Cup RACE thread -- Atlanta

This energy all night from Elliott:

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It wasn’t true “racing,” but at this point beggars (9 fans) can’t be choosers. Still feels good. It was fun entertainment, but man this is a slap in the face to old school fans and tradition. Gotta get my licks in on that dead horse.
 
I went from mad as hell at Bowman on that last restart (childishly) to extremely thankful on that last lap for his move to push then occupy the 6 so he couldn’t counterpunch on the 9. Thanks Alex.
 
Chase went into the stands. Wtf is going on in this bizarro world? I’m lost and confused. Even I believed he didn’t care any more. Don’t do that. Don’t rope me back in. It was getting easier when I didn’t have to care. 🤣
 
I focused in halfway through it but it was a question about him upsetting Hamlin in the bracket and he said something about beating your favorite driver
The funny **** is. I told my dad most tracks, Denny is the smart pick. But with this race I'm like Ty might very well beat him.
 
Wow....Probably the best race I have seen in years. If folks remember I was making a case that Atlanta should go back to being the championship race. Last night showed exactly why it should be....and why it never will because you can't have half the field wrecked at the title race. Still though, that was fun. It reminded me of what speedway racing was once upon a time where these is parity but people could get runs and slingshot past others without drafting help. Just a lot of fun to watch.

As for Chase - man what a job he did. He was aggressive and on it all night. While obviously I am excited about the win and being locked in the playoffs it's more than that to me. It was another clean and complete race where the team executed and made no mistakes and that's 3 in a row now. Plus they made the car better as the race went on as Chase was saying the car was terrible in the beginning as he had nothing to lean on at all and was too free. They really have some great momentum and Chase is driving great and with aggression. Also - The regular season title battle which I thought was long over is back in question with case less than 40 points behind Byron. I think Chase needs Byron to have one more bad day realistically to catch him but it is at least in question.

When they mentioned this is Chase's 20th win, it really summed things up for me. He gets so much flack for not winning as much as Larson or Byron the past few seasons but dude is only 29 years old and has 29 wins across the 3 top NASCAR series, and XFINITY title, a Cup title, an All Star win, a Clash win and has won more road course races than any one ever except Gordon and Stewart - Maybe you've heard of them. Plus, he's won on every type of track. He's not going to win as much as some other drivers in this car but he is the most consistent and steady driver in Cup as he is again leading the sport in average finish. Proud to be a fan and excited to see what the next 10-15 years bring.

Couple other notes - I was bitching to my wife a lot that HMS are the worst teammates in NASCAR as they do such a terrible job of hooking up and working together...then Bowman pulls the best teammate move I have seen in a while in racing Kes and not helping him get back to Chase, Huge shoutout to him for that and I hope Chase is in position to return the favor one day.

The wreck - I said after it happened that if Chase did not win there would be so many naysayers out there saying he could not even win when half the field is wrecked and I'm sure those same people now are going to say he only won BECAUSE half the field was wrecked. All stupid. There were some really good cars left. The 6, 17, 88, 45 and some others were BAD fast and could all take the lead when they got the run. Winning this race was far harder than winning other races where you get out front with clean air and set sail and no one can catch you. If there was one guy out there I would have been "happy" to see beat Chase, it would have been Kes. Bummed for him and his fans that have stuck by him though a tough season.
 
Would have been nice to see what Brad could have done without damage. Hell of a job getting back to the lead and working with his teammates.
 
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Had a family event and couldn’t watch live, so recorded and avoided ANYTHING related to info on this race. Just finished watching it. WOW!

I love Atlanta. That was the BEST race of the season YTD. Amazing action throughout, amazing saves from near wrecks and some that of course couldn’t be avoided. It was so good I would still consider it the best so far even if Hambone had won, but he wrecked, which put added exclamation to this one! Elliott earned this one. Hated it for Brad to have such a good car and come in second, but so many drivers had a shot and competed.
 
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