Sunday July 10, 2022 by Julie Bouchard
Chase Elliott, son of former NASCAR champion Bill Elliott and a crowd favorite while he was born in Georgia, won the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway oval on Sunday.
Elliott picked up his third win of the season, his first at the 1.54 mile Georgia track and the 16th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Proof of his dominance, he also won both stages with his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. In total, he led 96 of the 260 laps of this Quaker State 400 which lasted no less than 3 hours and 22 minutes and saw 27 lead changes.
However, the victory might have gone to the amazing Corey LaJoie, who led no less than 19 laps in the last segment. LaJoie appeared in the lead on the penultimate pit stop, his team (Spire Motorsports) betting not to change the tires on his Chevrolet, only fuel. LaJoie then fought for the win until the penultimate lap, losing control and hitting the wall following being pushed by Erik Jones (Chevrolet/Petty GMS Motorsports).
Ross Chastain also had a lively race, resisting two collisions but nevertheless finishing second with his Chevrolet/Trackhouse Racing. The Top 5 was completed by Austin Cindric (Ford/Team Penske), Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney (Ford/Team Penske).
This race was the second on the reconfigured Atlanta layout, which now mixes super-oval and mid-size track style racing. The event was littered with several accidents which eliminated many contenders for victory from the field of 36 cars at the start. In total, there were 13 neutralizations.
A contact between Chastain and Martin Truex Jr (Toyota / Joe Gibbs Racing) during stage 2 notably led to a chain collision of several cars in their wake. Shortly following, at the start of the last segment, Garrett Smithley’s Ford slowed down in turn 3 and caused contact with the wall of Tyler Reddick, winner last week on the road course of Road America, and William Byron, who s was imposed on this same Atlanta oval last March.
Chastain was also involved in a late-race collision with Denny Hamlin (Toyota/Joe Gibbs Racing), which resulted in another neutralization with 15 laps to go. Hamlin finished 25th, one lap behind the leaders.
Daniel Suarez, Chastain’s teammate at Trackhouse Racing, finished 6th, ahead of Justin Haley, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr and Kevin Harvick. For the full ranking, Click here. For video highlights of this race, see below.
The next round of the NASCAR Cup series will take place on Sunday July 17 (starting around 3 p.m.) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
