NASCAR Atlanta Preview

One week down, thirty-five more to go.

After a chaotic finish at Daytona, the drivers will travel to the heart of Georgia to race at EchoPark Speedway.

EchoPark Speedway is a 1.54-mile quad-oval with 24-28-degree banking.

Similar to Daytona, drafting will be key this weekend.

It will be a three-series weekend, with Trucks, O’Reilly Autoparts, and Cup.

I will break down all three races and give my winner predictions.

First, we will start with Trucks.

Last week, Chander Smith took the win in what was probably the best race of the weekend.

Last year, Kyle Busch won this race for Spire.

The entry list has a solid array of big names.

The first eye-catching name is Adam Andretti, the great-nephew of the famous Mario Andretti.

He will be making his truck debut.

Busch will also be entering again, driving the #7 for Spire.

More Cup drivers are Ty Dillon in the 25, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the 45, and John Hunter Nemechek in the 62.

Carson Hocevar, coming off triple-duty in Daytona, will race in the Spire #77.

This will most certainly provide an interesting teammate dynamic with Busch, as those two aren’t fans of each other.

I’m actually going to go with Hocevar to win this race.

He has driven well at drafting tracks, with the second-best average finish among Cup drivers over the last 15.

In O’Reilly, I am predicting Gio Ruggiero to win.

He has been incredible at drafting, finishing 1st, 2nd, 1st, and 1st at his last four drafting races.

The biggest name from the Cup here is Ross Chastain.

Now, the Cup Series.

Last year was an incredible finish.

Carson Hocevar, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell were racing to the line under the white flag.

A caution came out with Hocevar on a blazing run, and he was caught just behind the two at the light, so Bell took the win.

I predict Hocevar to put up another strong run, but not quite the win.

A sleeper pick is Hocevar’s teammate, Daniel Suarez.

He has consistently raced at the front at EchoPark, including a stretch in 2023 and 2024 where he had four straight top-two finishes.

Despite Spire likely giving them a good fight, I am going to go with Ryan Blaney to win it.

He is a phenomenal drafting racer and has been consistently great at Atlanta.

Edison Pellumbi is a first-year student studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at ejp5889@psu.edu.