Daniel Suarez wins wild Atlanta Cup race in three-wide photo finish

Suarez, who had recovered from a multi-car accident on lap 2, lost the lead on a restart with five of 260 laps remaining, but was able to power to the outside lane on the last lap as Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney raced side-by-side.

Suarez made it three-wide coming off Turn 4 and the trio raced that way to the checkered flag, with no clear winner and prompted a NASCAR review.

Once completed, NASCAR declared Suarez the winner by .003 seconds over Blaney, handing the Mexican his second career win and first since the 2022 season. Officially, it’s the third closest finish in series History.

“It was so damn close, man. It was so damn close,” an emotional Suarez said after the race. “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 (expletive) his teammate, but man, what a job.

“We wrecked lap 2. The guys did an amazing job fixing this car. I can’t thank everyone enough … all the amazing fans here. Let’s go!”

Suarez, who hasn’t had much luck at the superspeedways of Daytona or Talladega, has performed well at the reconfigured Atlanta, now with four finishes of sixth or better in five starts.

The win all-but ensures Suarez will be one of the 16 drivers to compete for the 2024 series championship.

Kyle Busch was credited with a third-place finish, Cindric fourth and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 are Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs.

Race winner Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Stage 1

McDowell edged Blaney by 0.248 seconds in a one-lap dash to take the Stage 1 win, his third career stage victory. Chastain was third, Kyle Larson fourth and Busch fifth.

A large 16-car accordion-like wreck erupted on the outside line on Lap 2 that ended up knocking several drivers out of contention early, including Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Josh Williams.

Stage 2

Cindric claimed the Stage 2 win under caution as his Penske teammate, Joey Logano, got caught up in a wreck with Denny Hamlin and Buescher. Larson ended up second, Blaney third, Suarez fourth and Maritn Truex Jr. fifth.

During a round of green flag pit stops late in the stage, McDowell and William Byron collided while entering pit road, but both cars were able to continue on without a caution.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all cars hit pit road with Todd Gilliland the first off. Blaney and Larson both had issues on their stops, with Larson forced to pit a second time.

When the final stage went green on lap 171, Gilliland led Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.

A spin by Kaz Grala placed the race under caution on lap 176 and sent several drivers down pit road for fuel only. Gilliland remained on the track and in the lead with 80 laps to go.

While running three-wide on lap 199, Chastain got into the back of Elliott and spun him off the track to bring out the seventh caution of the race.

Several drivers elected to use the opportunity to pit for fuel to make it to the end of the race. Truex was the first off pit road among those who stopped. McDowell remained on the track and inherited the lead when the race returned to green with 55 laps remaining.

Cindric went low to take the field four-wide and emerged as the leader with 50 to go.

A multi-car wreck involving Larson, Corey LaJoie and Keselowski brought out a caution and set up a restart with 35 laps remaining and Denny Hamlin out front.

Chase Briscoe and Hamlin got together in Turn 3 on lap 240 and NASCAR was forced to red flag the race for nearly 12 minutes to clean fluid from the track. The race returned to green with 15 laps to go and Blaney leading Cindric and Suarez.

Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar and Elliott got together to bring out the 10th caution and set up another restart with five laps remaining and Suarez out front.