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The final few laps in the 2021 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway turned into a battle royale between two rival organizations. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney passed Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson with under 10 laps to go Sunday (March 21) after Larson had trouble getting around Joey Logano. Blaney’s Penske cohort was trying to hang onto a lead-lap finish, creating dirty air for Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet in the process.
Larson admitted after the race his tires were worn, but it sure didn’t help to have Logano racing right in front of him. Was the No. 22 Ford driver in the wrong and should he have given Larson and Blaney more room to race among themselves? Frontstretch’s Bryan Nolen and Adam Cheek discuss the issue, along with the length of Atlanta’s 500-mile event and the incident between Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier in the weekend.
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Bryan Nolen is the Operations Manager and Multimedia Director for Frontstretch.com. He also hosts the Bringing the Heat with Bryan Nolen Podcast and occasionally makes appearances on The Happy Hour Podcast. He has a Sportscasting degree from the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. He resides in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, his French Bulldog Archer and two rabbits.
Follow him on Twitter @TheBryanNolen
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.
What would be the difference in reaction if it was Ryan Newman instead of Joey?
i thought this sport was racing. work to get around a car you want to pass.
Had Joey already been a lap down then he should have let the leaders go that late in the race,,,, but he wasn’t,,, so what’s the problem? He did exactly what he supposed to do.
Larson’s car was falling off anyway. If it wasn’t then he could have passed Logano with ease as he had passed all the other cars.
Not really, he was more like a matador waving Blaney by. Logano’s name is frequently mentioned as an unnecessary obstruction when a competitor is leading or catching one of his teammates. Then again he’s about the worst chop blocker out there.
What are teammates for?
Joey knows who signs his checks.
And, I thought there was a rule you had to give 100 percent all the time?
Well next time give Joey a small bump with your bumper and if he keeps blocking, then just give him the hole bumper. This isn’t the first time he has pulled this blocking crap.