NASCAR at Atlanta live updates: William Byron wins rain-shortened Cup Series race

NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow is at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, to pass along live updates from Sunday’s Cup Series race. See below for the latest news. Refresh this page as needed. Results will be posted here after the race.

Unofficial results from Cup race

NASCAR live results from Atlanta Motor Speedway

Stage 2

Lap 185: Race called. William Byron earns his third victory of 2023. More to come.

Lap 185: Rain’s starting to come down now. Cars coming down pit road. Drivers coming out of cars. NASCAR uses the red flag. If the race gets called, William Byron will be declared the winner, and the Top 5: Byron, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch.

Lap 181: NASCAR reports a light rain in Turn 1. Cars still on the racetrack.

Lap 178: Ryan Preece brakes to avoid hitting Ryan Blaney but then gets hit from behind and gets sent spinning. NASCAR throws the caution. Bubba Wallace gets collected. The X-factor that is making this mid-Stage 3 racing extra exciting can be encapsulated in this caption: When will the rain come?

Lap 160: Stage 2 done. Brad Keselowski wins. The 6 car has 14 laps worth of fuel; his team tells Keselowski over the radio that he has about 10 minutes until the rain comes and subsequently ends the race. Keselowski elects to pit. Among those staying out and praying for rain: AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, William Byron, Daniel Suarez.

Lap 155: Caution! Wreck! Alex Bowman gets loose, knocks into the 11 of Denny Hamlin, and Hamlin goes spinning. The 11 salvages a decent car, but Bowman has pretty substantial damage. This might end Stage 2. If it does end Stage 2, here’s the finishing order: Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley and Ryan Preece.

Lap 145: We are watching a master at work with Martin Truex Jr., who has been clearing drivers by the handful as he hugs the wall. That 19 car is simply so fast. He’s running second now, right behind Brad Keselowski. Truex and Ryan Blaney now fighting for second place, racing against the storm that is coming. Here we go!

Lap 131: Whenever the rain comes in, it’s official now! The Top 10 running now: Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell.

Lap 122: Corey LaJoie goes around! Three-wide! Tags the wall! The 7 car came down on Erik Jones, and LaJoie goes sideways. Others involved with damage: Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr. See what happened here:

Lap 99: Green green green! Weather incoming! Drivers racing to the front in case we make it to Lap 130 — which would make this race “official.”

Lap 92: Kyle Larson goes spinning! Right-front damage. Larson got loose; Erik Jones tried to brake to give Larson a chance to collect his car, but Jones couldn’t avoid contact, sending the 5 car sliding. Larson with a bunch of damage. But he’ll re-enter the fray.

Lap 84: We’re still under yellow here. A bunch of cars head down pit road — but a bunch also stay out. Among them: Bubba Wallace, who inherits the lead. Wallace appeared to have a fast Toyota in qualifying on Saturday, but a mistake led him to having the worst finish of the day and starting from the rear. Also behind him who didn’t pit: Ryan Preece, Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 80: William Byron goes sliding! Caution. He’s helped by Corey LaJoie, who accidentally runs right into his right-rear quarter panel. Not a ton of damage for Byron, but a day that started with a mistake has met some bad luck for the 24 car.

Lap 70: We’re green again! Top 10 running at this moment: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick. We got three-wide for fourth (Larson-Cindric).

Lap 64: Essentially the entire field filed down pit road during the stage caution. The big drama came after Michael McDowell suffered damage and spun Martin Truex Jr. A bunch of penalties were dished on pit road, too: Denny Hamlin heads to the back for equipment interference; Christopher Bell heads back after removing equipment, Ty Dillon falls to the back after speeding and William Byron falls to the back after a safety violation.

Stage 1

Lap 60: Stage 1 complete! Ryan Blaney with the stage win, holding off ... Kyle Larson... somehow? Larson came from virtually out of nowhere in the three-wide mayhem at the end of Stage 1 to almost steal a stage win for Chevy in a Ford-dominated race thus far.

Check out the end-of-stage madness here:

Lap 58: OK, the fun has begun! Let’s deconstruct it: Aric Almirola gets passed by Joey Logano. Almirola tried to pass him right back, but he didn’t have the momentum to fully clear the 22, and thus was in the bottom lane with no cars behind him to help him. He fell through the field before forcing himself in front of Tyler Reddick on the outside line — and that sets off a few motions that leaves Reddick nearly spinning out and collecting the field. No wreck though. Ryan Blaney then takes the lead from his Team Penske teammate (Logano). What a race thus far.

Lap 40: Joey Logano takes the lead from Aric Almirola thanks to a big air push from Ryan Blaney. But in half a lap, Aric Almirola passes him back. He wants to be out front. But Logano is credited for leading one lap.

Lap 29: Kyle Busch is told by crew chief Randall Burnett that severe weather is moving into the area in about an hour and 15 minutes. If that rain comes around the halfway point of the race — at or after Lap 130 — then the race could be called official. Should make for some truncated strategy and aggressive racing. Top 10 right now: Aric Almirola (led all laps), Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe.

The incoming radar, courtesy FOX reporter Bob Pockrass:

Lap 24: Green green green!

Lap 16: Harrison Burton spins and slides around down the backstretch. Caution out. Denny Hamlin somehow avoids running into him, avoiding an early field-collecting wreck. The 21 car has to get towed back to pit road because of flat tires. Going green again soon.

Lap 10: The Xfinity Series proved that the outside line is the dominant one here — and it appears all the Cup guys were watching. The field is single file through 10 laps. The Top 10 after the start: Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin.

Green flag, 7:22 p.m.: Let’s gooooooo racin’!

7:20 p.m.: Chilling moment here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where fans hold up three fingers above their heads as Richard Childress makes laps alongside Kevin Harvick. Childress drove the 29 car — the same chassis Harvick earned his first Cup win in on March 11, 2001.

7:10 p.m.: Green flag coming up next. Betting odds from earlier today ... Kyle Busch at +1000, Chase Elliott at +1000 and Joey Logano at +1000 — all favorites. Kevin Harvick, my choice (see below for why), is at +3000 (which is strange considering he’s starting P6 and is a Ford, but I digress!).

6:25 p.m.: Some pre-race timing for planning: Driver Intros: 6:30:00 p.m.; Invocation: 7:01:20 p.m.; National Anthem: 7:02:00 p.m.; Command: 7:09:00 p.m.; Green Flag: 7:20:00 p.m. It’s worth noting, too, that Christopher Bell will drop to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments; his car chief has been ejected from the race.

5:35 p.m.: It looks like we won’t have to race in between the raindrops today. Per local forecasts, the scattered storms that could descend in mid-Georgia won’t arrive until around 10 p.m., which is right when the race is projected to end. It’s still hot — 86 degrees — but the track should still be cool with the sun setting a little before 8 p.m.

Here’s an insightful look at the radar as of 4 p.m.

5:30 p.m.: Ready for some night racing? The NASCAR Cup Series will run at Atlanta Motor Speedway at night for the first time since 2014, keeping fans out of the devastating heat and hopefully in their grandstand seats. Aric Almirola starts on the pole; he’s leading a field that has eight Fords in the Top 10.

Who do I think will take a trip down Victory Lane today? Kevin Harvick. (Perhaps my bias for the weekend’s “best story” is showing: If Harvick wins today, he’ll win in his final Cup start at AMS — which is also the site of his first Cup win, in 2001, just a few weeks after he succeeded Dale Earnhardt after the tragedy that was that year’s Daytona 500. Also of note: That same 29 car that Harvick earned his first win in will serve as the pace car ahead of today’s race; Richard Childress will be the one driving it.) I’m also keeping an eye on Chase Elliott, the sport’s most popular driver who’s still looking for his first win of the season, and Corey LaJoie.

NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway details

• Next Race: Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart

• Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Date: Sunday, July 9

• Time: 7 p.m. ET

• Purse: $7,449,067

• TV: USA, 6:30 p.m. ET

• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Distance: 400.4 miles (260 laps)

• Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 160), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 260)

Starting lineup for Quaker State 400