Heading to the white flag, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski looked to be in control of Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
However, Keselowski’s former Team Penske teammate Joey Logano swiped away his glory from the high side out of turn two on the final lap.
From there, it was game over.
Logano scored his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series win, and his first at the 1.5-mile oval.
“We lost our track position there for a minute, but was able to just stay patient and work on it and this amazing fast race car allowed me to really make some great moves on the racetrack and getting the push there on the last lap to get to the outside of Brad,” Logano said. “Just getting to break the plane of his back bumper was gonna be my only chance there and I was able to get him there and get the push from the 20 on the backstretch.
Overall, just a really fast Ford Mustang is what it came down to. It’s nice to win with Autotrader on the car. I don’t think I’ve ever won a race without Shell on the car. It means a lot to get this one in victory lane. It’s been a lot of years coming. Atlanta, this means so much to me to win here. So many memories of driving my legends car right here where we’re standing when I was nine years old. This is a really special one and a dream come true.”
The win broke Chevrolet’s streak of four consecutive wins to begin the season, after Logano’s No. 22 Ford Mustang earned the win in the fifth race of the season.
“The intensity ratcheted up, obviously. I’ve got great teammates and I wanted to stick with them,” Logano said. “There were plenty of times I could have moved up, but I didn’t want to leave my teammates down there. I wanted them behind me. I knew how fast their cars were. If I could pick one, that’s the one I want, so I was able to try to keep them with me. I thought with two to go the outside lane got three cars, four cars clear and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it here,’ but I got a good push – enough to get to the outside of the 6 and that was the big difference.”
Logano led a race-high 140 laps after starting from the pole.
For Keselowski, it was a disappointing ending after leading 47 laps, including the bell lap.
“The bottom row came with a huge run. I don’t know how and I thought I had it blocked and Joey just kept shaking and his car didn’t stall out,” Keselowski said. “I couldn’t get the push down the back. I thought, ‘I’ll just get a push down the back,’ and the 20 car just hauled down there. A great run all-in-all for our RFK King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang.
“We were right there. I’m glad a Ford won. It was a heck of a battle. The coolest thing about this is two veterans showed that you can run a race here side-by-side bump drafting and not wreck the field. It can happen if you race respectfully and I thought everybody did a great job. We were right there. I’m proud of my team and the effort, just not much we could do there.”
While Keselowski’s winless streak dating back to October of 2021 was extended an additional week, his second-place effort was one the 2012 Cup Series champion was proud of.
“It’s night and day from where we were a year ago, 100 percent,” Keselowski said. “You just keep running like this with good finishes and the wins will come.”
Race Rundown
• It was a tame stage one, with only one caution coming out due to Bubba Wallace crashing 10 laps into the race on the backstretch inside wall. Wallace would finish 27th, five laps down.
• Logano would lead every lap of the stage, scoring the stage win.
• Stage two went caution-free, with Logano’s teammate Austin Cindric working his way around the No. 22 to take the stage two victory.
• The action ramped up in the final stage, with multiple cautions causing a shakeup at the front of the pack.
• Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick looked to be in position for a win in the latter stages while leading. However, the No. 4 Ford Mustang got aero loose in front of Ross Chastain, triggering a multi-car accident involving last week’s winner William Byron, Kyle Busch, Josh Berry and Chris Buescher with 71 laps to go.
“I think he just caught me so quick right there in the middle of the corner and then he kind of was up on the right rear part of the corner and he came back down and when he came back down it just spun the thing out,” Harvick said. “I don’t think he actually even hit me, but it started chattering the rear tires and then I was just along for the ride.”
• Twenty laps later, Harvick’s teammate Aric Almirola suffered a flat tire while leading, collecting 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson. Almirola had been running on 72-lap old tires at the time of the flat tire.
• The event went caution-free the rest of the way, with Logano outlasting the field.