. – Thanks to a strong last-lap push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano advanced to Round 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an additional victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400, available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In a two-lap shootout that sent the first playoff race of the 2024 season six laps past the posted distance of 260 laps, Logano had a more than one-length lead car when NASCAR made a caution on the final track,for a mid-head crash.The win was Logano’s second in Atlanta, second of the season and 34th of his career.
The driver of Ford No. 22 moved to fifth place in the playoff standings, but the win secured him a place in the next round.”They give me really fast cars on the high-speed roads, and we have always finished ahead, (but) ended up doing more damage than losses,” said Logano, who led twice through nine laps,well behind teammate Austin Cindric’s 92 laps. “So , to be able to finally have a fast race car and win. again here in atlanta, I lived here in the 805 apartment for a long time (when I was a kid and raced legend cars), I woke up dreaming of racing in this track. “So getting to Victory Lane here is always a special moment. We had a very good team here today. “It’s great to have Autotrader (sponsor) in Victory Lane and the JL Kids Crew (one of Logano’s charities) is here today, so it’s really nice to finally win with them here.
When NASCAR brought out the caution on the final lap, Atlanta February winner Daniel Suarez was inches ahead of Blaney, the defending series champion. But with third place achieved by surviving a three-car crash on lap 205, Blaney moved into the series five points ahead of Christopher Bell, who finished fourth.
After a strong and consistent race throughout the race, Alex. Bowman finished fifth as playoff drivers took nine of the top 10 positions.Blaney survived the crash on lap 205 injuring Martin
Truex Jr. After repeated pit stops, Truex left the race 12 laps into the second playoff race on Sunday after Watkins Glen International 15th in the standings, 18 points below the current cut for the round of 12th.
Suárez ran,next to Logano in the first extra lap, but lost his pusher when Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain went onto the track in Turn 3 and spun.
“No, I’m not not sure happy,” said Suarez about the second. place “I’m happy, but not happy. I lost my driver, my teammate. He was doing a great job and I had the feeling that we had a great chance.
The race was smooth for the first 55 laps, but on lap 56, disaster struck favorite Kyle Larson and his playoff teammate Chase Briscoe. Chevrolet no. Larson’s 5, in third, skidded and hit the outside wall at about 160 mph.
As the car bounced off the SAFER barrier and slid sideways into the middle of the track, Briscoe’s Ford collided with Larson’s Camaro. take the left front fender off the No. 1 Mustang. 14.Larson and Briscoe both left the race in 37th and 38th, respectively, and scored one run each for their efforts on Sunday.
“I’m good,” Larson said after leaving the 14. infield care center. “Fortunately everything was kept well in the car. It was a big shock. I don’t really know what caused it.” the corner, and the car was right. I don’t know, it all happened so fast.
Briscoe, who clinched his playoff spot with a win a week ago at Darlington Raceway, leaves Atlanta on the current starting line-up with a win-or-lose mentality.
“It’s It was a big hit, one of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time,” Briscoe said. “I’m happy that I’m doing well and we just have to win. That’s what we have to do in Darlington, and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”
Larson leaves Atlanta in 10th place, 15 points above the current starting line for the 12th time. Briscoe is 16th in the standings, 20 points on the wrong side of the equation. The champion of regular season Tyler Reddick returned to sixth, overcoming pit lane issues.Non-playoff driver Kyle Busch finished seventh after leading 24 laps in the final stretch. Chase Elliott finished eighth, followed by William Byron and Cindric,Collected in a last-lap crash, playoff driver Harrison Burton finished 31st and was 15 points behind Ty Gibbs, who finished 17th after 37 laps and 12th. classification. Brad Keselowski finished 19th and tied with Gibbs.Denny Hamlin came to the back of the field the entire race and was hit in a crash on the last lap, finishing 24th. He heads to Watkins Glen 11th in the standings, just two points behind Keselowski.
NASCAR CUP SERIES:With a strong last-lap push from Team Penske teammate ,Joey Logano wins playoff opener at Atlanta in thrilling overtime
