Daniel Suarez’s incredible three-abreast victory in Atlanta gave NASCAR the high it wanted as the track undergoes a 2022 renovation

NASCAR experienced the highlight of the season on Sunday evening in Atlanta.

Daniel Suarez’s win by just inches over both Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch will undoubtedly be the closest finish of 2024, as the three drivers raced across the finish line three-abreast. Suarez edged Blaney by 0.003 seconds at the checkered flag, the third-closest finish in NASCAR history.

It was a stirring end to what had been a costly race for teams after a costly Daytona 500. Only four of the 36 cars entering the race were not involved in a crash, as the second race of the season picked up right where the 500 left off. The race was less than two laps old when a crash involving 16 cars — including Suarez — broke out after Todd Gilliland slowed to help teammate Michael McDowell get to the front of the field.

In total, there were 10 cautions for 65 laps during the 260-lap race. Suarez’s pass for the win was the 48th lead change in those 260 laps.

In essence, the race went as NASCAR and Atlanta Motor Speedway hoped. There were lots of crashes. There were lots of lead changes. And there was a finish that left many wondering who had won in the seconds after Suarez crossed the finish line.

But it’s also worth asking what NASCAR and Atlanta actually gained from a race that once again demonstrated NASCAR’s willingness to push the boundaries between entertainment and sports.

This was exactly the race NASCAR and Atlanta wanted when the 1.5-mile circuit was redesigned for the 2022 season. Before that, cars would be spread out as drivers used every inch of pavement on Atlanta’s worn surface. But for the 2022 season, the track increased the bank and narrowed the racing groove. The result: The changes to the track, combined with NASCAR’s tweaks to the rules governing the cars on the track, suddenly turned Atlanta into a mini-Daytona or Talladega.

The last five races on the old Atlanta layout have produced 24 cautions and 92 lead changes, with many of those lead changes coming from green-flag pit stop cycles. In the five races since the track was rebuilt, there have been 46 cautions and 159 lead changes.

That deliberate switch from one extreme to the other can make it hard to truly appreciate the quality of the finish that occurred Sunday night. Years ago, Atlanta was known for close finishes, like those between Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Labonte in 2000 and Kevin Harvick over Jeff Gordon in 2001. But those finishes came in an era when cars weren’t artificially chained together via draft and aerodynamic rules the way Atlanta races are today.

This version of Atlanta is a bit like a bag of Cheetos. They can be delicious and addictive, but they are also ultimately unsatisfying and nutritionally poor. There is nothing wrong with eating Cheetos occasionally. But you probably shouldn’t eat them every day.

The same principle applies to the type of racing now taking place in Atlanta. As long as other intermediate tracks don’t follow suit and begin renovations to duplicate what Atlanta has done, there’s room on NASCAR’s marathon 36-race Cup Series schedule for two races a year in Atlanta, even if you’re not a fan of the type of racing it produces.

What Atlanta cannot be, however, is the new intermediate track standard. It is imperative that NASCAR does not let the highlights of Atlanta blind it in its desperate attempt to regain mainstream relevance and try to replicate this type of racing at the six other intermediate tracks on the schedule.

After all, NASCAR survived and thrived for decades with drivers who routinely won races by significant margins. And those blowout victories made the close finishes all the sweeter.