LOGANO COLLECTS THE WIN AT ATLANTA IN AN OVERTIME THRILLER

HAMPTON, Ga. - Middletown, Connecticut’s Joey Logano picks up the checkered flag in a chaotic Quaker State 400 in Atlanta. This sends the two time Cup Series champion into the Round of 12 after a disappointing run in the opening three Playoff races one season ago that eliminated him from the title hunt.

As for Atlanta, the recently reconfigured 1.5 mile speedway put the best 39 stock car drivers to the test on Sunday afternoon. The race featured 24 lead changes and highlighted a competitive race that came down to the final laps and rattled up the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Prior to the green, Joe Gibbs Racing faced a number of concerns. Powertrain issues for Denny Hamlin on Saturday left him at the back of the field. Hamlin's teammates Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. were forced to change plug wires and dropped to the rear to start the 400 mile event.

Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell earned his fifth Busch Light Pole of the season and the second at Atlanta. He led the opening 30 laps before Ryan Blaney asserted his number 12 Penske Racing machine at the top of the pack.

Team owner Roger Penske and his fleet of cars led 134 of the 266 laps en route to the win. Blaney and Cindric ran up front as Stage One came to a close. They held down the top two positions with Kyle Larson running right behind.

Then with 3 laps remaining in the stage, Larson suddenly broke loose and the car snapped right into the turn two wall. The frightening crash took place at over 160 miles per hour and collected last week's Darlington winner Chase Briscoe. Larson will lean on his points cushion from earlier wins, but Briscoe finds himself virtually in must win territory entering the final two races of the round.

The stage ended under caution and Blaney was credited with the win. It was his fourth of the year and he would go on to score a total of 19 points across the stages. As he made his way onto pit road, he would relinquish the lead to Alex Bowman after a slow stop.

The field restarted on lap 68 and ran green until lap 114, when the yellow flag was displayed for debris on the front stretch. At this point, Cindric was the race leader after getting a push from Blaney on the restart.

The pack made their back down the pit lane and two Toyota contenders had issues. Tyler Reddick made contact with Carson Hocevar while Christopr Bell was penalized for pitting outside of the box. Cindric won the race out of the pitlane and led Bowman back to the green with 41 to go in the second stage.

The field jostled behind the leader for position, but Cindric held off their attacks. He picked up another stage victory and tied his teammate for 19 stage points earned on the day. These points proved to be crucial for the young man out of Columbus, Ohio as he would exit Atlanta ahead of the Playoff cut line.

The next restart featured McDowell and Ross Chastain in control of the race. They battled hard for several laps before McDowell was nearly wiped out by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. when trying to get back by Chastain.

The fourth caution of the day waved when John Hunter Nemechek wrecked off of turn two. His Olipop sponsored Toyota got loose on corner exit and pounded the inside retaining wall. The pits opened again on lap 179 with Chastain leading but Blaney got past him to win the race off.

A pit traffic jam caught Logano and Daniel Suarez who had both been running solidly inside of the top ten. This cost them both valuable track position, however they were able to recover and would find themselves negotiating for the race win in the closing laps.

The green flag was shown once more with 79 laps left in the race. The 21 year old driver Ty Gibbs restarted alongside Bubba Wallace as the cars thundered through the restart zone. They would trade the lead back and forth for the next dozen laps before Kyle Busch made his presence known and slid into second.

Unfortunately, the tight racing up front was halted when Chris Buesher found trouble. His car snapped loose in similar fashion to Nemechek. The difference in this incident was that his car drifted into Blaney, sending his Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the track and into fellow championship contender Martin Truex Jr. 

This eliminated Truex from contention and resulted in him falling to eleventh place on the Playoff grid, 19 points back from Gibbs. Blaney sustained only minor cosmetic damage and would rebound to a top five finish.

The field addressed the green flag next with 49 laps remaining after Wallace and Gibbs pit. This put Busch up front with William Byron in second. Deeper in the field, Cindric was fighting his way through the pack. He sliced and diced past numerous cars after a slow pit stop on lap 179.

Meanwhile, Gibbs was riding the wall towards the front with 40 laps left. He used the momentum to gain position after position and slot into the seventh spot. Then 13 laps later, he powered his car around Busch and Byron for the race lead.

 As the race came to close, Suárez battled back into the conversation for the win. He went toe to toe with Gibbs before the yellow lights flashed across the speedway for a fallen piece of signage on the front straightaway. Logano followed Suárez through the field and was scored in second.

As the race leader, Suárez picked the top with Logano in lock step, this set Busch and Gibbs to their inside. They restarted with 5 laps on the scoring pylon and a massive push from Gibbs sent Busch to the lead heading down into turn one..

That only lasted the length of the back straight away as Suárez and Logano drafted past Busch entering the third turn. Busch made one more bold move three wide when Logano attempted to pass Suárez and broke the momentum of the top two.

They ran three by three, two rows deep for a full lap before the inside line collapsed and sent Busch backwards. As they rocketed off of turn two, Logano nosed ahead of Suárez when Noah Gragson wrecked off the front bumper of Harrison Burton.

This set up an Overtime finish that saw Logano credited as the race leader in the two lap sprint to the checkered flag. Logano picked the inside with Blaney behind him, while Suárez chose to restart to the outside of Logano with his teammate Chastain behind.

On the initial start, Logano spun the tires and it allowed the Trackhouse Racing duo of Suárez and Chastin to take the lead. But Blaney connected with Logano's bummer through the first set of turns and they would blast by moving down the back stretch.

Logano got a car length clear of Blaney as they took the white flag and held the advantage for the final trip around Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coming off of turn four, the field wrecked behind and Logano crossed the line ahead of Suárez and Blaney to score his 34th career Cup Series victory. He also closes in on second place for the all time wins list at the Penske organization. 

The performance by Suárez sets him 22 points ahead of Gibbs on the cutline, while Blaney leaves Atlanta 45 points to the good. When the smoke cleared from the final wreck, Denny Hamlin was caught in the carnage. He limped home to 24th place finish and as a result of scoring zero stage points, finds himself only two points above the Playoff cutline.

Next Sunday, the Cup Series roars into New York to tackle the winding 2.45 mile road course of  Watkins Glen International. Tune in at 3PM Eastern Time on the USA Network to catch the race.