By David Morgan, Associate Editor
HAMPTON, Ga. – NASCAR Cup Series Playoff time is here again and the 2024 edition of the postseason is in for a doozy of a start.
With the 16-driver field set in stone a week ago after a barn burner of a finish at Darlington in the Southern 500, the points standings have been reset as the series rolls right into a wild card race to kick off the 10-race march to the championship courtesy of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Atlanta’s aging racing surface, which had been in place since 1997, held together as long as possible, but the 260 laps around the 1.5-mile track in July 2021 were the last on that particular surface as the track underwent a repave and reconfiguration for the 2022 season.
The 24-degree banking in the turns was increased to 28 degrees, making the banking the highest among intermediate tracks in NASCAR. The straightaways remain banked at five degrees. In addition, the racing surface was narrowed from 55 feet to 40 feet in the turns, 52 feet on the front stretch, and 42 feet on the back stretch.
In the races since its reconfiguration, the new Atlanta superspeedway/intermediate hybrid has put on some of the most entertaining races of the season, but also some of the most chaotic.
With the outcome being a roll of the dice as to whether a driver will be swept up in one of the inevitable multi-car crashes that are sure to take place on Sunday, those in the hunt for the championship will be hoping the racing gods are smiling on them to keep them out of trouble and off on a good foot to start the postseason.
Given that, Sunday could also be an opportunity race for some of the Playoff longshots to take a chance and be aggressive, looking to book a win and their ticket to the next round.
How will it all shake out? 400 miles on a Sunday in Georgia will tell the tale.
By the Numbers
What: Quaker State 400, NASCAR Cup Series Race No. 27 of 36
Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Georgia (Opened: 1960; Reconfigured: 1997/2021)
TV/Radio: USA Network/NBC Sports App, 3:00 pm ET / PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 1.54-mile quad-oval
Banking: 28 degrees in turns; 5 degrees on straightaways
Race Length: 260 laps, 400.4 miles
Stage Lengths: First stage – 60 laps, Second stage and Final stage – 100 laps
February 2024 Winner: Daniel Suarez – No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet (Started on 23rd, nine laps led)
July 2023 Winner: William Byron – No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Started 18th, 19 laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Geoffrey Bodine (197.478 mph, 28.074 seconds – 11/15/1997)
Top-10 Driver Ratings at Atlanta:
- Ryan Blaney – No. 12 Team Penske Ford – 99.1
- Martin Truex Jr. – No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 94.9
- Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 94.7
- Chase Elliott – No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 92.8
- Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 92.7
- Brad Keselowski – No. 6 RFK Racing Ford – 91.1
- Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 87.4
- Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 87.1
- Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 80.6
- Tyler Reddick – No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – 80.2
NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings
- Kyle Larson – 2040 points (+35 over cut-off)
- Christopher Bell (+27)
- Tyler Reddick (+23)
- William Byron (+17)
- Ryan Blaney (+13)
- Denny Hamlin (+10)
- Chase Elliott (+9)
- Brad Keselowski (+3)
- Joey Logano (+2)
- Austin Cindric (+2)
- Daniel Suarez (+1)
- Alex Bowman (Tied for 12th)
——————————————————————————————————————–
- Chase Briscoe (Tied for 12th)
- Harrison Burton (Tied for 12th)
- Ty Gibbs (-1 below cut-off)
- Martin Truex, Jr. (-1)
From the Driver’s Seat
“I’ll be honest, the first round is the scariest it’s been in a long time with Atlanta, a superspeedway starting us off,” said Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“We all know how that can go. And then we go to Watkins Glen, which should be a normal race track, but with the expected tire degradation with the tire change that we’ve had, it could be a Bristol style race where people are wearing tires out really early and struggling to make laps and having to pit all of the time. So, that could be another wild card race.
“And, then Bristol, I think everybody is expecting it to be more of the same as what we had in the spring. So, the first round could be very different than what we’ve seen in the past.”
From Atop the Pit Box
“I think Atlanta is quite the wild card this year. You’ve got a little bit of everything and a lot of unknowns,” said Blake Harris, crew chief for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“I think for us, starting with Atlanta this week, we will certainly focus on trying to stay out of everyone else’s mess. We’ve had some fast race cars there. In the spring (race), think we got wrecked at not even a lap and a half, so we’re just really trying to avoid that and execute at a high level. We’ll do everything in our power to not let the variables get us.”
Last Time at Atlanta
Three years into Atlanta’s reconfiguration into a superspeedway, the track has put on some exciting races, but February’s Ambetter Health 400 was a turning point that seemed to take the track to a whole new level of excitement, delivering a race reminiscent of those early 2000’s races, but better.
Throughout the course of the 260-lap affair, drivers were constantly running two, three, and even four wide at points as they jockeyed for position. The result was an Atlanta record 48 lead changes and 10 cautions – the last of which set up the instant classic of a finish that was to come.
Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney would line up on the front row for the final restart, with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. rolling off from the second row with five laps to go.
Suarez and Blaney ran side-by-side once the green flag dropped before Blaney was able to assert himself into the lead as Suarez, Busch, and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric all tried to position themselves to make a run at him for the finish.
On the final lap, Blaney, Busch, and Suarez fell into a three-wide formation when Busch shot to the middle off a push from Bubba Wallace. It would be one of these three men that would bring home the trophy – the only question would be who.
With no help from behind for any of them, it would be a simple matter of who had the momentum off Turn 4 to get to the line first.
As they crossed the line three abreast, a case could have been made for any of them to be the victor, but after a review of the data in the booth, Suarez was declared the winner by .003 seconds over Blaney, with Busch finishing .007 seconds in arears.
The third-closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.
“It’s an amazing feeling. 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,” said Suarez.
“Those four Penske’s were pretty strong. We knew that it was going to take something special today to beat them. But at the start/finish line, Kyle Busch was doing a hell of a job pushing me and when it mattered, he tried to go for the win. I felt like if Kyle wasn’t going to go for the win, I wasn’t going to win it. That really helped me to go three-wide and to the top, so it was amazing. You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Saturday, September 7
- NCS Qualifying (12:30 pm – USA Network/NBC Sports App)
Sunday, September 8
- NCS Ambetter Health 400 (3:00 pm – 260 laps, 400.4 miles – USA Network/NBC Sports App)
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