Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Atlanta weekend
Nine races remain before the playoffs begin, as the NASCAR Cup Series goes to EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, this weekend.
Saturday night's race has the chance to disrupt the playoff standings. Four times in the seven races since the track was reconfigured, there have been at least 26 cars involved in a crash in a race. Twenty-eight cars were involved in accidents in February's event.
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers heading into the weekend.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick makes his 200th career Cup start this weekend. Bad news: Bubba Wallace has finished 33rd or worse in four of the last seven races, dropping him to 29 points above the playoff cutline. … Wallace's six DNFs leads the series. … Since starting the season with three consecutive 17th-place finishes (Daytona 500, Atlanta and COTA), Riley Herbst has only one finish better than 17th in the last 14 races. … Tyler Reddick has three top-five finishes this season. He's on pace for his fewest number of top-five finishes in a season since 2021 (also the last time he went winless in a season).
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: The organization has won the pole for six of the last eight races at drafting tracks. … Noah Gragson's best finish of the season came at a drafting track when he placed fourth at Talladega. … Gragson has gone a series-best 60 consecutive races without a pit road speeding penalty. … Todd Gilliland ranked third in passing in the Atlanta race in February. … He has started in the top 10 in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races. … Zane Smith has five top-20 finishes in the last eight races. … Smith finished 11th in February, his best Cup finish there. Bad news: Gilliland has finished 22nd or worse in each of the last four races. … Gilliland has never scored a top-five finish in 21 Cup races on drafting tracks.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: All four of Cole Custer's top-20 finishes have come in the past eight races. … Custer started a season-best fifth last weekend at Pocono. Bad News: Custer has made 134 Cup starts since his win at Kentucky in July 2020.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Chase Elliott heads into this weekend with back-to-back top-five finishes, the first time he's done that this season. … Elliott has the best average finish this season at 10.8. … Kyle Larson has won 13 of his last 82 Cup starts for a 15.9 percent winning percentage. … William Byron has two wins on the reconfigured Atlanta track. … Byron's four drafting track wins (two Daytona 500s and two at Atlanta) are the most in the Next Gen car. … Alex Bowman has six top-10 finishes in the last 11 races on drafting tracks. Bad news: Bowman dropped one spot in the playoff standings and now holds the final playoff spot with nine races left in the regular season. … Larson has failed to finish five of the last seven races at Atlanta due to accidents. … Larson has not won in 50 starts at drafting tracks. … Larson's five-race winless streak matches his longest of the season.
Dustin Long,
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: All four of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s Cup wins have come on drafting tracks. … He finished fifth at Atlanta in February. … Stenhouse ranked second in passing in the February Atlanta race. Bad news: Stenhouse has placed 27th or worse in three of the last four races this season.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell won the most recent Atlanta race in February. … Bell has three top-five finishes in his last five Atlanta starts. … Chase Briscoe is coming off his first Cup win with JGR, taking the checkered flag at Pocono. … Briscoe has four finishes of seventh or better in the last six races. … Denny Hamlin has won nine of his last 77 Cup starts for an 11.7 percent winning percentage. … With eight top-five finishes in his first 16 races, Hamlin is on pace to have his most top-five finishes in a season since 2021. … Ty Gibbs led a race-high 32 laps at Talladega in the most recent race on a drafting track. Bad news: Hamlin's average finish in the last seven races at Atlanta is 18th. … Hamlin is winless in 21 starts on drafting tracks in the Next Gen era (since 2022). … Briscoe has one top-10 finish in the last eight races at drafting tracks.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has an 11.0 average finish at the reconfigured Atlanta track, a total that is tied for third among drivers who have made at least three starts at that track. Bad news: Ty Dillon has not finished better than 19th in five Cup starts at the reconfigured Atlanta track. … Allmendinger has finished 20th or worse in five of the last eight races. … Allmendinger is winless in 48 career Cup starts on drafting tracks.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has finished sixth in each of the last two Cup races. … Nemechek has four top 10s in the last seven races. … Nemechek's six top 10s this season are a career high in Cup. …He finished 10th at Atlanta in February. … Nemechek ranked fourth in passing in that Atlanta race. … Erik Jones has five top-15 finishes in the last seven races. Bad news: Jones has two top-10 finishes in his last 12 starts on drafting tracks.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has finished in the top 10 in all five races at Atlanta with Richard Childress Racing, his most at a track since moving to the team. … Busch ranks second in the series in passing at drafting tracks this season. … Busch has eight top-10 finishes in his last 14 Cup starts at drafting tracks. Bad news: Austin Dillon has finished 19th or worse in six consecutive races. … Dillon has only two top-10 finishes in his last 16 starts at drafting tracks. … Busch has one top-10 result in the last nine races this season. … Busch has lost 63 points to the playoff cutline in the past two races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Corey LaJoie is back with the team this weekend in the No. 01 car. … LaJoie has two top-five finishes in the last seven Atlanta races. … Nine of LaJoie's 11 career top-10 finishes in Cup have come on drafting tracks. … Both of Cody Ware's two top-10 Cup finishes have come at drafting tracks. Bad news: Ware has finished 30th or worse in six of the last nine races.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has finished in the top 10 in each of the last three races. … Buescher has nine top-10 finishes this season, his most through 17 races in a Cup season. … Brad Keselowski has three top-10 finishes in the last five races. … Ryan Preece has five top 15s in the last six races, including four top 10s. Bad news: A penalty for pitting when pit road was closed (a team miscommunication) and then a caution coming out before he had pitted prevented Keselowski from having a chance to win last week at Pocono and claim a playoff spot. … Keselowski, who has seven drafting track wins, last won on such a track in 2021. … Preece finished second at Talladega in the most recent race on a drafting track but was disqualified when his car failed post-race inspection.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Carson Hocevar finished second in the most recent Atlanta race in February. … He ranked first in passing in that race, via Racing Insights. … Hocevar has finished in the top 10 in the last two races on drafting tracks, placing second at Atlanta and sixth at Talladega. Bad news: It has been 158 starts since Justin Haley's lone Cup win at Daytona in July 2019. … Michael McDowell has placed 21st or worse in seven of the last 10 races.
Team Penske — Good news: The organization led 131 of 266 laps at Atlanta in February. … The team has won seven of the 14 stages since the Atlanta track was redone. … Ryan Blaney has six consecutive top 10s at Atlanta, his longest streak at any track. … He has led in all seven Atlanta races on the reconfigured track. … Blaney has four wins on drafting tracks. … Blaney has six top-five finishes in the last 10 races this season. … Since the track's reconfiguration, Austin Cindric has led 193 laps at Atlanta (second most among all drivers). … Joey Logano has two wins on the reconfigured Atlanta track. Bad news: Logano's Atlanta win during last year's playoffs is his only top-10 finish in the last 10 races on a drafting track.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Daniel Suarez has placed in the top two, including a win, in three of the last four Atlanta races. … Suarez is tied with Ryan Blaney for the most top-five finishes at the reconfigured Atlanta track with four. … Ross Chastain has four top 10s in his last seven Atlanta starts. … Connor Zilisch will make his third career Cup start this weekend, driving the No. 87 car. Bad news: Shane van Gisbergen's 31st-place finish last week at Pocono was his lowest since Bristol in April.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry led a career-high 56 laps at Atlanta in February. … Berry ranked second in defense in the Atlanta race, according to Racing Insights. … Berry started third at Atlanta and won the opening stage in February. Bad news: Berry has one top-10 finish in the 12 races since his Las Vegas win.
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