NASCAR Cup Series: Atlanta winner, crashes and more

HAMPTON, Ga. — The second superspeedway race of the Cup Series season is complete and a second Chevrolet driver has locked up a playoff spot.

Daniel Suarez won Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his first Cup win on an oval track and his first win since Sonoma in 2022. He parked the No. 99 Chevrolet in victory lane after taking control on the final restart, one that followed a red flag delay lasting 11 minutes and 25 seconds.

MORE: Atlanta Cup resultsMORE: Cup driver pointsRyan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.

Sunday’s race had 48 lead changes. This set a new Cup record at Atlanta Motor Speedway, surpassing 46 in the March 2022 race. There were 14 different leaders, marking the fifth consecutive race at Atlanta where there were more than a dozen leaders.

Twenty-two cars finished on the lead lap after a race featuring 10 cautions — eight for on-track incidents. There were eight DNFs and six cars that finished multiple laps behind the leaders.

The first and largest wreck occurred on Lap 2 as the outside line bunched up behind Todd Gilliland. This sparked a chain reaction that collected 16 cars. Suarez’s No. 99 was involved, but he was able to continue in the race.

Busch sits atop the Cup standings. He has a one-point advantage over Daytona 500 winner William Byron and Austin Cindric. Suarez is seventh in the standings and 13 points behind Busch.

Two-time Cup champion Joey Logano is 33rd in points after finishing 32nd and 28th in the first two races of the season. 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski is 36th in points after finishing 33rd at both Daytona and Atlanta.

The Cup season continues Sunday, March 3, with the first intermediate track of the season. The teams will take on Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 3:30 p.m. ET.