Even Atlanta NASCAR fans are joining the heartbreak.
Chase Elliott, a native of Dawsonville, Ga. which is about an hour north of Atlanta, looked like the clear winner of the Daytona 500 on Sunday. He had started the day on the pole position, and he even overcame two wrecks and was in the lead with three laps left in the Great American Race.
Then, he ran out of gas.
Elliott, who led 23 of the last 26 laps of the biggest race in NASCAR, suddenly fell back, losing speed after reaching nearly 200 mph.
Fans in Atlanta were absolutely stunned.
You can talk about when he went to the pits or strategy, but all of us in Atlanta know what happened:
It's the curse.
We don't know when it started. We don't even know how it started. But any Atlanta sports fan or figure knows a curse is real, and Elliott is the latest to fall victim to it.
Not convinced? What about the parallels between Elliott's final laps at Daytona and the Atlanta Falcons' collapse at Super Bowl LI?
The New England Patriots never led in regulation of the Super Bowl. But as the Falcons slowly began to fall, the Patriots kept inching closer to overcome a 25-point deficit and push it to overtime, the first overtime in Super Bowl history.
The Patriots took their first lead in the Super Bowl when James White stretched the ball into the end zone in overtime to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
The same thing happened for Kurt Busch at Daytona International Speedway. After Elliott had begun to fall behind, Busch made a last-lap pass to take his first lead of the day and win the race. He didn't lead any lap other than the final lap. It's the first time in Daytona 500 history that the winner only led the last lap.
Elliott finished 14th.
This is a cruel curse.
Chase Elliott is from Atlanta of course he's gonna blow the lead...
— Mike Aker (@AkeNbake24) February 27, 2017
PHOTOS | All the wrecks at the Daytona 500Chase Elliott = Atlanta sports
— Brandon Adams (@DawgNationDaily) February 26, 2017
