Michael McDowell claims pole in qualifying for Ambetter Health 400
Second round qualifying update: MichaelMcDowell had the fastest finish time among the top 10 from the first qualifying round and earned pole position for the Ambetter Health 400. The full updated lineup is available below.
First round qualifying update: Michael McDowell was the fastest qualifier in the first round in Atlanta. The following ten drivers advanced to the second round to compete for the pole position and the rest of the first ten positions in the starting lineup.
- Michael McDowell
- Joey Logano
- Todd Gilliland
- Austin Cindric
- Chase Briscoe
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Dillon
- Chris Buescher
- Kyle Larson
NASCAR won’t go far for its next race as they are coming off the Daytona 500 and heading to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2024 Ambetter Health 400 will run on Sunday, February 25, with qualifying being held the day before. Qualifying is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. ET, airing on FS1.
The Atlanta Motor Speedway went under some renovations in 2022 and is now run as a superspeedway. This is notable as the Cup Series changed how it qualifies at superspeedways this year. The entry list is no longer separated into groups, and drivers will run a single-car, one-lap qualifier. The fastest ten drivers advance to the final round to set a new single-car, single-lap time. The best time from the final round will earn the pole position for Sunday, with the rest of the starting lineup being filled out.
Joey Logano has the best odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to win the Ambetter Health 400, installed at +900. He led the most laps at the Daytona 500 (45), and it looked like a win was in his grasp, but a series of wrecks down the stretch forced him to finish 32nd. Chase Elliott has the second-best odds at +1000, with William Byron (the Daytona 500 winner) tied for third at +1100, along with Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.
Logano won last year’s race and is looking to become the first back-to-back winner at the event since Jimmie Johnson did it in 2015 and 2016.
Here is the full entry list for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 Cup Series race. We’ll update it with the full starting lineup as qualifying wraps.
