Atlanta Ambetter Health 400 Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings / Post Qualifying Predictions
On Sunday, NASCAR will be racing at Atlanta for the Ambetter Health 400. Last summer when Atlanta was visited, it opened the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs. This time around, it’s simply race #2, so agendas should be out the window, and the field should be going all out. The best approach to the weekend for evaluating drivers is to study the last six Atlanta races and then note “General Superspeedway Racing Prowess.”
No practice was held for Atlanta. Qualifying was held on Saturday and here’s the Atlanta Starting Lineup.
Atlanta Full Field Fantasy Rankings
1) Ryan Blaney
Start 1st / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – High
Atlanta Outlook – Polesitter, Ryan Blaney is a super-elite performer at Atlanta and in the Ambetter Health 400, Blaney will be fast, and he’ll be tough to beat. Blaney’s thrived at Atlanta and there’s no debate about his “knack for the draft.” Over the last five Atlanta races, Blaney has the best driver rating, the best average running position (6.8) and the best average finish (5.2). In the one race prior to the last five, Blaney literally crashed on the last lap while running in 4th, so he’s consistently knocked on the door to victory lane. Currently over the last three Atlanta races, Blaney’s had the best driver rating every race! Last summer, Blaney was a standout performer even though his afternoon wasn’t incident free. In the race, Blaney won Stage #1, finished 2nd in Stage #2, earned the best driver rating, led the 3rd most laps (33) and had the 3rd best average running position (6.0), despite being involved in a multi-car wreck in the last Stage, but he battled back to finish 3rd. Last spring, Blaney nearly raced his way to victory lane but was inched at the finish line by Suarez and finished 2nd. Additionally, Blaney finished 2nd in Stage #1, finished 3rd in Stage #2, had the best average running position (6.6), earned the best Driver Rating and led the 3rd most laps (31). Over the four races prior to that, Blaney had results of 9th, 7th, 5th and 17th (crashed on the last lap while running in 4th).
DraftKings $9,800/ FanDuel $14,000
2) Joey Logano
Start 4th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Atlanta Outlook – Joey Logano is a 2-time Atlanta winner who should prominently be on your short list of favorites. Logano raced his way to victory lane last summer and over the combined races on the new surface, Logano has the 2nd best Driver Rating, the 3rd best average running position and a 13.7 average finish, despite having a few misleading results. Last summer, Logano raced his way to victory lane, coming up clutch in closing time making a 3-wide pass using the top groove on lap 257. In the race, Logano led 9 laps, had an 8.8 average running position and earned the 4th best Driver Rating. Last spring, the #22 ranked among the best but Logano finished an asterisk mark 28th. In the race, Logano led 27 laps but on lap 159 while running in 4th, he crashed after doing a bad block. In 2023 #2, the #22 was racy but Logano finished 17th. In the race, Logano finished 4th in Stage #1, about 13th in Stage #2, had the 2nd best average running position (6.5), led 11 laps and earned the 5th best Driver Rating. Late in the race, Logano just wasn’t at his best, and he also pitted during the Stage #2 caution which had him mired back in the mid 20’s to begin the final Stage, which was short due to the impending rain. In spring 2023, Logano won Stage #1, finished 2nd in Stage #2, had a 4.1 average running position, earned the best driver rating and led 140 laps, and included in that lap count tally was him making a last lap pass on Keselowski for the win. In 2022, Logano was top ten good in the summer but crashed (26th) and then finished 9th in the spring.
DraftKings $9,700 / FanDuel $13,500
Further Recommended Reading = Atlanta Finish Projections, Atlanta Quick Rankings, DraftKings Atlanta Scoring Projections, FanDuel Atlanta Scoring Projections
3) Kyle Busch
Start 6th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium
Atlanta Outlook – Kyle Busch is an elite superspeedway racer who’ll be a contender at Atlanta. Busch ranks among the premiere performers on the new Atlanta surface and over the last four races, Busch has the 2nd best average finish (6.3), the 6th best Driver Rating and he’s finished in the top ten every race. Last summer, Busch finished 7th, earned the 9th best Driver Rating and led 24 laps. I’ll note, Busch did fall back late after getting aggressive going for the “Win” and with 4-laps to go until the scheduled distance, he was running in 2nd. Last spring, Busch finished 3rd, getting inched right at the finish line by Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. In the race, Busch finished 5th in Stage #1, led 28 laps and consistently ran up front in “closing time.” In 2023, Busch swept the top ten with results of 5th and 10th. In 2022, Busch finished 20th in the summer (involved in a crash while running around 10th) and then crashed in the spring while running around 4th (33rd).
DraftKings $8,800 / FanDuel $13,000
