WATCH: Daniel Suarez wins Atlanta Cup race in a three-wide photo-finish, giving the ULTIMATE Lightning McQueen vibes
Daniel Suarez won the third most closet finish in NASCAR history.
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Daniel Suarez wins the Atlanta Cup race with 0.003 margin (via IMAGO)
Repaving the Atlanta Motor Speedway and making it a short-track superspeedway might’ve been the best decision made by NASCAR. For the second straight year, the track has produced an impressive race and close three-wide finish in the final lap. Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez ended his winless run to secure the second-ever win of his career.
On the final lap, four drivers were in the fight for the race win. Suarez, defending champion Ryan Blaney, RCR’s Kyle Busch, and Bubba Wallace. On the third corner, the No:23 car was out of the equation while Busch in the No:8 car and Suarez in the No:99 car made the race three wide. They closed the finish line together so close that it was hard to see who won among the three.
NASCAR quickly confirmed that Suarez was the first one to finish the line as he edged the second place, finishing Blaney with a 0.003-second gap. Busch, who finished P3, was 0.007 seconds behind Suarez on the finish line. This was the third-closest finish in the NASCAR Cup Series history, with the other two being the 0.002 finishes in 2011 Talladega and 2003 Darlington.
The finish seems very similar to the one from the NASCAR-themed Pixar animated movie Lightning McQueen. A three-way tie in the championship race among three main characters was similar to Sunday’s finish. The NASCAR social media has Car’s movie memes following the impressive win.
Daniel Suarez might’ve saved his career with the race-winning move at Atlanta
The win was more than Special for the Mexican driver whose job was threatened at Trackhouse. He ended last season winless and missed out on the playoff due to his failure to execute during races, and he received a lot of criticism for it.
Suarez hasn’t won a Cup race since he triumphed in 2022 at Sonoma, and now, with the Atlanta win, he has proven that 2023 was just because of his poor luck. He realistically no longer has to fear a possible replacement at the end of 2024, and the Trackhouse might’ve to find new homes for their development drivers, Shane van Gisbergen and Zane Smith.
The season has just started for Suarez; he now hopes to win a couple more races in the regular season, putting him in a strong position going into the playoffs. Right now, the Mexican is just enjoying his time and celebrating the win with his amigos.
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Justin P Joy
(4901 Articles Published)