Top 5 Upset Picks For NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge At Atlanta
Yep, the In-Season Challenge, the idea Denny got us all hyped for, is finally here, and what a place to start too. Echopark Speedway is a plate track, a place well-known for upset wins and top 10s that make your eyes go wide! It is a great place for upsets. Who will win the In-Season Challenge?
#5 Daniel Suarez Beats Bubba Wallace
Out of all the upsets, let’s be real, this is the least upset of them all. Suarez has only won twice in his Cup Series career. One of those wins was at sunny Sonoma, and the other was, of course, the very famous 3-wide photo finish at this track last year. However, there’s a reason why Wallace is the favorite for his matchup in the In-Season Challenge. He’s quite the plate track racer himself, winning at Talladega for his first career win and finishing runner-up twice at the Daytona 500.
#4 Erik Jones Over Ross Chastain!
Now this is an upset for the In-Season Challenge! Especially with Ross Chastain, who is a skilled plate track racer too with a Talladega win of his own. Jones, though, is a great one too. With his first career win being at Daytona and having a Clash victory as well, he could easily be the next awesome plate track upset win! Plus, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s been on a hot streak since summer began.
Having four straight top-20 finishes after an inconsistent start to the season, including a 7th place at Nashville. So a hot streak mixed with a track type he’s great at. Don’t be surprised if he beats Chastain on Sunday.
#3 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Will Finish Better Than Christopher Bell
On paper, I’m crazy to even imply that “Wrecky Spinhouse Jr.” could ever beat the defending winner of this race at anything, including the In-Season Challenge! But c’mon, this is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He and plate tracks have a great relationship, don’t they?
All four of Stenhouse’s Cup Series wins have come at plate tracks. Including the Daytona 500, no big deal really. A win at Atlanta would mean he’d win at all three plate tracks on the schedule now. In terms of average finish at EchoPark, Stenhouse isn’t that far behind Bell. Stenhouse has 16.3 compared to Bell, which has 15.3. So you could do worse in terms of picks, for sure.
#2 Todd Gilliland Will Advance Past the 1st Round Of the In-Season Challenge, Beating Chris Buescher
This prediction for the In-Season Challenge mainly relies on two arguments. In the first race of the season here in February, Gilliland showed up in that beautiful Aaron’s dream machine and proceeded to be top 5 for most of the day. It looked like he had a real shot to win until a blown tire cruelly took all that in the blink of an eye.
It showed he can have speed here, so he might be a great underdog pick to win the race. The other better reason, though, is that Gilliland is better at Echopark than Buescher. Gilliland has an average finish here of 20.4, while Buescher has an average finish of 23.6. So stats are on my side here.
#1 Austin Dillon Will Beat the Hometown Hero Chase Elliott
Now this is bold, isn’t it? Especially with Elliott having a win here (that he stole from Corey Lajoie). But Dillon is great at plates, historically speaking. Another Daytona 500 winner. Two of his last eight Cup Series top 10s have come at plate tracks. Elliott hasn’t been that lucky in front of his home crowd either. He has only finished in the top 10 once since his win here back in 2022. Every dog has its day, and Echopark has a good chance of becoming Dillon’s day.
