HAMPTON, Ga. — The NASCAR Cup Series makes its second trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway to kick off the 2024 playoffs. Here’s what to watch for:
How We Got Here
The final two races of the regular season resulted in surprise winners that shook up the playoff picture.
In the penultimate race at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway, Harrison Burton scored an upset victory for Wood Brothers Racing to punch his ticket to the postseason. Coming into that race, the third-year driver was 34th in the standings — last among full-time drivers.
Last week, Chase Briscoe fended off Kyle Busch in the closing laps to secure his second career victory and put Stewart-Haas Racing in victory lane in its final season.
The two unlikely winners ended up pushing Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace out of the playoffs. Both drivers made it last year. Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. were the only two drivers who made the playoffs on points. Truex finished the regular season 10th in driver’s points.
Six of the 14 different winners this year finished outside the top 10 in points. Each of the top eight drivers won at least one race.
Who’s Hot & Who’s Not
HOT: Tyler Reddick
Fresh off the regular-season title, Tyler Reddick remains one of the hottest drivers in the field. He rode a stretch of seven consecutive finishes of sixth or better heading into Daytona, and despite crashing there and feeling ill at Darlington, bested Kyle Larson by one point for a 15-playoff-point bonus. He’s the No. 3 seed to start the playoffs.
NOT: William Byron
It’s been a bit of a rocky summer for William Byron, who has just one top-10 finish since Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in July. He’s failed to finish three of the last five races and is winless since Martinsville in April, which concluded a stretch of three victories in the first eight races. He’s the No. 4 seed.
HOT: Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell continues to piece together arguably the best season of his career. He’s finished sixth or better in four of the last five races, including consecutive third-place efforts at Darlington and Daytona. With his three victories, he heads into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
NOT: Denny Hamlin
While Denny Hamlin has top 10s in three of the last four races, he’s struggled to finish races throughout the summer — although most of the circumstances were out of his control. He was also assessed an L2 penalty for an engine inspection violation regarding his Bristol win in March, putting him in a deeper playoff point hole. Hamlin opens the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
HOT: Ty Gibbs
Although he enters the playoffs as the No. 15 seed, Ty Gibbs seems as dangerous as it comes. He recorded top-five finishes at Michigan and Daytona and had speed at Darlington before getting caught up in a late wreck. Gibbs continues to find himself in contention for wins each week.
NOT: Alex Bowman
The last five races haven’t been kind to Alex Bowman. Since his third-place finish at Pocono, Bowman hasn’t finished better than 16th and has dropped from 10th to 13th in driver’s points. A winner at Chicago in July, he’s the No. 12 seed to open the Round of 16.
A New-Look Round Of 16
Sunday’s race at Atlanta kicks off a brand-new look for the opening round of the playoffs.
The Southern 500 at Darlington used to kick off the playoffs, but with an additional off week during the summer for the Olympics, that race was moved to the regular-season finale. The change forced NASCAR to restructure the Round of 16.
With Atlanta — a newly reconfigured drafting track — now in the playoffs, it’ll be the first time in the elimination era with multiple superspeedway-style races (Talladega in the Round of 12).
Following Atlanta, it’ll be a trip north to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l, where the 2.45-mile road course will host a playoff race for the first time. Goodyear is expected to bring a tire with multiple seconds of falloff after a test at the track in June. Watkins Glen will move back to August — its traditional place on the schedule — next year.
Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway will conclude the Round of 16 as it has in previous years.
Kansas Speedway, Talladega and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL make up the Round of 12. Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway are in the Round of 8 with the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
The Last Time At Atlanta
The February race at Atlanta provided one of the most entertaining finishes in NASCAR history.
In a late dash to the checkered flag, Daniel Suárez, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney came across the line three abreast with Suárez narrowly eking out a win. The victory, the second of his career, was by 0.003 seconds — the fourth closest in NASCAR history.
Ultimately, the race had serious implications on the eventual playoff field. Suárez finished 18th in the regular-season standings, meaning had he not won, the Mexican-born driver would not have made the postseason.
Meanwhile, it would’ve been the opposite for Busch. The two-time champion struggled mightily over the summer and plummeted out of playoff contention, and had he won, his tribulations would not have been as magnified.Â
In a last-ditch effort to pull out a win, Busch finished second in each of the last two regular-season events and fell short of a playoff berth for the first time in the elimination era.
Race Information
Sunday’s Quaker State Available at Walmart 400 is set for 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Stage breaks are scheduled at laps 60 and 160. Pit road speed is 90 mph in the first two sections — which stretch around turns three and four — before it is reduced to 45 mph in Section 3. The fuel window is approximately 65 laps.
The purse for the 260-lapper is $7,801,384.