Logano gets first Atlanta victory with late pass of Keselowski
HAMPTON, Ga. — Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski provided a rarity for NASCAR and Atlanta Motor Speedway: a last-lap battle without collateral damage.
For a change, there were no late wrecks. No overtime necessary.
Just a clean finish between hard racers headed to the checkered flag.
Logano started in pole position, dominated early, then passed Keselowski on the final lap to win Sunday at Atlanta, in the process ending the domination of Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports during the early portion of the 2023 schedule.
The reigning Cup Series champion led a strong showing of three straight Team Penske drivers in qualifying Saturday, but Keselowski looked like the Ford driver to beat late in Sunday’s race. The RFK Racing driver-owner had help from Corey LaJoie in a Spire Motorsports Chevy, but Logano got a push from Christopher Bell in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that proved decisive on the final lap.
“It was lane versus lane, that’s what it was, inside versus outside,” Logano said, adding it was natural to expect that conflict would inevitably lead to contact.
“Yeah, because it happens just about every time,” he said of Cup Series drivers’ recent propensity to wreck late in races.
Bell finished third and LaJoie was fourth for the best finish of his Cup Series career.
“The first win of the season always feels better,” said Logano, who led 141 of the 260 laps on the way to ending a streak of four consecutive victories by Chevrolet to open the season, including backto-back wins by William Byron of Hendrick.
Pushed by Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric, Logano passed Keselowski to regain the lead with 34 laps to go. Keselowski, who left Penske after the 2021 season, regained the lead to setup the last-lap drama with his former teammate.
“The bottom row came with a huge run,” Keselowski said. “I don’t know how, and I thought I had it blocked, and Joey just kept shaking and his car didn’t stall out. I couldn’t get the push down the back. We were right there. I’m glad a Ford won. It was a heck of a battle.”
The 2012 Cup Series champion, Keselowski hasn’t won a race since posting Cup Series career victory No. 35 in April 2021 at Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday at Atlanta was Logano’s first win at the track he calls his second home. Logano is from Middletown, Connecticut, and considers New Hampshire Motor Speedway his home track in NASCAR. But his family moved to Georgia when he was a child, and he competed in Legends races at Atlanta Motor Speedway as a child who dreamed of driving on the big track.
“We’ve been so close so many times here and to finally get a win here means so much,” he said.
After no cautions during the second stage, the competition — and
crashes — picked up late in the race.
Kevin Harvick, who won at Atlanta in 2001, 2018 and 2020, was leading late when he lost control while being pushed by Ross Chastain. Replays indicated Chastain’s Chevrolet didn’t hit Harvick’s Ford, but Harvick’s spin caused a major crash.
“I think he was just so close to me he caught me right in the corner,” Harvick said of Chastain. “The way he came from right to left took the car away from me.”
Another wreck involving the leaders followed 20 laps later when Aric Almirola blew a tire, causing a spin that also took out Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez.
Hendrick Motorsports’ four drivers had fill-in crew chiefs after receiving the largest combined fine on one team in NASCAR history for allegedly modifying air-deflecting pieces last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Hendrick was issued a combined $400,000 in fines along with four-race suspensions for the crew chiefs.
The first road course race of the season is up next for the Cup Series, which will compete Sunday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Red Bull runaway
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and Max Verstappen drove from 15th to second to give Red Bull a 1-2 finish in what is shaping up to be a runaway season for the reigning Formula One champions.
And there have only been two races so far.
“Nice job guys an excellent result for the team,” said Perez, whose fifth F1 career win came as he started from pole position and finished about five seconds ahead of Verstappen, the two-time reigning champion for the international open-wheel series.
Through the first two races of the season, it has been two Red Bull wins, two 1-2 finishes, and an air of desperation from everyone else on the grid.
Fernando Alonso finished third for the second consecutive race for his 100th career podium. He celebrated with the Red Bull drivers, but he was later handed a 10-second penalty for what FIA said was incorrectly serving an earlier penalty, and that dropped him to fourth.
The podium finish was then handed to George Russell of Mercedes, who called the penalty on Alonso “harsh,” but Aston Martin appealed, and hours later the penalty was reversed and Alonso’s milestone podium finish was reinstated. Seventime F1 champion Lewis Hamilton finished fifth for Mercedes.
Even as Alonso enjoys a renaissance with his new team, though, the 41-yearold Spaniard has acknowledged he had little chance at beating Red Bull.
Verstappen won a series-record 15 races last season, and Perez added another two victories as the 17 total wins in 23 races easily gave Red Bull the constructors title. There have been no signs of an offseason drop in performance, and Russell predicted after the season opener that Red Bull would win every race this season.
Next up is the Australian Grand Prix on April 2 in Melbourne.
Sebring chaos
Pipo Derani won the 12 Hours of Sebring for a fourth time Saturday night when Action Express Racing inherited the victory after a crash between the leaders with less than 20 minutes remaining.
The No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R started in pole position but bounced throughout the GTP field in a 12-hour race of attrition at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.
Jack Aitken, the endurance driver for AER, was running fourth when Wayne Taylor Racing collided with both the Porsche Penske Motorsports entries. Filipe Albuquerque in an Acura for WTR tried to squeeze inside Mathieu Jaminet for the lead, but Jaminet had to swerve low to avoid lapped traffic, and contact with Albuquerque knocked the Acura off the track.
Albuquerque sped through a grassy turn and returned to the racing surface, only to slam directly into Jaminet. It caused a multicar crash in which Felipe Nasr in the second Penske Porsche, running third, was collected.
Aitken, a British racer and F1 reserve driver, closed out the victory for AER in the second IMSA Sports Car race of his career.
“Obviously it was quite tricky in the end. There’s a lot going on,” Aitken said. “We were struggling a lot with the tires at the end, and it’s not the way you want to win the race, but we were there when we needed to be and kept it clean.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finished second in a BMW M Hybrid V8 with a lineup of Connor de Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Sheldon Van Der Linde. There was so much attrition in the top GTP class that third went to the Tower Motorsports entry that included IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin in just his second IMSA sports car race.