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Ryan Blaney delivers awesome reaction seeing Ambetter Health 400 finish in real-time

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•02/25/24•

NickGeddesNews

Ryan Blaney
David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Blaney didn’t get a chance to see it. That’s because he lived it — the three-way photo finish in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap of the race, Blaney, Kyle Busch and Daniel Suárez were side-by-side coming to the checkered line. The result? A finish so close, it had to be decided by NASCAR review. It was Suárez who prevailed, beating out Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Busch by 0.007 seconds, the third-closest finish in Cup Series history.

Blaney finally got a chance to see a replay of the finish while speaking with reporters on pit road after the race. His reaction was that of everyone who watched it: “Holy s—.”

“Holy s—, man, that was so close,” Blaney said, via Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “That’s close.”

Though he didn’t get the win, Blaney acknowledged it was fun to race Busch and Suárez to the start-finish line.

“I’ve won some by a few inches, I’ve lost some by a few inches. That was so fun,” Blaney said. “I didn’t think they’d get that kind of run on me. Fun racing, just a couple of inches short. Racing Daniel and Kyle was fun.”

Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suárez cap off thrilling day of racing at Atlanta

The finish is not only one of the best in recent memory, but of all time. The race itself proved to be every bit of a classic as well, featuring an Atlanta record for lead changes (47). For Suárez, it’s his second-career victory, both coming behind the wheel of the No. 99 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.

And you can bet it’s one that he and everybody who witnessed it, won’t forget anytime soon.

This team did an amazing job all race long. We wrecked Lap 2,” Suárez said, via Performance Racing Network. “The guys did a good job making it fast again. It took some tweaking, but they never quit.”

Suárez added: “Those Fords were strong. We knew it would take something special to beat them and the stars aligned. Kyle Busch gave me an awesome push and we just made a big run on the outside. You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.”