We get 500 miles of NASCAR Cup Series action from Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend as the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. If you enjoyed the racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway a few weeks ago, you can expect similar action here at Atlanta on Sunday, as this is also an old, abrasive race track where tires are more important than ever. Like Homestead, the races at Atlanta tend to see many of the same faces up front, and for some reason we only race here once a year as well. Kevin Harvick has won two of the last three Atlanta races with Brad Keselowski the other victor during that time span.
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How the algorithm works: There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at this week’s track specifically, similar track performance, projected strength of the car, practice speeds (when applicable), starting position, and a few other variables.
Before We Get To The Algorithm Results…Thoughts On A Couple Drivers
Kurt Busch – Surprised by Kurt Busch’s high ranking by the algorithm this week? Don’t be. Kurt was awful here at Atlanta Motor Speedway for many years at the start of his career, but in 2007, something clicked. In the 16 races at Atlanta since then, Kurt has grabbed two wins along with 12 finishes inside the top 8. Over the last five races here, Kurt hasn’t finished worse than 8th, and has led at least one lap in five of the last six. Despite a late tire issue at Homestead a few weeks ago, Busch was able to drive back up through the field and still finished 8th.
Ross Chastain – The algorithm has Ross Chastain predicted to finish 27th here on Sunday, but there is much more upside there than that. Chastain is having a relatively quiet season thus far, and since the Daytona Road Course race, he’s finished 17th at Homestead, 23rd at Las Vegas, and 19th at Phoenix. Not eye-popping numbers by any means, but Chastain is staying out of trouble and running clean races. If he can do that again here at Atlanta on Sunday, he has upside in all Fantasy NASCAR formats. For what it’s worth, Matt Kenseth drove this #42 Chevrolet to a 15th-place finish here at Atlanta last season.
Atlanta Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Algorithm Predicted Finishing Order
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Truex, Jr., Martin | 39.33 |
| 2. | Larson, Kyle | 38.17 |
| 3. | Harvick, Kevin | 35.93 |
| 4. | Hamlin, Denny | 34.80 |
| 5. | Keselowski, Brad | 33.23 |
| 6. | Elliott, Chase | 32.56 |
| 7. | Logano, Joey | 32.44 |
| 8. | Busch, Kurt | 30.67 |
| 9. | Busch, Kyle | 29.25 |
| 10. | Blaney, Ryan | 29.22 |
| 11. | Bowman, Alex | 24.72 |
| 12. | Bell, Christopher | 22.28 |
| 13. | Dillon, Austin | 21.85 |
| 14. | Byron, William | 17.85 |
| 15. | Almirola, Aric | 16.11 |
| 16. | Reddick, Tyler | 14.99 |
| 17. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | 14.05 |
| 18. | Jones, Erik | 10.64 |
| 19. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 09.52 |
| 20. | Newman, Ryan | 09.31 |
| 21. | Cindric, Austin | 02.00 |
| 22. | Custer, Cole | -01.90 |
| 23. | Buescher, Chris | -06.11 |
| 24. | Wallace, Bubba | -09.35 |
| 25. | McDowell, Michael | -14.53 |
| 26. | Briscoe, Chase | -14.68 |
| 27. | Chastain, Ross | -15.21 |
| 28. | Preece, Ryan | -18.90 |
| 29. | Suarez, Daniel | -23.14 |
| 30. | LaJoie, Corey | -29.32 |
| 31. | Alfredo, Anthony | -31.88 |
| 32. | Haley, Justin | -32.37 |
| 33. | Ware, Cody | -41.86 |
| 34. | McLeod, BJ | -42.15 |
| 35. | Bilicki, Josh | -42.69 |
| 36. | Houff, Quin | -43.80 |
| 37. | Smithley, Garrett | -44.19 |
| 38. | Davison, James | -45.91 |
| 39. | Hill, Timmy | -46.35 |
