2026 Autotrader 400 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Sunday February 22nd, 2026. 3:00PM (EST)
Where: EchoPark (Atlanta) Motor Speedway
TV: FOX

Last week, Tyler Reddick scored the biggest win of his career and the biggest win in the history of 23XI Racing by winning the 68th running of the Daytona 500. Reddick survived multiple wrecks on the final two laps and received a much-needed push to pass Chase Elliott at the finish line in an exciting conclusion to NASCAR’s biggest race. On Sunday, the Cup Series returns for more superspeedway style racing for the running of the Autotrader 400 at the newly rebranded EchoPark Speedway or more commonly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

While Atlanta falls in the category of superspeedway racing since the repave and reconfiguration in 2022, I would like to mention that the more recent races at Atlanta have more similar to a hybrid of superspeedway racing and typical 1.5 mile intermediate layouts. The track no longer has the pristine grip that it had shortly after the repave. As a result, drivers are no longer able to push the car at full-throttle speed when the tires start wearing after a few laps. While drafting and bump drafting characteristics are still in-play, recent Atlanta races have tailored more to the cars that are handling well, track position, and the drivers ability to maintain track position over the course of 400 miles, which is expected to be the case again this Sunday.

Personally, I was looking forward to practice and qualifying on Saturday because I have a sneaky expectation that tire wear will be more important this season. GoodYear has consistently worked to produce a tire that will create better tire wear which was a big storyline throughout the 2025 season. Not only has the racing tire improved from a GoodYear perspective but Atlanta’s racing surface is also starting to produce more tire wear due to the aging of the surface. Unfortunately, Mother Nature ruined our chances to evaluate tire wear on Saturday. Both practice and qualifying were cancelled due to rain which means Tyler Reddick will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday as the starting lineup will be decided by the rulebook.

Handicapping and Betting Strategy

Similar to most superspeedway style races, we must put an emphasis on betting “value” over everything to ensure each betting selection has sufficient ROI because this style of racing is still considered “high-risk” from a handicapping perspective. To make matters worse, betting odds have not exactly been generous this week throughout the races at EchoPark Speedway. I have put a big emphasis towards not “forcing” betting selections this year and that philosophy will likely be tested on Sunday due to the lack of “value” throughout the field. With that said, we will still attempt to find the drivers that consistently run well at Atlanta and potentially have them on our lineup if betting odds justify the risk!

Atlanta – Cup Notes

• Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano are all tied for the most wins (2) among active drivers. *Both of Logano’s wins occurred since the 2022 repave/reconfiguration*.
• Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, and Denny Hamlin are also former winners at Atlanta.
• Daniel Suarez has a win and two runner-up finishes in the last 5 races at Atlanta.
• Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman have finished in the Top 5 in 2 of the last 3 races at Atlanta.
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr has finished 6th or better in 3 of the last 4 races at Atlanta.
• Kyle Busch has finished 7th or better in 4 of the last 5 races at Atlanta.
• Ryan Blaney has finished 9th or better in 6 of the last 7 races at Atlanta.
• Austin Cindric has finished 12th or better in 4 of the last 6 races at Atlanta.
• Chase Briscoe’s best finish is 16th in the last 6 races at Atlanta.
• Kyle Larson has finished 31st or worse in 4 of the last 6 races at Atlanta.
• Team Penske cars Joey Logano (105.4), Ryan Blaney (101.6), and Austin Cindric
• There have been at least 8 cautions in the last 4 races at Atlanta.
• The eventual race winner has started from outside the Top 15 positions in 4 of the last 5 races at Atlanta.
• Chevrolet drivers have won 6 of the last 9 races at Atlanta.

Superspeedway Dynamic Averages

While Atlanta can be considered its own type of superspeedway, I still believe bettors should review our superspeedway dynamic averages to get a good understanding of how drivers have performed at these races. These performance metrics offer greater insight as opposed to finishing positions and can be used to potentially identify drivers that consistently run towards the front of the field that may be worth betting consideration. If we can identify those drivers, then we simply have to compare those drivers to the betting odds to see if we have enough value to warrant legitimate betting selections!

Betting Targets

If you look at the prior Atlanta stats, combined with our dynamic averages, and nearly every other handicapping metric, you will see quickly that both Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney are at the top of nearly every statistical category by a relatively wide margin. Needless to say, Logano and Blaney are top targets going into Sunday and can be considered legitimate options because all drivers are receiving at least 10-1 odds which checks the box in the ROI/value department. If you throw in the impressive results from Austin Cindric, bettors could potentially consider parlay options with Team Penske. Either way, I want a good bit of exposure to the Team Penske cars going into tomorrow!

In terms of betting value, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, and Kyle Busch are among my favorite drivers in the 20-1 to 30-1 range that are receiving considerable value. All of those drivers have performed well at the superspeedway, strong at Atlanta, and are receiving enough betting value to warrant legitimate consideration going into Sunday. Of course there are a lot of drivers like William Byron, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, and others that have shown strong superspeedway skills to warrant betting consideration. The difference in those drivers is that the majority of them are listed at less than 20-1 odds and not exactly hitting the desired ROI that we would like. Meanwhile, if we were to look even deeper in the field, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Daniel Suarez, and AJ Allmendinger are among the drivers receiving big numbers that may be worthy of consideration in prop bet formats!

2026 Autotrader 400 Draftkings Optimal Race Lineup

2026 Autotrader 400 Betting Race Picks

FINAL

Joey Logano +1000 (.75 unit)
William Byron +1600 (.5 unit)
Austin Cindric +1800 (.5 unit)
Kyle Busch +2500 (.5 unit)
Alex Bowman +3500 (.25 unit)
Ryan Preece +4000 (.25 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Props

Race goes into overtime +250 (.5 unit)
Chase Elliott +1200 wins Stage 1 (.25 unit) *Odds courtesy of Bovada*
Brad Kesleowski +1800 wins Stage 1 (.25 unit) *Odds courtesy of Bovada*
Kyle Busch +900 finishes Top Chevrolet (.25 unit) *Odds courtesy of Bovada*
Ty Gibbs +900 finishes Top Toyota (.25 unit) *Odds courtesy of FanDuel*
John Hunter Nemechek +1400 finishes Top Toyota (.25 unit) *Odds courtesy of Bovada*