NASCAR travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend with a full schedule as all series compete on the 1.5-mile track. Hendrick Motorsports driver, William Byron, is the defending Cup Series race winner.
There have, however, been five different winners in the previous five Cup Series races at Las Vegas – Kyle Larson (Oct. 2023), William Byron (March 2023), Joey Logano (Oct. 2022), Alex Bowman (March 2022) and Denny Hamlin in Sept. 2021. The trend has extended to the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. In 33 Xfinity Series races at Las Vegas, there have been 24 different race winners while the Truck Series has seen 25 different winners in 31 races.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, March 1 4:35 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1/SiriusXM 5:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM 6:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – FS1/SiriusXM 7:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM
9 p.m.: Truck Series Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 Presented by Westgate Resorts – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps) Stages end on Lap 30, Lap 60, Lap 134 The Purse: $736,214 Post Truck Series Race: PressPass
Saturday, March 2 2:05 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM 2:50 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Post Cup Series Qualifying: PressPass
5 p.m.: Xfinity Series The LiUNA! – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stages end on Lap 45, Lap 90, Lap 200 The Purse: $1,801,278 Post Xfinity Series Race: PressPass
Sunday, March 3 3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube – FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps) Stages end on Lap 80, Lap 165, Lap 267 The Purse: $9,386,054 Post Cup Series Race: PressPass
Today marks Leap Day, February 29, where an extra day is included in the calendar every four years and occurs due to Earth taking 365 days and an extra six hours to orbit around the Sun. The gain of an extra day within the 365-day calendar ensures the calendar itself remains aligned with Earth revolving around the Sun.
With Leap Day providing its share of historic events and birthdays throughout human history, the holiday date has also provided a handful of significant moments within NASCAR history.
The first known NASCAR competition to occur on Leap Day dates to February 29, 1976, at North Carolina Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series’ Carolina 500 occurred. During the event, Richard Petty won for the first time of the season after claiming the checkered flag by two laps over runner-up Darrell Waltrip and dodging a late multi-car pileup that resulted in Bobby Allison flipping. The victory was redemption for Petty, who was involved in a wild final lap accident and finish with David Pearson two weeks earlier that resulted in Pearson managing to nurse his damaged No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Mercury across the finish line in first place ahead of Petty, whose car was unable to restart.
The 1976 victory at Rockingham’s North Carolina Motor Speedway would serve as Petty’s 178th of 200 overall Cup victories he would achieve, where he still stands as NASCAR’s “The King” with the most career victories all-time to coincide with his seven championships, which is tied for the most in the Cup Series history alongside Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson. Currently, Petty, who retired from NASCAR competition following the 1992 season, serves as a team ambassador for Legacy Motor Club, a team he formerly owned and is currently owned by Johnson and Maury Gallagher. The team was rebranded from Petty GMS Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports, both names that stood out over the last 14 years.
Sixteen years later (1992), another Leap Day event at North Carolina Motor Speedway occurred. On this occasion, the Xfinity Series hosted the Goodwrench 200. During the event, Ward Burton scored his first Xfinity career win after leading the final 22 laps and beating Mark Martin by nine-tenths of a second. The Rockingham victory would serve as Burton’s first of four total victories he would achieve in his Xfinity career, with his latter three occurring in 1993. To date, Burton has made 161 career starts in the Xfinity Series, with his latest occurring in 2007. The South Boston, Virginia, native has also made a single start in the Craftsman Truck Series, which occurred in 2012 and marks his final national touring series career start, and 375 in the Cup Series, where he has achieved five victories, including the 2002 Daytona 500 and the 2001 Southern 500.
In 2008, there were no NASCAR race day competitions that occurred on Leap Day. Instead, the Cup Series held a qualifying session for the upcoming UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. During the qualifying session, hometown hero Kyle Busch, who was making his third career start driving the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, secured his first pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.325 mph in 29.613 seconds. During the main event two days later, Busch, who led twice for 56 laps, ended up in 11th place while Carl Edwards would fend off Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a two-lap dash to win for the ninth time in his career and second in recent weeks.
Today, Edwards, who would proceed to win eight additional events and settle in the runner-up spot behind Jimmie Johnson in the 2008 final standings, is retired with 28 Cup career victories added to his resume after electing to step away from full-time competition following the 2016 season. Earnhardt Jr., who would end up in 12th place in the 2008 standings, also retired following the 2017 season as he stands at 26 Cup career victories, including two Daytona 500 titles. Meanwhile, Busch, who ended up in 10th place in the 2008 standings despite winning a total of eight races, is currently campaigning in his 20th season as a Cup Series competitor and second driving for Richard Childress Racing. He currently has achieved two Cup Series championships (2015 & 2019) and holds 230 victories across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series (65 in Craftsman Truck Series, 102 in Xfinity Series and 63 in Cup Series).
The third and latest NASCAR competition to occur on Leap Day was in 2020 at Auto Club Speedway in the Xfinity Series. During the year’s event, Harrison Burton, Ward Burton’s nephew who was campaigning in his first full-time Xfinity campaign and driving the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, scored his first Xfinity victory in his 12th series start after he led twice for 40 laps and managed to retain the top spot during a restart with 19 laps remaining before fending off late challenges from teammate Riley Herbst and Austin Cindric. The Fontana victory would serve as the first of four victories accumulated for Burton throughout the 2020 Xfinity season, with the Huntersville, North Carolina, native securing a spot in the 2020 Xfinity Playoffs. Despite being eliminated from Playoff contention following the Round of 12, Burton, who won twice in the final four-scheduled events, proceeded to finish in eighth place in the final driver’s standings and secured the Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Currently, Burton is campaigning in his third full-time season in the Cup Series for Wood Brothers Racing and as the driver of the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. He has made 75 starts in NASCAR’s premier series and has racked up a single top-five result and four top-10 results.
Prior to Harrison Burton’s first Xfinity victory, the Cup Series generated a dramatic moment earlier in the day when Clint Bowyer edged seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson by 0.007 seconds to claim what would be his fourth and final Cup career pole position at Fontana. Bowyer’s pole-winning lap, overall, occurred at 179.614 mph in 40.086 seconds. During the main event, Bowyer, who led the first 10 laps, ended up in 23rd place and Johnson settled in seventh place while Johnson’s teammate, Alex Bowman, won for the second time in his career after leading a race-high 110 laps.
Bowyer and Johnson have since retired from full-time NASCAR competition, which occurred following the 2020 season, while Bowman is currently campaigning in his ninth season in the Cup Series and seventh driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
For this season, there are no NASCAR-sanctioned events that are scheduled to occur on Leap Day, with the Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity and Cup divisions set to run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of a triple-header weekend between March 1-3. With Leap Day 2028 scheduled to occur on a Tuesday and with race day events primarily occurring on weekends, Leap Day 2032 is scheduled to occur on a Sunday, which leaves the futuristic possibility of another addition to NASCAR competition on Leap Day to be made.
NASCAR released its penalty report following this past weekend’s triple-header feature at Atlanta Motor Speedway which includes two Cup Series teams from the same organization hit with an early points swing.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Nos. 10 and 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse teams piloted by Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece, respectively, have each been docked 35 driver/owner points as a result of violating Section 14.5.6.1.a. of NASCAR’s Rule Book that highlights the specification compliance of roof rail deflectors.
The news comes after NASCAR confiscated the roof rail deflectors of both Gragson and Preece’s entries following Friday’s pre-race inspection and before the Cup Series’ Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday.
During the event, Preece finished 16th while Gragson, who was involved in a 16-car pileup on the second lap, retired in 36th.
In addition, Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion, was fined $10,000 for a competition infraction that involved failing to meet SFI-approved specifications with his protective gloves, where his left glove was discovered to be modified with webbings between his thumb and index finger, which would provide an aerodynamic advantage by creating drag and deflecting air from coming inside the car.
Logano, who initially posted the second-fastest qualifying speed and was set to start alongside pole-sitter Michael McDowell on the front row, was instead forced to drop to the rear of the field and serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the main event. Despite rallying to lead 27 laps, Logano ended up 28th after getting collected in a multi-car wreck with Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin prior to the second stage’s conclusion.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Seth Chavka, crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” Toyota Supra entry that was piloted by Ryan Truex, was fined $5,000 due to a single lug nut discovered to be unsecured on Truex’s entry following the series’ RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta on Saturday. During the event, Truex finished ninth after he initially was in contention for the victory during an overtime shootout.
In addition, Jason Miller, crew chief of the No. 14 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet team piloted by JJ Yeley, was issued a two-race suspension, beginning for the next two upcoming weekends, for violating Section 4.4.D of the Xfinity Series’ Rule Book that highlights NASCAR member code of conduct. Miller was seen engaging in a physical confrontation with Kyle Weatherman following Saturday’s event. Their argument stems from where Weatherman sent Yeley for a spin entering Turn 1 nearing the Lap 60 mark. Yeley ended up 24th while Weatherman finished 17th.
There were no penalties or fines issued from Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series’ FR8 208 event at Atlanta.
NASCAR is set to resume to action for its third triple-header feature of the 2024 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The action commences with the Truck Series’ Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 on Friday, March 1, which will air at 9 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the Xfinity Series’ The LiUNA! that will occur on Saturday, March 2, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series’ Pennzoil 400 will conclude the weekend by occurring on Sunday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
With the first two events of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule highlighted with two dramatic finishes on two restrictor-plate circuits in the rearview mirror, the teams and competitors venture off for a two-race West Coast swing between the states of Nevada and Arizona to commence the month of March.
It all begins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, a city spotlighted with recent major sporting events and triumphs, from both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Las Vegas Aces achieving recent championships in the NHL and WNBA, respectively, to Formula 1 hosting its inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix through the Vegas Strip last November and Super Bowl LVIII occurring in the city’s Allegiant Stadium between the San Francisco 49ers and the eventual champions Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago.
This upcoming weekend is set to mark the first of two scheduled visits this season in Sin City for both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity divisions while the Craftsman Truck Series division will make its lone, annual visit to Vegas’s 1.5-mile speedway venue before entering a one-week break period.
The main attraction for this weekend’s triple-header feature is the Cup Series’ Pennzoil 400 which will occur this upcoming Sunday, March 3, and cap off the triple-header feature.
With 37 participants entered for Sunday’s main event, which will ensure all entered competitors make the main event, the competitor who headlines the entry list is Daniel Suarez, who is coming off a dramatic three-wide photo finish against Cup Series champions Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he nipped Blaney at the finish line by 0.003 seconds, that snapped Suarez’s one-year winless drought and register his second Cup career victory. Despite registering only two top-10 results in 13 Cup career starts at Vegas, the Monterrey, Mexico, native strives to extend his early momentum that could land him and Trackhouse Racing in Victory Lane for a second consecutive weekend.
William Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, and teammate Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, also headline the entry list as both Hendrick Motorsports’ competitors each won a Cup Vegas event a year ago (Byron in March and Larson in October). With HMS’ competitors winning four of the last six Cup events at Vegas, all four Hendrick competitors, including Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, strive to extend the team’s strong early start into their 40th anniversary of NASCAR competition.
Currently, Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion and a native of Las Vegas, leads this year’s Cup Series regular-season standings following his third-place run at Atlanta. Busch, who achieved his first and only Cup victory to date at Vegas in 2009, strives to strike gold in front of his home crowd come Sunday’s main event while his competition that includes Byron, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Elliott, Suarez, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Larson and Corey LaJoie strive to spoil Busch’s homecoming.
A notable newcomer to this weekend’s Cup entry list is Derek Kraus, who will make his first select Cup Series starts this season in Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. The 22-year-old Kraus from Stratford, Connecticut, graduates to a part-time Cup Series campaign for the first time after spending this past season as a part-time Xfinity Series competitor for Kaulig Racing while also serving as a simulator competitor for both Kaulig and Legacy Motor Club. He is also the 2019 ARCA Menards Series West champion who competed in three full-time Craftsman Truck Series seasons (2020-22).
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Another newcomer featured for Sunday’s event is JJ Yeley, who will return to pilot the No 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing for his first official Cup start of the 2024 season two weeks after he fell short of qualifying for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500.
A day before the Cup Series action, the Xfinity Series will host The LiUNA! which will feature 38 participants contesting from 38 starting spots.
The competitor who headlines the entry list is Austin Hill, who is two-for-two in this year’s Xfinity schedule following recent superspeedway victories at Daytona and Atlanta. With the Winston, Georgia, native having won the spring Xfinity Vegas event a year ago, Hill will attempt to become the first competitor to commence a new season of Xfinity Series competition by winning the first three events on a schedule.
Another competitor who headlines the list is Riley Herbst, a 25-year-old Las Vegas native who scored his first Xfinity career victory at his home track last October and is currently ranked in third place in this year’s Xfinity regular-season standings as he strives for back-to-back victories at home.
Both Hill and Herbst are not the only Xfinity regulars off to a strong start to the 2024 season. Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith and Parker Retzlaff, all of whom have finished in the top five in the first two events of this season, strive to extend their early momentum and potentially land their first victory of the season. In addition, rookie Jesse Love, who is also last year’s ARCA Menards Series champion from Menlo Park, California, strives for redemption after leading a race-high 157 laps a week ago at Atlanta, only to run out of fuel during an overtime shootout and settling in 12th place in the final running order. The list also includes AJ Allmendinger, who won at Vegas in 2021, and rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who recorded his first top-three result by finishing third last weekend at Atlanta as he will make his first career start at Vegas.
Notably, Aric Almirola will make his first Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season as part of a part-time campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing. He was initially scheduled to share the No. 20 JGR Toyota Supra entry with John Hunter Nemechek throughout this season. Instead, Almirola will pilot the No. 19 Supra this weekend, an entry that had been piloted by Ryan Truex for the first two events on the 2024 calendar, while Nemechek returns to pilot the No. 20 entry for his third of 10 scheduled starts.
Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Corey Heim, a full-time Truck Series competitor for TRICON Garage and a Toyota Racing Development competitor, will also be featured in Saturday’s Xfinity event as he will make his first of select Xfinity starts in the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing.
Currently, the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Camaro entry is entered for Saturday’s event, though a driver has yet to be named. In addition, the No. 36 DGM Racing Chevrolet entry, which initially entered without a listed driver, is listed to be withdrawn from the event.
This weekend’s triple-header feature at Las Vegas will commence with the Truck Series’ Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 which will occur this upcoming Friday, March 1, and feature 32 competitors entered for the event.
Ironically, the competitor who headlines the entry list is Kyle Busch, who is set to make his second of five-scheduled series starts in the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports at his home track to go alongside his full-time Cup Series role with Richard Childress Racing. Busch motored his way to his first Truck victory of the 2024 season with Spire Motorsports at Atlanta last weekend and has won four of the last six spring Truck events at Vegas.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Busch is not the only Cup Series competitor entered for this weekend’s Truck Series event at Las Vegas as he will compete alongside former Truck champions Christopher Bell and Zane Smith. Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion and a 2024 Cup Series rookie, will pilot the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST for his first of four-scheduled starts in the series while Bell, the 2017 series champion, will pilot the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage.
Another notable spot in this weekend’s Truck entry list is Connor Mosack, who will make his first of select series starts in the No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Niece Motorsports. The 25-year-old Mosack from Charlotte, North Carolina, spent this past season competing in 24 Xfinity events between Sam Hunt Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. He also achieved his first ARCA Menards Series career victory at Kansas Speedway last September and is currently competing in the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series for Silver Hare Racing.
Currently, Tyler Ankrum, who has achieved two top-11 runs in his first two Truck events driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Ty Majeski, who finished in the runner-up spot behind Busch last weekend at Atlanta, and by 12 over Nick Sanchez, who scored his first career victory at Daytona. Corey Heim, Rajah Caruth, Bret Holmes, Matt Crafton, Taylor Gray, Christian Eckes and Daniel Dye trail in the top 10 in the standings, respectively.
Following this upcoming weekend’s triple-header weekend at Vegas, the Cup and Xfinity Series teams and competitors will travel southeast to Avondale, Arizona, to compete at Phoenix Raceway alongside the ARCA Menards Series West for their season-opening event between March 8-10, which will conclude the two-week West Coast swing. Meanwhile, the Truck Series will enter its first off-weekend break period before returning to action at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, on March 16.
The Craftsman Truck Series’ Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is set to air on Friday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Xfinity Series’ The LiUNA! will follow suit and air on Saturday, March 2, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series’ Pennzoil 400 will conclude this weekend’s triple-header feature by occurring on Sunday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
1. Daniel Suárez: Suarez surged late and edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch at the line in a photo finish to win the Ambetter Health 400.
“That may have been the greatest moment of my racing career,” Suarez said, “followed by the most disappointing, because I celebrated by smashing a taco pinata, but it was empty.”
2. Ryan Blaney: Blaney fell short by mere fractions of a second, taking second to Daniel Suarez in a photo finish that decided the Ambetter Health 400.
“Congratulations to Daniel,” Blaney said. “He chose the right line and deserved to win. So, I say, ‘Good job, amigo.’ Next time, though, you will see ‘me go’ faster.”
3. Kyle Busch: Busch finished third in the Ambetter Health 400, coming up just short in a photo finish at the finish line.
“We were so close,” Busch said. “I told myself before the race that we could win this race. And when you tell yourself that, it’s all about believing it. And let me tell you, I’m way better at convincing myself as opposed to a state trooper.”
4. Bubba Wallace: Wallace finished fifth at Atlanta.
“My car sported the ‘MoneyLion’ paint scheme,” Wallace said. “MoneyLion is a personal finance tech company. I hear it’s pretty popular. In other words, there’s ‘great interest’ in MoneyLion.”
5. William Byron: Byron finished 17th in the Ambetter Health 400 and leads the Cup series points standings.
“The race was filled with crashes,” Byron said. “There were only seven cars that weren’t involved in an accident. That’s amazing. What’s more amazing is that Ross Chastain was on that list. Not surprisingly, he took drivers off that list.”
6. Austin Cindric: Cindric led 32 laps and finished fourth at Atlanta.
“You probably heard that Joey Logano had to start at the rear of the field because of a penalty for ‘illegal gloves,’” McDowell said. “That’s a new one on me. I didn’t know there was such a thing as ‘performance-enhancing gloves.’ I’m sure that irritated Joey. Whatever altering he did to his gloves, I can assure you Joey left the middle fingers intact.”
7. Michael McDowell: McDowell started on the pole and won Stage 1 at Atlanta, on his way to an eighth in the Ambetter Health 400.
“I think I’ve proven I can run with the big dogs,” McDowell said. “So don’t sleep on me as a contender for the Cup championship. If you do want to sleep, attend the upcoming race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.”
8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished seventh at Atlanta.
“There were quite a few big names knocked out of the race in accidents,” Chastain said. “Amazingly, none were my fault. The fewer cars in contention, the better my odds of winning. I call it ‘Attrition by subtraction.’”
9. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex led nine laps and finished 12th in the Ambetter Health 400.
“I guess I’m now NASCAR’s elder statesman,” Truex said. “It makes sense because I’ve been racing for over 20 years. You can call me an ‘old fart’ and I won’t argue, because that’s pretty much what my driver’s seat smells like after all these years.”
10. Chase Elliott: Elliott started at the rear of the field due to pre-race adjustments and came home 15th in Atlanta.
“I was in an early accident that really damaged my No. 9 Chevy,” Elliott said. “So we had to make quite a few stops and make repairs when we could. And it’s the subtle changes that really matter. And since we’re talking ‘subtlety,’ nothing says ‘subtle’ like the owl’s eyes on my Hooters-sponsored car.”
In a three-wide photo finish for the ages, Daniel Suárez bested NASCAR Cup Series champions Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch to score a wild victory in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, February 25.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Suárez said after the race. “This team did an amazing job all race long. We wrecked on Lap two. The guys fixed the car and we were able to make it good again, make it fast again. It took some tweaking, but unbelievable. Freeway Insurance, Trackhouse, Chevrolet, and all the people that believed in us from day one – it’s unbelievable to do this in this fashion.”
The 2016 Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, led twice for nine of 260 scheduled laps in an event where he was involved in a 16-car pileup on the second lap. Amid the early incident, Suárez persevered through nine additional caution periods to methodically carve his way back to the front, where he would lead for the first time with 12 laps remaining. During a five-lap shootout to the finish, Suárez, who lost the lead to Ryan Blaney, was left to battle Kyle Busch dead even for the runner-up spot during the next four laps.
Then on the final lap, both Suárez and Busch took Blaney in a tight three-wide battle in front of the stacked field through the final two turns. All three competitors remained dead even against one another through the frontstretch until Suárez just managed to emerge ahead of both Blaney and Busch by a nose to claim his second NASCAR Cup Series career victory and snap a one-year winless drought.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, February 24, Michael McDowell achieved his first Cup Series pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.844 mph in 30.999 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Joey Logano, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying speed at 178.424 mph in 31.072 seconds.
Prior to the event, however, Logano dropped to the rear of the field and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start of the event due to wearing illegal gloves and violating NASCAR’s SFI specification. Chase Elliott also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, McDowell and Kyle Busch, who moved up to the front row, dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Busch, who was drafted by Kyle Larson on the inside lane, quickly moved in front of McDowell entering the backstretch. McDowell, however, fought back as he transitioned from the outside to inside lane, but Busch was able to muscle ahead from the outside lane and lead the first lap.
Following the completion of the first lap, however, the first caution flew after a checkup towards the front of the pack caused by Gilliland on the outside lane resulted with Austin Dillon, who was running in the top 10 and ran into the rear of Austin Cindric, getting hit by Martin Truex Jr. as he spun his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 exiting the frontstretch, which then triggered a multi-car wreck entering Turn 1 that collected Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, rookie Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suárez, Elliott, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Preece, BJ McLeod and Harrison Burton.
During the event’s first caution period, a bevy of names that included Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Zane Smith, Logano and the wrecked competitors pitted while the rest led by Busch remained on the track. By then, Josh Williams took his Kaulig Racing entry to the garage due to a mechanical issue.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 10, Busch quickly transitioned from the outside to inside lane to retain the lead in front of a side-by-side duel in front of McDowell and Larson through the first two turns and the backstretch. Larson then challenged Busch with a move to the inside lane and he managed to slide in front of Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead. Busch, however, responded back by overtaking Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the following lap as he would retain the lead while Chris Buescher challenged Larson for the runner-up spot.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Busch was leading ahead of Chase Briscoe and Larson while McDowell and Buescher followed suit in front of two tight-packed lanes. With the field slowing fanning out to three lanes while spread out around the Atlanta circuit, Busch, who was swapping against Larson for the lead a few laps earlier, continued to lead by the Lap 20 mark ahead of Larson while McDowell, Blaney and Buescher battled in the top five. Behind, Briscoe was in sixth while William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Truex, Zane Smith, Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and LaJoie occupied the top 15 on the track.
Nearing the Lap 25 mark, the event’s second caution flew after Buescher, who was running in the top 10, got loose and spun his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in front of William Byron entering Turn 4, though he was dodged by oncoming traffic and was able to limp his entry to pit road for four fresh tires. During the caution period, some led by Byron pitted while the rest led by new race leader Ryan Blaney remained on the track.
At the start of the proceeding restart on Lap 31, Blaney muscled ahead on the outside lane and fended off Larson through the first two turns and the backstretch until Larson fought back on the inside lane, with both dueling for the lead in front of Busch, Briscoe, McDowell and Denny Hamlin. Amid the two-pack formation towards the front, Blaney retained the top spot until Busch rocketed his way back to the lead just past the Lap 33 mark. With Busch leading, McDowell battled dead even with Blaney for the runner-up spot while Chastain, Larson, Briscoe and Truex followed suit by the Lap 35 mark.
Through the first 40 scheduled laps, Busch continued to lead in front of McDowell, Blaney, Chastain, Larson, Briscoe, Truex, Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace while Byron, rookie Josh Berry, LaJoie, Logano, Gilliland, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Zane Smith and Justin Haley were running in the top 20 amid two tight-packed lanes.
Ten laps later and with the field dispersed, McDowell, who reassumed the top spot on Lap 41, was still leading in front of Blaney, Busch, truex and Larson while Hamlin, Chastain, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Wallace were running in the top 10 in front of Byron, Logano, LaJoie, Cindric and Keselowski.
Another two laps later, the caution flew after Hamlin, who was battling for a top-five spot on the track, made contact with Kyle Busch as he spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE through the frontstretch’s grass before coming to a stop just towards the exit of pit road. During the caution period, a majority of the field pitted while the rest led by McDowell remained on the track.
With the event restarting with a single lap remaining to the first stage’s period, McDowell and Blaney dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns until McDowell started to muscle ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from Chastain. As the field behind fanned out to three lanes through Turns 3 and 4, McDowell was able to muscle ahead and capture his first stage victory of the season on Lap 60. Blaney settled in second followed by Chastain, Larson and Busch while Truex, Stenhouse, Wallace, Byron and Gilliland, all of whom earned the first wave of stage points, were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by McDowell pitted while the rest led by teammate Gilliland remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Blaney nearly collided with Ryan Preece while trying to exit his pit stall amid a congested pit road stretch with those who pitted.
The second stage period started on Lap 67 as Gilliland and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland and Logano dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gilliland, who received a strong push from LaJoie on the inside lane, muscled ahead and managed to slide in front of Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the backstretch. With Buescher, LaJoie and Zane Smith following suit, Gilliland retained the lead in front of Logano as Josh Berry, Harrison Burton and Cindric joined the battle towards the front.
On Lap 72, Zane Smith, who was rim-riding towards the outside wall while running in the top five, made contact with the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after he got loose just as Logano slid up in front of him, which stalled his momentum as his No. 71 City of Refuge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slowly began to backslide through the field. With the field remaining under green flag conditions as Smith pitted, Gilliland retained the lead followed by Logano, Buescher, Berry and Harrison Burton while Elliott, Hamlin, Cindric, LaJoie and Ty Gibbs were running in the top 10 by the Lap 75 mark.
Through the first 80 scheduled laps and with the majority of the field running in tight-pack formation amid two lanes, Gilliland continued to lead in front of Ford teammates Logano, Buescher, Burton and McDowell, who carved his way from starting in the top 20, while Hamlin, who recovered from his early spin, was trying to mount a charge on the inside lane followed by Cindric. The top 28 competitors would be separated by more than two seconds by the Lap 85 mark as Gilliland retained the lead while McDowell moved up to third place and challenged Logano for more.
At the Lap 100 mark, Logano, who assumed the lead for the first time of the day a lap earlier, was leading in front of Gilliland, Buescher, Keselowski and McDowell while Burton, Byron, Hamlin, Blaney and Chastain were running in the top 10 in front of Larson, Cindric, Truex, Busch, Elliott, LaJoie, Wallace, Stenhouse, Daniel Suárez and Briscoe. By then, the top 28 competitors were separated by more than three seconds.
Fifteen laps later, Logano, who spent the previous 15 laps swapping the lead with Buescher and Gilliland, was leading ahead of Chastain and teammate Blaney while Buescher, Keselowski, Hamlin, Cindric, Burton, Larson and Byron followed suit in the top 10. By then, the majority of the field were running in two tight-packed lanes while some occurrences of three-wide racing occurred.
At the halfway mark on Lap 130, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as teammates Logano and Blaney pitted while Larson was leading in front of Cindric, Chastain, Keselowski, Byron and Hamlin. Cindric would then pit during the following lap as Keselowski challenged Larson for the lead. Keselowski would then lead Chastain and teammate Buescher to pit road through the venue’s pit road entrance towards the backstretch’s exit by Lap 133 before Hamlin led Truex, Elliott and Burton to pit road during the proceeding lap.
Then as Larson surrendered the lead to pit with the next wave of competitors on Lap 135, where he got bumped by Kyle Busch, Byron and McDowell spun and wrecked against one another while trying to enter the pit road’s commitment line towards the backstretch, though the event remained under green flag conditions as both proceeded. Amid the pit stops, Berry and Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.
With the first wave of green flag pit stops being completed by Lap 139, Cindric cycled his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by teammates Logano and Blaney while Gilliland followed suit in fourth place. In addition, Larson was in fifth while Buescher, Briscoe, Wallace, Suárez and Keselowski were scored in the top 10. Soon after, Wallace, Busch and Stenhouse were penalized for speeding on pit road while Erik Jones was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
By Lap 150, Cindric retained the lead ahead of teammate Logano, Larson, teammate Blaney and Buescher while Gilliland, Briscoe, Truex, Suárez and Hamlin cycled their way into the top 10 ahead of Keselowski, Burton, Elliott, LaJoie, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Kaz Grala, Carson Hocevar, Austin Dillon and John Hunter Nemechek.
Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew after Logano, who was trying to slide up in front of Buescher amid the draft, ran out of room as both collided against the outside wall through the backstretch, with Hamlin also getting collected in the wreckage while Keselowski barely dodged the incident. With the second stage period concluding under caution on Lap 160, Cindric, who nearly lost the lead to teammate Logano a few laps earlier, captured his first stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second followed by Blaney, Suárez and Truex while Gilliland, Keselowski, Burton, Briscoe and Elliott were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the entire lead lap field led by Cindic returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Gilliland exited first followed by Keselowski, Elliott, Hamlin, Suárez and Burton while Cindric exited in 10th place.
With 90 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gilliland and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland and Keselowski dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gilliland muscled ahead on the inside lane followed by Hamlin and Blaney. With Hamlin and Blaney swapping lanes exiting the backstretch, Gilliland maintained the lead on the frontstretch while Keselowski, Truex and Elliott followed suit in close-quarters racing and amid two tight-packed lanes. Amid the tight racing towards the front, Gilliland maintained the lead and control of both lanes during the proceeding laps while both Hamlin and Blaney were trying to gain runs amid their respective drafting lanes.
Not long after, the caution returned with 86 laps remaining after Kaz Grala, who was running in the top 10, made light contact with Kyle Busch amid a three-wide battle in Turn 1 as he slid sideways through the turn, but managed to keep his car off the track from oncoming traffic. During the caution period, some led by Blaney, Elliott and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gilliland remained on the track.
During the proceeding restart with 80 laps remaining, Gilliland received a push from Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE to muscle ahead from Hamlin on the inside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch while the rest of the field behind fanned out and battled in two tight-packed lanes. With Briscoe, Keselowski, Larson, Elliott and Suárez making their moves to the front, Truex would then grab the lead two laps later over Gilliland through a strong move entering the backstretch while Hamlin remained in third place amid a tight battle with Briscoe. Another three laps later, however, Gilliland cycled his No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang Dark Horse back into the lead from Truex. Meanwhile, Keselowski was battling Briscoe and Larson for third place while Hamlin slipped to sixth.
With 65 laps remaining, Larson, who returned to the lead two laps earlier, was leading, but mixed in a tight battle to maintain the top spot in front of Gilliland, Truex, Hamlin and Keselowski while Suárez, Briscoe, Elliott, Cindric and Burton followed suit in the top 10. Behind, LaJoie was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Haley while Hocevar, Daniel Hemric, Grala, Preece and McDowell occupied the top 20.
Three laps later and with the field fanning out to three lanes amid the late jostling of spots, the caution returned after Elliott, who was marching his way through the top-10 ranks, got bumped by Chastain and sent sideways entering Turn 3 as he managed to keep his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning below the apron and away from oncoming traffic, though Ty Gibbs also veered sideways to avoid hitting Elliott. Amid the chaos, Wallace, who was battling Chastain for the free pass spot by being the first competitor scored a lap down, managed to receive the free pass.
During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted, mainly for fuel, while McDowell and Preece remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Truex exited pit road first followed by teammate Hamlin, Briscoe, Cindric, Keselowski and Larson while Gilliland exited eighth behind Busch.
With the event restarting under green with 55 laps remaining, McDowell and Truex dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. They continued to duel for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch and back to the frontstretch while Austin Dillon, who was running in the middle of the pack, fell off the pace after he pounded the backstretch’s outside wall hard, though the event remained under green flag conditions.
Then with 50 laps remaining and with the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, a four-wide action for the lead ensued between Truex, Briscoe, McDowell and Cindric through the frontstretch as Cindric, who instigated the four-wide move, moved into the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. Busch would follow suit in second through the backstretch along with Briscoe, Gilliland, Hamlin and McDowell amid the four-wide battle while Truex, who was getting bumped and jostled amid the fanned-out battles, was slowly backsliding. The field would then settle to three-wide racing for the following lap as Cindric retained the lead followed by Busch, Hamlin, Briscoe and Gilliland while Keselowski and Larson followed suit.
With 44 laps remaining, Hamlin overtook Cindric from the outside lane for the lead. During the following lap, Briscoe tried to move in front of Hamlin for the lead, but the move did not prevail as Busch overtook Briscoe for the runner-up spot while Hamlin maintained the lead. The caution, however, would return with 42 laps remaining after Keselowski, who was running third, got loose and slid towards the outside wall entering Turn 3 as he collected Larson and LaJoie in the process. During the caution period, some including McDowell and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
As the event restarted with 35 laps remaining, Hamlin muscled ahead from the inside lane followed by Busch while Cindric was left to fend off Briscoe and the rest of the pack in third place. Hamlin would retain the lead during the proceeding laps and with 30 laps remaining over Busch while Blaney and Briscoe battled for third place in front of two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, however, Busch and Blaney went three wide on Hamlin as they both overtook Hamlin and moved into a battle into the lead for themselves followed by Gilliland and Cindric while Hamlin slid back to sixth in front of Wallace.
With less than 25 laps remaining and with the intensity towards the front igniting amid three tight-packed lanes, Blaney was leading the race ahead of teammate Cindric and Busch while Wallace and Briscoe battled for fourth in front of the field.
With 21 laps remaining, however, the caution returned after Hamlin, who was pinned in a tight four-wide battle for fourth place with Briscoe, Suárez and Busch, made contact with Briscoe that sent Briscoe’s No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse sideways and into Hamlin before Briscoe slapped the outside wall hard between Turns 3 and 4 as Burton, Berry and Haley were also collected. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for more than 11 minutes.
Once the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, some including Gilliland, Hemric, Preece and Byron pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track.
When the event restarted with 15 laps remaining, where Blaney and Suárez occupied the front row, Blaney muscled ahead on the inside lane followed by teammate Cindric and Truex while Suárez, who had Kyle Busch and Wallace drafting him, was trying to fight back on the outside lane through the backstretch. With Blaney leading the next two laps and having both lanes to his control, Suárez then made his move on the outside lane with 12 laps remaining through the backstretch as he led the next laps by a hair while Busch and Cindric followed suit in the second lane. Then during the following lap and as Cindric briefly lost his momentum through the first two turns, the caution flew after Berry, who was drafting Wallace in the top 10, ran into the outside wall entering the backstretch and spun back across the track, where he collided into rookie Carson Hocevar, before he spun back across the track and into oncoming traffic as Elliott also spun towards the infield. Amid the chaos, Suárez managed to retain the lead over Blaney.
Down to the final five laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Suárez and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Suárez muscled his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead on the inside lane followed by Busch through the first two turns. Suárez then moved in front of Blaney to stall his momentum through the backstretch, but Blaney managed to stick his nose and draw even with Suárez exiting the backstretch as he assumed the lead followed by Truex. Blaney then retained the lead in front of two stacked lanes during the proceeding laps as he went on defense to fend off Suárez and Busch while Truex was backsliding.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained as the leader ahead of a side-by-side battle involving Suárez and Busch. Blaney would continue to lead through the first two turns and through the majority of the backstretch until Busch and Suárez took Blaney three wide entering Turns 3 and 4. Suárez, Busch and Blaney remained dead even amid three lanes for the lead entering the frontstretch, with neither lifting. With the leaders navigating through the frontstretch, Suárez, Busch and Blaney crossed the finish line dead even as the checkered flag flew. Following an extensive review of the footage, Suárez was declared the winner as he had beaten Blaney by 0.003 seconds and 0.007 seconds over Busch.
With the victory, Suárez, who was in contention of winning this year’s Daytona 500 before he was eliminated amid a late multi-car wreck, earned his second Cup Series career victory, his first since winning his first series’ event at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022 and his first on a superspeedway venue. He also recorded the seventh career victory for Trackhouse Racing and his first with his new crew chief Matt Swiderski.
“It was so damn close,” Suárez, who celebrated with a piñata, said on FOX. “It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch. Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving me pushes. In the back straightaway, he didn’t push me because he knew I was gonna fight his teammate. Man, what a job. We wrecked [on] Lap 2. The [No. 99] guys did an amazing job fixing this car. Man, I can’t thank everyone enough. Let’s go!”
Blaney, who led 31 laps, settled in the runner-up spot while Kyle Busch, who led 28 laps, ended up in third place following their dramatic three-wide finish with Suárez to the finish line.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I thought I laid back enough in [Turns] 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “Both lanes just got that shove super hard and I just chose the bottom [lane], safest place to be. What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that. Race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel [Suárez]. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle [Busch]. I’ve won [races] by very, very little [margin], too, so I can’t complain too much about losing by that much. Close.”
“Overall, just real proud of everybody at [Richard Childress Racing], ECR [Engines],” Busch added. “Our Cheddar’s Camaro was fast. It’s good to see Daniel [Suárez] get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. It shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work and that was the good part of today. Dammit. We’ll have to do it again and find another one.”
Austin Cindric came home in fourth place while Bubba Wallace rallied from a roller coaster event to finish fifth for a second consecutive race. Stenhouse, Chastain, McDowell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs finished in the top 10 on the track.
There were 48 lead changes for 14 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 65 laps. In addition, 22 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the second event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Busch leads the regular-season standings by a single point over both William Byron and Austin Cindric, three over Bubba Wallace, eight over Ryan Blaney, 12 over Chase Elliott and 13 over Daniel Suárez.
Results.
1. Daniel Suárez, nine laps led
2. Ryan Blaney, 31 laps led
3. Kyle Busch, 28 laps led
4. Austin Cindric, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner
5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led
7. Ross Chastain
8. Michael McDowell, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner
9. Chris Buescher, one lap led
10. Ty Gibbs
11. Harrison Burton
12. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps led
13. Corey LaJoie
14. Kaz Grala
15. Chase Elliott
16. Ryan Preece
17. William Byron
18. Daniel Hemric
19. Carson Hocevar
20. Justin Haley
21. John Hunter Nemechek
22. Austin Dillon
23. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, 15 laps led
24. BJ McLeod, three laps down
25. Erik Jones , four laps down
26. Todd Gilliland, four laps led, 58 laps led
27. Alex Bowman, five laps down
28. Joey Logano, eight laps down, 27 laps led
29. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident
30. Tyler Reddick, 17 laps down
31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
32. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, 17 laps led
33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident, two laps led
34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident
35. Zane Smith – OUT, DVP
36. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
37. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 3, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Kyle Busch took his seat in the deadline room, Saturday, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Never one to mince words, gave his thoughts on the stretch of fuel-saving during the first stage of the Daytona 500.
“I believe it’s a problem,” he said.
After a multi-car wreck in the opening laps, while some drivers followed the typical green flag pit cycle pattern of restrictor plate racing, most of the field dropped their speed to save roughly 20+ laps of fuel. At one point, AJ Allmendinger (a lap down) ran faster laps by himself than the field ran, together.
“I felt disgraceful, myself, being a race car driver – wanting to go fast, lead laps and win the Daytona 500, and that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of the race because everybody was doing it,” he said.
Now I say this with the utmost respect to Busch and the many fans who called into SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, this week, to share that sentiment.
Y’all overblew it.
Who would make it to the end of the stage on fuel? Could they make it to the end? That fuel-saving added a layer of strategy and intrigue to plate racing and demonstrated how skilled these drivers are. Rather than a wreck-fest embarrassment, like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series displayed at Daytona, Phoenix and…well, really, most weekends now.
As a sports league, NASCAR sacrificed so much strategy and sport for entertainment value since in the last 10 years (after a decade of maintaining some semblance of both). It made the already controversial playoffs into a total game of chance and instituted arbitrary cautions that slow the pace of races and incentivize overly-chaotic restarts. What’s more, NASCAR all but made fuel-mileage races extinct.
NASCAR gave us a reprieve, last season, with no stage cautions for road courses. At Circuit of the Americas, William Byron and Tyler Reddick gave us some actual “quintessential NASCAR,” thanks to teams running varying pit strategies. In fact, the pit strategy was the only interesting thing to watch for most of the road course races.
Don’t point the finger at the artificial cautions that are nakedly meant to spice up the race (FOX and NBC don’t even hide it). Blame the terrible aero package NASCAR ran on road courses.
But enough of you complained, that NASCAR reversed course on it.
Say what you will about Formula 1 (and it gets bad), there’s still strategy at hand. With when you pit and what Pirelli tires you run. Yeah, most weeks, the same driver nails it better than the rest (welcome to Formula 1), but when it hits, IT HITS!
Michael McDowell topped the speed charts during NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Saturday with a lap time of 30.999 seconds (178.844 mph) to claim his first career pole.
He expressed confidence and motivation moving forward.
“It’s just motivating to make the most of the opportunity we have in front of us because right now, today,” McDowell said. “We have fast cars and that’s not a guarantee six months from now and that’s not a guarantee 12 months from now. I know that because I lived the other side for a long time, so it’s making the most of the opportunity that we have right in front of us right now because right now we’re in the game and have something for them.”
Joey Logano qualified second-fastest (178.242 mph) followed by Kyle Busch (178.235 mph) Todd Gilliland (178.08 mph) and Kyle Larson (177.829 mph). Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillon completed the top 10 in qualifying for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400.
Notably, seven Fords and three Chevrolets comprised the top 10 in the qualifying session.
The Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be broadcast Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX with radio coverage provided by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
NASCAR travels to Atlanta Motor Speedway as all three series compete this weekend in the second race of the season. Joey Logano is the defending race winner of the Cup Series Ambetter Health 400.
The Atlanta schedule will include a 10-minute pit road entry practice after each qualifying session. This is because Atlanta has two separate pit-road speed limits for green-flag pit stops, one for vehicles entering on the apron in Turn 3 and another when getting to pit road on Turn 4. Under caution-flag conditions, pit-road speed will be 45 mph.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, February 23 3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap /2 Rounds
4:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS1/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap /2 Rounds
Saturday, February 24 11:30 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Impound – Single Vehicle /1 Lap/2 Rounds Post-Cup Qualifying – Watch Live on Press Pass
2 p.m.: Truck Series Fr8 208 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Stages: 30/60/135 Laps = 207.9 Miles Purse: $705,481 Post Truck Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
5 p.m.: Xfinity Series RAPTOR King of Tough 250 – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Stages 40/80/163 Laps = 251.02 Miles The Purse: $1,328,978 Post-Xfinity Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
Sunday, February 25 3 p.m.: Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 – FOX/PRN/SiriusXM Stages 60/160/260 Laps = 400.4 Miles Purse: $9,137,793 Post-Cup Series Race – Watch Live on Press Pass
1. William Byron: Byron took the lead on lap 199 and held on for the win as Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric crashed as they approached the start/finish line.
“It was an awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports,” Byron said. “I won in the No. 24 car that Jeff Gordon made famous. And Jimmie Johnson actually qualified for the Daytona 500. Just a few laps into the race, he was two laps down. So I guess you can say Jimmie’s doing much better than he was driving an Indy car.”
2. Alex Bowman: Bowman took second in the Daytona, giving Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2 finish.
“As Hannibal Smith of the ‘A-Team’ often said after foiling the plans of the enemies,” Bowman said, “‘I love it when a plan comes together.’ That’s also what Hendrick Motorsports said after me and William Byron worked together to cause a wreck and foil the plans of all the other contenders.”
3. Christopher Bell: Bell started second and finished third in the Daytona 500.
“Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson served as Grand Marshal for Monday’s race,” Bell said. “I think what he should have said was ‘If you hear what The Rock is saying, then drivers, start your engines.’
4. Joey Logano: Logano started on the pole and led a race-high 45 laps before his day ended as a casualty of the Lap 191 “Big One.” He finished 32nd.
“With Kevin Harvick now in the broadcasters’ booth,” Logano said, “my car now sports the Hunt Brothers Pizza in-car camera. And I always want to see what’s going on behind me, unless I recently ate some Hunt Brothers Pizza.”
5. Corey LaJoie: LaJoie grabbed an unlikely fourth in the Daytona 500.
“This was a great day for Spire Motorsports and Chili’s,” LaJoie said. “We didn’t win the race, so I guess dousing myself in champagne is out of the question. So with Chili’s in mind, my celebration will consist of taking a dump…..of Chili’s molten chocolate cake on my head.”
6. Bubba Wallace: Wallace finished sixth at Daytona.
“I think if the final lap would have been under green,” Wallace said, “I think we had a good chance to win. That would have been a career-defining moment. I dream of driving a car into victory lane; my co-car owner Michael Jordan actually drove an NBA team into the ground in real life.”
7. Ross Chastain: Chastain had the lead when green flag racing resumed after a massive Lap 191 melee necessitated a red flag.
“I was totally ready to smash a watermelon,” Chastain said. “The drivers collected in that accident were ready to smash a steel chair, over the head of Alex Bowman.”
8. A.J. Allmendinger: Allmendinger overcame early-lap trouble at Daytona and methodically picked his way to a sixth-place finish in the 500.
“I think Netflix’s ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’ series gives fans a great look inside the lives of drivers,” Allmendinger said. “So they get to see that we say the ‘F’ word way more than we pretend not to.”
9. Chase Elliott: Elliott took Stage 1 and survived Lap 191’s “Big One” on his way to a 14th-place finish in the Daytona 500.
“I think all my fans can agree,” Elliott said, “that my right foot is best on the floorboard as opposed to a snowboard.”
10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney was a factor at Daytona until a huge Lap 191 accident KO’d his chances for a 500 win. He finished 30th.
“I’m the defending Cup champion,” Blaney said. “That makes me the hunted, and not the hunter. It makes sense because my car was ‘shot’ after the race.”
