The Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway turned into a high-stakes storm watch for the 37 competitors on Sunday night.
Severe weather eventually got the best of the NASCAR Cup Series, as the race was halted with 75 laps remaining in the 260-lap race, giving William Byron his series-leading fourth victory of the season, and the eighth of his career.
Byron surged to the lead on lap 167 ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, holding off an aggressive lead pack for his second victory at Atlanta.
“ Just teamwork. Honestly I don’t completely understand this one. It’s a really good feeling,” Byron said. “I’ve never had a rain victory like this. But just thanks to Axalta Chevrolet. It’s cool.”
The dominance of Hendrick Motorsports at the newly reconfigured 1.54-mile oval continued with Byron’s victory, giving the team three victories in the last four Atlanta races. Sunday’s win was Byron’s second at Atlanta.
“We’re just keeping our heads in it,” Byron said. “Over the last few weeks, we’d finish in the top 15 when we don’t have good cars, and the days we have really good cars we finish in the top five.
“It’s just a matter of staying with it, and today was definitely a lucky break. I can’t overstate that. We were in the lead, but certainly a lot of laps to go.
“But just thankful for a good team to make good decisions, and like I said, to stay in the race when it’s easy to kind of give up and pack it in.”
The runner-up position went to Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who vaulted two positions on the Playoff grid to 15th, three points above the cutline.
A.J. Allmendinger notched his third top 10 in the last four races after finishing third. Allmendinger now sits 18th in points, only 13 markers back with seven races remaining in the regular season.
The red flag came at the perfect time for fourth-place finisher Michael McDowell, who narrowly made it the distance on fumes.
“I think Travis (Peterson, crew chief) did a great job of maximizing our track position when we needed to,” McDowell said. “Obviously, that pit road incident with Martin (Truex Jr.) took us out of the track position we needed, so we had to get a little bit creative there.
“I’m thankful to be able to recover, but really wish I’d have held those guys off at the end. We had a shot on that restart, obviously, starting on the front row. I thought I executed the start pretty well, but just couldn’t quite get clear of A.J. like I needed to, but it didn’t work out. We were close, though.”
The solid night for McDowell lifted the Front Row Motorsports driver two positions on the Playoff grid, tied with Suarez for 15th in the standings.
Byron’s Perseverance
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Byron, who had multiple setbacks throughout the event.
On lap 63, Byron was sent to the rear of the field after a safety violation during a pit stop.
17 laps later, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was spun by Corey LaJoie on the frontstretch, sending the No. 24 Chevrolet out of control. Though Byron kept his machine off the inside wall, coming away with only a flat right rear tire.
Despite the early issues, Byron steadily worked his way back to the front.
Crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road on lap 125 under caution for a pileup in turn two that damaged the cars of Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs.
That enabled Byron to restart fourth on lap 165 after roughly half the field (cars that had not pitted since lap 95) came to pit road on lap 161. Two laps later, Byron had the lead.
“We went through so much throughout the night, spinning through the infield, destroyed the bottom of the car dragging it around the apron trying to stay on the lead lap,” Byron said. “At that point you just don’t have the grip, so I was real edgy back in traffic.
“Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made a good call to pit there and then stay out, and once we got towards the front it was okay. We could honestly make the right decisions, block OK, and got the lead from A.J. and just was able to manage the run.
“Just a crazy night.”
What Else Went Down
The green flag waved with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola leading the field for the opening laps. Harrison Burton brought out the first caution flag on lap 17 after getting loose from the 10th position. Burton went down two laps in the process of repairs on pit lane.
Shuffling up front eventually saw Ryan Blaney edge out Kyle Larson for the Stage One victory.
Another caution came out on lap 93 when Larson got loose in turn three before getting tapped by Erik Jones in front of the field. Chase Briscoe and Austin Hill were also involved.
Larson’s night would come to an end shortly after with his right front tire blowing while heading to pit lane. The 2021 Cup Series champion finished 36th.
With two laps to go in Stage Two, Alex Bowman got loose underneath Denny Hamlin in turn three, sending both drivers spinning. Bowman would finish 26th, with Hamlin rebounding to finish 14th.
The final caution flag of the night came with 82 laps to go after Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace spun.
The rain would begin to soak Atlanta Motor Speedway, ending the race 75 laps short of the 400-mile distance.