Joey Logano said Saturday he shares in the responsibility of the No. 22 team being penalized by NASCAR for the webbed glove he wore last weekend. It was the left-hand glove Logano wore during qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway that cost him …
Joey Logano said Saturday he shares in the responsibility of the No. 22 team being penalized by NASCAR for the webbed glove he wore last weekend.
It was the left-hand glove Logano wore during qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway that cost him $10,000 after being sent to the rear of the field and having to serve a pass-through penalty. NASCAR deemed it was both a safety violation for modifying SFI safety equipment and a competition infraction because it was used to block air through the window net.
The Team Penske driver, however, didn’t admit as to who came up with the idea. But Logano did wear the glove when it was given to him by the team.
“That’s kind of how a lot of things work,” Logano said. “As a driver, you work with the team and hey, I’m going to take a portion of the responsibility of that, too, obviously. I should. I put the glove on. With that said, I didn’t build the glove. I didn’t make it on my own. I can’t sew, so that’s what it was and we had conversations about it.”
Logano will start from the pole Sunday in Las Vegas, his second pole in three weeks. It was a performance that came with a bit of a chip on his shoulder after the events of last week.
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“What I’m proud about as a team is, yeah, that was a tough situation for us. It was hard to go through and embarrassing, for sure,” Logano said. “But the fact [is] that we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed that we have some speed in our race car and to be able to put it on the pole here, to me, is a statement-type lap, so I’m proud of that.”
NASCAR did not review in-car footage from Daytona and Brad Moran, the Cup Series managing director, said they don’t know if Logano wore the glove for Daytona 500 qualifying. It was a random review of in-car camera footage at Atlanta that caught the webbed glove Logano was wearing. Logano did not comment on whether he wore the glove in Daytona.
Logano even went as far as to deny that wearing the glove made a difference.
“It didn’t do anything to speak of,” he said. “It was directionally an area that everybody goes to try to block that hole. You see everyone put their hand there; we just tried to cover more space.”
NASCAR revealed Saturday that the entirety of Joey Logano’s left glove was webbed last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was penalized before the start of the Cup Series race. The two-time champion from Team Penske was sent to the rear of …
NASCAR revealed Saturday that the entirety of Joey Logano’s left glove was webbed last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was penalized before the start of the Cup Series race.
The two-time champion from Team Penske was sent to the rear of the field and required to serve a pass-through penalty. Earlier this week, NASCAR also fined him $10,000.
It was a twofold penalty. NASCAR penalized Logano at the racetrack for a competition infraction by using the webbed glove to block air, while the fine was for a safety violation. The alteration to the glove modified an SFI-approved piece of safety equipment.
Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, showed the webbed glove to the media Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Moran explained the violation was found during a review of in-car camera footage from Logano’s car, which was viewed in slow motion. NASCAR was not tipped off about the glove, but it was a random safety check as NASCAR reviews in-car footage to see a driver’s helmet height, headrest height and movement in the cockpit.
“We have our safety cameras inside all the Cup cars and we review them quite often during practice and qualifying, and we look for oddities,” Moran said. “All on driver input from last year — they want safety improved and cleaned up. We’ve done a lot of shop visits over the last two years. We look for head surrounds. We look for hoses going to the helmets. We look for everything in the car to make sure it’s safe and we don’t catch anything. A lot of the new drivers, we’ll review them as well to make sure they’re sitting in their seats properly.”
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Moran said Logano was included in “about five cars” randomly checked at Atlanta. However, NASCAR does not know if Logano was using the same glove at Daytona International Speedway the week before, where it would also be common for drivers to put their hands up against the window net or in the opening between the window net and A post to keep air from coming into the cockpit.
“An SFI piece of protective equipment cannot be modified in any way,” Moran said. “It’s as delivered; that’s how SFI approves it, and SFI does not approve any glove with any webbing, obviously for safety reasons. … So the reason for that is obviously you can block more air. The drivers do put their hand up against the opening, which we’ve never really had a rule against it, but this obviously goes one step further, and this becomes not only a competition problem, it becomes a safety violation because that glove is no longer SFI approved.
“Regardless of what the material is made of, regardless of who put it on there, it’s not as delivered, it’s not as tested, and it’s an unapproved piece of SFI safety equipment.”
Moran also showed the roof rails confiscated from the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 and No. 41 cars. Both pieces came from the right side of the vehicle. The roof rails are team pieces and not single-sourced supplied parts.
Stewart-Haas Racing was docked 35 driver and owner points to both teams. Moran explained it was only the Nos. 10 and 41 cars with the infraction. The other two Stewart-Haas Racing cars and the rest of the field were checked and found to be within compliance.
“They’re a team part that is designed to be built off a CAD file, so there’s really no gray (area),” Moran said. “They have to be built exactly to CAD. Unfortunately, we had the No. 41 and the No. 10…the right side – there are three per side; they sit in a groove on top of the greenhouse — they’re meant to sit flat. So the problem we had with these, and they were the exact same for both cars, you’ll see they have like a pressed mark. So that’s been pressed.
“That dent is not supposed to be there. These are supposed to be flat … and that’s not done from tightening any bolts or anything else. The head of the bolt is not that big.”
Kyle Busch put Sunday’s three-wide finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in movie terms. “I hate that we had a Lightning McQueen-style finish there,” Busch said, referencing the animated feature “Cars,” “with so close of three-wide and we were the worst …
Kyle Busch put Sunday’s three-wide finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in movie terms.
“I hate that we had a Lightning McQueen-style finish there,” Busch said, referencing the animated feature “Cars,” “with so close of three-wide and we were the worst of it.”
In the movie, the No. 95 red McQueen car wins a three-wide race. McQueen was the middle car in the battle and through comedy movie hijinks, won the race because he stuck his tongue out to reach the finish line first.
Busch had nothing to deploy from the front of his Richard Childress Racing Cheddar’s Chevrolet, or he might have beat Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. As life imitated art in the Ambetter 400, Busch was the middle car in the photo finish but was 0.007s from victory.
“It’s frustrating; I hate it because I felt like we were one of the top five cars today and had a good shot,” Busch said. “The 12 [Blaney] was fast; deservingly, they were probably one of the fastest cars. With all the carnage, obviously that happened that took out some other guys early.
“But I got a little too far ahead of the 99 [Suarez], and he got a good side draft through the corner. I didn’t think the outside would prevail, but with the run down the frontstretch and the side draft that’s what hurt us. But I was looking at the 12. I swore I was ahead of the 12 at the line, but obviously, my eyes are bad. I need more powerful glasses, I guess.”
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Busch was side-by-side with Suarez at the white flag, with Blaney clear ahead in the race lead. The two were still side-by-side going down the backstretch, and as the field entered Turn 3, Busch made his move. Busch shot to the middle and the right side of Blaney.
But when Busch moved to the middle, Suarez went to the far outside and made it three-wide. It became a three-wide drag race to the finish line.
“I knew you didn’t want to be ahead and I wasn’t ahead, I was second,” Busch said of the last laps. “But I didn’t think the outside would come around the outside like that. We talked about it over the radio. But it did.”
The day didn’t end with a victory, but it was still satisfying for Busch and his team. Busch qualified third and led early in the day, putting on a show by swapping the top spot with Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. in the first stage. Busch led six different times for 28 laps.
It was also an eventful day for Busch. On lap 54, he ran into former teammate Denny Hamlin when the latter thought he was clear and came across Busch’s nose. On lap 134, he was called for speeding on a green flag pit stop and had to rebound from one lap down before finding himself in contention for the victory.
“There, toward the end, you don’t really have that many alliances,” Busch said. “All of my friends kind of disintegrated and went away throughout the day, but Bubba [Wallace] came to the rescue and he was a huge part of our success there off of (Turn) 2 and getting a run, and getting alongside Blaney.
“It was a tight fit, but being able to make that move — if I didn’t make that move, then I push Blaney out too far through (Turns) 3 and 4 and he wins. So, glad to see a Chevy in victory lane.”
Ryan Blaney was inches – 0.003s – from being right at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He thought he had made the right decisions on the last lap Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and had put himself in the safest spot on the racetrack. But Blaney was scored …
Ryan Blaney was inches — 0.003s — from being right at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
He thought he had made the right decisions on the last lap Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and had put himself in the safest spot on the racetrack. But Blaney was scored second to Daniel Suarez in a three-wide photo finish in the Ambetter 400 that also included Kyle Busch. At the finish line, Blaney was on the inside lane, Busch was in the middle and Suarez was outside.
“I thought I laid back enough in [Turns] 1 and 2 to kind of not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “I did that the three laps before the end, and I was able to kind of manage it fairly well, but they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom. It’s the safest place to be.
“What a cool finish. … That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that — race clean, three-wide finish to the end.”
Blaney’s No. 12 BodyArmor Ford Mustang led at the white flag and committed to the bottom lane through Turns 1 and 2. It was where he stayed going down the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 as Kyle Busch shot to the middle and Suarez to the outside lane.
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The finish was so close the track’s infield video board and leaderboard initially had Blaney still in first place. NASCAR immediately put the finish under review and had to confirm that Suarez was the winner.
“I’m happy for Daniel,” Blaney said. “That was cool to see. It was fun racing with Kyle [Busch]. I can’t complain. I’ve won them by very, very little, too, so I can’t complain too much when I lose them by that much. I’m proud of the BodyArmor Zero Sugar car. Our Ford Mustang was fast and close.”
One of just a few drivers who was not involved in any of the nine cautions for crashes, Blaney led 31 laps. As he spoke to the media on pit road, he got his first look at the finish on the video board — all smiles at how close it was between them.
“It was a fun night, fun racing,” he said. “I didn’t think they’d get that big of a run on me. I thought I did a good job of getting close off of (Turn) 2 to where I kind of had some of their energy. I guess they just got hooked up super good and got a massive run, and I can’t block both lanes.
“It was fun racing, but just a couple inches short. I’m happy for Daniel, though. That was fun racing him and Kyle. That was fun.”
It was a race of remarkable ebb and flow. It was 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 …
It was a race of remarkable ebb and flow.
It was 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 would end in a three-wide photo finish, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez 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 Suarez ahead of Blaney by 0.003s at the stripe, with Kyle Busch in third, 0.007s behind the race winner.
As the three drivers sped through the final two corners, Suarez held the outside lane with Blaney on the bottom and Busch in the middle. Suarez surged forward approaching the finish line to earn his second career victory—and his first since June of 2022 at Sonoma—by the thinnest of margins.
Taking another look at the three-wide finish between Daniel Suárez, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney at Atlanta:
Suarez, whose No. 99 Trackhouse Race Chevrolet suffered damage to the hood on a lap two 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 Suarez and Busch mounted runs on the final lap on in the top and middle lanes, respectively. Blaney chose to make his bid for victory from the bottom lane and fell just short.
“It was so close, man,” said Suarez, still marveling that he was the winner. “It was so close. It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving pushes. In the back straightaway he didn’t push me because he knew I was going to [screw] his teammate, but man, what a job.
“We wrecked [on] lap two. The guys did an amazing job fixing this car. I can’t thank everyone enough, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, all the amazing fans here. Let’s go!”
Blaney held the bottom line…but it wasn’t quite enough. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images
As the final lap unfolded, Blaney was shocked at the force of the runs challenging him.
“I thought I laid back enough in [Turns] 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “I did that like the three laps before the end, and I was able to manage it kind of fairly well, and they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom, and it was the safest place to be.
“What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that, race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle. I can’t complain; I’ve won them by very, very little, too, so I can’t complain too much when I lose them by that much.”
To Busch, the outcome was predictable, given the positions of the cars in the final two corners.
“Yeah, typically whoever is behind getting into [Turn] 3 prevails at the start-finish line with the side draft and everything, so I was… I think I was second to the No. 12 (Blaney) right there, and the No. 99 was the furthest back, and he made the ground back up with the side draft and stuff…
“It’s good to see Daniel get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. Shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work, and that was a good part of today.”
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The start of the race was a harbinger of the wild finish.
Moments after crossing the finish line to complete the first lap of the race, Todd Gilliland checked up near the front of the field and stacked up the cars behind him. All told, 16 cars were involved, a track record for a single incident at the 1.54-mile speedway.
The machines of Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson all sustained heavy damage. Austin Dillon and Harrison Burton, early victims in last Monday’s DAYTONA 500, both were part of the melee.
Burton was able to continue, as was Suarez, who made multiple pit stops as his crew worked to repair has car. Dillon lost two laps on pit road but regained them as the beneficiary under the third and fourth cautions.
If the lap two wreck was an impediment for nearly half the field, the first attempt at green-flag pit stops in Stage 2 was equally discomfiting. Pole winner Michael McDowell locked his brakes near the pit road entrance in Turn 3 and collided with DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, costing both drivers a lap.
Speeding penalties impeded Busch, Berry, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, with Erik Jones’ crew drawing a penalty for a runaway tire. Like McDowell and Byron, those drivers all found themselves a lap down after their respective pass-throughs under green.
Through subsequent cautions, however, they regained the lead lap, and Busch raced his way into contention for the win.
Cindric finished fourth, followed by Wallace, Stenhouse, Chastain, McDowell and Chris Buescher, all of whom made commendable recoveries to earn top-10 results.
The race featured a record 48 lead changes among 14 drivers — the fifth straight race at Atlanta with more than a dozen leaders. Gilliland led a race-high 58 laps, a team record for a single race by a Front Row Motorsports driver. Cindric was out front for 32 laps, followed by Blaney (31) and Busch (28).
Suarez led twice for nine laps.
Joey Logano, the defending race winner, received unwelcome news before the start of the race. The driver of the No. 22 Ford was deemed to have violated NASCAR rule 14.3.1.1 governing driver protective clothing and equipment.
Logano’s left driving glove featured webbing between the thumb and forefinger, an unauthorized modification of SFI-approved equipment. Under an at-track penalty, Logano dropped from the second position to the rear of the field for the start and began to serve a pit-road pass-through when the pileup in Turn 1 on lap two slowed the field.
The misery of others was serendipity for Logano, who completed his pass-through without losing a lap. By the end of Stage 1 he was 12th, and after the top 10 pitted during the stage break, Logano was second when Stage 2 went green.
On lap 99, Logano passed Gilliland for the lead as part of a pack of six Fords at the front of the field. On the final lap the stage, however, Logano’s fortunes soured once again when his No. 22 Mustang pushed up the track on the backstretch and collected Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin.
Towed to his pit stall, Logano lost eight laps and any hope he might have had of defending his 2023 victory.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 3 at 3:30pm ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Joey Logano will have to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and serve a pass-through penalty. NASCAR announced Sunday that Logano’s gloves did not meet SFI specifications per section …
Joey Logano will have to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and serve a pass-through penalty.
NASCAR announced Sunday that Logano’s gloves did not meet SFI specifications per section 14.3.1.1 in the Rule Book, triggering the penalty. However, not only was it a safety violation, but NASCAR said it was also a competition penalty because the gloves were altered.
The pass-through penalty must be served at the start of the race. Logano will take the green flag and then commit to pit road at the entrance to Turn 3. He will likely lose multiple laps because of the length of pit road.
The No. 22 in-car camera feed from Saturday’s qualifying session clearly showed the altered glove.
Logano qualified second and was to start on the front row. He is the defending race winner.
Any additional penalties for Logano would be announced next week.
A three-time champion of the Daytona 500 was highly complimentary of the race’s newest champion this week. Denny Hamlin congratulated and praised William Byron on his podcast “Actions Detrimental,” saying the victory was well earned. The Joe Gibbs …
A three-time champion of the Daytona 500 was highly complimentary of the race’s newest champion this week.
Denny Hamlin congratulated and praised William Byron on his podcast “Actions Detrimental,” saying the victory was well earned. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who won at Daytona in 2016, 2019 and 2020, also told Byron it was his time to bask in the glory of winning the sport’s biggest race.
“He races so wise beyond his years, he really does,” Hamlin said. “I admire William, I admire his work ethic, who he is as a person.”
The victory was the 11th of Byron’s career in his seventh season at the Cup Series level. Hamlin is a series veteran and is considered a favorite when it comes to the superspeedway events. In his praise, Hamlin compared Byron to a former Hendrick Motorsports driver against whom he spent many years racing.
“I think of him (Byron) a lot like Jimmie Johnson in the sense of he just gets results; he gets a lot of results, and he’s not super flashy about it,” Hamlin said. “He’s a really good person outside the race car as he is in the race car. He always races fair with everyone. Have we ever heard William Byron getting into or wrecking someone?”
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Hamlin and Byron have gone toe-to-toe over the years. In the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2022, Byron spun Hamlin under caution. The two later hashed things out – on Hamlin’s podcast – and have moved on with no ill feelings. It’s why Hamlin didn’t even bring it up when making his statement about not hearing about Byron having issues with fellow drivers.
“I’ve got tremendous respect for him as a driver,” Hamlin said. “He’s going to be a very deserving and good Daytona 500 champion for us over the next 12 months.”
The 43-year-old Hamlin knows that Byron, who is 26, has many more years ahead of him with the potential to keep adding to his resume. Something Hamlin went into when asked Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway about all the praise he sent Byron’s way. It’s the progression of Byron through the NASCAR ranks in a short time and his development as a driver that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Hamlin.
“I think we saw it in the Truck Series to Xfinity Series, he always was winning,” Hamlin said. “And again, he’s always had really great equipment, but to have a lot of his teammates as well. He’s just continually, in my mind, gotten better and better. Then, to be [26 years old], he’s got such a long future ahead.
“He’s a guy that we could be talking about in that 60 (to) 70-win category if he keeps going on this pace. He’s got the potential.”
Sunoco rookie Jesse Love led almost all the laps, but in the end, it was his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Austin Hill, who had Saturday’s RAPTOR King of Tough 250 fall into his lap. For Hill, who won last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series …
Sunoco rookie Jesse Love led almost all the laps, but in the end, it was his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Austin Hill, who had Saturday’s RAPTOR King of Tough 250 fall into his lap.
For Hill, who won last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, it was the continuation of a serendipitous start to 2024. Hill is the first driver since Tony Stewart in 2008 to win the first two events of an Xfinity season.
The victory was Hill’s third in the last four races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the eighth of his career.
But victory for the driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet came at the expense of Love, who started from the pole, swept the first two stages and led 157 of 169 laps. Love ran out of fuel at the start of a two-lap overtime, as Hill grabbed the lead for the first time and held off eventual runner-up Chandler Smith by 0.106s.
JESSE LOVE OUT OF FUEL. BACK-TO-BACK WINS FOR AUSTIN HILL.
The bottom line? Running behind the leaders in a single-file line, Hill was able to save more fuel than his teammate at the front of the pack. Hill had enough in his tank to stave off Smith who had pitted for fuel under caution on lap 164.
“I was really thinking we were down and out,” Hill said. “I was thinking the No. 2 (Love) was going to go get ‘em, and hey, if I can’t win, let my teammate win. We were riding there in fourth or fifth—whatever it was—I was saving fuel…”
On the overtime restart on lap 168, Hill’s car stumbled when he shifted from third to fourth gear.
“The No. 81 (Smith) hit me really hard, and that woke it back up, and I had enough fuel to complete the lap. But I’ve got to take this moment to congratulate, Jesse Love, my teammate. He ran an awesome race. To be a rookie and to lead that many laps, he should be sitting in Victory Lane right now.”
The coup de grace for Love came when the Ford of Ryan Sieg ran out of fuel on lap 161 of a scheduled 163 and stopped on the track in Turn 4. The caution extended the race by six laps and allowed a dozen cars to pit before the overtime restart.
Among those who took advantage of the fuel stop was New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who finished third in his second Xfinity Series start.
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“It’s almost comical,” Love said. “Man, I’m just so…proud of everybody on this Whelen car. It just wasn’t meant to be. Obviously, as a Christian, I’m not going to allow myself to question why we were under caution so long or what happened.
“I always try to take responsibility for everything, so I as a driver I should have saved more fuel. Man, I just didn’t want anybody to catch me off-guard. I thought I saved a ton. Man, that overtime or that caution just lasted forever.
“No matter what, I’m really proud of our guys. We had a great showing. Led a lot of laps man. It just wasn’t in store for us today.”
Van Gisbergen was delighted to be on the other side of the fuel equation.
“Pretty awesome,” he said. “Great job by (crew chief) Bruce (Schlicker) on the box there to pit us. I had so much fun. Just learning about it and running in the pack. Yeah, to be P3 in the second race in the WeatherTech Chevy is pretty awesome. I’m stoked.
“It’s just good to get a result and have a clean car, especially after last week (at Daytona) when I got involved in so much stuff. So, to have a clean race, not make too many mistakes, and complete every lap, we learned a lot. It was awesome.”
Riley Herbst, Love’s foremost challenger over the closing laps was among the first to run out of fuel—from the second position on lap 160. Cole Custer hit empty almost simultaneously, then Sieg, causing the fateful caution.
The gas shortage throughout the field scrambled the finishing order, leaving Sheldon Creed fourth and Parker Retzlaff fifth. Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Truex and Sammy Smith completed the top 10.
Note: Love is the first driver since Christopher Bell in 2017 to lead more than 100 laps in his first two Xfinity Series starts combined. Bell led 152 of 250 laps in his second start at Iowa. Love led 34 laps in his series debut last Monday at Daytona, giving him a total of 191 for the two races.
Spire Motorsports in 2024 is a ‘totally different team’ to Corey LaJoie. The organization has moved into a brand-new race shop after purchasing the assets of Kyle Busch Motorsports, has increased support from partners, added engineering, and much …
Spire Motorsports in 2024 is a ‘totally different team’ to Corey LaJoie. The organization has moved into a brand-new race shop after purchasing the assets of Kyle Busch Motorsports, has increased support from partners, added engineering, and much more.
LaJoie met with the media Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and said it’s almost as if they are now a legitimate race team. As such, the expectations for LaJoie and his No. 7 team have changed from just wanting to race to now racing with intention.
The configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway doesn’t matter to Brad Keselowski because success has been a constant. Keselowski led the spring race at Atlanta on the final lap last year in one of the strongest showings of the season for the No. 6 RFK …
The configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway doesn’t matter to Brad Keselowski because success has been a constant.
Keselowski led the spring race at Atlanta on the final lap last year in one of the strongest showings of the season for the No. 6 RFK Racing team, even though he ended up bested by former teammate Joey Logano and finished second. The performance, however, gives Keselowski and his group a good notebook for approaching Sunday’s race (3pm ET, Fox).
“I like the track,” Keselowski said. “I feel good here. I feel like we understand what we need out of our car and yeah, I feel like we can win come Sunday. It’s a good track for us, but nothing is given to you — you have to go earn it. Just because you ran well last year, everybody is working on their stuff in order to get better, so I don’t take it for granted. I do feel like it’s a track that, even before it was reconfigured, suited me well and continues to do so.”
The former Cup Series champion hasn’t won yet driving the car he owns. Keselowski became a co-owner of RFK Racing in 2022, and his last Cup Series victory was in the spring of 2021 while driving for Team Penske (Talladega Superspeedway).
Sunday will be Keselowski’s 100th start since that victory. It’s not a streak – or drought – he’s concerned about.
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“I’m not paying any attention to it, honestly,” Keselowski said. “What matters to me is I would rather be fast every week and contending for wins than fall…into a race win and say, ‘Oh streak’s over.’ I want to be fast. I want to be contending and in the hunt.
“We did that last week and I’m proud of that, and I think we have a good shot to do that this week. That’s what matters to me.”
It’s the longest stretch Keselowski has gone without a victory in his Cup Series career. He scored at least one win each season from 2011 through 2021.
“I never was not hungry,” Keselowski said of getting back to victory lane. “I don’t know how to get any hungrier.”
A breakthrough win wouldn’t come as a surprise at Atlanta. Whereas a year ago, Atlanta and other superspeedway racetracks were opportunity races for the team, their progression has made them weekly contenders.
“I do feel that we can win anywhere,” Keselowski said. “I would have liked to have more speed in qualifying than what we showed, but I feel confident that we’ve got a lot of great pieces, a lot of maturity in our team, and I could see us winning tomorrow and being a threat all day long.”
