Sunday March 19, 2023 by Julie Bouchard
All three major NASCAR series were in action this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. For the star series, the Cup, it was the 5th event. This was won by Joey Logano, who had already taken pole position. It’s the first victory of the season for the driver of the No.22 Ford of Team Penske (photo above), ahead of his former teammate Brad Keselowski (Ford / RFK Racing) in a last-lap battle this Sunday.
Logano led 140 of 260 laps, en route to his first win at the 1.54-mile Georgia track but his 32nd career Cup Series.
More spectacular and less often neutralized than yesterday’s Xfnity and Truck races, this event saw Keselowski fall 0.193 seconds to the checkered flag. He had led the previous 29 laps and was still in the lead going into this final lap, but he couldn’t stop Logano’s momentum.
Christopher Bell (Toyota/Joe Gibbs Racing) finished third, ahead of Corey LaJoie fourth and Tyler Reddick. A pile-up at the end of the race took away any chance of a good classification for Kevin Harvick, William Byron and others, but it was the only real big incident of the race.
Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch completed the Top 10. For the full ranking, Click here.
Yesterday, two other races were presented on the Georgia oval, that of the Craftsman Truck followed by that of the Xfinity series. Events disputed by a cold temperature and won by Christian Eckes (vans) and by Austin Hill (Xfinity).
The series of vans was the first to present its race, in the middle of the afternoon. A race disrupted by 11 neutralizations, several collisions and a pileup in the last lap. After 2 hours and 17 minutes, 22-year-old Christian Eckes won his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet by just 78 thousandths of a second ahead of young rookie Nick Sanchez, who is driving a Rev Racing Chevrolet this season. .
John Hunter Nemechek, invited to drive the TRICON Garage Toyota No.17 for this event, finished 3rd, ahead of Bayley Currey, Matt DiBenedetto, Ben Rhodes, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy, Matt Craftton and Jack Wood. Involved in the pileup at the end of the race when he was about to sign a Top 10, the Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) was ranked 22nd. For the full ranking, Click here.
In Xfinity, Austin Hill (Chevrolet/Richard Childress Racing) edged Daniel Hemric by 85 thousandths of a second. The Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) driver finished ahead of Ryan Truex (Toyota/Joe Gibbs Racing) and Parker Kligerman (Chevrolet/Big Machine Racing). Riley Herbst (Ford/Stewart-Haas Racing) completed the Top 5 ahead of Brett Moffitt, Josh Berry, John Hunter Nemechek, Sam Mayer and Justin Haley.
The race was neutralized no less than 12 times (an Atlanta record!). Josh Williams was involved in the first two yellow flags, with his No.92 DGM Racing Chevrolet. He first damaged his car on lap 26. When debris from his car forced another yellow five laps later, NASCAR officials ordered him to the garage and abandon the race. Furious, Williams then parked his car at the start/finish line, got out and walked to the pit line in protest. Williams was called up by officials, as were his team’s owner, Quebec’s Mario Gosselin, and team manager of No.92 Bryan Berry. For the full ranking, Click here.
The video summaries of these races are presented to you in the order of the series: Cup, Xfinity and Truck… All three will be on track next weekend on the Austin road circuit in Texas, according to the same format: the Cup will run on Sunday (participation of Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen, two former F1 world champions!), Xfinity and vans on Saturday.