What channel is the NASCAR race at Atlanta on? Betting odds and how to watch

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. are starting in the front row for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hamlin leads the series in points (236) and Truex garnered his first win of the season last weekend at Phoenix.

This Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 in Hampton, Ga. starts at 3 p.m. Sunday on FOX.

Six of the top-10 drivers are seeking a win this season, including Hamlin, Brad Keselowski (197), Joey Logano (192), Chase Elliott (179), Kevin Harvick (176) and Kurt Busch (144), while five different drivers are set to advance to playoffs after winning the first five races this season. Truex most recently joined a list that includes Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Kyle Larson.

Harvick has emerged as the favorite to win this weekend’s race, according to BetMGM odds, thanks to his past performance at the track. Harvick and Kurt Busch each have three Cup wins at Atlanta’s 1.54-mile quad-oval, tied for the most of active drivers in the series, and Harvick leads those drivers in starts (30), top-five finishes (nine) and laps led at the track (1,348).

Harvick won last year’s race at Atlanta and returns this year for the 20th anniversary of his first victory after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt as a Cup driver at Richard Childress Racing following Earnhardt’s death in 2001. Harvick is favored to win with 11-2 odds, per BetMGM, and enters the weekend with four top-five finishes in the opening five races of the season.

Truex (13-2), Larson (13-2), Keselowski (7-1), Hamlin (15-2) and Elliott (8-1) also top that list this weekend. For Elliott, the defending Cup champion, a win would mark his first at the track in his home state.

“Atlanta’s tough,” Elliott said. “Just an old surface for sure, which I think makes it fun for the drivers. I feel like a lot of people enjoy going there because of that, but overall, for us it’s been super hit or miss.”

The No. 9 Chevrolet driver has earned one top-five finish (four top-10s) in five races at the intermediate Atlanta track. He said he couldn’t put his finger on why the team’s been inconsistent at the tough tire track in the past, but “hopefully this week we can be more on the hit side.” Elliott finished fifth last weekend at Phoenix for his second top-five this year following a second place finish at the Daytona 500.

“The falloff is definitely there,” Elliott said of the fast tire wear on Atlanta’s old surface. “That’s what makes this racetrack so challenging, is just trying to find some consistency, trying to get in a rhythm and not beat up your tires.”

The race is 325 laps (500.5 miles) with stage breaks on laps 105, 210 and 325.

NASCAR this weekend: How to watch the race at Atlanta

• Race: Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500
• When: Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m.
  
  
• How to watch/listen: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 325 laps, 500.5 miles on the 1.54-mile quad-oval
• Stages: Laps 105, 210, 325
• Last year’s winner: Kevin Harvick

NASCAR Cup at Atlanta starting order

This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 7:00 AM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription