MOTORSPORT AMERICA FILE PHOTO
Last February’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was truly an extraordinary race, as it resulted in the closest three-wide finish — .007 seconds from first to third — in NASCAR Cup Series history. Every driver, as well as fans who blew up social media after the race, knew they had been part of or witnessed something extremely rare and special.
Last month, NASCAR brought together the top three finishers — winner Daniel Suárez, runner-up Ryan Blaney and third-place Kyle Busch — plus their respective crew chiefs and spotters — to the Gem Theatre in Kannapolis, North Carolina, to relive the thrilling photo finish outcome of a race that is sure to be talked about for decades to come.
Beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday on NASCAR’s YouTube channel, fans can catch the appropriately named “So Damn Close” — a documentary hosted by driver-turned-broadcaster Clint Bowyer — and once again watch how the race excitingly transpired, but from a new vantage point.
“We could tell this story in a lot of ways, including interview each guy individually and get their own perspective, which would be in a more traditional way of doing it,” said Griffin Van Malssen, NASCAR Studios’ supervising producer for unscripted content. “But we thought what would really make this show stand out is to have all these guys together and able to bounce off each other and learn things from each other and talk about what they were thinking. We wanted them to navigate and relive the race together.”
The end result is a rare and fascinating up-close illustration of synergy and strategy between drivers, crew chiefs and spotters that fans don’t often have a chance to experience.
Equally as fascinating was how Van Malssen and his crew of nearly 30 camerapersons, producers and editors pulled everything together in just over a month’s time.
“It was stressful,” he said. “Having to line all these people up wasn’t easy, knowing we had to have time to do (the interviews) and then having time to edit it all together. But everybody pitched in and understood how important the show was going to be, how cool it was going to be and having everyone together was going to make it special. It was awesome to just have it all come together.
“There’s not one single frame, other than footage from the original race, that was part of this until (the taping at the Gem Theatre on) January 8. The team really went into overdrive to put together an hour-long show. Sometimes, we have months to put together something like this, and they did it in weeks. I’m really proud of the team and thankful for all the work they put in and how fun and interesting and exciting they made the show. That’s what stands out about all this.”
That Suárez would ultimately earn his second career Cup Series win, despite his Chevrolet suffering minor damage in a multicar crash on Lap 2, is a testament to his and his team Trackhouse Racing’s persistence and determination to take the checkered flag.
“Any of us could have won that race,” Suárez said of the three-car last-lap battle to the checkered flag. “It was a matter of inches. It was just a matter of timing. Fortunately, the timing worked out good for me.”
And in so doing, Suárez, Blaney and Busch will forever be part of history in a race they and NASCAR fans will likely never forget.
“That replay will be played forever,” Bowyer said. “You think about the moments that we still use of Richard Petty’s wins or Dale Earnhardt’s wins; those are still used today. That finish will be a hard one to top.”
-NASCAR WIRE SERVICES