Winners and losers from the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta

The NASCAR Cup Series season brought the conflict and drama of the Daytona 500 directly into another drafting track — Atlanta Motor Speedway. Thankfully, Sunday’s racing was both better and cleaner.

The No. 20 of Christopher Bell took his first victory of the year at Atlanta, but we have plenty of other winners and losers to talk about today.

Winners and losers from the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta

Winner: Christopher Bell

With the race ending under caution, some folks have argued that Christopher Bell wasn’t the most deserving winner of the day, but that could be farther from the truth. Bell survived a three-way battle with Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar coming to the line and came out triumphant in a race that saw a record-breaking number of lead changes — and no, Bell hadn’t been one of those leaders until the final lap.

“This place is just bonkers,” Bell said.

“Every time we come here, it gets wilder and wilder, and I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would have won a superspeedway race.”

With that win, Bell has locked himself a slot in the Playoffs — but he’s also bought himself a wide berth in which to experiment and grow. The driver of the No. 20 has been one of the most promising drivers in the Cup Series over the past few years, but he just hasn’t been able to quite reach his potential, as he and his team are often left scrambling for a late-summer win to guarantee a Playoffs spot.

Now that he has that load off his shoulders, Bell has 25 more races in which to master his craft before crunch time truly begins, and that gives him ample opportunity to take his skill to the next level.

Loser: Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar recorded a career-best finish in Atlanta by coming home second on Sunday night — so why did he make the list of losers?

It all comes down to his driving, which was either too aggressive or just right, depending on who you ask. But since this is my list of winners and losers, I’m casting my judgement, and my judgement is that Hocevar was too aggressive.

The No. 77 had worked its way up to the front of the field on merit in the closing stages of the race, but its driver was linked to multiple crashes or near-misses along the way. The 22-year-old driver clearly has talent, but he hasn’t quite mastered the fine line between aggressive driving and dangerous driving — and that was on full display in Atlanta.

Every now and again, a young but hard-headed charger enters the Cup Series scene and makes handful of enemies in his first few years; Ross Chastain was one such driver, several years ago, and while Chastain has mellowed out, he’s still trying to separate himself from the reputation he’d gained in his early years.

Hocevar looked strong at Atlanta, but he threw that strength away by being foolish. He’s still learning, of course, but he’d do well to avoid another race finish that has several of his competitors pulling him aside for a heated one-on-one after the checkered flag.

Winner: Atlanta Motor Speedway

Back in 2021, Speedway Motorsports (SMI) announced that it intended to reconfigure Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the decision was met with some serious pushback. Banking was increased, with the racing surface narrowed. Drivers alleged that SMI had neglected to source any driver feedback, while fans — naturally skeptical of change — were quick to jump on that bandwagon.

Turns out, that repave and reconfiguration was one of the best things to happen to Atlanta; the racing has been close and contentious, albeit without the same level of tomfoolery that tends to haunt tracks like Daytona. Fans are still reveling in the series’ closest-ever three-wide finish at Atlanta last year, and the racing has continued to impress.

The racing has been consistently compelling enough to justify calling the repave a huge success — and to earn it a slot on our winners’ list this week.

Loser: Chase Briscoe

After suffering a massive penalty due to illegal modifications to a single-source supplied part in Daytona 500 qualifying, Chase Briscoe entered the Atlanta weekend with a stunning points deficit — -67, to be exact.

You read that right. Two races into the season, and Briscoe actually has a negative number of points.

HIs case wasn’t much helped by the fact that he finished 21st in Atlanta after getting caught up in an early wreck with Chris Buescher. The driver of the No. 19 was able to at least attempt to finish the race, but he still remains dead last in the championship.

At the very least, he only has 51 points remaining to make up before he reaches 0 and can finally start amassing points.

Winner: Team Penske

Barring the fact that one of its drivers has yet to win a race, Team Penske has launched out of the gate as one of the most impressive teams in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season — at least as far as superspeedway tracks are concerned.

If you were to take a peep at the top 10 at any point during the Ambetter Health 400, there was a damn good chance you’d spot all three Penske drivers — as well as the No. 21 of Josh Berry, whose Wood Brothers Racing team shares a technical alliance with Penske — running in the top 10, generally with a strong path to the front of the field.

No, the results didn’t reflect their strengths, but take a look at Ryan Blaney’s final laps; driving angry after nearly spinning out, the 2023 champion rocketed back up into the top 10 until more chaos took him out.

If Penske is able to hold onto its performance into those critical final laps, then they’ll be the team to beat in 2025.

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Loser: Ty Gibbs

Ty Gibbs should have walked away from Atlanta with a far better result than he did. The driver was caught in a “wrong place, wrong time” moment when, on Lap 184, Daniel Suarez slowed up dramatically in front of him, leading to contact that triggered a multi-car wreck.

Gibbs felt like he could have continued, but a cut tire saw him hauled back to his garage on the back of a tow truck, bringing a premature end to a day that had looked set to bring him a decent result.

Winner: Josh Berry

Driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in NASCAR is a little bit like racing a Ferrari in Formula 1: It’s the only team that has persisted from the earliest days of the sport. Unlike Ferrari, though, the family-run organization has faced more than its fair share of hardship, including stepping back from full-time competition and getting mired in the back of the grid.

Back in 2015, the tides turned when the Wood Brothers announced an alliance with Team Penske, coinciding with its signing of driver Ryan Blaney. When Blaney moved up to the big team, the following drivers struggled to make much of a mark — but Josh Berry is turning that round.

I want to acknowledge that yes, Berry did in fact end his race in a crash — but I’d still argue that he’s deserving of a winner designation for a variety of reasons. Berry took victory in Stage 1 and led the race seven different times for a total of 56 laps. Until his wreck, he was a near-constant figure in the top 10 and was able to keep pace with his Penske stablemates all the while.

In his first two races with the Wood Brothers, Berry has been strong. I’m not ready to hold a wreck against him just yet, but he’ll certainly need to find a way to stick it out to the finish if he’s actually looking to make a statement.

Loser: Ford

After spending a majority of the race forming strong front-running packs full of competent pushers, Ford flopped at the end of Atlanta. Only one Ford driver finished in the top 10: Ryan Blaney, who had been in line for a potential victory until he lost control.

The other best performer was Zane Smith in 11th, while the likes of Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie, Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson all coming home with big DNF.

It’s been a similar story for the Ford drivers for the past two weeks. They clearly have something special for superspeedways, but it’ll only matter if they can get to the end of a race.

Winner: Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson by no means ran a perfect race at Atlanta; he was one of the most aggressive pushers in the field, he pinched drivers into wrecks, and he entered the weekend knowing that superspeedway racing remains one of his biggest weaknesses.

Starting down in 17th and picking up some damage throughout the race, it looked like Larson might continue that streak at Atlanta, which races like a superspeedway track despite being a mere 1.5 miles. (Those kinds of tracks are considered ‘hybrids.’)

Something seemed to click for Larson this weekend, though, and the No. 5 was able to weather the challenges to find himself in contention for the victory in the closing laps of the race, even leading the field into overtime.

It wasn’t to be a win for Larson, but he did come home in third place — his best career finish at a superspeedway-style race.

Loser: Daniel Suarez

Last year’s Atlanta winner was one of the first drivers wrecked out of the race on Sunday, and Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez sounded as defeated as someone can get.

“I wasn’t good enough today,” he said in a post-crash interview.

“I felt like… I didn’t know the 54 was there. I think it was on me. I didn’t know that the 54 was there. Today, we’re just not good enough.”

Suarez highlighted the cool temperatures and a seemingly untouchable balance problem, but he wasn’t using it as an excuse.

The driver from Mexico is in something of a “drive for your life” scenario; he’ll need to see a strong turnaround if he’s hoping to continue in the Cup Series.

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