Daniel Suarez beat Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Kyle Busch by 0.007 seconds in a thrilling three-wide photo finish. The margin of victory is the third-closest ever and the margin between first and third is the closest ever.
That thrilling last lap was the culmination of a race that featured 48 lead changes and more than its fair share of twists and turns throughout.
Without exaggeration, this was one of the greatest races in NASCAR history, and Atlanta is now the most exciting track on the circuit.
Superspeedway racing has lost much of its luster in recent years as Daytona and Talladega have for the most part devolved into lotteries in which luck plays a much greater role than skill.
There’s little room for handling or maneuverability to come into play, and of course, the constant threat of a massive accident only adds to the randomness.
That can’t be said about the new Atlanta. The racing surface is wider and the distance is shorter, meaning there’s more room for cars to get spread out and for drivers to avoid wrecks.
Handling also begins to play a role deeper into green-flag runs, as drivers can’t run full-throttle through the turns once their tires are more worn out. The contenders get separated from the pretenders, and the cream rises to the top.
Sunday illustrated this perfectly. There were some
wrecks, but nothing that destroyed the flow of the race. Everyone who was near the front at the end straight-up earned their way there and the finish was a case of three drivers using every bit of aggression they had without crossing the line into recklessness.
It’s everything fans should want in a NASCAR race: White-knuckle action that still maintains a level of legitimacy. The first four Cup Series events on the new configuration were solid, but lacked that truly memorable moment to put them over the top. This one had that.
The drivers
loved it too. Todd Gilliland, who led a race-high 58 laps, was quoted as saying “It’s like a haunted house … it’s fun, but I’m scared for my life at the same time.”
In the past several years, NASCAR has made some unconventional moves in regards to diversifying its schedule, adding a dirt race and a street course among many other new developments.
Not all of them have been successful, but you can’t fault them for trying — as Wayne Gretzky once famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
This is why you take those shots. NASCAR swung for the fences with the new Atlanta configuration and hit an out-of-the-park home run.