It had been nearly 30 years since race fans at Atlanta Motor Speedway last saw a Georgia-born driver – especially one from a prominent Dawsonville racing family – take the checkered flag. In another dramatic race in Atlanta that kept everyone guessing until the very end, the checkered flag finally waved for another favorite from Georgia.
After leading with two laps to go in a frantic finish, Chase Elliott won the Quaker State 400 by dropping a block on Corey LaJoie to earn his third win of the 2022 season and his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Elliott’s win was the first for a Georgia-born driver at Atlanta Motor Speedway since Chase’s father, Bill Elliott, won the final race of the 1992 season.
After five different drivers won two races each this season, Elliott’s three victories are now the most of any driver this year, moving him one step closer to the regular season championship and the top of the playoff standings.
Quaker State 400 unofficial results
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #1 – Ross Chastain
- #2 – Austin Cindric (right)
- #43 – Eric Jones
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
- #99 – Daniel Suarez
- #31 – Justin Haley
- #10 – Aric Almirola
- #19 – Martin Truex Jr
- #4 – Kevin Harvick
As you might expect, Chase Elliott’s win was hugely popular with the Atlanta crowd, who made their approval clear as Elliott celebrated on the frontstretch after making an aggressive move to protect his lead in Turn 1 on the final lap.
“Obviously I knew it was going to be a big hit,” Elliott told NBC Sports. “I didn’t really want to give him the bottom and I tried to give him a real, good, aggressive block. I felt like I had enough room to give him a second, and he was right there, the right side of my rear bumper. So he was far enough behind the bumper to shoot me forward.
“I hate that you wrecked some cars, but I don’t know what you’re doing. Either you’re looking for the win or you’re not. I’ll take Option A any day of the week.”
Here are more results from the eventful 400 miles:
Corey pays his punch
To date, Corey LaJoie has built credibility as a Cup Series driver largely through his work as a podcaster, as his Spire Motorsports team does not have the funding or resources to compete every week. Designing tracks is LaJoie’s ability to contend, and after finishing a career-best fifth in the spring, he made it abundantly clear what approach he’s taking to Atlanta.
“If it’s a super-speedway, we’ve got to attack and be able to throw a Hail Mary and steal one,” LaJoie said during a media teleconference Tuesday.
What transpired on Sunday was a fever dream over the last 50 laps for LaJoie: he moved into the top five in the final closing laps of the race, leading several times for a total of 19 laps and putting himself in position to win with an excellent start on the restart with eight laps to go. LaJoie led for the final restart with three laps to go, lost the lead to Elliott with two to go, but went to work to set up the winning move entering Turn 1 on the final lap.
Backing up to run against Elliott, LaJoie made his shot by looking to the outside of Elliott. But Elliott was able to throw the block onto LaJoie and LaJoie ended up on the outside wall before spinning down the inside and taking Kurt Busch with him, finishing 21st and reversing what was perhaps one of the most shocking upsets in recent NASCAR history instead in one of the biggest heartbreakers.
“It was nice to get that thing out there for once,” LaJoie told NBC Sports. “I made my move and it didn’t work out. He made a good block and the horn was ringing at Dawsonville unfortunately…I wish the #7 car was in Victory Lane. But if we keep running like this more consistently, that time will come.”
Ross Chastain vs. the world
After second place BearBond all over the front of Ross Chastain’s car told the story of his day pretty well: Chastain’s bumper was used, accidents ensued, and a lot of drivers who were mad at Ross Chastain.
First, Chastain got into the back of Martin Truex Jr. and spun him in the middle of the pack, causing a nine-car pileup that sent Austin Dillon hard into the wall and angered Chastain’s driving. Aric Almirola was later so irritated by Chastain’s driving that he angrily remarked, “He better hope I don’t see him at Food Lion” during the week.
Then, late in the race, Chastain lost his nose in Turns 3 and 4 but stayed on the gas, driving into Denny Hamlin’s left rear quarter panel, spinning Hamlin and renewing the anger Chastain inflicted on Gateway last month.
Although Hamlin didn’t get revenge on Chastain — he collected in another crash shortly after and didn’t get a chance — he issued more words of warning after the race.
“Everyone has different tolerance levels, of course … I’ve reached my peak,” Hamlin told reporters after the race. “Eventually everything sorts itself out.”
Explaining the end of the incident with Hamlin, Chastain stated that he had overestimated how fast he could get to the middle of the turn with the damage to his car before losing his nose, and that he would try to explain that to Hamlin.
“You all know I’d take full responsibility if I just ran into him. But I had so much damage, I was so tighter,” Chastain told reporters. “We had done a lot to loosen the car up but it was just too tight and I just couldn’t carry the throttle like I could before.
“I still picked up some, but it wasn’t enough. I don’t put it anywhere near the other incidents.”
Competition results
- Austin Cindric’s top-10 streak continues as he finished third and posted his best finish since winning the Daytona 500 in February. Cindric now has four consecutive top 10 finishes, two of which are top fives.
- With a fourth-place finish, Eric Jones scored his second top five of the season and his sixth top 10. That’s as many top fives as the Petty No. 1 driver. 43, since Aric Almirola had three in 2017, and also matches Jones’ Top 10 in scoring throughout 2021.
- When Cole Custer came in and got part of the crash on the final lap, it looked like the racing gods had turned their backs on him again. Then, finally, a bit of luck: Custer was able to keep moving and maintain his pace, which allowed him to finish ninth and finally score his first top 10 of the season.
- Harrison Burton’s best day yet. Burton led twice for a career-high nine laps and came home 10th to score the first top-10 finish of his Cup career.
- With a car that didn’t perform to his liking and some damage after collapsing in a mid-race crash, Bubba Wallace was a non-factor in a speedway race for the first time in quite some time. But it wasn’t all bad as Wallace was able to keep his nose clear in the final laps to finish 14th – just his fifth top 15 finish of the year.
- Michael McDowell entered the top 10 early, but damage from the nine-car crash in Turn 2 saw him cut a tire and go a full three laps down. But McDowell stayed in the race, returned to the lead lap and came home in 15th place.
- Christopher Bell was a factor all day until turning himself in at the very end. Although Bell’s incident was just a harmless skid across the infield grass, the ensuing pit stop would result in the right rear wheel immediately falling off Bell’s car, having not been tightened enough. Bell finished in 19th place.
Next race
The NASCAR Cup Series winds down a bit next week as it heads to the Northeast and The Magic Mile at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Ambetter 301 next Sunday at 3pm ET.
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