Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and more

After last week’s Daytona 500 featured a four-hour delay along with a crash-filled end to the final stage, Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 delivered the perfect start. There was some nice movement throughout the pack, with Denny Hamlin moving from 37th into the top-15 and Ty Gibbs from 36th into the top-25. Best of all, it was a green-flag stage without a single caution and that’s what NASCAR fans want most.

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With under 15 laps to go on Stage 2, Chase Elliott had climbed his way back into the top 10 with a chase at adding to his points total from Stage 1 (6 points). Instead, disaster struck. Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact, sending Stenhouse’s car up and into Elliott. After making contact with the wall, Elliott’s car fell behind the pack, got bumped and then took a direct hit from Brad Keselowski. The crash wasn’t Elliott’s fault, but all that matters to the No. 9 teams is the unfortunate outcome that kept him out of the top 15.

Ford dominated for a majority of the Daytona 500 last Sunday and that trend continued in Atlanta. After putting on a showcase, that success on the track carried over into Sunday’s race. To really put that dominance into perspective, a Ford driver led 108 of the first 108 laps on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. While Christopher Bell brought home the win for Toyota, Ford is putting on a clinic with March approaching.

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Starting 24th on Sunday, Michael McDowell and the No. 71 car had issues almost immediately. He quickly fell behind the lead lap due to a power-steering issue, breaking the line off the top of the pump (Bob Pockrass). Because of the issue, he had to go to the garage and returned for the start of Stage 2 already 6 laps behind the leaders. Not all was lost, however. McDowell tied the record for free passes (six), overcoming the huge deficit he faced entering Stage 2.

It’s been a strong start to the 2025 NASCAR season for Bubba Wallace. He won Duel 1 at Daytona and had the fourth-most laps led (18) in the Daytona 500. On Sunday, Wallace finished fourth in Stage 1 (7 points) and second in Stage 2 (9 points), all on a day when Toyota wasn’t performing particularly well. Wallace ultimately finished 9th in the Ambetter Health 400, leaving Atlanta with one of the highest point totals on the day. Thanks to Sunday’s race, Wallace jumped up 16 spots in the standings and now sits at No. 5 heading to the Circuit of the Americas.

Read More: Ryan Preece discusses violent Daytona crash

The Ambetter Health 400 was going almost perfectly for Todd Gilliland through 133 laps. He already picked up four points on Stage 1 and with under 30 laps to go in Stage 2, climbed his way up to third with a chance at adding to his total. Then, Gilliland’s tire blew to draw a caution. It put the No. 34 car a lap down and while that didn’t end his day, it cost him a lot of points after entering Sunday 27th in the standings.

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Atlanta Motor Speedway hadn’t been kind to Kyle Larson entering Sunday’s race. He crashed out of five of his last six races at Atlanta, with the lone exception delivering a 13th-place finish. He made it clear coming into the race that he wanted to reverse that history and sure enough he did. Larson won Stage 2 and placed third at the green-white-checkered, but he was also directly responsible for the wreck that ruined Austin Cindric’s outstanding performance. It’s more of the same with Larson, he’s arguably the best driver in NASCAR and he’s more than willing to improve his odds of a win even if it means taking another car out. Fortunately for some NASCAR fans, Larson didn’t get the end result he wanted.

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The reigning winner of the Ambetter Health 400 spent the first two stages essentially out of the picture, only getting near the front of the pack when the top drivers made changes after Stage 2. When Riley Herbst blocked Bubba Wallace on lap 183, forcing Bubba Wallace to check up, Suarez eased off the throttle and seemed to lose sight of the cars on the inside. it ended a disastrous day for Suarez and he leaves Atlanta Motor Speedway – his best track statistically – with his odds of making the playoffs for the second consecutive year taking a massive hit.

Everyone knew heading into Sunday that there was a decent chance the Ambetter Health 400 ended with a crash dictating the winner. What Christopher Bell deserves credit for is battling his way up from 32nd in the starting position all the way to the top of the field when it mattered most. Bell only led one lap on Sunday, but it’s the only one that shows up in the final order. Working his way through crashes and navigating two extremely aggressive drivers – Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar – Bell was the most deserving driver of the win in OT. Now, he’s got his spot in the playoffs secured.

• Finishing Position: WINNER

When several of your peers want to confront you over your driving, you probably did something wrong. Ryan Blaney had good reason to be livid with Hocevar on Sunday, given the No. 77 forgetting how to drive potentially cost him a win. Hocevar obviously doesn’t think he’s at fault for all of this and the reigning Rookie of the Year finished second on Sunday. He did fight his way to the front of the field on Sunday, but these “learning lessons” he keeps having often come at the expense of other top drivers. There’s clearly a high ceiling here with Hocevar, but at some point, inexperience needs to stop being an excuse and he needs to learn from his repeated mistakes.