HAMPTON — NASCAR is back in the area for a tripleheader weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Now one year into the newly reconfigured 1.54-mile superspeedway, Hendrick Motorsports has yet to lose on the new track. William Byron, who has won the last two Cup Series races, is the defending winner of the spring race in Atlanta. Chase Elliott won the summer race, but he will not be competing this weekend due to a leg injury.
Chevrolet has not lost a points race in 2023. Should Byron or teammates Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman or Josh Berry not win, there are multiple other prime candidates for the General Motors stable. Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain are favorites outside the Hendrick camp to win. Busch’s Daytona 500 run gives Richard Childress Racing reason to be confident, and Team Trackhouse Racing gave Chastain two excellent shots at an Atlanta win last year.
Defending champion Joey Logano may be a great superspeedway racer, but he’d like to forget his two Atlanta races last year. The two-time champ owned the inner quarter-mile track in a bandolero growing up, but he’s yet to win in a Cup car on the main circuit. His Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric had much better runs last year and could notch their first win of the year for Ford Performance.
Toyota Racing Development has been nipping at the heels of the Hendrick Chevy Camaro ZL1s the past two weeks. Superspeedway ace Denny Hamlin was in contention last summer, but was crashed out in the closing laps. He looks to put an end to the Chevy streak, perhaps with help from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell.
The Cup Series race goes green on Sunday at 3 p.m. and tickets are still available.
Saturday will feature a doubleheader, starting with the Craftsman Truck Series followed by the Xfinity Series. Two Georgia natives will be defending their crowns in their respective races. Austin Hill has become the best superspeedway racer in the Xfinity Series, a second Atlanta win would further prove that. Corey Heim looks to defend his win in the Truck Series and lock himself into the playoffs.
The Truck race goes green at 2 p.m., with the Xfinity race set to begin immediately after.
