NASCAR is back to a "traditional" schedule this week, with seven days between last week's Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and today's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
There's still no practice or qualifying, but this schedule is what NASCAR bettors are more accustomed to.
With this in mind, I already jumped on two drivers earlier this week and am adding two more below for Sunday's race at Atlanta. And because those first two wagers were at odds of 16-1 and 33-1, now it's time to lock in a couple of race favorites.
Here are two additional bets I'm making for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@PJWalsh24) for any additional bets I make on today's race.
NASCAR at Atlanta Odds, Betting Picks
*Odds as of Sunday at 7:20 a.m. ET
Chase Elliott (+625)
Elliott's No. 9 Chevy was easily the fastest car over the two races at Charlotte, which, like Atlanta, is 1.5 miles in length.
However, Atlanta's surface is much more abrasive than Charlotte's and therefore results in much more significant tire wear, so it's also important to note that Elliott sports the best career average finish at Atlanta of all drivers in Sunday's field, so he's very much capable of carrying over the speed we've seen in recent weeks to the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
And while starting position isn't as important at Atlanta as it is at other tracks, it certainly doesn't hurt that Chase will start from the pole.
Alex Bowman (+1000)
If we ignore Bristol, which is so vastly different from Atlanta that NASCAR handicappers should be doing that anyway, Bowman has the best average running position, has led the most laps and has run the most fast laps in the other four races (two at Darlington and two at Charlotte) since the Cup Series returned last month.
In addition, Bowman smoked the field and won back in March at Auto Club Speedway, a racetrack with extreme tire wear just like Atlanta.
