Joey Logano Wins Playoff Opener at Atlanta 

It was a thrilling finish to a thrilling race at Atlanta Motor Speedway to kick off the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, as it came down to an overtime restart between Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing.

Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney of Team Penske lined up on the inside, while February winner Daniel Suarez and his teammate Ross Chastain lined up on the outside for the final restart of the race. While Logano and Suarez battled side-by-side, Logano was able get a last-lap push from Blaney to hold off Suarez for the win. A mid-pack wreck also happened on the final lap, as the caution lights would come on before Logano took the checkered flag. This win marked the second win of the season for Logano, as he would punch his ticket to the round of 12. 

“They just give me really fast cars on superspeedways, and we always find ourselves towards the front of them, we just end up wrecking more times than not,” Logano said after the race. “So, to be able to finally capitalize on a fast race car and win here in Atlanta again, I lived right over there in condo 805 for a long time (as a child racing Legend Cars), waking up dreaming of just racing on this race track.

“So, pulling into Victory Lane here is always a special one. We had such a really good team here today. It’s awesome to get (sponsor) Autotrader into Victory Lane, and the JL Kids Crew (one of Logano’s charitable enterprises) are here today, so it’s really cool to finally win with them here.”

With the timing of the last lap caution, Daniel Suarez would barely beat Ryan Blaney for second. However, even with the third-place finish, Blaney took over the points lead by five points over Christopher Bell, who finished fourth. This all comes after Blaney survived a three-car wreck on Lap 205 of 260. Alex Bowman would also complete the top five after having a solid, consistent run all race long.

In that same Lap 205 wreck, Martin Truex Jr would sustain heavy damage and would finish the race 12 laps down. He heads into Watkins Glen next week 18 points below the cutline. 

Suarez came up short of this second win of the season, as he and Logano battled side-by-side until Ross Chastain would lose momentum enough to where he wasn’t able to give Suarez the push he needed to win.

“No, definitely not satisfied,” Suarez said after the race. “I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it.”

“Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But that is part of racing, right?”

It wasn’t a good day however for Kyle Larson, as on Lap 56 and running in third, his No.5 Chevrolet suddenly snapped loose, hitting the way head-on in turn two. What then followed was Chase Briscoe running into the back of Larson. This comes just a week after Briscoe scored a walk-off win to make the playoffs. 

“I’m OK,” Larson said after leaving the infield care center. “Thankfully, everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it.”

“I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner, and it just stepped out. I don’t know, it all just happened really fast.”

While Larson is still in a decent spot, Briscoe is now left in an almost must-win situation after that wreck.

“It was a big hit, one of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time,” Briscoe said. “I’m glad I’m all right, and we just have to go win. That’s what we had to do at Darlington, and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”

Larson leaves Atlanta in 10th in the playoff standings, just 15 points above the current cut line for the Round of 12. Briscoe is 16th in the standings, 20 points below the cut line. 

Tyler Reddick was sixth, Kyle Busch was seventh, while Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Austin Cindric rounded out the top ten. Harrison Burton was collected in the last-lap wreck, resulting him in a 31st-place finish, while Ty Gibbs was 17^th after leading 37 laps. Brad Keselowski finished 19^th and is tied with Gibbs for the final playoff spot in 12th. Denny Hamlin was not a factor during the race, as he ran in the back of the pack all race long, only to get collected in the last lap wreck as well, resulting in a 24th-place finish.