Daniel Suarez won the Ambetter 400 NASCAR Cup Race at Atlanta Sunday by just 0.003 seconds, the third closest finish in Cup history. Suarez’s latest triumph continues a string of dramatic and close finishes for the Mexican driver. He’s now won six races in NASCAR’s top three series. Combined, his margin of victory is just 11.235 seconds.

For perspective, it takes 11.3 seconds for a 2013 Chevrolet Spark to accelerate from 0-60 mph. In that amount of time, Suarez has won six races.

The margin of victory in four of those races, including Sunday’s win, was under one second.

His first win, 2016 at Michigan in the Xfinity Series, was won with a lap-last pass over Kyle Busch. Suarez beat his teammate by 0.280 seconds.

Later that year, Suarez won at Dover by 5.625 seconds, his largest margin of victory to date in NASCAR. That win accounts for over half of his overall victory margin across six races. Suarez captured the 2016 Xfinity Series championship with a win at the season finale at Homestead by just under one second.

That same year he captured his sole Truck Series win by 0.510 seconds at Phoenix. Suarez retained the lead following a late-race restart.

His first Cup Series win at Sonoma in 2022 was under four seconds over Chris Buescher.

Despite his propensity for winning races by small margins, Suarez said he’s never been a part of a finish quite like Sunday’s Atlanta win.

“Every time that you get to win races, it’s special, but to be able to win it in this fashion, this close with two other great drivers is quite special,” Suarez said.

Suarez didn’t realize how close the finish was when he, Kyle Busch and runner-up Ryan Blaney crossed the line three-wide fighting for the win.

“I thought I had the 8 (of Kyle Busch),” he said. “I knew it was close. But I had no idea about the 12 (of Ryan Blaney). No idea. At that point, I was just hoping I saw the tower and I thought I was first, and they told me we got it, but then we were under review, and I said, dammit.”

The review was understandable given the miniscule gap separating the three drivers. But it proved Suarez once again had captured a narrow win.

Blaney, reviewing a replay of the race to the line with reporters after the race, summed it up well.

“Holy shit, that was so close,” he said.

Suarez’s three-wide win over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch is second only to two 0.002-second wins in the Cup Series. Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch at the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers at Darlington in one of the most memorable NASCAR finishes of all time. Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer, also by just 0.002 seconds, in the 2011 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.

Sources: [Motor Trend], [Fox Sports]