Quite a few Chevrolets made a lot of noise during a dramatic July 2022 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the Nascar Ford teams made it through the carnage to secure third and fifth finishes when it was all said and done.
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Mustang and this year’s Daytona 500 champion, remained quietly consistent throughout the superspeedway-like race. Cindric started fifth after qualifying was rained out, and even pushed the No. 2 Mustang to the lead for a handful of laps after a pit stop cycle. Ultimately, he finished third after a shakeup at the front of the pack during the last laps. Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, finished fifth, having also avoided major incident throughout the event. This puts Blaney second in the overall points standings behind Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Camaro.
Other Nascar Ford teams, however, were not so lucky. Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Mustang, clawed his way to the front after a mediocre performance in Stage 1. He finished third in Stage 2, but was swept up in a multicar wreck along with the No. 34 Mustang of Michael McDowell with 91 laps left to go. Keselowski went on to finish 18th, while McDowell placed 15th.
Elliott in the No. 9 Camaro won after throwing a block on Corey Lajoie’s No. 7 Camaro while fending off a charge from Ross Chastain in the No. 1 Camaro. Lajoie’s No. 7 was forced up into the wall by Elliott’s No. 9 Camaro on the last lap, triggering a multicar crash and allowing the Nascar Ford teams to gain position on the leaderboard.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 260 | 96 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Jockey Chevrolet | 260 | 32 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Menards/Quaker State Ford | 260 | 7 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 25 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 260 | 10 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Wabash Ford | 260 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 6 | 7 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 24 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 22 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford Pro Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 18 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 27 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Freightliner Ford | 260 | 9 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 9 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 260 | 27 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 12 | 10 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 3 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 260 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 32 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | leidos Toyota | 260 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 15 | 12 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Fr8Auctions.com Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 14 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 28 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | YANMAR Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 31 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Solomon Plumbing Ford | 260 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 15 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 260 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 20 | 19 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Crunchy Cookie Toyota | 260 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 21 | 30 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Raze Energy Chevrolet | 260 | 19 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 21 | 45 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy Toyota | 259 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 23 | 34 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 259 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 36 | 77 | Landon Cassill(i) | Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet | 259 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 16 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Coca-Cola Toyota | 259 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 26 | 17 | 22 | Joey Logano | Autotrader Ford | 252 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 33 | 15 | Garrett Smithley(i) | True Brands Ford | 252 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 23 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Allegiant Chevrolet | 174 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 4 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet | 170 | 13 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 13 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 170 | 41 | CHevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 20 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Ball Park Chevrolet | 162 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 8 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Milestone Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 33 | 11 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 107 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 34 | 29 | 16 | Noah Gragson(i) | Gold Fish Casino Slots Chevrolet | 91 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet | 90 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 36 | 35 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | Blaster Ford | 77 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
Decent finishes but they were never really contenders. The Ford teams have just been off the last couple of years.
Ford should think about dropping Nascar it is far from what it once was.
Great finish nonetheless, you can’t expect to win every time, that would get boring. We can still hold our heads up high than most, Team Ford is always No.1, God bless our drivers and everyone committed to the safety and success of Ford Racing at its best.