Fans at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s (Feb. 25) Ambetter Health 400 got treated to an electric race and non-stop action with 48 lead changes, the most ever for a NASCAR Cup Series race in the Georgian capital. That’s not even mentioning one of the most thrilling finishes in years, where Daniel Suarez beat Ryan Blaney in what proved to be the third-closest finish in Cup history.
Blaney crossed the stripe just 0.003 seconds behind Suarez, while Kyle Busch in third was not far behind at 0.007. And while I can’t confirm it on the spot, I’m pretty damn sure that there has never been a closer finish between three cars in NASCAR’s history. If Blaney wasn’t there, Suarez’s margin over Busch would’ve been good enough for the 10th-closest in Cup history.
So, what about the two races ahead of Sunday? Both of them were decided by two one-thousandths of a second, and the first was a dogfight at Darlington Raceway between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch in the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 — to this day, it’s what many (myself included) consider to be the greatest NASCAR finish of all time.
The second came at Talladega Superspeedway in the 2011 Aaron’s 499, where Jimmie Johnson just barely beat Clint Bowyer to the stripe in a three-wide finish between four tandems and eight individual cars.
While both finishes are officially tied in the margin of victory, Darlington was the closer of the two in length, as the speeds at Darlington were significantly slower than the ones at Talladega.
When looking at the finishes that Atlanta just beat out, there are a total of 16 Cup races that have been decided by one one-hundredth of a second or less.
| Rank | Track/Date | Margin | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 1 | 2003 Darlington 1 | 0.002 | Ricky Craven | Kurt Busch |
| 1 | 2011 Talladega 1 | 0.002 | Jimmie Johnson | Clint Bowyer |
| 3 | 2024 Atlanta 1 | 0.003 | Daniel Suarez | Ryan Blaney |
| 4 | 2001 Daytona Duel 2 | 0.004 | Mike Skinner | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 5 | 1993 Daytona 2 | 0.005 | Dale Earnhardt | Ernie Irvan |
| 5 | 2007 Daytona 2 | 0.005 | Jamie McMurray | Kyle Busch |
| 5 | 2011 Daytona Duel 2 | 0.005 | Jeff Burton | Clint Bowyer |
| 8 | 2001 Atlanta 1 | 0.006 | Kevin Harvick | Jeff Gordon |
| 8 | 2010 Daytona Duel 1 | 0.006 | Jimmie Johnson | Kevin Harvick |
| 10 | 2019 Talladega 2 | 0.007 | Ryan Blaney | Ryan Newman |
| 10 | 2020 Talladega 1 | 0.007 | Ryan Blaney | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 12 | 1994 Daytona 2 | 0.008 | Jimmy Spencer | Ernie Irvan |
| 13 | 2000 Atlanta 1 | 0.010 | Dale Earnhardt | Bobby Labonte |
| 13 | 2004 Rockingham | 0.010 | Matt Kenseth | Kasey Kahne |
| 13 | 2016 Daytona 1 | 0.010 | Denny Hamlin | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 13 | 2016 Phoenix 1 | 0.010 | Kevin Harvick | Carl Edwards |
- Eleven of 16 were at superspeedways, with seven at Daytona, three at Talladega and the most recent addition with Atlanta’s new configuration.
- Three of the 16 races did not count for points, all of which were Daytona 500 qualifying races.
- Just five of the 16 came at non-drafting tracks, with two at the 1997-2021 Atlanta configuration plus one each at Rockingham Speedway, Phoenix Raceway and Darlington.
- Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick and Blaney are the only Cup drivers to have won multiple points-paying races by a hundredth of a second or less.
NASCAR’s secret weapon for guaranteeing more of these photo finishes in the future? It seems to be the defending Cup champion Blaney. Whenever he’s in contention to win at a superspeedway — win or lose — it almost always ends in a dead heat.
About the author
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.
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