Zachary Peters

A three-wide photo finish. That is it. That is the article. What else needs to be said? …

I guess I will say a little more. Although I do not pull for any of the drivers involved in that spectacular finish, it is one of the best I remember seeing. It was one of the best last two laps I’ve ever seen. It was one of the most entertaining races I’ve ever watched. Those cars were hard to drive. Multiple cars were competitive. What a gem in Atlanta!

I do not want to overstate how great of a race Atlanta was. It is not the best race ever, and there are other finishes that are on par with it or better. Yet, in the pantheon of NASCAR races, it is in the ring of honor for sheer entertainment value.

The track ages, but track temp still matters. If the track had been cooler throughout the entire day (which is possible during this time of the year in Georgia), it would have been a different race. I do not mean it would have been a bad race, but it certainly would have lacked the dynamic movement of the first 3/4 of the race.

One more point of interest to me. The points standings mean nothing right now. With two pack-racing tracks back to back to start the year, we are left with anomalies at the top and bottom of the standings. That will correct itself over the next few weeks as we race more traditional tracks with less chaos and random chance. There are some drivers who do well on superspeedway tracks but are exceptionally inconsistent on short tracks, mile-and-half, and road courses. They will regress to the mean. Over the next month, we will have a better picture of where teams and drivers stack up against each other. It will be an entertaining process to watch!