Ryan Blaney wins in Atlanta, 6 different driver to win this season (3-21-21)
By: Becca Cottingham
Headline Photo Courtesy of NASCAR Twitter Page
NASCAR is back on the East Coast and we head to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Denny Hamlin was on the pole and he has lead all laps leading up to the competition caution. This changed after the competition caution. Kyle Busch moved forward while Kevin Harvick moved backward. Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain both had tire issues and had to pit twice. Kyle Larson got out front and started putting multiple drivers down laps. At the end of stage one, we had under twenty drivers on the lead lap. His pace left even one of the largest movers of Kyle Busch a good distance behind him. Kyle Larson scores the stage one win.
Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney get hooked up while Kyle Busch had an issue on the start. This caused a chain reaction where Chase Elliot had to check up and so did Kurt. This all caused a reaction that ended with Kurt Busch with heavy damage on his car after hitting the wall. This will knock Kurt Busch out of the race early. Ryan Blaney gets the lead for a short time before Kyle Larson takes the lead back. Even though the green flag pit stops Kyle Larson gas kept the lead even with almost a nine-second lead over his teammate. Kyle Larson wins stage two.
We start stage three with a bang and Chase Elliott had some kind of equipment failure and he is out of the race. Several drivers came down and got fresh tires. Multiple drivers stayed out to get their lap back. Kyle Busch is sent to the back because of speeding on pit road. Ryan Blaney won the race off of pit road, and Kyle Larson started fourth. Ryan Blaney had some time to lead multiple laps. However, Kyle Larson made his way back upfront. Green flag pitstops happened with an issue to Anthony Alfredo overshooting his pit stall. He got around and into the side of Aric Almirola’s car. Kyle Larson continued to lead until about eight laps to go. Ryan Blaney made a move to get around Kyle Larson. Ryan Blaney stays out front and gets his first unofficial win of 2021.
