 0 -177 0 0 0 0
50) Justin Haley 31 5 -7 -25 -202 25 0 0 -10
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Ronald Fleshman with John Davison
Ron Fleshman and John Davison are Editors at ris-news.com