“Expect drafting style”: NASCAR Insider weighs in on upcoming race at Chase Elliott’s home track

NASCAR heads to Chase Elliott's home track this weekend, as Atlanta Motor Speedway is set to host the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series. The 1.54-mile oval offers a unique racing product, making it one of the most anticipated race weekends of the season.

Since its reconfiguration in 2022, the 1.54-mile quad-oval has produced drafting-style races, similar to Daytona and Talladega. However, the aging asphalt has introduced tire management into the equation, making handling an equally important factor as the race progresses.

NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass speculated that the track will still produce drafting-style racing, but the pack will likely become more strung out. This can be attributed to tire wear, as the faster driver-car combinations will emerge at the front over the long run. Sharing his predictions for the type of racing to be expected, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"Expect drafting-style, pack races this weekend. Maybe a little more strung out but not much."

Last year, the Truck and the Xfinity Series races were less eventful than the Cup Series race. Last year's Cup race featured a record number of lead changes, with the 400-mile race ending in a three-wide photo finish. Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch to take his lone victory of the season.

The 1.54-mile oval will host the Truck and the Xfinity Series race on Saturday (Feb. 22). Busch in the #7 Spire Motorsports Chevy is a favorite to win the Truck race. Richard Childress Racing drivers Austin Hill and Jesse Love are the favorites to win the Xfinity Series race later in the evening.

Crowd favorite Chase Elliott will star in the Ambetter Health 400, scheduled for this Sunday (Feb. 23), at 3:00 PM ET. The 260-lap race will feature three stages of lengths, 60-100-100.

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Chase Elliott "looking forward" to racing at Atlanta

Dawsonville, Georgia native, Chase Elliott is excited to race in front of his home crowd at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver lauded the efforts put into reconfiguring the track, which has made the event one of the hottest tickets on the NASCAR calendar.

Ahead of his home track race at Atlanta, Elliott echoed the excitement of the fans and spoke about what to expect.

"It is my home track. I always look forward to racing there. I'm really happy that we have two dates at Atlanta. I think that it's a track that made a large investment to try and improve their product. And I think they have successfully created a lot of chatter, you know, down there around the racetrack and around the events. And I hear it and I see it firsthand, which I don't typically see and feel that firsthand from other racetracks," Chase Elliott said (via SpeedwayDigest.com).

The 2020 NASCAR Cup champion recorded eighth and 15th-place results in his previous two visits to the track. Starting on pole in the second Atlanta race in 2022, he took a dominant victory.