After the exciting events at Daytona, featuring wrecks, chaos, multi-car collisions, and some hefty penalties, the NASCAR Cup Series is ready for its next stop this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But which drivers are expected to lead the pack?
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According to Sportsline, based on their thorough analysis of past track performances and driver records, some top picks have emerged. Leading the predictions for the 2025 Ambetter Health 400 is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Champion, Ryan Blaney, with an average finish of P10 on the track, who is favored with odds of +900.
Blaney finished P2 last year in one of the closest NASCAR finishes of all time, trailing behind the Trackhouse Racing driver, Daniel Suarez.
Meanwhile, Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano, despite a disappointing finish in the 2024 Ambetter Health 400 of P28 last year after starting in P2, appears to have rebounded in the odds-makers’ eyes, being listed as the second favorite with odds of +950. The now three-time champion of the sport has definite credibility going for him, having claimed the pole award at the venue two years ago.
William Byron, fresh from his Daytona 500 victory, enters the Atlanta race with +1600 odds of capturing another win, having finished P17 last year.
Alongside the mentioned frontrunners, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, and Chase Elliott completed the top-5 contenders according to Sportsline, boasting odds of +1100, +1100, and +1400, respectively.
Last year, Busch narrowly missed the top spot at Atlanta, securing a P3 finish. He has an average finish of 13.0 at the venue, including two wins, ten top-5s, and fifteen top-10s in his 30 race starts on the track.
Meanwhile, Cindric holds an average finish of 13.4 at the venue as per his seven races, whereas Elliott, with 12 starts boasts an impressive average finish position of 11.5 at Atlanta with one win.
Daniel Suarez, last year’s victor, remains in the mix as a prominent contender despite longer odds of +1800 in the 2025 NASCAR at Atlanta predictions. Last week, starting from P36, Suarez navigated the track to finish at P13.
Even though he has only won two Cup series races so far, one of his victories came at Atlanta in the 2024 Ambetter Health 400. He also finished as the runner-up in the fall races at Atlanta in both 2023 and 2024.
It remains to be seen how drivers navigate the peculiar 1.5-mile-long track, which according to its length is an intermediate venue but exhibits traits of a superspeedway ever since NASCAR’s reprofiling of the layout to better suit the seventh-generation cars.
