William Byron has won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway after rain and the threat of lightning brought it to an end on Lap 185.
The driver of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet accomplished this feat by gambling after the end of Stage 2. Brad Keselowski led the field to pit road for fuel and tyres after winning the stage while AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Byron, Daniel Suarez, and several others stayed out on the track.
The members of this group did not have enough fuel to make it through the final stage, but that wasn’t their goal. They just hoped to make as many moves forward as possible before the rain hit the track. Maximizing points and battling for the win became the priority.
Unlike the Chicago street course, where Shane van Gisbergen was victorious last week, NASCAR cannot run in the wet weather at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The speeds are too high, and it is longer than one mile (1.61 kilometres) in length.
Allmendinger and McDowell led the field to the green flag for the restart, but they could not maintain their spots. Byron took the lead on Lap 167, two laps after the restart, and he held on until Lap 178 when Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece brought out the caution with spins.
The drivers remained out on the track under caution for seven laps as NASCAR’s Control Tower monitored the weather. Lightning was striking in the distance while raindrops were falling in certain sections of the track, so there were concerns about restarting the race and the potential of a multi-car crash.
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The rain ultimately intensified to the point that NASCAR called the cars back to pit road and displayed the red flag. With the ongoing threat of severe weather and the size of the storm on the radar, NASCAR made the decision to call the race and award Byron his fourth win of the season.
The driver of the #24 HMS Chevrolet, who actually spun from the 24th position on Lap 80, celebrated his fourth win of the season. He also captured the 2,000th win for Goodyear Tyres. In an interesting historical twist, Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon captured the 1,000th win for Goodyear while driving the #24 HMS Chevrolet.
While Byron put himself further in control of the top seed in the playoffs, McDowell and Suarez put themselves on the cutline for the final playoff spot.
McDowell and Suarez joined Wallace, who lost his points advantage after the late spin. They set themselves up for the final run to the playoffs while further complicating the playoff picture.
There are seven races remaining in the Cup Series regular season. Next up is New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 16, the track where Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell won in 2022 to secure his spot in the playoffs.
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