Christopher Bell snatches first Cup Atlanta win in wild overtime: Christopher Bell prevailed in overtime to claim the victory in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – officially leading only the final lap and getting the photo nod in a three-wide run as a caution flag came out on the last lap to end the NASCAR Cup Series race. It marks the second year that this race featured a three-wide run to the checkered flag. This time Bell got the nod out front over second-year driver Carson Hocevar and 2021 series champion Kyle Larson as the final caution flag flew. It was the 30-year old Oklahoma native Bell’s 10th career series victory and first on a drafting-type track like Atlanta, Daytona or Talladega, Ala. It also marked the first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing since June of last year.[Read More]
#20-Christopher Bell won the Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The win is his 1st win of the year, 1st at Atlanta and 10th career win.
#77-Carson Hocevar finished 2nd followed by #5-Kyle Larson, pole sitter #12-Ryan Blaney, #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #11-Denny Hamlin, #8-Kyle Busch, #1-Ross Chastain, #23-Bubba Wallace, and #42-John Hunter Nemechek.
The caution came out with three laps remaining when #2-Austin Cindric and #24-William Byron wrecked.
There was one attempt at an overtime finish but the race ended under caution when #21-Josh Berry wrecked on the backstretch on the final lap.
Noteworthy today: #71-Michael McDowell had to go behind the wall for repairs early in the race and lost four laps. He proceeded to get the free pass on during the next six cautions and got back on the lead lap.
Stage 1 was won by #21-Josh Berry. Stage 2 was won by #5-Kyle Larson.
The fastest lap bonus point goes to #16-AJ Allmendinger
There were 50 lead changes among 15 drivers and 11 cautions for 63 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 118.384mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Atlanta:
Christopher Bell won the Ambetter Health 400, his 10th victory in 182 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Carson Hocevar (second) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his first top-10 finish in 2025.
Kyle Larson (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 15 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Riley Herbst (17th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Ryan Blaney leads the point standings by 12 points over William Byron.
This is Joe Gibbs Racing’s 12th Cup win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, tied with Wood Brothers Racing for the second-most.
Today’s race produced 50 Lead Changes – a new track record – and 15 different leaders – second-most at Atlanta, record is 20 set in 2022.
Xfinity Fastest Lap Bonus Winner: #16 – AJ Allmendinger
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Atlanta:
Race 2 of 26 in the regular season
1)#24-William Byron, 1 win, 75 points, [5 playoff points]
2) #20-Christopher Bell, 1 win, 53 points [5 playoff points]
3) #12-Ryan Blaney, 87, [regular season points leader], [1 playoff point] +41 ahead of 17th
4) #45-Tyle Reddick, 72, +26 ahead of 17th
5) #2-Austin Cindric, 68, +22 ahead of 17th
6) #23-Bubba Wallace, 64, +18 ahead of 17th
7) #5-Kyle Larson, 61, +15 ahead of 17th
8) #42-John Hunter Nemechek, 61, +15 ahead of 17th
9) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 61, +15 ahead of 17th
10) #48-Alex Bowman, 59, +13 ahead of 17th
11) #9-Chase Elliott, 56, +10 ahead of 17th
12) #22-Joey Logano, 55 [2 playoff points], +9 ahead of 17th
13) #11-Denny Hamlin, 51, +5 ahead of 17th
14) #71-Michael McDowell, 51, +5 ahead of 17th
15) #77-Carson Hocevar, 48, +2 ahead of 17th
16) #17-Chris Buescher, 47, +1 ahead of 17th
Outside the top 16:
17) #43-Erik Jones, 46, -1 behind 16th
18) #35-Riley Herbst, 40, -7 behind 16th
19) #10-Ty Dillon, 39, -8 behind 16th
20) #3-Austin Dillon, 39, -8 behind 16th
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
NASCAR says Bell was the leader at the time of caution. He is the winner.
Caution out on the final lap on the backstretch for an accident by Berry. Finish is under review.
White flag for Larson.
Lap 265 – Green flag for the first overtime attempt. Larson leads Chastain, Bell, Hocevar, Berry, Stenhouse, Blaney, Hamlin, Busch, and Wallace.
Lap 263 – Pit road is open. Leaders stay out.
Lap 258 – Caution is out with 3 to go. Cindric and Byron wreck on the backstretch. Larson now the leader over Chastain Bell, Hocevar and Berry. Will have an overtime finish.
Lap 257 – Cindric leads Bell by .025 second.
Lap 254 – Seven to go. Cindric leads Bell, Berry, Larson, and Blaney.
Lap 251 – Ten laps remaining. Leaders are still single file: Cindric, Berry, Larson, Chastain, Byron, Wallace.
Lap 246 – 15 to go. Cindric, Berry, Larson, Chastain, Wallace.
Lap 242 – Cindric now to the lead over Berry, Hocevar, Larson, and Busch.
Lap 241 – Larson now the leader over Hocevar.
Lap 240 – Chastain back to the lead over Larson.
Lap 239 – Green flag with 22 laps remaining. Berry, Chastain, Cindric, Larson, Bell, Hocevar, Wallace, Busch, Byron, Stenhouse the top 10.
Lap 234 – Caution in turn 2 for Blaney. He spun out but didn’t hit anything and continues to pit road.
Lap 232 – Berry with the lead after Chastain led the last lap. Drivers being more aggressive for position now.
Lap 330 – Berry has the lead this lap.
Lap 229 – Chastain back out front. Gibbs out of the race now.
Lap 228 – Berry takes the lead back from Chastain. Cindric, Blaney and Larson follow.
Lap 226 – Now Chastain back out front. Much of the field side by side.
Lap 225 – Blaney retakes the lead.
Lap 222 – Busch the leader with 39 to go.
Lap 219 – Chastain now leads over Berry, Busch, Hocevar, and Blaney.
Lap 215 – Berry back to the lead.
Lap 214 – Busch leads for the first time today.
Lap 213 – Green flag back out with Berry, Blaney, Busch, Hocevar, and Cindric the top 5. 48 laps to go.
Lap 205 – Caution for Buescher and Bowman on the frontstretch after contact to Buescher from Briscoe. Then Gibbs spins on the backstretch after a tire goes down.
Lap 201 – 60 laps to go. Berry now the leader over Busch, Logano, Blaney, Cindric, Van Gisbergen, Byron, Briscoe, Chastain, Hamlin.
Lap 194 – Byron to the lead. Out of the race: Custer, Gragson, Yeley, Ware, Suarez.
Lap 193 – Back to green. 68 laps remaining.
Lap 190 – Pit road open. Most of the field comes in. Off pit road: Busch, Briscoe, Byron, Blaney, ADillon, Cindric, Berry.
Lap 184 – Caution. Wreck on the frontstretch. Suarez, Gragson, Gibbs, Custer, Ware, Yeley included. Van Gisbergen is the leader. McDowell gets the free pass and is back on the lead lap.
Lap 179 – Bell got up into the wall but continues. No caution.
Lap 176 – Chastain leads Van Gisbergen, Busch, ADillon and Buescher.
Lap 170 – Chastain leads for the firs time today. LaJoie and Keselowski officially out after their accident.
Lap 169 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 92 laps remaining. Briscoe, Nemechek, Chastain, Van Gisbergen, Herbst, Busch, Smith, Buescher, ADillon, Haley the top 10.
Lap 165 – Pit road is open. Leaders are in. Briscoe who pitted under the last caution and those behind him, stay out. Off pit road: Larson then Reddick.
Lap 161 – Caution for the end of stage 2. Larson wins it over Wallace, Logano, Byron, Bowman, Reddick, Hocevar, Stenhouse, Cindric, and Gragson.
Lap 159 – Bowman to the lead.
Lap 157 – Green flag with 4 laps remaining in stage 2. Logano leads Cindric, Bowman, Larson, and Hocevar.
Lap 155 – Pit road is open. Leaders stay out. 9th place Briscoe and almost everyone behind him come down.
Lap 150 – Caution for an accident involving Elliott, Keselowski and LaJoie on the frontstretch. McDowell is the free pass again.
Lap 149 – Back to Logano the leader.
Lap 148 – Bowman gets the lead back.
Lap 145 – Logano back to the front.
Lap 142 – Bowman takes the lead for the first time today.
Lap 141 – Back to green with 20 laps remaining in stage 2. Logano leads Cindric.
Lap 138 – A mix of strategies for pit stops. Leaders stay out but further back come in for tires and fuel. Everyone can make it to the end of the stage at this point.
Lap 134 – NASCAR monitoring Gilliland for a possible issue. He has a tire down and now there is a caution for debris. Once again McDowell is the free pass. His third of the day.
Lap 128 – Erik Jones is back on track after repairs.
Lap 120 – Top 4 cars are single file: Logano, Cindric, Bowman, Gilliland.
Lap 110 – Logano back to the lead.
Lap 109 – Gilliland gets the lead on the restart.
Lap 108 – Back to green flag racing. Logano and Gilliland up front.
Lap 106 – Pit road is open. The leaders stay out. Some in the back of the pack come down for fuel.
Lap 102 – Caution out. Wreck by Erik Jones on the backstretch. Logano continues to lead. Jones will go to the garage.
Lap 101 – With 100 laps complete the top 10 are: Logano, Gilliland, Cindric, Wallace, Bowman, Hocevar, Byron, Blaney, Larson, Elliott.
Lap 98 – Logano’s turn to lead again.
Lap 96 – Gilliland back to the lead by .037 second over Logano.
Lap 94 – Logano takes the lead back.
Lap 93 – Gilliland to the lead.
Lap 89 – Green flag back out.
Lap 86 – Pit road is open. Leader come down. Off pit road: Logano, Berry, Bowman, Byron, Gilliland. Hamlin penalized for driving through too many pit boxes.
Lap 82 – Caution for a spin by Ty Dillon in turn 4 after a tire went down.
Lap 80 – Logano continues to lead over Berry, Cindric, Gilliland, and Reddick.
Lap 74 – McDowell is back on track but 6 laps down.
Lap 69 – Green flag for the start of the second stage. Logano and Berry up front. This stage ends after 160 laps.
Lap 65 – McDowell takes his car to garage for repairs. Most everyone else pits for service. Tires and fuel all around. Off pit road: Logano, Berry, Cindric, Reddick, Byron, Bowman, Elliott, Blaney. Keselowski penalized for removing equipment.
Lap 61 – Caution for the end of stage 1. Berry wins it, followed by Cindric, Byron, Wallace, Elliott, Reddick, Gilliland, Blaney, Hocevar, and Logano.
Lap 45 – Berry to the front again.
Lap 44 – Gilliland back to the lead with 17 laps remaining in the stage. Berry, Cindric, Byron, and Wallace round out the top 5.
Lap 42 – Pole sitter Blaney has fallen to 13th place. McDowell is currently last, with a possible power steering issue.
Lap 34 – Berry leads for the first time today.
Lap 31 – Halfway through the first stage. Green all the way so far. Cindric, Berry, Logano, Wallace, Gilliland, Larson, Byron, Reddick, Keselowski, Busch the top 10.
Lap 26 – Cindric retakes the lead at the line.
Lap 25 – Gilliland takes the lead from Cindric. Then Berry, Logano, and Byron.
Lap 19 – The lead pack has now doubled up through the field. Logano is on the inside, moving up.
Lap 11 – Pretty much single file at the front of the field. Cindric ahead of Berry by .13 seconds.
Lap 6 – With 5 laps complete, it’s Cindric, Berry, Blaney, Logano, and Gilliland.
Lap 2 – Cindric leads the first lap.
• 3:21pm/et – Green flag at Atlanta. Blaney and Cindric on the front row. First stage is 60 laps.
• 3:08pm/et – Engines fired.
• 3:00pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• 2:44pm/et – No cars to the rear today.
• 2:00pm/et – RaceDay is starting on FS1 due to the basketball game running long. It will move to FOX once the game is complete.
• As of 1:40pm/et, still no cars to the rear for today’s race.
• No weather issues today at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The National Weather Service says: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.
Race Details:
Broadcast: FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 260 laps / 400.4 miles
Stages: 60 / 160 / 260
Average time of race: 3:26:10
Pit road speed: Sections 1 and 2: 90 mph / Other sections: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Fuel Window: 65 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Invocation: 3:00:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 3:01:00 p.m.
Command: 3:08:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 3:19:00 p.m.
Cars to the rear: None
Paint Schemes
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway have been made.
Pole winner #12-Ryan Blaney chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #2-Austin Cindric took the 6th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Atlanta Pit Stall page.
#12-Ryan Blaney, won the Busch pole for the Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a speed of 179.371mph for his 1st pole of the year, 1st at Atlanta and 11th of his career.
#2-Austin Cindric will start second followed by #21-Josh Berry, #22-Joey Logano#34-Todd Gilliland, #8-Kyle Busch, #38-Zane Smith, #17-Chris Buescher, #6-Brad Keselowski, and #4-Noah Gragson.
See the complete qualifying results and the Ambetter Health 400 Starting Lineup.
Atlanta Superspeedway – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Ryan Blaney won the Pole Award for the Ambetter Health 400 with a lap of 30.908 seconds, 179.371 mph.
This is his 11th pole in 344 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2025.
This is his first pole in 14 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Austin Cindric (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2025 and his sixth in eight races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Josh Berry (third) posted his second top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his first in two races this season.
Riley Herbst (27th) was the fastest qualifying rookie
(NASCAR)
Pre-race inspection is complete in all three NASCAR garages. No issues.
Qualifying Order
There will be no practice at Atlanta.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway is posted, 39 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Non-chartered teams entered are: #01-Corey LaJoie, #44-J.J. Yeley, and #78-B.J. McLeod.
See the full entry list on the Ambetter Health 400 Entry List page.
NASCAR National Series News & Notes – Atlanta Motor Speedway:
- This weekend will be the seventh Atlanta Motor Speedway Cup race on the new surface and configuration (since 2022), and the 122nd NASCAR Cup Series race all-time at the 1.54-mile speedway.
- Atlanta Motor Speedway held two races a year from 1960- 2010 except for 1961 when three races were held. Atlanta held one race a year from 2011-2020, then starting in 2021 it once again hosted two races a year.
- Beginning in 2023, both Atlanta races were shortened to 400 miles.
- A total of 67 NASCAR Cup Series drivers have made their series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway; most recent was Harrison Rhodes in 2018. Cody Ware (2017) and Ty Dillon (2014) are the two active drivers to make their debuts at Atlanta.
- and much more
Statistical Advance: A look at some of the top statistical performers at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, going into the Ambetter Health 400.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Atlanta: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at Atlanta this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that these teams ran at Atlanta twice last season . . . this is the only track at which these teams are scheduled to run either of these two Goodyear tire codes
Race rules and information:
