One year on: Revisiting NASCAR's closest three-wide photo finish

Just before the start of the 2025 season, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney all got together for a private theater screening of the documentary, “So Damn Close” about their history-making three-wide finish from the Atlanta race on February 25, 2024. Also in the room were the drivers’ crew chiefs and spotters involved in that fateful run to the checkered flag. NASCAR had brought them all together, nearly a year later, to watch, laugh, and explain their mindset through every critical moment of last year’s thriller, with the trio all crossing the line, and eventually seeing Suarez break a long streak of zero wins. 

To the surprise of no one, it didn’t take long for last year’s first race at Atlanta to devolve into mayhem as 16 cars piled into a Lap 2 crash. Among those involved were Suarez, who was lucky to escape the wreck with a competitive car still under him. Busch and Blaney didn’t even know the eventual race winner was swept up in the early melee, both expressing surprise in the documentary when told.

“My left front had a little bit of damage, but it wasn’t bad,” Suarez explained,  pointing out his car in the cloud of smoke. “My hood popped up just a little bit. Luckily, the splitter was in the correct position.” He also throws in a quip about looking back at the No. 54 of Ty Gibbs shoving him into the wreck instead of focusing forward. “I was looking in my mirror because I knew he was coming 10mph faster than me.”

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, MoneyLion Toyota Camry, Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro and Noah Gragson, Stewart-Haas Racing, Black Rifle Coffee / Ranger Boats Ford Mustang and Harrison Burton, Wood Brothers Racing, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang turn 1 wreck

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

There were nine cautions for on-track incidents during this race, making it a game of survival as drivers struggled to keep their cars clean. With around 20 laps left, there was a heart-stopping moment when Suarez made it four-wide on the inside in his charge back to the front – all while Busch was left as the car the far outside. The two drivers in the middle – Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, did not make it through the corner without crashing.

“That was all your fault,” grinned Busch as they watched it back. “You can’t do four-wide into (Turn 3) … I’m glad I got the hell out of there.” Blaney then added: “I like your bail to the fence move.”

Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, HighPoint.com Ford Mustang, Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro1 and Josh Berry, Stewart-Haas Racing, Harrison’s Ford Mustang wreck

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Fast forward to the final crash, where Suarez happened to be just ahead of Blaney at the time of caution. This gave Suarez full control for the final five-lap dash to the checkered flag, black tape still adorning the battle scars on his hood. 

Going into Atlanta, Suarez was staring down a 57-race winless streak with rumblings about his future at Trackhouse hanging over his head. The pressure was tremendous. To make matters worse, directly behind him was the defending Cup Series champion in Blaney. And in third was Busch, one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history.

In choosing a lane for the critical restart, Suarez explained: “I knew that the 12 [Blaney] and the 2 [Cindric] were faster than me so I knew that the level of trust was higher with the 8 [Busch], and the 8 had what I thought was pretty good speed.”

Ultimately, the choice of dancing partners was about to become irrelevant within a lap of the restart. It was advantage Suarez at first, but he failed to block Blaney down the backstretch. The No. 12 muscled its way to the outside of Suarez, giving Suarez a shot in the rear bumper as he reclaimed the top.

“Blaney’s not gonna care,” commented Busch. “He ain’t gonna lift. He’s gonna hit you as hard as it takes.”

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro and Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Knowing that he wasn’t going to win as the second car in line on the bottom, Suarez forced his way into the top lane. Doing so disrupted the air and sent Martin Truex Jr. way up the track. “Sorry Martin!” laughed Suarez. But Blaney remained in the lead. Suarez and Busch ran door-to-door for the runner-up position at the white flag and it appeared as if neither would have a shot at the win. In truth, they all would.

Suarez was trying to build a run, but there was just one problem: He was trying to catch a Penske car with another Penske car directly behind him, and Austin Cindric wasn’t interested in assisting his efforts.

“You can see right there the 47 [Stenhouse] is up his butt trying to go but the 2 [Cindric] will not push the 99 [Suarez],” observed Busch. This caused a gap to form between Suarez and Blaney, and cracking the door open even slightly was enough of an invitation for the two-time Cup champ.

That’s when made a sensational move up the middle, splitting the cars of Blaney and Suarez like a wedge. It should have ended in calamity, but all three drivers kept their wits about them. 

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro and Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

“Top three! Top three! Top three!” shouted Suarez’s spotter, Frankie Kimmel. Busch was pulling air off the right-rear of Blaney entering Turn 3 and Suarez was doing the same to Busch from the third lane. This brought all three together in a spectacle for the ages. They were deadlocked exiting the final corner with no one pushing them. 

It looked like fighter pilots in formation as they drag-raced to the line. As the checkered flag flew, no one could truly tell who won. FOX commentator and former NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer initially called it for Blaney, but officials immediately placed the finish under review. 

“Uh, I don’t know…” said Busch’s spotter, Derek Kneeland.

“Everyone was looking around,” said Suarez’s crew chief, Matt Swiderski. “The crew members were looking back up at me like I knew what the answer was at that point.”

But what about what the drivers saw? Turns out it wasn’t much. “From my view on the bottom, I knew I got Kyle because I’m looking right (as we race) down the frontstretch,” said Blaney. “But I couldn’t see Daniel so I had no idea.”

Replied Suarez: “It was exactly the same. I was just inching the 8 [Busch] but my spotter was saying ‘two inside’ and I said: ‘Where the heck is the other guy?’ I couldn’t see anything.”

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images

After about thirty seconds, the No. 99 of Suarez was finally declared the winner and celebrations erupted from the pits. Even his teammate, Ross Chastain, pulled up to the start/finish line to offer his congrats.

“It was so damn close,” grinned Suarez, who could hardly believe it even as he was being interviewed following the win.

Suarez bested Blaney by just 0.003s in one of the five closest finishes in the history of NASCAR. Busch in third was only 0.007s back, making it the closest three-wide finish ever. History made. 

While they can laugh about it now, the disappointment in being so close was palpable in the post-race radio communication.

“Damn it man. Ahhhh,” radioed Blaney.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Wouldn’t have it any other made,” radioed Busch sarcastically.

Watch: Alternate angle: Atlanta’s 0.003 photo finish in slow motion

Atlanta: Home to some of the most iconic photo finishes in NASCAR

Now, Atlanta is no stranger to photo finishes, even before NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports Inc. completely overhauled the design of the track in 2021 reconfiguration. Prior to that, in 2000, Dale Earnhardt beat Bobby Labonte by just 0.010s. A year later in an emotional finish involving the late Earnhardt’s replacement, Kevin Harvick, the then-rookie defeated Jeff Gordon by just 0.006s. In 2005, NASCAR Hall of Famer Carl Edwards did his first victory backflip as a Cup driver when he bested Jimmie Johnson for his first career win. But 2024 was something else entirely, partly because it was a very different track despite bearing the same name.

When NASCAR decided to make Atlanta into some sort of superspeedway-intermediate track hybrid with pack racing around a 1.5-mile speedway, it raised some eyebrows and for obvious reasons. While a far cry from the old Atlanta, this new version has already solidified its place in the pages of NASCAR history after just three years.

“The old Atlanta maybe didn’t put on the best show for watching, sitting on the couch,” admitted Blaney. Busch, who’s always been supportive of the old worn out surfaces due to how much fun they are to drive, even admitting that the new Atlanta “produces some of the best action” for the fans.

NASCAR also moved Atlanta up to the follow-up show to the 500 in 2024, for back-to-back pack races to kick off the season. It makes for an expensive two weeks, with the inevitable multi-car crashes that are born from such close quarters racing. But Atlanta surprised everyone, drivers included.

“It could have been easily that all three of us just pancake, sandwiched together and caused a big s***show at the end of this thing,” Blaney said. “It stinks you don’t win the race, but I couldn’t be that upset about it. I’ve won Talladega by a combined amount of like eight feet like three times. I’ve been on the good side of it a few times, so if I lost one by a foot, I can’t be too upset about it … it was a cool finish.”

And that right there is why this particular finish is held in such high regard — it wasn’t the Atlanta we had come to know and love with huge tire fall-off and drivers slipping and sliding with a ridiculous amount of horsepower that left skid marks down the straights.It was still something rarely seen in modern NASCAR. 

Even in a pack race like that where an early season win meant no playoff worries for months, all of the drivers raced with respect. Suarez, likely desperate for a victory, didn’t just slam the door on Busch and wreck everyone entering Turn 3. Blaney didn’t push up the track and shove the other two out of the way either. It was a fair fight to the checkered flag — a far cry from the wreckfests that continuously plague the finishes of other pack races. Just look at this week where we move on from a Daytona 500 that ended with the top-five finishers all crashing into each other on the final lap. It’s the expected outcome these days, which is what makes the 2024 Atlanta finish so special. Hopefully, we get to see a sequel on Sunday.