He got a little bit ways away from me on pit road after we came out. He stretched his lead out a tiny bit. I was like, All right, it’s going to be a 50-plus-lap run, I’m going to try to save my stuff a little bit. Hopefully we’ll even out and he’ll start coming back to me. He started coming back to me really hard at the end of that first run.
It was a wild weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway as all three of NASCAR’s national series hit the Hampton, GA track. I want to start with what took place during the Xfinity race when Noah Gragson backed into Daniel Hemric on pit road. Hemric pulled into his pit stall at an angle, blocking Gragson from getting in. Gragson was then forced to back up to get all four tires in the box, however to some it appeared he backed up way too far, hitting Hemric’s car and endangering the safety of the crew. NASCAR reviewed the incident after the race and did not think it was intentional and therefore did not discipline Gragson. After the race however, Hemric was not happy and interrupted a post race interview with Gragson and fists began to fly.
Gragson would offer an explanation on twitter:
Here’s the full video. Penalty if right side tires are out of the box. Final pit stop. Judge for yourself. pic.twitter.com/2LCQEiUDQ7
— Noah Gragson (@NoahGragson) March 21, 2021
So what do you think? Did Gragson take it too far?
As for the cup race, Denny Hamlin would start from the poll and lead 27 laps on the day, but the most dominant car was the 5 of Kyle Larson. He led 269 laps, winning the first two stages and he looked to be in position to win the race… but… with 8 laps to go, Ryan Blaney would chase him down to secure the victory. Blaney would lead 25 laps total to get his first win of 2021 (5th in his career) and his 2nd top 5, 3rd top 10. Blaney was asked when he knew he thought he had a shot:
“Honestly, I didn’t really think that until I’d say the start of the last stage. He had a huge lead there in that second stage, then he didn’t really get that far out in front of me in the start of the third stage. Then we were running him down pretty good until we pitted there.
Yeah, at the start and halfway through the final stage, I had confidence we made really good changes to our car. Hoping there would be a long run towards the end because that was the only shot I had to beat him. I wasn’t going to beat him in a 10-lap shootout because his car was good. Hopefully it worked out for a long run. Had a great long run car, like (Crew chief Todd Gordon) said. It was awesome.”
While Larson dominated, he still came home second. He was very good on the long run and kept pushing, but just felt Blaney was a little better on the final run.
“I was pushing the whole time, every lap really from when I left pit road. I was trying to get out to a big gap. But I never really did. I think I extended it a little bit, but not nearly enough. Before the other green flag stops I could exit pit road, I feel like I’d gain a few seconds over the course of like 20 laps. I was hoping it was going to be like that. I thought me having to race him and pass him was what used my tires up the little run before, but after the green flag stop, he was just really good. I couldn’t get out to that gap that I could earlier in the race. Ultimately just had to run my tires too hard to try to get that gap, and I didn’t have anything there at the end.”
You can check out my full race recap video below and make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast!
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The full results:
NASCAR Cup Series Race – 63rd Annual Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Georgia
Sunday, March 21, 2021
- (10) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 325.
- (6) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 325.
- (14) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 325.
- (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 325.
- (19) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 325.
- (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 325.
- (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 325.
- (9) William Byron, Chevrolet, 325.
- (2) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 325.
- (7) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 325.
- (20) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 325.
- (12) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 325.
- (28) Ryan Newman, Ford, 325.
- (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 325.
- (3) Joey Logano, Ford, 324.
- (15) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 324.
- (25) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 324.
- (27) Cole Custer, Ford, 324.
- (18) Michael McDowell, Ford, 324.
- (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 324.
- (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 323.
- (39) Austin Cindric(i), Ford, 323.
- (24) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 323.
- (22) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 323.
- (23) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 323.
- (29) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 323.
- (32) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 322.
- (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 321.
- (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 319.
- (26) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 319.
- (33) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 316.
- (34) James Davison, Chevrolet, 316.
- (35) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 314.
- (31) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 313.
- (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 308.
- (38) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 305.
- (37) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 285.
- (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Engine, 220.
- (11) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 113.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 144.595 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 27 Mins, 41 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.083 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 25 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 1-27;K. Larson 28-63;K. Busch 64;W. Byron 65-66;K. Larson 67-118;R. Blaney 119;K. Larson 120-160;D. Suarez 161;K. Larson 162-221;R. Blaney 222-236;K. Larson 237-316;R. Blaney 317-325.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson 5 times for 269 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 27 laps; Ryan Blaney 3 times for 25 laps; William Byron 1 time for 2 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 1 lap; Kurt Busch 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,18,12,1,11,48,19,9,17,24
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,12,48,18,24,21,3,17,11,99[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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