On Sunday, 39 of the best drivers in the world will tackle the 1.5 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Ambetter Health 400. Ahead of the second race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, here’s what you need to know before the green flag.
Ford are the favorites for good reason
How fast was Ford in Saturday’s qualifying session? The Blue Ovals locked out 10 of the first 11 starting spots, with the Chevy of Kyle Busch being the only non-Ford to make the final, 10-driver round of qualifying. The Team Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano swept the stages and led 125 laps in the Daytona 500, and they’ll lead the field to the green flag tomorrow. The Wood Brothers, Front Row Motorsports and RFK Racing also made appearances in the top-10 in qualifying, and all the Fords will be able to help each other at the front of the pack. It’s certainly not impossible for Toyota or Chevy to steal a win, but it will be a very tough task.
Joe Gibbs Racing will have to come from the back
After winning the Daytona 500 pole with Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing fell back to earth in superspeedway qualifying on Saturday. Briscoe was the best of the JGR bunch in 25th, but Briscoe and teammates Christopher Bell, (32nd) Ty Gibbs (36th) and Denny Hamlin (37th) will have substantial ground to make up when the green flag flies. Joe Gibbs’ quartet could be dangerous if they link up, but they have to make sure they’re not collected in somebody else’s mess first.
Penske looks to finish the job
Penske’s aforementioned Daytona dominance came at the price of an empty trophy case. Blaney and Logano were both caught up crashes, while Cindric was forced to slow down when the last-lap melee occurred. As fast as Roger Penske’s trio was in Daytona Beach, they failed to win the race. A similar disappointment on Sunday would be, well, very disappointing for a team that has consistently been among the best teams on drafting tracks over the last decade. Cindric, Blaney and Logano will lead their share of laps and will likely earn stage points in bunches, but whether or not one of them is standing in victory lane at race’s end will be all that matters at the end of the day.
Ambetter Health 400 Starting Lineup:
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Cindric
- Josh Berry
- Joey Logano
- Todd Gilliland
- Kyle Busch
- Zane Smith
- Chris Buescher
- Brad Keselowski
- Noah Gragson
- Ryan Preece
- AJ Allmendinger
- Alex Bowman
- Bubba Wallace
- Austin Dillon
- William Byron
- Kyle Larson
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Elliott
- Ty Dillon
- Justin Haley
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Cole Custer
- Michael McDowell
- Chase Briscoe
- Carson Hocevar
- Riley Herbst
- Erik Jones
- Daniel Suarez
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Cody Ware
- Christopher Bell
- Ross Chastain
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Corey LaJoie
- Ty Gibbs
- Denny Hamlin
- BJ McLeod
- JJ Yeley
Sunday’s Schedule:
NASCAR Raceday: 2 p.m. ET, FOX
Radio Pre-Race Coverage: 2 p.m. ET, PRN
NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400: 3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Defending Ambetter Health 400 winner: Daniel Suarez
Defending Atlanta winner: Joey Logano
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