After a wet and wild weekend in Daytona, the NASCAR circus moves on to Hampton, Georgia, and the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Fr8 208
Saturday, February 24 @ 2:00PM EST
Nick Sanchez enters Atlanta as a winner after grabbing his first checkered flag at Daytona on Friday night in chaotic fashion. A fashion that saw a record number of cautions. As well, Taylor Gray got upside down in a final lap melee that seemingly involved the whole field. The entire series is looking to try to start fixing their reputation with what will hopefully be a much cleaner race in the Peach State.
Most Recent Winner At Atlanta
Last March, Christian Eckes won in the Craftsman Truck Series at Atlanta. It sparked a breakout season for Eckes that saw him win 4 races a year ago.
Names To Watch
Kyle Busch: “Rowdy” is always someone to keep your eyes on when he is in a truck. Busch will be driving the #7 for Spire Motorsports this weekend. He has been dominant on intermediate tracks in the Craftsman Truck Series, but he has yet to run the new configuration of Atlanta in a truck. That won’t make much of a difference, though. The track may change, but Kyle Busch always poses a palpable threat.
Rajah Caruth: Setting aside the incident on the last lap, Caruth had one of the best, if not the best, performances of his young career on Friday. Caruth finished a career-best 2nd. Now, the pressure falls on Caruth to back up that performance this weekend at Atlanta.
My Pick To Win: Christian Eckes
Raptor King Of Tough 250
Saturday, February 24 @ 5:00PM EST
Austin Hill heads to his home track with yet another Daytona trophy on his shelf. After a very exciting race on Monday Night, Hill looks to continue his dominance on drafting tracks. He has won twice in North Georgia before.
Most Recent Winner At Atlanta
The last time the Xfinity Series visited Atlanta, it was John Hunter Nemechek who took home the gold. Nemechek is in the field again this weekend, driving the #20 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Names To Watch
Jesse Love: Love came to play in Daytona, but unfortunately, his impressive weekend that saw him win the pole and lead nearly every lap of the first stage, capping it off with a stage win, would get a wrench thrown into it when he was involved in a crash. Look for Love to continue that momentum into this weekend’s race in Atlanta.
Ryan Sieg: Ryan Sieg always seems to run well at his home track; the Tucker, Georgia native fought hard in an impressive showing on Monday but came up short after being involved in a last-lap crash. Don’t be shocked if Sieg is in contention again this weekend as well.
Shane van Gisbergen: SVG put forth a solid effort in which he finished every lap and brought it home 12th despite being caught up in multiple incidents. He will no doubt have eyes on him yet again to see how he performs at Atlanta, a track that, when painted in broad strokes, is the same as Daytona but is still vastly different in the way you race the track. It will be interesting to see if SVG can adapt what he learned at Daytona.
My Pick To Win: Parker Kligerman
Ambetter Health 400
Sunday, February 25 @ 3:00PM EST
William Byron heads back to Atlanta as a Daytona 500 Champion. After a thrilling race, coming to the white flag, Ross Chastain made a very Chastain-esque move, going for a gap between Byron and Austin Cindric. The gap closed before Chastain could break through and sent himself and Cindric spinning, NASCAR officials held the caution for a moment as they waited to see if Chastain and Cindric would slide off into the grass or if they would come back up track. The latter proved to be true, and NASCAR threw the caution, and Byron was just in front of teammate Alex Bowman. The win came on the 40th Anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ first-ever race.
Most Recent Winner At Atlanta
William Byron has won twice on Atlanta’s new configuration, with the second being the last time NASCAR visited the track, last summer. Byron enters this weekend as one of the favorites.
Names To Watch
Brad Keselowski: Keselowski is due for a win with his new team. He has been close several times. He is one greatest to ever do it on drafting tracks, his time is coming to get back to victory lane.
Carson Hocevar: After a promising effort early in the week that put Hocevar 9th on the grid for the Daytona 500, he was knocked out in a crash on lap 5. Look for Hocevar to rebound and put together a solid effort this weekend.
My Pick To Win: William Byron
Betting Odds
Favorites
Denny Hamlin +1000
Brad Keselowski +1100
Ryan Blaney +1100
Chase Elliott +1200
William Byron +1200
Longshots
Corey Lajoie +4000
Todd Gilliland +8000
Justin Haley +10000
Image: Alex Slitz/Getty Images
