Joey Logano Races to First Cup Win at Atlanta - Speedway Digest

Team Penske’s Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday after starting on the pole and leading a race-high 140 laps. This victory marked Logano’s 32nd of his career and first at AMS.

“Congratulations to Ford Performance, Roger, Tim, Paul, Joey, and everyone at Team Penske for the pole and race win at Atlanta,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Our Ford Performance teams were fast in qualifying and worked together throughout the weekend to win all 3 stages and lead 221 of the 260 laps.”

“Overall, just a really fast Ford Mustang is what it came down to. It’s nice to win with Autotrader on the car. I don’t think I’ve ever won a race without Shell on the car. It means a lot to get this one in Victory Lane. It’s been a lot of years coming. Atlanta, this means so much to me to win here. So many memories of driving my Legends car right here where we’re standing when I was 9 years old. This is a really special one and a dream come true,” commented Logano.

Ford Performance teams swept the top 8 qualifying positions on Saturday. Team Penske secured the top 3 positions followed by Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing.

1. Joey Logano | Team Penske

2. Austin Cindric | Team Penske
3. Ryan Blaney | Team Penske
4. Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing

5. Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing

6. Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing
7. Chris Buescher | RFK Racing
8. Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing

Logano lead all 60 laps of Stage 1 to secure his first stage win of the season, followed by Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Blaney. Logano went on to lead a total of 135 laps in the first two stages, while teammate Austin Cindric took the lead at the end of the stage to claim the Stage 2 win. With 71 laps remaining, a multi-car crash took out the race leaders, and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola surged to the front to take the lead, leading a total of 17 laps throughout the race. The final laps of the race were a side-by-side battle between Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, and Logano was able to complete the race-winning pass during the last lap of the race.

Ford Performance teammate Brad Keselowski with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing finished in P2, while Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric finished P7 and P11, respectively.