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Atlanta Predictions: NASCAR Insider predicts winner, Top 5, dark horse at Ambetter Health 400

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•02/23/25•

NickGeddesNews

Atlanta
Jason Allen-Imagn Images

FOX Sports NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass has submitted his pick to win Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta, along with his projected top five and dark horse.

Pockrass, who missed last Sunday after picking Brad Keselowski to win the Daytona 500, is going with Kyle Busch to find his way to Victory Lane at Atlanta. A Busch win would snap a career-long 58-race winless streak for the two-time Cup Series champion.

He came oh so close last year at Atlanta, with Daniel Suárez edging out Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds at the start/finish line and Busch in third, 0.007 seconds. The thrilling end was the fourth-closest finish in NASCAR history. Based on Pockrass’ top five predictions, he’s expecting the same players to be near the front on the final lap on Sunday.

Bob Pockrass’ top 5 for Atlanta

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Daniel Suárez
  4. Austin Cindric
  5. Chris Buescher

Busch would love to be on the other end of it this time around, and his weekend is already off to a great start. He won the Truck Series race Saturday, his 67th win in 176 starts. Busch held off Stewart Friesen by .017 seconds.

“Just trying to make sure I stayed as far forward as I possibly could,” Busch said after the race. “Those guys would cycle to me and get to the next one in front, next one in front of me and I just made sure to keep battling back and got back to the front so I could control it the best I could. That inside [lane] was good, they were rolling forward, so it made for a heck of a race.

“… I’m proud we had a heck of a race there to the finish and it wasn’t single file. There was some mixing it up for these fans out here to see a cool show.”

Will that carry over to Sunday’s race? We’ll find out over the course of 400 miles (260 laps).

Pockrass’ long shot to win is Josh Berry. Making just his second start with the Wood Brothers, Berry is looking to rebound following a 37th-place result last Sunday at Daytona. His best finish in three starts at Atlanta is 18th in 2023.