Overview
The second year of the new Atlanta Motor Speedway track continues to have mixed reviews and plenty of chaos. The racing to be honest has not been all that great and there’s various reasons why. With that being said, the Cup drivers are going to handle the 1.54-mile quad-oval which has 28 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straightaways. There’s plenty to sort through here with qualifying out of the way.
Strategy
Pack racing will come into play once again with this race being treated as a super speedway, just like what we see at Daytona and Talladega. The drivers will go 260 laps for 400 miles providing a lot of dominator points but also keeping in mind that typically at these types of tracks we need place differential points with the looming wreck(s) that come with this style of racing.
Most comparable tracks: Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway
*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused
Top Drivers
Martin Truex, Jr. ($8,900), Starting 29th
Truex is severely underpriced and will be one of, if not the highest owned drivers on Sunday. Truex finished 8th and 11th in the last two races here leading laps on both occasions. When he finished 8th last March, he started 26th paying off his then salary ($9,200) easily.
William Byron ($10,900), Starting 11th
No one’s been on a better roll than Byron of late as Wild Bill has won each of the last two Cup races leading 47 and 55 laps in the two races respectively. Last year in this March race Byron dominated the field leading 111 laps after starting 12th en route to a victory. We’ve seen in the past the Byron goes on these stretches of high success and he’s coming to a track that he’s had success at. Keep in mind, also that Byron had led 41 laps in the July race here before being wrecked out of the race with 90 laps to. He led 41 of the 170 laps he was on the track for.
Erik Jones ($7,500), Starting 28th
Jones is another driver with a ton of place differential available who has had success at this revamped track. In the March race last year after starting 23rd, Jones finished 14th and then followed that up in July by finishing fourth after starting 25th. Jones is a solid mid-priced option with a solid floor.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. ($6,700), Starting 27th
Already with a win on a super speedway this season (Daytona), Stenhouse comes back to a track that he’s performed well at but has had no luck at. Let me explain. In the March race here last season, Stenhouse started 28th, led 22 laps and ended up getting caught in a crash. In July, Stenhouse started 20th and led two laps before his engine failed him. With a little more luck at each of those races, the results would probably look a lot different. Consider him a great value when filling out lineups Sunday.
Also Consider:
AJ Allmendinger ($6,300), Starting 30th
Daniel Suarez ($7,800), Starting 25th
Ty Gibbs ($5,900), Starting 35th
Harrison Burton ($5,400), Starting 33rd
Ross Chastain ($10,000), Starting 18th
GOOD LUCK!!