Ryan Blaney Wins Atlanta Cup Race Outrunning Kyle Larson

Kevin C. Cox - Getty Images

HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Ryan Blaney took advantage of a late-race pit stop, beating Kyle Larson out of the pits.  Larson, who had dominated the race, winning the first two stages, saw Blaney looking smaller and smaller in the view out of his windshield.  Blaney had been strong all day and running in the top five, but the win a surprise.

“Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” Blaney said.   “It took us a little bit to get going.  I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there.”

Blaney's win makes it six different winners in six races this season, even though Larson was flirting with his second win on the year for much of the day.

Larson had no excuses.  His Chevrolet was out front most of the day and there was no doubt Blaney Ford was better over the last few laps.

“I think (Blaney) just got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of changed up my flow of the race a little bit,” he told Fox Sports. “I could get out to such a big lead and I could take care of my stuff and run the bottom, where it was maybe slower but I could take care of my tires.

He was fast there at the end, and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run on the faster part of the race track and just used my stuff up. … I don’t know if we got that much worse or if he just got way better. Like I said, it just changed the flow of my race.” 

Alex Bowman finished third with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch rounding out the top five, Austin Dillon, Chris Beuscher, William Byron, Martin Truex, Jr., and Kevin Harvick made up positions six through ten.  Blaney only led 23 laps, but those were the laps that mattered. Blaney became the sixth driver to win in six races to start NASCAR’s Cup season.

Chase Elliott lost an engine and Kurt Busch had damage from an accident on a restart.  Elliott, a fan favorite in his home state.  Busch was upset that the fault laid with other drivers, including his brother Kyle and Denny Hamlin.  Both could not return to the action.

Blaney won by 2.083 seconds in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford.  When it was over, Blaney strolled over to the stands and grabbed the checkered flag, which he handed to a young fan wearing the driver’s T-shirt after he did a backwards lap to solute the fans.  There was no burnout, which has been the case in all his wins.

Last year, Atlanta was the first NASCAR Cup race to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The series shuttered for more than two months before resuming with major changes to the schedule, including the Atlanta race being held in early June.

This year’s sixth race of the Cup season welcomed a socially distanced crowd of about 20,000 – far below capacity because of the lingering COVID-19 outbreak, but a welcome change from the previous year when no fans were allowed for the makeup race in Atlanta.

The Cup racers will return to the 1.54-mile trioval July 11, the first time since 2010 that Atlanta has hosted two races in a season.

Unofficial Results, 63rd Annual Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, March 21, 2021, Atlanta Motor Speedway

Unofficial Results, 63rd Annual Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, March 21, 2021, Atlanta Motor Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 10, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor Ford, 325, 3, 2, 3, 25, 5, 57, Running
2) 6, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 325, 1, 1, 5, 269, 2, 55, Running
3) 14, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 325, 6, 3, , , , 47, Running
4) 1, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 325, 5, 9, 1, 27, , 41, Running
5) 19, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Messages Toyota, 325, 2, 4, , , , 48, Running
6) 13, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet, 325, , 7, , , , 35, Running
7) 17, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 325, 9, 8, , , , 35, Running
8) 9, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 325, 10, 5, 1, 2, , 36, Running
9) 2, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Toyota, 325, 7, , , , , 32, Running
10) 7, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 325, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 20, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Maytag Ford, 325, , 6, , , , 31, Running
12) 12, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 325, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 28, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford, 325, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 21, Ross Chastain, No. 42 Tubi TV Chevrolet, 325, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 3, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 324, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 15, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonalds Toyota, 324, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 25, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet, 324, , 10, 1, 1, , 21, Running
18) 27, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 324, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 18, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Fr8Auctions Ford, 324, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 16, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Pit Boss Grills Ford, 324, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 8, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Sirius XM Toyota, 323, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 39, * Austin Cindric(i), No. 33 Pirtek Ford, 323, , , , , , 0, Running
23) 24, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 HighPoint.com/Co-Op Financial Ford, 323, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 22, Erik Jones, No. 43 Petty's Garage Chevrolet, 323, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 23, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Planters Chevrolet, 323, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 29, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet, 323, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 32, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford, 322, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Autotrader Ford, 321, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 30, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 NFL Alumni/Folds of Honor Chevrolet, 319, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 26, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 Diamond Creek Water Chevrolet, 319, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 33, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 316, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 34, James Davison, No. 15 Smart Sanitizer Chevrolet, 316, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 35, Quin Houff, No. 00 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet, 314, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 31, BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Surface Sunscreen Ford, 313, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 36, Joey Gase, No. 53 Donate Life Georgia Chevrolet, 308, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 38, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 SUPREME TRANSPORTATION GROUP Ford, 305, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 37, Josh Bilicki, No. 52 Insurance King Ford, 285, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 5, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 220, 8, , , , , 4, Engine
39) 11, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 113, 4, , 1, 1, , 8, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 27 Mins, 41 Secs
Race Length: 325 Laps, 500.5 Miles
Average Speed: 144.595 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2.083 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 18, 12, 1, 11, 48, 19, 9, 17, 24
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 12, 48, 18, 24, 21, 3, 17, 11, 99

Race Comments: Ryan Blaney won the 63rd running of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his fifth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 9, 66 (multiple inspection failures), 00 (unapproved adjustments).

Cautions: 5 for 25 laps;
Laps: 27-30 (Competition Caution [00]);
107-112 (Stage 1 Conclusion [10]);
114-118 (#1, 11 Incident Turn 1 [34]);
212-217 (Stage 2 Conclusion [22]);
221-224 (Fluid on Track [23]).

Lead Changes: 11 among 6 drivers;
D. Hamlin 1-27;
K. Larson 28-63;
K. Busch 64;
W. Byron 65-66;
K. Larson 67-118;
R. Blaney 119;
K. Larson 120-160;
D. Suarez 161;
K. Larson 162-221;
R. Blaney 222-236;
K. Larson 237-316;
R. Blaney 317-325.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Chase Briscoe, No. 14