The most exciting part of the NASCAR season is here.

After a 26-race regular season with 15 different winners, the playoffs are set to begin this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The high-banked Georgia track hasn’t hosted a playoff race since 2008. But it will be even more unpredictable this time around after the track was reconfigured to a superspeedway-style venue in 2022.

So, who is racing in Atlanta? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And what drivers could contend for the win? Here’s everything you need to know for 2024 Quaker State 400:

NASCAR Southern 500 entry list, drivers

Thirty-eight drivers will race in Darlington – the 34 full-timers, plus four others.

Shane van Gisbergen, who was recently announced as a full-time Cup driver next season, will make his seventh start of this year for Kaulig Racing. Elsewhere, Cody Ware is back in the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing and B.J. McLeod will drive the No. 78 for Live Fast Motorsports.

Here’s the full entry list for Atlanta:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Worldwide Express
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Menards
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	BREZTRI
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	Decisely Insurance
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	King's Hawaiian
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Gainbridge
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Global Industrial
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	NAPA Auto Parts
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Overstock
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Mavis Tire
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Dent Wizard
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Mahindra Tractors
15	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Mighty Fire Breaker
16	Shane van Gisbergen	Kaulig Racing	Acceptance Insurance
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Fastenal
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Auto-Owners Insurance
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Rheem
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	DEX Imaging
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Autotrader
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Leidos
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Relay Payments
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Cirkul
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	B'laster
38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	CITGARD
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Haas Tooling
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	OLIPOP
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Dollar Tree
44	J.J. Yeley	NY Racing Team	US Aviation Academy
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Jordan Brand
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Kroger
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally
51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	Grady Health System
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	He Gets Us
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsports	Ambetter Health
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Delaware Life
78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Delgado Stone
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Quaker State

When is the NASCAR race in Atlanta?

The Quaker State 400 is set for Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m. ET.

Before the race, there will be a qualifying session on Saturday. The 38 drivers will take the track one-by-one (in this order) for two-round qualifying. Each driver gets two laps in the first round, with the 10 fastest advancing to the final round. The final 10 drivers will get two more laps to determine the top-10 starting order, with positions 11 through 38 set based on first round times.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?

Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for NBC Sports all weekend. Marty Snider, Dave Burns and Kim Coon will serve as pit reporters. Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:

Saturday, Sept. 7 (USA Network and streaming)

• Qualifying: 12:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

Sunday, Sept. 8 (USA Network and streaming)

• Countdown to Green: 2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Quaker State 400: 3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• NASCAR Cup Series Post Race: 6:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

NASCAR playoff standings entering Atlanta

The 16-driver playoff field was finalized after an eventful regular season finale at Darlington last weekend, with Briscoe winning his way in. Atlanta is the first race in the Round of 16 as drivers have three weeks to secure their position in the Round of 12.

You can find a full explanation of NASCAR’s playoff format right here.

Here are the playoff standings entering Atlanta:

Rank	Driver	Points
1.	Kyle Larson	2,040
2.	Christopher Bell	2,032
3.	Tyler Reddick	2,028
4.	William Byron	2,022
5.	Ryan Blaney	2,018
6.	Denny Hamlin	2,015
7.	Chase Elliott	2,014
8.	Brad Keselowski	2,008
9.	Joey Logano	2,007
10.	Austin Cindric	2,007
11.	Daniel Suarez	2,006
12.	Alex Bowman	2,005
13.	Chase Briscoe	2,005
14.	Harrison Burton	2,005
15.	Ty Gibbs	2,004
16.	Martin Truex Jr.	2,004

NASCAR Atlanta winners list, race history

Eight of the 38 drivers in the field are past winners in Atlanta, but just four of them have won at the track since it was reconfigured in 2022.

Byron, Keselowski and Busch are the only two-time Atlanta winners racing on Sunday. Both of Byron’s wins were after the reconfiguration, though, while Keselowski and Busch’s victories came before it.

Hamlin (2012) and Blaney (2021) won there before the track change, Elliott (2022), Logano (2023) and Suarez (2024) won with the new layout.

Atlanta predictions, picks, favorites

If the first race in Atlanta this season was any indication, Sunday could be a thriller.

That February race produced 48 lead changes and a 0.003-second margin of victory for Suarez over Blaney, with Busch in third just 0.007 seconds behind.

Looking at Atlanta history since 2022, several clear favorites stand out. There’s Byron, who won in 2022 and 2023 and has 171 laps led over those five races. Logano has a victory and 190 laps led, with at least 10 laps led in four of five races. And finally, Suarez has finished top-six in four of five races, including second last summer and first in February.

The drafting tracks similar to Atlanta this year (Daytona and Talladega) have produced three winners in three races: Byron and Burton at Daytona and Reddick at Talladega. 

Some longshots to monitor are Gilliland (58 laps led at Atlanta in February) and Wallace (top-six in three of four drafting tracks this year).