The NASCAR Cup Series continues today with the 2021 Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the race, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and driver to fade predictions.
Winner: Kyle Larson- Larson had had a great start to his comeback season so far, winning the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and finishing in the top 10 in 4 of his 5 starts. Larson has had mixed success at Atlanta Motor Speedway, earning 3 top finishes in 6 starts, but also finishing outside the top 20 twice. Larson led 142 laps the last time he raced here in 2019 before ultimately fading to 12th. I know I picked Larson last week, but his on-track performance these past few weeks paired with his recent success at this track leads me to believe that he will wind up in victory lane again today.
Top 10: Kurt Busch- Busch has quietly had a good start to his season, with 3 top 15 finishes and a top 10 position in the points standings. Busch has won at Atlanta Motor Speedway 3 times in his career and has continued to fare well here as of late, finishing in the top 10 in 6 of his last 7 starts, including 3 top 5’s during that stretch. Busch hasn’t shown consistent enough speed to realistically contend for a win so far this year, but another top 10 result is certainly within reach.
Dark horse: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- Stenhouse is usually thought of as a great superspeedway racer, but he has raced well at other tracks too, with Atlanta Motor Speedway being one of them. Even though Stenhouse has only had 1 top finish here, he has finished in the top 20 in 7 of his 8 starts here. Stenhouse has also finished in the top 15 each of the last 3 weeks, which leads me to believe he can bring home a 4th straight top 15 result.
Driver to fade: Bubba Wallace- Wallace has struggled so far with 23XI Racing this year, with no top 15 finishes and 3 finishes outside the top 20. Atlanta Motor Speedway hasn’t been any kinder to Wallace, with no top 20 finishes in 3 starts here. I expect Wallace to struggle again today and I predict he will finish outside of the top 20 yet again at Atlanta Motor Speedway.