46 Lead changes and eleven caution periods in Cup premiere on the rebuilt Atlanta oval: In the end, Hendrick driver William Byron prevails
William Byron (Hendrick-Chevrolet) is the winner of the first NASCAR Cup Series race at the rebuilt Atlanta Motor Speedway. Racing on the now steeper and narrower 1.5-mile oval on Sunday was very reminiscent of racing on the big superspeedways.
No wonder: Atlanta was the first race with the engine and aero package for superspeedways (510 hp and 18 centimetre high rear spoiler). The result was the pack racing so typical of Daytona and Talladega, which now also exists in Atlanta.
46 lead changes, interrupted by eleven yellow phases, mean a new record for Atlanta. And that record is clearly due to the change. “It was so different, intermediate style with a bit of a speedway touch,” is how Byron describes the new Atlanta Racing in his first words.
Byron is the fifth different winner in five races in the current 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Three drivers have already won in the ranks of the Hendrick team. The other two winners this season come from the Penske and Stewart/Haas camps. Conversely, this means that Toyota has yet to win a race in the Gen7 or Next Gen era.
Since the qualifying session scheduled for Friday could not take place due to weather conditions, the starting grid was determined using the formula that had been used regularly over the past year and a half. Result: Chase Briscoe (Stewart/Haas-Ford), who took his first Cup win last weekend in Phoenix, started the first Cup race on the rebuilt Atlanta oval from the front.
Stage wins for Byron and Blaney amid plenty of chaos
The three race segments were almost equal in length this time (105-105-115 laps). In the first, there was a lead-sustaining flat tyre crash involving Ross Chastain (Trackhouse-Chevrolet) and just before the stage flag, a crash involving Austin Dillon (Childress-Chevrolet) and Kyle Busch (Gibbs-Toyota) that also involved Ty Dillon (Petty/GMS-Chevrolet)
For the Dillon Brothers, the race was over. Kyle Busch initially continued, but had to go to the garage a little later with consequential damage. Meanwhile, Stage 1 came to an end under yellow: William Byron was in front, followed by Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota) and Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse-Chevrolet).
The second race segment saw a Tyler Reddick (Childress-Chevrolet) crash after a puncture, which involved numerous other drivers, including Kyle Larson (Hendrick-Chevrolet), Joey Logano (Penske-Ford) and Kurt Busch (23XI-Toyota).
And just before the stage flag, another front runner was caught with a puncture. After Ross Chastain in Stage 1, it was Ricky Stenhouse (JTG-Chevrolet) in Stage 2. Among others, Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric (Penske-Ford) was involved in his crash.
The same was true for Kevin Harvick (Stewart/Haas-Ford), who had led several laps before Stenhouse, and also for Erik Jones (Petty/GMS-Chevrolet). It was over for Stenhouse and Cindric.
After another crash – between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin – the second race segment also came to an end under yellow. Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) was in front, followed by Chase Elliott (Hendrick-Chevrolet) and Chase Briscoe, who started from the first grid position. Meanwhile, the turbulent race was over for both Larson and Hamlin at this point.
Byron blocks final charge – Christopher Bell penalised
Tyre punctures (all of which occurred on the right rear this time) were also not absent in the decisive third race segment. With 25 laps to go, Cup rookie Todd Gilliland (Front Row Ford) was caught out for this reason. In an effort to avoid the spinning car, Cody Ware (Ware-Ford) crashed into the inner track barrier of the back straight.
For some, it was off to the pits for the final four-tyre stop during this tenth yellow of the day. At the restart, however, there were nearly a dozen cars in front with worn tyres. Hendrick driver William Byron led ahead of Bubba Wallace (23XI-Toyota). Aric Almirola (Stewart/Haas-Ford) and Penske driver Ryan Blaney followed on the second row.
Almirola was turned around by Ross Chastain and so there was another yellow. With 13 laps to go, the next restart was made – and this was indeed to be the last. The group of those who had fresh tyres was led by Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs-Toyota) and Alex Bowman (Hendrick-Chevrolet). But they didn’t make it to the front.
At the start of the last lap, Byron led ahead of Wallace. A little further back, Blaney and Chase Briscoe hit the wall, but it remained green. In the last corner Byron blocked the attacks of Chastain and Christopher Bell (Gibbs-Toyota). The latter had overtaken Chastain on the back straight below the solid line and was penalised for it. Instead of second, Bell was classified 23rd in the final result.
However, this did not change anything in William Byron’s victory. On the finish line there was one last crash, in which Bubba Wallace was involved first and foremost. In the end, Kurt Busch finished third behind Byron and Ross Chastain, followed by Daniel Suarez and Corey LaJoie (Spire-Chevrolet).
Truex Jr. finished as the best of those with fresh tyres in P8. That put him one position behind Chris Buescher (RFK-Ford), who crossed the finish line in P7 in the wake of the final crash, backwards!
This Sunday will be the first time in the era of the Gen7 or Next Gen car that the race will be held on a circuit, namely the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, where there was a NASCAR race for the first time last year. At that time, however, the race was marked by persistent rainfall.
