William Byron wins chaotic NASCAR race at Atlanta. Here’s what we learned, full results

William Byron won NASCAR’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, surviving a crash-heavy event at a newly reconfigured track.

Byron surged to the front, battling with Bubba Wallace side-by-side in the final laps after they lined up in the front row with just under 15 to go. Byron fended off the cars flanking him as others crashed coming to the checkered flag.

“Lots of changes with the Next Gen car,” Byron said on Fox. “The Chevrolet was awesome ... Had a pretty rough practice and worked hard on it and got it handling well ... It was kind of an intermediate style (track) with a little bit of speedway into it, so a lot of fun.”

Ross Chastain finished second. NASCAR ruled that Christopher Bell, who crossed the finish line in second, also crossed below the yellow line and he was bumped down to 23rd — the final spot on the lead lap. Kurt Busch, Daniel Suárez and Corey LaJoie finished in the top five.

Byron, a 24-year-old Charlotte native, earned his third win in 149 Cup starts. The win also marked the third victory for Hendrick Motorsports with three different drivers this season. Kyle Larson won at Auto Club and Alex Bowman won at Las Vegas.

Here’s what we learned from Atlanta:

Superspeedway style debuts at Atlanta

The racing certainly looked different from last year, highlighting the superspeedway style of the reconfigured track. The changes emphasized drafting, well-timed passes and spotter input, similar to Talladega and Daytona. After a months-long reprofiling project, which included steeper banking, a narrower backstretch/turns and a wider frontstretch, the results of those changes were on full display.

There was a greater number of lead changes compared to prior years, with 47 lead changes and 20 different leaders. That snapped a record for the most lead changes in an Atlanta race at the Cup level. The prior record was 45 lead changes in 1982.

There were also many wrecks, some set off by tire issues and others for mislinked pushes.

Cut tires cause problems

Three times leaders blew tires toward the front of the pack to set off wrecks, the largest of which came in the second stage when Tyler Reddick cut a rear tire leading the outside lane and collected multiple cars. Thirteen cars were caught up in the wreck, but most teams were able to salvage their equipment without immediately heading to the garage. LaJoie did a full spin while riding through the grass.

In addition to LaJoie, Larson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric were among those involved in the “biggest one.”

Later in the stage, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blew a tire while in the lead, and multiple cars suffered damage in his wake. In Stage 1, Chastain crashed from the lead into the outside wall as his tire went down.

“What a day,” Chastain said on Fox. “ ... This Gen 7 car to take a lick like that ... Thought our day was over. Our guys went underneath the car, got the toe closer, and we got the balance back where I could drive it.”

A Goodyear representative said that the tires would be evaluated, and noted that a common theme was that they were all on Chevrolet cars and that they were the right rear tires that blew out, according to RACER.com. Stewart-Haas Racing team owner Tony Stewart was at the track and was photographed examining the tires in Chase Briscoe’s pit late in the race.

Cautions galore

Veteran drivers exited the race early after crashes resulting from mislinked pushes. Ryan Blaney won the second stage under caution when Larson and Denny Hamlin collected from the front of the pack. Hamlin was on Larson’s bumper and pushing him, but Larson said he got loose from it and went sailing into the right side of Chase Elliott’s car and out of the race with significant damage. Hamlin’s day was done at that point, too.

“He was just trying to help me get a run down the front and just got to me in the corner and got me loose,” Larson said on Fox. “So hate that that happened, but it’s just kind of a product of this racing and a product of pushing and trying to draft and get your lane going. Nothing’s intentional.”

The incident looked similar to a crash that ended the first stage under caution when Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon collided. Dillon went into the wall after wiggling off contact with Busch behind him. Byron was in the lead and won the stage.

Busch told NBC Sports that he wasn’t sure what happened but that Dillon got loose. Busch was asked if he felt like the racing at Atlanta made him more of an entertainer than a driver. “Yep,” he responded. Another reporter then asked if Busch liked the new track more than the old one.

Busch, who was critical of Atlanta’s reconfiguration project last year when it was first announced, responded with one word: “Nope.”

The Cup Series races next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on Fox at Circuit of the Americas. Elliott leads the points standings by seven over Logano.

NASCAR race results at Atlanta

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This story was originally published March 20, 2022 at 7:38 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription