Matt Johnson
The NASCAR Cup Series is racing under the lights in Atlanta on Sunday night at EchoPark Speedway with the Quaker State 400. With the NASCAR starting lineup today set, it’s time to make some predictions for the race tonight.
Let’s dive into our Quaker State 400 picks, from stage winners to who makes it to victory lane at EchoPark.
Joey Logano Earns Stage 1 Win
Joey Logano needs this. Heading into Sunday, the driver of the No. 22 car is 16 points below the cutline, and he hasn’t had a race with 30-plus points since Michigan. That changes tonight. After qualifying second on Saturday, the No. 22 team is going to take advantage of it by taking Stage 1 with the car setup perfectly for a strong start. After picking up 10 stage points, Logano will end the night with a top-12 finish and leave Atlanta above the cutline.
Austin Cindric Wins Stage 2 for Team Penske Sweep
It’s going to be a sweep of the stages in Atlanta for Team Penske. Austin Cindric‘s car wasn’t quite as fast as teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano in qualifying, but he still put down one of the best lap times in qualifying. He’s also performed extremely well in the stages at EchoPark, earning stage wins in five of the last seven races at this track and placing second three additional times. With The Chase approaching, Cindric is going to give himself a little breathing room after tonight, and it will start with a Stage 2 win.
Bubba Wallace Snags a Top-10 Points Day
Toyota cars might not have fared particularly well in the one-lap qualifying on Saturday, but that was largely by design. However, the No. 23 car was one of the fastest for Toyota, and he outperformed teammate Tyler Reddick. Bubba Wallace fared well at EchoPark in the spring, leading 46 laps and finishing with 48 points thanks to a ninth-place finish with a Stage 1 win and a second-place finish in Stage 2. While we don’t see him replicating that success tonight, we do think Wallace’s improvement on drafting tracks and Toyota’s overall success with its car setups this season will help him walk out of EchoPark tonight with 38-plus points.
HEADING
It’s been a relatively solid year for Chase Elliott, but he hasn’t delivered a top-10 finish since Nashville, and his last trip to victory lane came back at Texas Motor Speedway. Fortunately, the driver of the No. 9 car is back home in Georgia, and his history at EchoPark (11.3 average finishing position with 2 wins in 15 races) speaks for itself. The No. 9 car looked good in qualifying on Saturday, and we have a lot of confidence in crew chief Alan Gustafson making the late calls that will allow Elliott to earn his third Cup win of the season.
