StatChat 2025 - Quaker State 400 at Atlanta

By Adam Carabine

Happy Friday everyone!  This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Atlanta, Georgia for the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Atlanta is a 1.54-mile quad-oval track that races like a Super Speedway.  Opening in 1960, the first NASCAR winner was Fireball Roberts that same year.  Last year’s winner at this race was Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell won the spring race earlier this year.

Tomorrow’s race will be 260 laps long (for a total of 400.4 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 60 – 160 – 260.  Pit road speed is 90mph in sections 1 and 2, then 45mph after that.  The caution vehicle runs at 55 mph.   The fuel window is between 73-78 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 4,491 laps, for 6,481.44 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and William Byron is four behind.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Atlanta:

Ryan Blaney	9.57 over 14 races (1 win)
Chase Elliott	12.15 over 13 races (1 win)
Carson Hocevar	12.33 over 3 races
Kyle Busch	12.77 over 31 races (2 wins)
Austin Cindric	15.25 over 8 races

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Atlanta:

Noah Gragson	31.43 over 7 races
Cody Ware	30.56 over 9 races
SVG	27.50 over 2 races
Michael McDowell	25.84 over 19 races
Josh Berry	25.00 over 4 races

Atlanta is a smaller version of a Super Speedway.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Super Speedways:

JH Nemechek	15.90 over 10 races
Bubba Wallace	16.27 over 31 races (1 win)
Austin Cindric	16.29 over 15 races (2 wins)
Denny Hamlin	17.24 over 78 races (5 wins)
Chase Briscoe	17.39 over 18 races

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Super Speedways:

Cody Ware	23.03 over 18 races
Daniel Suarez	22.85 over 34 races
Ryan Preece	22.64 over 22 races
Zane Smith	22.63 over 8 races
Carson Hocevar	22.50 over 7 races

Dale Earnhardt is the winningest driver at Atlanta, having won 9 races there.  Cale Yarborough is 2nd, with 7 wins to his name.  As far as current drivers go, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and William Byron all each have 2 wins at Atlanta.

Notable drivers who have not won at Atlanta:

Kyle Larson	(has won at 18 other tracks)
Tyler Reddick	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Alex Bowman	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Ross Chastain	(has won at 6 other tracks)
Chris Buescher	(has won at 6 other tracks)

No current drivers won their first Cup Series race at Atlanta.

Based on average finish, no drivers list Atlanta as their BEST track, but Noah Gragson lists it as his WORST track.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+585 pts
Chris Buescher	+567 pts
Bubba Wallace	+418 pts
Chase Briscoe	+409 pts
William Byron	+376 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-385 pts
Ty Gibbs	-295 pts
Todd Gilliland	-260 pts
Alex Bowman	-244 pts
Joey Logano	-242 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

Chase Elliott	10.82
Christopher Bell	11.00
Chase Briscoe	13.71
Ryan Preece	18.00
JH Nemechek	18.71
Josh Berry	20.35
Todd Gilliland	20.53

Worst Career Year

Cole Custer	24.24
Brad Keselowski	23.41
Carson Hocevar	22.53
Zane Smith	20.29
Ty Gibbs	19.41

Rookie of the Year Battle

SVG	248 (1 win)
Riley Herbst	197

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	616
Toyota	608
Ford	575

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick	597
Joe Gibbs	594
Penske	498
Trackhouse	492
RFK	457
23XI	426
Spire	412
Legacy MC	404
Front Row	393
RCR	383
Kaulig	357
Hyak	297
Wood Bros	288
Haas Factory	217
Rick Ware	116

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

William Byron	172
Ryan Blaney	145
Kyle Larson	134
Denny Hamlin	132
Tyler Reddick	118
Bubba Wallace	100
Chase Elliott	95
Alex Bowman	92
Austin Cindric	89
Christopher Bell	89

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott	Looking for his 20th Career Win
Chase Briscoe	Looking for his 20th Career Top 5
Joey Logano	Looking for his 170th Career Top 5
Erik Jones	Looking for his 40th Career Top 5
Chase Elliott	Looking for his 180th Career Top 10
Chris Buescher	Looking for his 80th Career Top 10
Carson Hocevar	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10
Tyler Reddick	This will be his 200th Career Cup Series Race

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	158 races
Cole Custer	114 races
Bubba Wallace	96 races
Erik Jones	96 races
Kyle Busch	74 races
Michael McDowell	65 races
Daniel Suarez	51 races
Chase Elliott	44 races
Brad Keselowski	40 races
AJ Allmendinger	37 races

The race begins Saturday, June 29th at 4:00 pm EST (1:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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