Atlanta Race Review and Analysis
Racing in the peach state! The Nascar Cup Series visited Atlanta Motor Speedway located in Hampton, Georgia. This reconfigured race track put on quite the show. In a nail-biter, William Byron takes home the checkered flag! This is Byron’s 3rd career win and first of the 2022 season. Byron is now the fifth different winner in 5 races and now locks himself into the Nascar playoffs. The 5th year driver now joins Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, and Chase Briscoe as the first few drivers who are in the playoff field come September. Lastly, all but one Hendrick Motorsports driver is currently not locked into the playoffs as three are, that driver is Chase Elliott.
(William Byron post-race)
After a late race caution, with 20 laps to go, William Byron was leading the field. Fuel became a concern as the sun started to set. Byron held off the hard charging Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, and Daniel Saurez throughout the closing laps. With an aggressive move, Ross Chastain sailed low under the left rear of Bubba Wallace. Wallace then tried to hold off Chastain which caused an accordion effect. This all favored Byron coming to the line as Wallace then slid up in front of Ryan Blaney, causing chaos coming to the checkered flag.
(William Byron in Victory Lane)
Throughout the day fans experienced something they’d never seen before at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Normally tires are a detrimental issue when it comes to Atlanta, and today after the repave, it’s still a common factor. Ross Chastain and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both spun while leading today’s race, all because of a blown right rear tire. This was a strange factor today as 11 cautions were accounted for and the majority were due to blown tires.
(Byron taking the Checkered Flag)
Notable performances from drivers today came from William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, and Chase Elliott. All of these drivers were upfront for most of today, some were luckier than others in the end. Byron won today’s race which is huge for his team. Bubba Wallace had a rebound weekend by leading laps and running 2nd until the very end. Despite wrecking out coming to the checkered, it was a solid showing from the 23 team and 23XI Racing as a whole. His teammate Kurt Busch finished 4th after an up and down day. Ross Chastain and the Trackhouse Racing team had a strong showing. Chastain comes home 2nd and teammate Daniel Suarez finishes 4th. Lastly, Chase Elliott had a quiet but strong afternoon. The hometown Georgia native, who is also Nascar’s most popular driver, comes home 6th. Other key drivers who had great finishes today were Corey LaJoie in 5th and Justin Haley crossing the line 11th. Crossing the line second but now penalized, Christopher Bell was slated to finish behind William Byron, which is now no more. Bell has been penalized for going below the white line to advance his position. By the Nascar rulebook, you can not go below or force someone below the out of bounds line to advance your position. This rule is only implemented at superspeedway tracks like Daytona, Talladega, and newly added Atlanta after its reconfiguration. Christopher Bell was placed as the last car on the lead lap, he came home 23rd due to Nascar's decision.
Packing up from Atlanta Motor Speedway a lot of questions were answered. How is this reconfiguration going to perform and was it a success? Also, how will the next-gen car race for 325 laps on this track? To answer all of those questions, today was great. You can officially say the repaved and reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway was a success! The racing was edgy and vigorous all afternoon. Massive momentum was gained by sticking in the draft and racing in packs. This was the first time we’ve seen superspeedway like racing on a 1.5 mile race track. To say the least, for a track that hasn’t seen a repave since 1997, today was great; as many people doubted this decision. Race fans saw 46 lead changes and 21 different leaders which is the most by far at any Atlanta event. The second Atlanta race in July will be fun and a marquee event for everyone. I’d rate today’s action and weekend across the three series a 10 out of 10 as Atlanta exceeded everyone's expectations.
(William Byron Burning it down in front of the fans)
After race number five on the Nascar schedule, we move on to our first road course of the season. The Circuit of the Americas makes its return for a second time in Nascar. Located in Austin, Texas this race put on a show last year. With hopes of better weather this year, everyone is looking forward to this event. This 20 turn, 3.4 mile track will take on all three national series this weekend! Practice and Qualifying will be spread across Friday evening and Saturday morning. We’re headed to the Lonestar state! Tune in Sunday, March 27th at 3:30pm ET for the “Echopark Automotive Grand Prix” from the Circuit of the Americas. See you next weekend as William Byron is your Cup Series winner in Atlanta.
( All images credited to https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/cup-series.)
For next week's race information please view the link down below:
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