NASCAR Cup Atlanta: Logano beats Suarez to win playoff opener

Team Penske's Joey Logano claimed victory in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, locking himself into the Round of 12 by defeating Daniel Suarez.

Logano won out in a two-lap dash in overtime following a push from team-mate Ryan Blaney, which was enough to see off Trackhouse driver Suarez on the top lane.

The winner of the February race at the track was pushed by his team-mate Ross Chastain but the Trackhouse drivers quickly became disconnected, clearing the way for Logano.

"Incredible execution from the team," said 2018 and 2022 Cup champion Logano. "When it's playoff time, it's our time."

Suarez reflected: "I was pretty confident that the top was going to be better.

"We got a great launch, but we just got disconnected too early, and that obviously hurt us. It's a little painful."

Early in the race, title favourite and top seed Kyle Larson crashed after losing control just a few laps shy of the Stage 1 finish. Fellow playoff contender Chase Briscoe was also collected, ending his race.

Beyond that, the opening two stages were fairly clean as Blaney won Stage 1 and fellow Penske driver Austin Cindric scooped Stage 2.

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Quaker State Chevrolet Camaro and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Autotrader Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Fuel appeared to be tight for the leaders near the end of the race, but a caution with 56 laps to go provided a much-needed assist. Chris Buescher shot up the track, hitting Blaney, whose sideways car then collided with Martin Truex Jr.

Ty Gibbs then took control of the race, hoping to secure his first career Cup win, but a caution for debris forced another yellow with ten laps remaining. The closing laps evolved into a head-to-head fight between Penske and Trackhouse, but a wreck by Noah Gragson forced the race into overtime.

Logano chose the bottom and Suarez the top. They were even for a bit, but the Trackhouse drivers became disconnected in Turn 3. On the final lap, there was little Suarez could do against the Penske duo as Chastain got walled by Chase Elliott, igniting a race-ending crash that embroiled Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin among others.

Due to the timing of the yellow, Suarez was credited with second ahead of Blaney, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman.

Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Elliott, William Byron, and Cindric rounded out the top ten.

Leaving Atlanta, Brad Keselowski (-1pt), Burton (-16pts), Truex (-19pts) and Briscoe (-21pts) are all below the cut-off line, with Gibbs (at +1pt) and Hamlin (+2pts) just above.

NASCAR Cup Atlanta - Race Results