After the rights and lefts of Road America last weekend, the NASCAR Cup series heads back south to Atlanta Motor Speedway in quite a one-week contrast. While Road America is a long, undulating road course, the re-profiled Atlanta circuit – even at just over a mile and a half – behaves much more like Daytona- or Talladega-like superspeedways.Here’s everything you need to know for the Quaker State 400 weekend:Weekend schedule and how to watchFans in the United States can watch parts of all sessions and the race on the USA network, the USA mobile app (requires a cable or satellite subscription), the NBC Sports app and Peacock platform. Radio coverage is available on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM.Qualifying: Saturday, July 9, Noon – 1 p.m. ET (Streaming from 11:30 a.m. on the NBC Sports app and Peacock; USA coverage begins at Noon; MRN, SiriusXM)Quaker State 400: Sunday, July 10, 3 – 6 p.m. ET (USA, MRN, SiriusXM)Top drivers and best bets for the Quaker State 400According to BetMGM it’s a wide open field. The best odds belong to Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney at +1000 apiece. Denny Hamlin and Atlanta spring race winner William Byron both have +1100 odds while Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain all sit at +1200 entering the weekend.Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg is eyeing Martin Truex Jr. (+2200) and Alex Bowman (+2800) as good mid-tier value wagers and says to steer clear of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+2500).Two of William Byron’s four NASCAR Cup series victories have come one restrictor plate tracks, including the new-look Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. (Photo by John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)Byron and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott combined to lead 140 of the 325 laps in March’s 500-mile race. The Trackhouse Racing duo of Chastain and Daniel Suarez was the next most-successful team in the spring race, combining to lead 55 laps and finishing second and fourth, respectively.Atlanta Motor Speedway’s characteristicsThe speedway in Hampton Georgia has been operating for 62 years and has undergone two significant renovations, the latest of which occurred between the summer 2021 race and this spring’s running. That involved repaving the notoriously abrasive surface since the 1997 reconfiguration from a traditional oval to a quad-oval, increasing the banking in the corners and narrowing the track.Those changes encouraged faster, tighter pack racing and resulted in restrictor plates – a device that reduces top-end speed and is only used at Daytona and Talladega – being instituted. With the pack bunched up like that, on an unfamiliar surface no less, the spring edition saw 11 cautions for 65 laps and just 25 of 37 cars finishing the race.Weather forecast for the Quaker State 400 weekendHot and humid with thunderstorms likely. Don’t expect everything to go off on schedule. With the Xfinity series there in support this weekend there are more sessions that could be delayed and push the schedule. Combine that with the fact that the March race took just shy of four hours to complete, you may want to get nice and cozy on you couch or lounger of choice on Sunday.
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