Who… should you be talking about after the race?
He never saw the lead until lap 257, but Joey Logano saw the checkers first at Atlanta Motor Speedway, wining the Quaker State 400 to open the playoffs.
Logano had a good car and he was solid all day, working with Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney, who combined to lead 125 laps on Sunday (Sept. 8). He was consistently able to pass cars throughout the afternoon, and a push from Blaney was the difference as Logano took over on an overtime restart to fire the first playoff shot, locking himself into the Round of 12.
Logano’s playoff stealth shouldn’t be a surprise. He has two titles because he’s consistent in the regular season and wins when he needs to in the playoffs. He’s figured out how the postseason works for him.
And don’t forget Kyle Busch.
Busch isn’t racing for stage points or playoff points. He’s only in it to win, and he’s looked closer to that every week lately. He led twice for 24 laps on Sunday and had a late run foiled by cautions. A shuffle on the last restart left him seventh after rubber-up finishes the previous two weeks. His bid for a 20th straight season with a win isn’t over.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
The biggest news of the weekend came off the track, when it was revealed that, given a hard deadline on Friday, all but two teams have finally agreed on a new charter deal with NASCAR. No details of the agreement have been released. The holdouts were Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing. 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin has been vocal about the agreement needing to be more favorable to teams.
With some reports of teams being given just hours to sign NASCAR’s latest offering under threat of losing their charters altogether, and with no viable alternative racing series in sight, most teams capitulated.
The question now is how NASCAR will react to the holdouts.
With the deal signed by the majority, there’s no more room for negotiation; they aren’t getting a different deal. 23XI, in particular, has some clout thanks to superstar co-owner Michael Jordan, but while Hamlin has been vocal about NASCAR needing the teams, the truth is that the teams also need NASCAR.
There is no viable alternative right now for owners. NASCAR knows that. Starting a racing series that could truly rival NASCAR in popularity and revenue isn’t something that can happen in the offseason.
The holdouts probably don’t have much of a choice but to sign. If they don’t, then NASCAR needs to stick to its guns because empty threats don’t end well for anyone. Either way, squabbles like this one aren’t good for anyone.
Where… did the other key players wind up?
Pole winner Michael McDowell swept the top spot at Atlanta this year, winning his fifth pole of the season in the process. This time, McDowell led twice for a solid total of 30 laps and had speed, but got shuffled back late and had to settle for 22nd.
Spring Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez almost pulled off the repeat. The leader at the final caution, Suarez went door-to-door with Logano for the lead in overtime, but a mistimed run with teammate Ross Chastain left Suarez just short. He finished second.
Regular season champion Tyler Reddick had a quiet day. He didn’t score a single stage point and never led a lap. Yet when the checkers flew, Reddick finished sixth and leaves a solid fifth in points.
Kyle Larson missed out on the regular season title by a single point, but he still had 40 playoff points entering the weekend to fall back on, the most of any driver. And he needed every last one. Larson crashed in the first stage on lap when the No. suddenly snapped out from under him. Larson was OK after the incident, but his car was not, and he opened the playoffs with a 37th-place finish.
Last week’s winner Chase Briscoe squeezed into the playoffs at the last minute by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway last weekend, but his luck didn’t hold on Sunday. He was collected in Larson’s spin and wound up out of the race and dead last in 38th. That drops him well below the playoff cut line with two races left in the opening round.
When… was the moment of truth?
Parts of Sunday’s race were typical of what Atlanta has become: Daytona International Speedway Lite with a little more throttle response for avoiding trouble. There was an almost inevitable crash on the way to the checkers in overtime.
What kept it interesting, at least until the last restart or so, was the number of non-playoff drivers in the top 10. It didn’t end that way, with Busch as the token would-be spoiler in the top group. In the playoff era, the sport needs those drivers in the mix. A Busch win in a 20th straight win is something NASCAR should want to see. Wins by non-playoff drivers, too.
Why?
The sport needs unpredictability. If playoff drivers win all of the races in the final 10, there’s not a lot of incentive for fans of other drivers to watch. Unpredictability is important … and Sunday at least partly filled that bill.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
The Cup Series heads north to Watkins Glen International for the second installment of the playoffs. Thanks to the Olympic break, the race moves into the playoffs from its traditional August weekend. It returns to August next year, but considering how solid the Next Gen cars have been at Charlotte Motor Speedway, could a great race at the Glen next week make NASCAR reconsider for 2026? That would allow for the playoff road race to be on a dedicated road course and Charlotte to return to the oval.
Who should fans be watching at the Glen? While he only has three Cup starts at the track, Christopher Bell has three top-10 finishes and a 6.0 average finish to show for them. Bell has had a quietly excellent season, and a lock-in to the next round just makes him that much more dangerous in the title hunt.
Reddick also has three top 10s in three starts at the Glen. Busch, Chase Elliott and Larson top active drivers with two wins apiece.
How… is the 2024 title run shaping up?
Of course, just one race into the playoffs, absolutely nothing is set in stone other than Logano moving on to the next round.
Currently on the wrong side of the cut line, it just might be last-place driver Briscoe who’s in the least amount of trouble here. Briscoe has run well the last three weeks with only his win at Darlington to show for it. His cars have had some speed, though, and he made the playoff cut because he had nothing to lose. He’s still in that position, while Martin Truex Jr. and Harrison Burton, in particular, are just racing to not lose, which doesn’t often have the desired result.
Though he’s currently a couple of points to the good, Hamlin struggled hard at Atlanta, running at the back and admitting afterward that his team’s plan for the day was to try to take home 20 points. Twenty points is a mid-pack finish with no stage points, hardly a lofty goal for a driver in attack mode for a championship. His head’s barely above water. Hamlin has a win at Watkins Glen and is very good at Bristol, but he can’t enter either race in survival mode.
On the other end of the spectrum, Logano is doing what he does best, heating up in the playoffs. Bell has been quietly good all year. Blaney’s silk purse from a sow’s ear earns him a closer look. These three look like they could be setting up deep runs this year.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
Mr Choke will be nervous all week. A mistake by anyone at the Glen could take him out, leaving him in a choke position at Bristol. A lot of drivers owe Denny a payback. Wouldn’t it be a real shame lol
I’d like to see a good article about the charter system and what it’s all about. What are the reasons why 23IX and Front Row are holding out?
Why were there two “debris” cautions so teams didn’t have to make green flag pit stops? To me, the timing lines extending to turn three could mean a pit stop will cost at least two laps.