NASCAR at Atlanta column, Part One: First, the Good and the Bad — the UGLY is
Editor’s note: Full results, race notes and updated driver standings are at the bottom of this file. And don’t forget to check out Part Two — the UGLY part of Sunday’s race.
If Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race would have been made into a movie, it would have been an updated version of a reel classic, with a title that would be a no-brainer: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
Instead of starring Clint Eastwood, the 2022 version would star Chase Elliott (the Good), Corey LaJoie (the Bad) and the Ugly (Ross Chastain).
We’re going to give you two columns about Sunday’s race here at AutoRacingDigest.com. First will be about the good and the bad. The second column will be about the ugly – and it definitely was and likely will lead to even more ugliness as the season goes on.
Enjoy:
First, was the good.
Sunday’s Quaker State 400 was a finish that was as good as it gets, as Elliott emerged with the win, holding off runner-up Chastain, who was deprived of one more last-second bid for the lead when a last-lap caution froze the field and gave Elliott the win.
There’s even more good news for Chase: he joined his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, as only the second father-son combo to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the other being Dale Earnhardt and son Dale Jr.
And, Elliott became the first Cup driver this season to earn a third win, with four others having two wins each and eight drivers who have won just once thus far. Sunday’s race was the 19th of the season, meaning just seven races remain to reach the end of the 26-race “regular season” – in other words, the run-up to the 10-race, 16-driver playoffs.
It wasn’t a perfect race for Elliott, but it was darn near there. He not only won the race, he also captured each of the first two stages.
“This one’s up there, for sure, man,” Elliott replied when asked by NBC/USA Network where his first-ever Cup win on his home racetrack – he grew up about 90 miles north of Atlanta Motor Speedway in tiny Dawsonville, Georgia – ranked among the other 15 races he’s won in his Cup career.
“To win at your home track is really a big deal to any race car driver,” the younger Elliott said. “I’ve watched a lot of guys do it (winning on their home track) over the years, like Jimmie (Johnson) in California. We haven’t really had a very good run here, so I felt like today was a great opportunity for us.
“This is obviously home for me, home to a lot of great fans who made a lot of noise today, home for NAPA, right down the road in Atlanta. I couldn’t be more proud of our team
“What a car. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a speedway car that good. If we had, I probably wrecked it down at Daytona. Man, what a few weeks it’s been. I feel like I gave one away last week and to come back and put on a performance like that, I’m really proud of that.”
And tiny Dawsonville was proud of Elliott in return, as its infamous pool hall sounded its well-known emergency warning siren after Elliott’s win, a tradition that dates back to when Bill was driving and the siren would go off in his honor with each Cup win. It’s a tradition that has continued since Chase reached the Cup level full-time…
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