Daniel Suárez slips by Blaney, Busch in three-wide photo finish for Atlanta victory

Rowan County Weather has been speaking about all things at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Ambetter Health 400 throughout the week. The race turned out to be one of the craziest and likely most talked about races in a long time. 

It was a race of breathtaking four-wide action into corners not built to accommodate such derring-do.

And it was totally appropriate that Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway ended in a three-wide photo finish, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez eking out a victory over Ryan Blaney by what looked to be an inch or two at the finish line.

NASCAR timing and scoring showed Suárez ahead of Blaney by 0.003 seconds at the stripe, with Kyle Busch in third, 0.007 seconds behind the race winner.

As the three drivers sped through the final two corners, Suárez held the outside lane with Blaney on the bottom and Busch in the middle. Suárez surged forward approaching the finish line to earn his second career victory – and his first since June of 2022 at Sonoma Raceway – by the thinnest of margins.

Suárez, whose No. 99 Trackhouse Race Chevrolet suffered damage to the hood on a Lap 2 crash in Turn 1, had the lead for a restart with five laps left after the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Josh Berry collided with Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Lap 249 of 260 to cause the 10th and final caution of the race.

Blaney, the defending series champion, grabbed the top spot almost immediately and held it for four laps, but Suárez and Busch mounted runs on the final lap in the top and middle lanes, respectively. Blaney chose to make his bid for victory from the bottom lane and fell just short.

NASCAR now heads out west to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Penzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube.