NASCAR was in a troublesome position with racing on superspeedways becoming an almost certain fuel-saving rigamarole, meaning drivers were often lifting and going slower. NASCAR fans didn’t want to see that.

With laps lost under caution, when you add up drivers lifting to save fuel for large chunks of the race, the remainder is very little all-out racing action. But the night race in Atlanta, despite a three-hour rain pause, showed off everything good about racing at Superspeedways.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic were speaking about the Atlanta race on Monday's episode of their podcast, "The Teardown."

"This was old Daytona in a lot of respects," Bianchi said on the podcast. "Old Daytona had tire wear. The pack was separated. You could make passes by yourself. You had to manage it, and you saw guys busting their b****, making passes, and it was like car control. You could see all of these elements. This is what it was like back in the day with Daytona."

Gluck spoke about how the race in Atlanta will end up as one of the highest-rated races in NASCAR and how fans who stayed up late at night would have felt it was worth being up till 2 a.m. for the race. 

Bianchi and Gluck both agreed that superspeedway racing used to be a lot more fun with several storylines to look out for, and Atlanta is showing the way to what superspeedways should stand for. 

Ryan Blaney’s historic race in Atlanta

Even a three-hour rain delay couldn’t put a spanner in the works for Ryan Blaney, who drove his No. 12 Team Penske Ford ahead of the rest of the pack for 171 of 263 laps.

While the finish made it look much closer than it was, Blaney’s 171 laps led were 65 percent of the race distance. According to Motorsport.com, no driver has led as many laps during a single drafting race since the beginning of NASCAR’s modern era in 1972. 

Blaney also bagged his 19th win, and while that number may not be all that special, it also happened to be Ford’s 750th Cup race win. While Blaney and Logano are the leaders at Penske today, the winningest driver in a Ford was the late Ned Jarrett, who won 43 races in a Ford car. 

Blaney drove a race so perfect that, had it not been for Cody Ware taking the point for fastest lap, Blaney would have achieved the perfect and highest possible points run.

Blaney picked up a massive 75 points, and he’s currently just 65 points off Denny Hamlin in the championship lead. He sits third with just two wins, while Hamlin, in first, has four wins, and Tyler Reddick, in second, has five. 

The No. 12 Penske driver will be hoping he can keep this form up for the remaining six races to close out the regular season on a high. 

What would you rate the Atlanta night race out of 10? Let us know in the comments 

Read more at RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yash Kotak