NASCAR Quaker State 400 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Sunday, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series make their second stop of the season at Atlanta's EchoPark Speedway for the running of the Quaker State 400 (7 p.m. ET, TNT, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here's what you need to know ahead of the 20th race of the regular season.

Favorite: Chase Elliott (+700, per BetMGM)

Elliott enters as the defending winner of the Atlanta summer race and is one of only three drivers (William Byron, Joey Logano) with multiple wins on the reconfigured layout.

Elliott is still searching for his first top 10 since May 31 at Nashville, but that could change on Sunday. His 9.38 average finish in the last eight starts at his home track leads the series, and he has four top-fives in the last seven races in the draft, making him a clear threat for a third 2026 win.

Underdog: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+4000, per BetMGM)

Whenever the series takes on a drafting-style track, Stenhouse always tends to find himself toward the front. While he remains winless at EchoPark Speedway, all four of his Cup Series wins have come in the draft at Daytona (twice) and Talladega (twice).

He still has four top-10s in his last six starts at EchoPark Speedway and finished a career-best fifth there in the 2025 spring race. If Stenhouse can avoid the calamity that is sure to present itself at some point, he should be in contention for the win.

Tyler Reddick looking to get back on track

With four finishes of 25th or worse in his last five races, including consecutive 36th-place finishes at Sonoma (power steering) and Chicagoland (radiator), his points gap to team co-owner Denny Hamlin has grown to 44.

As the most recent EchoPark Speedway winner in the spring — his second of three straight victories to begin the season — Reddick has an opportunity to make up some ground. Throw in the fact that Hamlin is still searching for his first drafting win in the Next Gen era (since 2022) and this points battle could tighten by the end of the night.

Team Penske trying to translate speed into wins at EchoPark

The storied organization has led the most laps (698) in the nine races at the reconfigured track, claiming nine of the 18 stages in the process. However, Logano's two wins are the only trips to victory lane they have to show for it.

With that said, Team Penske has now won all seven poles when qualifying has not been rained out on the reconfigured layout after Ryan Blaney laid down the fastest lap on Saturday. With Logano (second) and Austin Cindric (eighth) joining him inside the top 10, will that speed offset the handling issues the track is known for creating and carry over to a race win this time around? 

Expect the attrition to continue

Since EchoPark Speedway was reconfigured ahead of the 2022 season, at least 16 cars have been collected in an accident in each race. That has only gone up the last three races with an astounding 36 cars involved in a crash in this race one year ago.

There is also the threat of some summer showers and thunderstorms in the forecast for Sunday night, which would only create even more intensity at arguably the best track on the current schedule. With or without the threat of weather, don't expect anything less than another edge-of-your-seat thriller from the "Peach State."