Kyle Larson dominated the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. However, it was Ryan Blaney that scored the win in the NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway yesterday (3/21).

When the green flag waived Kyle Larson wasted very little time showing the rest of the field that he had the fastest car in the race. Larson took the lead for the first time on lap 28. He was one of the six drivers that would exchange the lead 11 times during the race. However, nobody would spend more time out front than Larson would. He led 269 laps in the 325 lap race. Denny Hamlin was second on the most laps led list at just 25 laps as the leader. Larson was also the winner of both the first and second stages of the race.

The only time it really counts to be the leader is at the end of the last lap of the last stage of the race.

Ryan Blaney’s team kept adjusting his car and got it better as Larson’s car seemed to get a little worse. Blaney was able to pass Larson for the lead on lap 317 and hold it for the final eight laps of the race. Blaney’s win is his first of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. It’s his first win in the Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his fifth Cup Series career win.

Kyle Larson was able to hold on for the runner-up finish. Alex Bowman finished in third place. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch claimed fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete race results for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 here.

Denny Hamlin holds on to the top spot in the point standings following the Atlanta race. Kyle Larson didn’t win at Atlanta, but he does vault from fifth place to second place in the standings following the race. Joey Logano remains in third place with Martin Truex Jr. also remain steady in fourth place. Brad Keselowski drops from second place to fifth place. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.

That makes six races with six different winners to start the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. That last happened in 2014. The next mark to match would be 10 different winners in the first 10 races which happened in the 2000 season.

There’s a very good chance that it will make it to seven different winners in seven race since this weekend’s race is going to be a major wild card race. For the first time since September of 1970 the NASCAR’s top division will be racing on dirt! Bristol Motor Speedway has been covered with dirt. The NASCAR Cup Series will go dirt trackin’ for the first time in more than 50 years Sunday, March 28th in the Food City Dirt Race.

By: Buck Stevens