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.”