THE CLOSEST FINISH IN NASCAR HISTORY?!

Whether you’re a racing fan or not, you’ve probably seen something about the finish at the Ambetter health 400!! And even if you didn’t know what race or what track it was, you may have seen an image or video comparing it to the tied finish in the Cars movie. It was the third closest finish in NASCAR history with only 0.003 seconds between first and second place, and only 0.004 seconds between second and third place! In both 2011 and 2003 there were finishes where first and second place were separated by 0.002 seconds each! 

But before we jump into my race notes, let’s take a closer look into the history of this track. Atlanta International Raceway opened on July 31, 1960, as the seventh superspeedway to host a Cup race. A Superspeedway is defined as a paved facility with a track length of one mile or more. Though the early years were rough on the track, even seeing it file for Chapter Ten bankruptcy, Georgia governor elect Jimmy Carter helped bring notoriety and financial support to the track. An avid race fan and former ticket vendor at the track in the ’60s, Carter promised the management and Cup drivers a barbecue dinner at the governor’s mansion if he won the election. He kept that promise, then improved on it by inviting the racing community to another cookout in 1978; this time at the White House. 

Even so, the track continued to struggle financially until 1990 when Bruton Smith purchased the track and revolutionized the landscape. He rebranded it as Atlanta Motor Speedway, and within a year had boosted seating capacity by 25,000 with the addition of the East Turn Grandstand. He also introduced 30 top-rimmed suites which elevated the standard of luxury. Under Smith’s leadership Atlanta Motor Speedway not only underwent significant expansion, but also diversified its offerings, playing host to a wide array of events including the Xfinity Series, Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, Drag Racing, Legends, and Bandolero Racing – as well as car shows, concerts, and business conventions. In 1995 the Earnhardt Grandstand was completed, and in 1997 the Champions Grandstand was added with an additional 107 luxury suites. 

Upon the construction of the Champions Grandstand, the start/finish line underwent relocation from the west to the east side of the track, accompanied by the incorporation of two doglegs into the frontstretch, transforming the layout into a 1.54-mile quad-oval, replacing the original oval configuration. This development also included the addition of state-of-the-art media facilities, garages, and numerous fan-centric structures, which evolved the venue into a contemporary motorsports hub. In 2006 the Winners Grandstand (now called the Johnson Grandstand) was added. 

Over the years, the track continued to evolve and add new features for its clients and guests. In 2021, the entire track was overhauled and repaved. The banked corners were increased from 24-degrees to 28-degrees, and the entire infield received an extensive modernization. Additionally, many of the older grandstand seats were replaced, and the parking lot received upgrades as well. 

The track has played host to many notable moments in its years of operation. Cale Yarborough and the Wood Brothers mastered Atlanta in the ‘60s and in 1969, Yarborough won his third consecutive race at the track. In 1986 the track hosted the all-star race, and in 1992 it hosted one of the most iconic races in NASCAR history in which Richard Petty drove his final premier series start and Jeff Gordon drove his first premier series start. In 2000, Dale Earnhardt crossed the finish line for his 75th career premier series win, and in 2001 Kevin Harvick’s first premier series win came as he was the replacement driver after Dale Earnhardt’s death in that year’s Daytona 500. This moment in particular was arguably one of the biggest and most emotional moments in the sport’s history, after Earnhardt’s death itself.

In 2005, Carl Edwards’ got his first premier series win, and was the first NASCAR driver to perform a victory backflip off of his car. He would go on to win again at the track in the fall race that same year. In 2008, Kyle Busch became the first driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the same weekend, and in 2011, Jeff Gordon scored his 85th career win. NASCAR President Mike Helton presented a framed piece of artwork to Jeff Gordon in victory lane for his accomplishment. In 2016, Jimmie Johnson picked up his 76th premier series win to tie Dale Earnhardt for seventh in all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins. In 2018 Kevin Harvick paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt after winning at the track again. It was his first win in Atlanta since winning there in 2001. In 2019, Kyle Busch had his 500th Cup start, and won the race for his 52nd Cup series win. 

In 2021 before the track was repaved, Kurt Busch won the last race for Chip Ganassi Racing. CGR’s assets and operations were sold to Trackhouse Racing at the end of that season. That’s ironic as the next notable event to take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway was this year’s fantastic win by Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse Racing! The speedway is calling it one of the biggest moments in their history. In stark contrast to last week’s mostly uneventful race, this week’s race would have been one of the most exciting even without the way it finished. Eight cautions came out over the course of just 200 laps and only five drivers made it to the end completely unscathed. You read that correctly, only 5 of the 36 drivers made it through the entire race, without being involved in some sort of collision. Let’s start from the beginning of my race notes.

As a reminder, here’s who I’m following this season for each manufacturer: For Ford I’m following RFK as my Ford team and Ryan Preece, #41 of Stewart Haas, for my Ford driver. For Toyota I’m following Legacy MC as my Toyota team and Tyler Reddick, #45 of 23IX Racing, for my Toyota driver. For Chevy I’m following Trackhouse Racing as my Chevy team and William Byron, #24 of Hendrick Motorsports, as my Chevy driver. Additionally, I’m predicting the manufacturers will finish the season in that order; Ford in first, Toyota in second, and Chevy in third. I’ll periodically update you on the tallies of these pick and predictions. As far a starting positions, Byron started in 10th, Reddick in 18th, and Preece in 19th. Last week’s qualifying was flip-flopped as McDowell placed first and Logano placed second – which would have given us yet another all Ford front row. Unfortunately however, Lagano was served a ridiculous penalty for ‘modifying equipment’ in qualifying. The equipment he modified was one of his gloves. Not only did he have to start last, he also had to serve a green flag pit pass through which put him a lap down on the very first lap. I’m not a Lagano fan, but to me, that was overkill on NASCAR’s part.

This race featured a Chevy Camaro Pace Car, and the 3 stages were set as 60, 100, 100. As an ominous foreshadowing, Fox highlighted the Seven inch spoilers before the race started. These spoilers are only used at superspeedways, with 4 inch spoilers being used at road courses and flat tracks. The larger spoilers are meant to increase rear grip for banked corners at high speeds. Even so, there were multiple solo spins and wall rubs due to lack of grip in the corners. This led to 8 cautions, not counting the 2 stage-end cautions. 

Just like last week, we had a super early crash on lap 2. There were 16 cars involved, and AMS certified it as the biggest pileup in this track’s history. Many cars received significant damage, including Reddick who went 3 laps down under caution. Rookie Josh Williams was unfortunately knocked out of the race altogether. The 2nd and 3rd cautions came out as first Chris Buescher spun out due to lack of grip, then Denny Hamlin a dozen laps later for the same reason. After Stage 1, Byron and McDowell crashed into each other on the pit apron. No caution came out, but McDowell suffered decent damage. The 4th caution was for a minor collision triggered by Lagano. He collected Buescher and Hamlin in this one as well. Similar to cautions 2 & 3, the 5th caution came for a Chase Elliot spin due to lack of grip. The 6th caution came during the Fox side-by-side. There was an agonizing 2.5 minutes of continued ads with no race audio, and the recap after the commercial break was frustratingly sparse. Larson, Keselowski, and LaJoie were involved. 

Todd Gilliland found success in Stage 2 as he led more laps than he has in his entire career, and led more laps than anyone else in this entire race. My congrats to him on that. The 7th caution came out as Chase Briscoe got loose into Hamlin, finally ending Hamlin’s run for the night after being involved in three separate incidents. This brought out a red flag to clear off the track. The 8th caution came out as Berry got tight and slammed into Hocevar, sending him airborne. At this point, only 5 drivers managed to make it through the race without any damage: Busch, Blaney, Gilliland, Cindric, and Stenhouse.

All of my race notes will be overshadowed by the final five laps though. Coming out of the 8th caution, 10th if you count the stage ends, there were just five laps to go at the final race restart, and honestly they were the most exciting five laps I’ve seen in a while. Truly, one of the closest photo finishes in NASCAR history as the time between first and second place was only 3/1,000 of a second! It was a 3-wide finish between Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Richard Childress’ Kyle Busch, and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. They finished in that order as Suarez, who started the race in 23rd and had been involved in lap 2’s pileup, clenched the victory by the thinnest of margins! It was only Suarez’s second career win in the Cup series. My congratulations to him, and I’m very happy for Trackhouse Racing – my 2024 team pick for Chevy. 

While I doubt any race will top this one for a while, you never know as next week is the Pennzoil 400 in Vegas. I’ll be following NASCAR with weekly articles all season long, so stay tuned! I’ll also be releasing weekly articles on other vehicles and topics. Make sure to visit my profile to catch what you’ve missed! To see my latest photography work, go to StingerAuto.com or look up @Stinger_Auto on Instagram and Stinger Photography on Facebook! 

Out of all the finishes in Nascar racing, where do you rank this?