In a contract year where he needed a big performance, Daniel Suarez delivered. The 32 year old driver from Monterrey, Mexico won his second career Cup Series race by just three one thousandths of a second over Ryan Blaney, locking himself into the playoffs and proving that he still has what it takes to compete with the big dogs.
While Suarez didn’t dominate Sunday’s race, he didn’t have to — all he had to do was perform when it mattered most, and he did just that.
Reconfiguring Atlanta Motor Speedway was the right choice
As Ryan McCafferty said earlier in the evening, reconfiguring the 1.54 mile Georgia oval in 2022 has proven to be a fantastic choice by NASCAR. While many fans were upset with the move at first, the transformation from cookie cutter mile and a half to a high-banked superspeedway has been enthralling to watch, and Sunday’s night’s finish was another example of it.
Want even more to look forward to with Atlanta Motor Speedway? The track will host the opener for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs on Sept. 8, which is sure to be another barnburner — this time, with championship aspirations on the line.
Ford leads the most laps again, but Chevrolet finds a way to win
For the second consecutive superspeedway race, Ford swept the front row in qualifying and had one of their cars lead the most laps (Todd Gilliland, 58). But just as in Daytona, a Chevy stole the show.
Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland and Michael McDowell all looked to be the class of the field at varying stages, but none of them could close the deal. If once is a fluke, twice is a pattern, and Ford needs to figure out how to close out a superspeedway race before they lose one in a critical situation, such as the playoff races at Atlanta and Talladega this fall.
Superspeedways are still wildly unpredictable
From a Lap 2 ‘big one’ to a three-wide photo finish, Sunday’s race showed that superspeedways are still the most unpredictable racetracks in NASCAR.
The great equalizer of the draft, handling being a big factor, and a chance for an underdog to snags a playoff spot all make the end of superspeedway races incredibly sketchy for the drivers, but provides incredible entertainment for the fans at home and at the race track.
The Cup Series’ next superspeedway race is at Talladega on April 21, where as next weekend, NASCAR goes to Las Vegas, a race that should be much tamer than both Daytona and Atlanta.
The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas will air on Sunday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
