What to watch for in tonight's NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. — Christopher Bell, who won the most recent race at what was known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, will have his third different spotter in the last seven races in tonight’s Cup race.

That’s just among the things to watch tonight at newly named EchoPark Speedway.

A new eye in the sky

Tab Boyd, recently let go by Hyak Motorsports, will make his debut as Christopher Bell’s spotter tonight.

With the drafting style of racing on the 1.54-mile track, spotters will play a key role.

“It’s going to be tough, for sure, getting acclimated at probably one of the most spotter-intense racetracks on the calendar,” said Bell, who starts 28th. “But Tab has a bunch of experience. … Definitely the first stage or two is going to be a learning curve.”

The challenge will be the close racing and how quickly the runs come. Bell will have to know how close Boyd will clear him for openings on the track. A mistake could lead to a multi-car incident.

Kyle Larson became the fifth driver to compete in both races on the same day this year.

Bell started the season with Stevie Reeves as his spotter. Reeves had been Bell’s spotter since Bell’s Cup debut in 2020. Reeves left the team after Bell won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in May.

Matt Philpott took over as Bell’s spotter for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and also served in that role at Nashville, Michigan, Mexico and Pocono.

Boyd was Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s spotter when Stenhouse won last fall’s playoff race at Talladega. Boyd also was Stenhouse’s spotter when he won the 2023 Daytona 500. Stenhouse, who starts 37th, will be in his second race with Clayton Hughes as his spotter.

Stenhouse said that Boyd “gives a lot of information at a pretty high rate of speed, which is a good thing on superspeedways. … I think him and Bell will be no problem.”

Team Penske leads the way again

For the second consecutive race at this track Team Penske has locked out the front two rows with its three cars and the car of its affiliate, Wood Brothers Racing.

Joey Logano will start on the pole. With teammates around him, he should be able to control the race in the opening stage and, possibly, longer. If not him at the front, then maybe it will be Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry (starting second) or Ryan Blaney (third) or Austin Cindric (fourth).

The In-Season Challenge will begin on the 1.54-mile drafting track.

Those four drivers combined to lead 187 of the 266 laps in the February race here, but it was Christopher Bell winning and Blaney, the top Penske finisher, placing fourth.

“These places race so differently here compared to Daytona and Talladega,” Blaney said. “I honestly prefer the racing here more than those places. I feel like you can move more up to the field, though the field, than you can at Daytona and Talladega just because handling comes more into play here.

“I think controlling the race here is a little bit tougher possibly than those races (at Daytona and Talladega) because the runs are huge. Guys take them whenever they can get them. So, I honestly think it’s tougher to control the lead here.

“If you’re at Talladega, let’s say, and I got like me and Joey lined up, we can kind of control the pace that we want to run, how we kind of get on each other and push. We can really determine how fast we want to go, and we can kind of like stall the third lane out, make them non-existent if we want to push the pace and get connected and … and we can kind of go back to back with the inside or outside lane.

“Here you can’t get connected as much. It’s like you might get a shot down the frontstretch, a shot down the backstretch, but it’s not like you’re shoving a whole straightway for like eight seconds like you do (at Daytona and Talladega). It’s very hard to control the lead.”

Playoff race duels

With 11 different winners, five playoff spots remain via points. Nine races remain in the regular season (including tonight’s race).

Alex Bowman holds the final playoff spot. He’s 20 points ahead of Ryan Preece, who starts fifth.

Alex Bowman has a 20-point lead on Ryan Preece going into Saturday night’s race at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.

“I think we’re good enough to move up in points if we run how we should,” said Bowman, who starts ninth. “If we stay where we’re at in points, I think you’re in a must-win (situation) then. But I think if we run how we should, we should move back up in points.”

Bubba Wallace, who starts 24th, holds the next-to-last playoff spot. He’s 29 points ahead of Preece. Chris Buescher, who starts 13th, is 38 points ahead of Preece.

While there will be much talk about the matchups in the In-Season Challenge, which begins today, how those near the playoff cutline will be worth keeping an eye on tonight.