The ending of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race was something straight out of a Hollywood film. Some fans couldn’t help but compare the 3-wide finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway to another famous photo finish from the silver screen.
The Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series ended with Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch all crossing the finish line within milliseconds of each other. Suarez just barely edged out Blaney to be deemed the winner in one of the closest races in history (video and photos here).
Several fans believed Sunday’s NASCAR race was another example of life imitating art — or in this case, animation.
The 2006 Pixar movie “Cars” began trending on social media moments after Sunday’s wild finish. Fans remembered how the film’s protagonist Lightning McQueen ends up in a similar photo finish with rivals Strip “The King” Weathers and Chick Hicks at the conclusion of the Dinoco 400.
literally straight out of the movie Cars 😅😳https://t.co/ZA4iU6eLin
— Kevin Keneely (@KevinKeneely1) February 26, 2024
Cars ahh finish 💀 pic.twitter.com/A69gdtjOqw
— Zer00 (@zer00eatswendys) February 26, 2024
No way did NASCAR have a finish similar to the Cars movie 😭 pic.twitter.com/vF0sqRgIRd
— MOCskoden🏜️ (@MOCskoden) February 26, 2024
They made the finish from Cars a real thing? 😮#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/lAh9TuAJPx
— The Money Lap (@themoneylap) February 26, 2024
This Cars Movie all over again.
— V F1 (@swiftsambi) February 26, 2024
The biggest difference between the “Cars” finish and the Ambetter Health 400 one was that the former actually ended up in a tie. Perhaps the animated world didn’t have cameras as precise as the ones NASCAR had at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In the real world, Suarez beat out Blaney by a mere 0.003 seconds. Busch wasn’t far behind at just 0.007 seconds behind Suarez.
But despite coming in second, Blaney was far from a sore loser. The Team Penske driver was as stunned as everyone watching when he saw the finish on video for the very first time.
