Joey Logano seizes RFK heartbreak for Atlanta win

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano dominated Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway from the pole for his first win of 2023, but he needed a last-lap pass to secure it.

Incidentally, said overtake came on his former Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski after receiving help from Penske’s Ryan Blaney on the inside line.

“I’ve got great team-mates and I wanted to stick with them,” said Logano. “There were plenty of times I could have moved up, but I didn’t want to leave my team-mates down there. I wanted them behind me. I knew how fast their cars were. If I could pick one, that’s the one I want, so I was able to try to keep them with me. I thought with two to go, the outside lane got three cars, four cars clear and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it here,’ but I got a good push, enough to get to the outside of the #6 and that was the big difference.”

Keselowski finished second in a heartbreaking day for his RFK Racing team. Besides coming up just shy, team-mate Chris Buescher had crashed out with B.J. McLeod, Harrison Burton, and Kevin Harvick in the first and largest wreck of the day on lap 189 when Harvick had gotten loose while leading and drafting with Ross Chastain.

Despite the disappointing end, it was still a strong day for RFK as they continue to see improving results since Keselowski’s arrival as co-owner in 2022.

“The bottom row came with a huge run,” Keselowski commented. “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. I thought, ‘I’ll just get a push down the back,’ and the #20 car (Christopher Bell) just hauled down there.

“We were right there. I’m glad a Ford won. It was a heck of a battle. The coolest thing about this is two veterans showed that you can run a race here side-by-side bump drafting and not wreck the field. It can happen if you race respectfully and I thought everybody did a great job. We were right there. I’m proud of my team and the effort, just not much we could do there.

“It’s night and day from where we were a year ago, 100 percent. You just keep running like this with good finishes and the wins will come.”

Erik Jones finished eighth after a dramatic run in which he passed nine cars on the final lap, while Ty Gibbs placed a spot behind him for the first top ten of his Cup rookie season and second overall.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	260	Running
2	4	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	260	Running
3	10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	260	Running
4	31	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	260	Running
5	16	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	260	Running
6	14	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	260	Running
7	3	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	260	Running
8	28	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	260	Running
9	35	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	260	Running
10	17	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	260	Running
11	2	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	260	Running
12	22	42	Noah Gragson	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	260	Running
13	18	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	260	Running
14	15	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	260	Running
15	23	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	260	Running
16	30	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	260	Running
17	27	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	260	Running
18	21	9	Josh Berry*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	260	Running
19	29	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	260	Running
20	13	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	260	Running
21	12	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	260	Running
22	20	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	260	Running
23	26	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	260	Running
24	8	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	259	Running
25	32	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	258	Running
26	34	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	258	Running
27	19	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	255	Running
28	24	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	244	Running
29	25	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	213	DVP
30	5	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	208	Accident
31	9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	208	Accident
32	11	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	192	Accident
33	6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	190	Accident
34	33	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	190	DVP
35	7	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	189	Accident
36	36	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	189	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points