#SrigleyStats: Front Row Motorsports Begins New Era of Ford Support with Record-Breaking Weekend at Atlanta

Across the board, Front Row Motorsports has stepped into a brand-new, and even brighter light in the opening two races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, as the tenured organization embarks on a new era as part of Ford Performance’s ‘inner circle’, so to speak.

Known for several years as an organization capable of punching above its weight, against some of the biggest teams in motorsports, Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway brought the two-car operation into a new faction of success – even if both events this season have been on drafting tracks.

A record-smashing weekend for the organization started with qualifying on Saturday, when Michael McDowell secured the pole for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, ahead of his 467^th career start – the longest wait before a maiden pole in series history. The triumph marked the second pole for Front Row Motorsports, although the first in a single-vehicle format.

With teammate Todd Gilliland qualifying in fourth, it also marked the first time that the organization has placed multiple entries inside the top five in qualifying at NASCAR's top level.

From that point forward, the weekend only got better.

When it came time to race on Sunday, McDowell was able to lead the 37-driver field around Atlanta Motor Speedway for 27 circuits, the most laps that the Phoenix, Arizona native has led in a NASCAR Cup Series event since his victory at Indianapolis last Summer.

But it was the driver of the No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang that stole the show in Hampton, Georgia, leading a race-high 58 laps – the most laps led by a Front Row Motorsports driver in any NASCAR Cup Series event.

That, coupled with a then-career-high 16 laps led in the 2024 Daytona 500, have left the 23-year-old driver leading the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led, with 74, just two circuits ahead of two-time series champion Joey Logano.

Between its two drivers, Front Row Motorsports managed to smash its single-race record for laps led in the NASCAR Cup Series, leading 85 on Sunday, and for the first time in the team’s 20-year history, had multiple drivers lead double-digit laps in a single race.

With 34 races remaining on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2024, Front Row Motorsports has already managed to lead 107 laps, just three short of the organization’s record for a single season, set last year with help from McDowell, Riley Herbst, and Zane Smith.

Needless to say, a breakout season is on the horizon for Front Row Motorsports, Michael McDowell, and Todd Gilliland.

Photo Credit: Ben Earp, NKP

WHAT A FINISH!

There's no possible scenario in which this #SrigleyStats feature goes without mentioning the incredible three-wide photo finish that happened Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway between Daniel Suárez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch.

After a bold move through the middle by Kyle Busch, the three raced side-by-side-by-side through the final set of corners and onto the frontstretch, where they crossed the start-finish line in a dead heat.

Daniel Suárez ended up capturing the victory, beating Blaney to the start-finish line by 0.003 seconds -- the third-closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series, behind only Darlington in 2003 and Talladega in 2011.

However, the distance between the race-winner and third-place finisher Kyle Busch clocked in at 0.007 seconds -- which in itself would have still been good enough to be the ninth-closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series.

Photo Credit: Jacy Norgaard, Team Chevy

MAKING HIS MARK

With his victory in Sunday's Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daniel Suárez captured his second victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing.

A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Suárez continues to make a lasting impression in the NASCAR Cup Series (and truthfully, just NASCAR in general). His victory on Sunday makes him the third foreign-born multi-time winner at NASCAR's top level, joining Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose.

However, the one thing that separates the 32-year-old driver from the two strong talents of Montoya and Ambrose is his versatility, being the only foreign-born driver in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series to have won on both an oval and road course.

At the same time, his victory marks the first oval win by a foreign-born driver in the NASCAR Cup Series since Earl Ross won the 1974 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway, five decades ago.

With six victories across NASCAR's National Series, Suárez is now tied for second place with Ron Fellows (Canada) on the list of most NASCAR wins by a foreign-born driver, while trailing Marcos Ambrose (Australia) by a single victory.

Photo Credit: Andrew Coppley, Team Chevy

NEXTGEN PARITY? NOT A FLUKE

It doesn't matter how you try to break it down, the NASCAR Cup Series continues to be the most competitive it has been in quite some time, even as the teams embark on their third season utilizing the NextGen car.

Now, just two races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, we're already beginning to see some parallels from the debut season of the seventh-generation vehicle in 2022, where parity was off the charts.

Throughout the opening two NASCAR Cup Series events of 2024, nineteen different drivers have recorded a top-10 finish -- with Bubba Wallace being the only driver to double up this season with a pair of top-five results.

It's eerily identical to the outcome from the opening pair of events from the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, where nineteen different drivers managed to score top-10 results. Before then, that same phenomenon hadn't occurred in five decades in the NASCAR Cup Series (since 1973).

Photo Credit: Ben Earp, NKP

JESSE 'LOVE'S XFINITY

Based on his performance in the opening two NASCAR Xfinity Series events in 2024, Jesse Love's decision to leap into the second-tier series is working out pretty well.

On Friday, the newest driver for Richard Childress Racing picked up a history-making pole position at Atlanta Motor Speedway, becoming the first driver to win the pole in each of his first two Xfinity Series starts.

The defending champion of the ARCA Menards Series went on to dominate Saturday's RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 157 of 169 laps (92.89%).

At 19 years, 1 month, and 10 days old, Love becomes the second-youngest driver in the history of the NASCAR Xfinity Series to lead more than 150 laps in a single race -- trailing Kyle Busch by only 28 days.

Photo Credit: Alex Slitz, Getty Images

#SrigleyStats is a weekly feature piece on Racing America, written by Joseph Srigley, that highlights some of the most interesting stats from the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Truck Series race weekend.