How NASCAR’s Next-Gen Car Made Historic Atlanta Finish Possible

The race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend saw some incredible racing, underlined by the fact that there were a total of 48 lead changes throughout its duration. However, the highlight of the race was the photo finish that took place between eventual race winner Daniel Suarez, defending champion Ryan Blaney, and the two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. It was a time difference of 0.003 and 0.007 seconds from the race leader, allowing for one of the closest race finishes of all time.

Meanwhile, speaking about how this incredibly tight finish came to fruition, NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty shared, “When it came down to that last lap we do not have this finish without this Next Gen car. This Next Gen car is what made this finish possible. Also Bubba Wallace made this finish possible and Austin Cindric.”

He then elaborated, “We go into turn 1 Bubba Wallace behind Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric behind Daniel Suarez, they get a run… Kyle Busch goes to the outside, Daniel Suarez goes further to the outside. We go into turn 3 three wide, Bubba washes up slows down the rest of the pack.”

“So it’s three wide side by side and with this car because of the aerodynamics that we all complain about they stall out. And they come to the line side by side, zero zero three thousands of a second you could throw a blanket over em. That’s it.”

Kyle Petty believes the Atlanta finish will replace the first Daytona 500’s three-wide finish photo

Sure last weekend’s race was amazing to witness and may have been one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. But as per Petty, it may have been significant enough to replace the picture taken way back in 1959 during the first-ever Daytona 500 race.

He said, “This photo is going to replace the Lee Petty, Johnny Beauchamp and Joe Weatherly photo from Daytona. Yes that’s a historic photo, but this will be a milestone and a mile marker to take us forward in this sport.” Well, the Atlanta photo finish might not exactly replace the significance of the 1959 image, but it can perhaps be considered on par with that one.