Written by Gabriel Tsui, Bailey Defoor & Sean McKean
All three series continue on the NASCAR circuit, as they each travel to Atlanta Motor Speedway for their second races of the season.
Since 1960, Atlanta has played host to at least one Cup Series event every year, but the track’s layout has varied. From 1960 to 1996, the track was a standard 1.522-mile oval; however, in 1997, Atlanta transitioned into a 1.54-mile D-oval and remained that way until the track surface literally started to break in 2021. From 2022 onwards, the banking was increased to 28 degrees whilst the pits were completely revamped – transforming the track into a superspeedway.
Below are the start times for each race plus lap count:
Trucks: Saturday, 22 February, 13:30 local (18:30 UK) – 135 laps
Xfinity: Saturday, 22 February, 17:00 local (22:00 UK) – 163 laps
Cup: Sunday, 23 February, 15:00 local (20:00 UK) – 260 laps
Below are the defending winners for each race:
Trucks: No. 7 - Kyle Busch (Spire Motorsports)
Xfinity: No. 21 - Austin Hill (Richard Childress Racing)
Cup: No. 99 - Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Racing)
Cup Series: Ambetter Health 400 Preview
Written by Gabriel Tsui
After a dramatic race weekend down in Daytona Beach, Florida, to kick off the 2025 season, we head up to Metro Atlanta, Georgia for the second race of the season. Following a great start to the season by the Chevys, can they keep it up in the return to Atlanta? Or will the Toyotas, who were oh-so-close to finally winning the Daytona 500 again, get their win in Atlanta?
The drivers will be driving around the 1.54 miles (2.48 kilometres) long race track for 260 laps, with 60 laps in stage one, and 100 laps each in stages two and three, totalling a distance run around the track of 400.4 miles (644.4 kilometres).
The weather report indicates that the skies will be slightly cloudy during the race weekend, with temperatures still on the low end, hovering around 9-13 degrees Celsius (49-55 degrees Fahrenheit). The race will commence on the Sunday of February 23rd, at 15:00 ET (12:00 PT, 21:00 CET).
Race Predictions
Atlanta has been the stomping ground for Ford for the past decade, but for the past three years, Chevrolet was able to regain some control over the track, winning in 2022 and 2024. However, Daniel Suarez’s win in 2024 was a three-way drag race to the line and Ford had great control throughout the race before conceding an unlucky loss.
That’s why I’m picking Ford to win in Atlanta, specifically Chris Buescher who had a great weekend down in Daytona and is looking to build on top of a top-ten performance. He had multiple top-ten finishes in Atlanta, but never took one all the way for a win. He is a great driver in intermediate speedways, and he is due for a win.
Another driver we should look out for is Austin Cindric, who started off the season with a win in the Daytona Duel and a top-eight finish in the Daytona 500. Team Penske has won in Atlanta every other year since 2017, and Cindric might be the next Penske driver to win in Atlanta.
Three things to look out for
Bump drafting-esque racing
While not a traditional superspeedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway’s 28 degrees of banking give them a unique profile that give them tight racing similar to those in Daytona and Talladega, but not necessarily full blown bump drafting. It will be interesting to see how drivers navigate the track, especially for the rookies who will have to learn on the fly how to adapt to the track.
Toyota starting the season strong
Despite missing out on the win, Toyota has shown improvements and are looking bullish coming out of Daytona. They currently have four full time drivers within the top-ten of the driver’s championship, and expect Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to join the top-ten sooner rather than later
Legacy Motor Club’s breakout season incoming?
To build on the Toyota hype, LMC had an amazing start to the season with John Hunter Nemechek earning a top-five finish, but the true challenge begins now. Their history shows that this could just be a lucky start, but if they are able to build upon a good start in the following races, we might be speaking of them in a different light come All-Star break.
Xfinity Series: Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 Preview
Written by Bailey Defoor
Last week’s race kept viewers’ attention with seven cautions and many lead changes. Daytona showed a lot of competition and pace among the drivers. Atlanta will be no different. Can Jesse Love keep the momentum up? Will Austin Hill come back from his DNF in Daytona to win in Atlanta? Who will take the checkered flag first? Time will tell.
Race Predictions
Atlanta is known for a lot of action with many drivers last year running out of fuel as the race was sent into overtime. For that reason, I’m picking Austin Hill as my winner of the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250. He was battling at the front in Daytona and suffered a car problem after winning Stages 1 and 2. He has won in Atlanta before, and I am positive he is looking for redemption after his Daytona retirement.
Two things to look out for
Hendrick Motorsports Meets Xfinity
Hendrick Motorsports announced that they will run a car in the Xfinity Series for 16 races. The most successful NASCAR Cup series team will kick off their Xfinity run in March at Circuit of the Americas, where Adam Wall will serve as their crew chief and William Byron, last week’s Daytona 500 winner, will drive the car. Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Corey Day will also take turns piloting the number 17 car for Hendrick Motorsports with Day taking on the bulk of the races.
Bringing in Views
The Xfinity season opener drew in 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.2 million. This is a 93 percent increase from last year’s season opener which was delayed due to rough weather. This rise in viewership makes it the most-watched race since spring Talladega 2022 and the most-watched Daytona season opener since 2020!
Truck Series: Fr8 208 Preview
Written by Sean McKean
Coming off one of their cleaner season openers, the Truck Series now travels a bit North to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia. The field will continue their superspeedway ventures, too, as the 1.54-mile track features flat-out, pack racing.
Race Predictions
TRICON Garage were the dominant force in Daytona, with Corey Heim and Gio Ruggeiro finishing 1-2 following Parker Kligerman’s disqualification. Although Heim came out on top in Daytona, I’m picking Gio Ruggeiro to take his first victory in only his second start. Despite not taking victory in Daytona, Ruggeiro finished top-three and led 11 of the 100 laps.
Two things to look out for
Welcome back, Rowdy!
As announced earlier in the week, Kyle Busch will return for select starts with Spire Motorsports in their flagship No. 7 truck. Busch won this very race one year ago in a thrilling finish, so expect him to be up front – given that he has four teammates to get help from.
TRICON domination?
As previously mentioned, TRICON Garage finished 1-2 in Daytona with Heim and Ruggeiro. However, they also had William Sawalich finish ninth in the No. 1. With Sawalich returning for another race this weekend coupled by four strong teammates, TRICON Garage will surely be in the mix in Atlanta.
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