HAMPTON, Ga. – Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano finds himself back in Victory Lane as the #22 Ford Mustang driver logged his first win of the 2023 Cup Series season at the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Team Penske driver execute a last-lap pass to clinch the title in the 400-mile-long race.
After the two dueled for the lead throughout the final laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Joey Logano was able to win the Ambetter Health 400 with two major shoves to get to and then past Keselowski on the last lap. Logano received a big push from Corey LaJoie entering turn one on the final lap that got him to Keselowski’s bumper, and then swung to the outside of Keselowski to get alongside him by the exit of turn two.
Logano then received a massive push from Christopher Bell down the backstretch, propelling him out front to his first win of the 2023 season and the first win of his career at Atlanta.
Logano crossed the finish line. Logano and Keselowski’s cars were split by 0.193 of a second.
This was Ford’s 36th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Atlanta. The manufacturer won its first race at Atlanta with NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen on July 9, 1961.
There were five caution periods for a total of 34 laps. Twenty-three of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Logano leaves Atlanta as the championship leader by just a single point over second-place Christopher Bell.
Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 8th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 259 of 260 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 24th, Finished 28th / Running, completed 244 of 260 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 5th, Finished 30th / Accident, completed 208 of 260 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 6th, Finished 33rd / Accident, completed 190 of 260 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (6th with 155 points, 22 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 72 points, 105 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (26th with 63 points, 114 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (27th with 63 points, 114 out of first)
Aric Almirola led twice for 17 laps, increasing his laps-led total at Atlanta to 67.
“I’m OK. It knocked the wind out of me, mostly because it caught me by surprise, but I’m OK. I blew a tire. I just blew a tire. I have no idea why. We had way fewer laps on that set of tires than we had earlier, so I don’t know,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.
Harvick led one lap, increasing his laps led total at Atlanta to a series-leading 1,360.
“I think he (Ross Chastain) 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. 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,” said Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Break4Busch Ford Mustang.
“We’ve got some work to do before we come back here,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. I’m not sure what exactly we were dealing with, but the balance was never where it needed to be in the draft. It would snap loose at the worst time, and that’s how we ended up in the wall and having to fix a toe link. I’m glad we were able to get some of our position back, but I wish it had been a better ending for us.”
“That was a really tough day. Just a struggle all around. We couldn’t run the top at all and then we had something wrong with the car and spent the rest of the race trying to diagnose it,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
