Chase Elliott wins at home

Determined to add this event to his record, nothing could stop Chase Elliott. After a marathon round contested in March, the Nascar Cup Series visited the Georgia oval for the second time this season. The Atlanta Motor Speedway is a very special track with its 28° banked turns, the steepest bank of the season behind the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega, which make it a 1,5 mile circuit (precisely 1,54 mile or 2,48 km) the fastest of the season

The rain having arrived this Saturday, qualifying had to be canceled and Chase Elliott inherited pole position. The start set the tone for the event as Chase Elliott was grilled from the first meters of the race by Ross Chastain who was trying to put his Chevrolet Camaro in the lead, sporting a splendid “star-spangled banner” livery for the occasion.

Ross Chastain spared nothing from his Chevrolet, © James Gilbert/Getty Images

A complicated event loomed for reigning champion Kyle Larson, who suffered a steering problem in the first few laps. Nothing to report, however, on the side of his teammates since Chase Elliott took away the 1^er segment in front of Alex Bowman thanks to a clever draft from the latter. The scenario seemed to repeat itself at the end of the second section, but if Elliott won again, Bowman failed in the outside wall.

Chase Elliott, on behalf of the father.

With 90 laps to go, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and William Byron lost any chance of victory in an impressive collective crash. At the restart, Corey LaJoie invited himself to the party and offered a recital at the head of the race against Elliott and the surprising Chastain and Truex Jr. still on the pace despite particularly damaged cars.

Contenders see their days come to an end. pic.twitter.com/8fopwkS5Ag

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 10, 2022

3 neutralizations punctuated the end of the race and with each restart it became obvious that victory had to be played between Elliott, Chastain and LaJoie. An experienced pilot, LaJoie is a jack of all trades. A driver on Sundays, he plays his role during the week within the family business specializing in the distribution of equipment for the main teams in the discipline. Suffice to say that in the stands hearts were swinging between the very popular Corey LaJoie and the child from Georgia Chase Elliott who was always chasing a victory on this oval where his father Bill Elliott won 5 times.

Corey LaJoie offered great opposition to Chase Elliott © Getty

If Elliot did not tremble to head towards Victory Lane and establish his place at the top of the general classification, LaJoie was unfortunately sent into the wall two turns from the finish, a sad epilogue to a fantastic race.

Rankings for the Quaker State 400 in Atlanta: