Starting from 23rd place Car 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet won the Ambetter Health 400, his 2nd win in 253 NASCAR Cup Series races. This is his 1st win & 1st Top 10 finish in 2024. This is his 1st win & 5th Top 10 finish in 11 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He is the 49th different Cup Series driver to win at Atlanta. This is Trackhouse Racing’s 7th win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and the 1st at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The finish of today’s race had a Margin of Victory of 0.003 second, the clostest finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the closest finish at a 1.5-mile track and the third closest in the NASCAR Cup Series since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993. 2nd Place Car 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford, started from 6th place posted his 7th Top 10 finish in 12 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his 1st Top 10 finish in 2024. 3rd Place Car 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, started from 3rd place posted his 14th Top 10 finish in 29 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
4th Place Car 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Knauf Insulation Ford, started from 8th place followed by 5th place Car 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota, started from 18th place. 6th Place Car 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Blue Buffalo Chevrolet, started from 27th place followed by 7th place Car 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, started from 21st place. 8th Place Car 34 Michael McDowell Benebone Ford, started from pole followed by 9th place Car 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford, started from 7th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota, in 10th place, started from 25th place. Kaz Grala (14th) was the highest finishing rookie.
The race had 10 Cautions for 65 Laps: 1st Caution on lap 3 for #3, 9, 10, 16, 20, 21, 23, 31, 42, 43, 45, 48, 51, 54, 77, 99 Crash in Turn 1. 2nd Caution on lap 26 for #17 Spin Turn 4. 3rd Caution on lap 54 for #8, 11 Crash on the Frontstretch. 4th Caution on lap 62 for Stage 1 Conclusion. 5th Caution on lap 161 for #11, 17, 22 Crash in Turn 2 / Stage 2 Conclusion. 6th Caution on lap 176 for #15 Spin Turn 1. 7th Caution on lap 200 for #1, 9 Crash in Turn 3. 8th Caution on lap 220 for #5, 6, 7 Crash in Turn 4. 9th Caution on lap 241 for #11, 14 Crash in Turn 3 [Red Flag: 00:11:25]. 10th Caution on lap 250 for #4, 9, 77 Crash on the Backstretch.
Today’s race has produced 48 lead changes – a new NASCAR Cup Series record at Atlanta Motor Speedway; previous record was 46 set in March of 2022. Today’s race produced total of 14 different leaders. Fifth straight race with a dozen or more different leaders (2022-2024) at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Today’s race produced 110 Green Flag Passes For The Lead – the second-most all-time at Atlanta and on a 1.5-mile track, the record is 141 at Atlanta in March of 2022. The race had 48 Lead Changes among 14 drivers; M. McDowell 0; K. Busch 1-10; K. Larson 11; K. Busch 12-15; K. Larson 16; K. Busch 17-20; K. Larson 21-22; R. Blaney 23; K. Larson 24; R. Blaney 25-33; K. Busch 34-40; M. McDowell 41; K. Busch 42-43; M. McDowell 44-50; R. Blaney 51; M. McDowell 52-63; T. Gilliland 64-98; J. Logano 99-102; T. Gilliland 103; J. Logano 104-112; C. Buescher 113; J. Logano 114-127; K. Larson 128-131; B. Keselowski 132; K. Larson 133-134; R. Stenhouse Jr. 135; B. Wallace 136-138; A. Cindric 139-165; T. Gilliland 166-169; B. Keselowski 170; T. Gilliland 171-182; M. Truex Jr. 183-184; T. Gilliland 185-186; M. Truex Jr. 187-188; T. Gilliland 189-192; K. Larson 193-198; M. Truex Jr. 199-201; M. McDowell 202-206; M. Truex Jr. 207; M. McDowell 208-209; M. Truex Jr. 210; A. Cindric 211-215; D. Hamlin 216-230; R. Blaney 231-232; K. Busch 233; R. Blaney 234-247; D. Suarez 248-255; R. Blaney 256-259; D. Suarez 260.
Stages:
Stage 1 Top 10: 34, 12, 1, 5, 8, 19, 47, 23, 24, 38
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 5, 12, 99, 19, 38, 6, 21, 14, 9
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 2
Race Results for the Ambetter Health 400 – Sunday, February 25, 2024
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, GA – 1.54 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 260 Laps – 400.4 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Sunday, 2/25/2024 @ 07:21 PM Eastern
Finish Start Car Team Laps Status
1. 23. Car 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 260 Running 2. 6. Car 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford 260 Running 3. 3. Car 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 260 Running 4. 8. Car 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Knauf Insulation Ford 260 Running 5. 18. Car 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota 260 Running 6. 27. Car 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Blue Buffalo Chevrolet 260 Running 7. 21. Car 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 260 Running 8. 1. Car 34 Michael McDowell Benebone Ford 260 Running 9. 7. Car 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 260 Running 10. 25. Car 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 260 Running 11. 16. Car 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 260 Running 12. 12. Car 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 260 Running 13. 32. Car 7 Corey LaJoie Celsius Chevrolet 260 Running 14. 33. Car 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 260 Running 15. 28. Car 9 Chase Elliott Hooters Chevrolet 260 Running 16. 20. Car 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 260 Running 17. 11. Car 24 William Byron Raptor High Heat Chevrolet 260 Running 18. 26. Car 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 260 Running 19. 35. Car 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 260 Running 20. 31. Car 51 Justin Haley Grady Medical Centers Ford 260 Running 21. 34. Car 42 John Hunter Nemechek Family Dollar Toyota 260 Running 22. 10. Car 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 260 Running 23. 13. Car 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Toyota 259 Running 24. 36. Car 78 * BJ McLeod(i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 257 Running 25. 37. Car 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 256 Running 26. 4. Car 38 Todd Gilliland Georgia Peanuts Ford 256 Running 27. 17. Car 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 255 Running 28. 2. Car 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 252 Running 29. 14. Car 4 Josh Berry # Harrison’s Ford 250 Accident 30. 19. Car 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 243 Running 31. 9. Car 14 Chase Briscoe HighPoint.com Ford 239 Accident 32. 5. Car 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 222 Accident 33. 24. Car 6 Brad Keselowski King’s Hawaiian Ford 218 Accident 34. 22. Car 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Toyota 148 Accident 35. 29. Car 71 Zane Smith # City of Refuge Chevrolet 75 DVP 36. 15. Car 10 Noah Gragson Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford 66 Accident 37. 30. Car 16 Josh Williams(i) Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 2 Accident
Race Comments: Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 22 (Rule 14.3.1.1 Violation), No. 9 (Unapproved Adjustments). Failed to Qualify: None. Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 28 Mins, 11 Secs. Average Speed: 115.398 MPH. Margin of Victory: 0.003 Seconds. Caution Flags: 10 for 65 laps. Lead Changes: 48 among 14 drivers.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: March 3, 2024 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway
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