By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net
Hampton, Ga. —Atlanta is a huge focal point in the stock care schedule. Two races are scheduled in 2025 including the Ambetter 400 which had the closest 3-way finish in NASCAR history at .0003/second. Joey Logano, the 2024 Cup Champion won the fall race and offered to take the entire media to his old apartment on the AMS grounds, standing in the shadows of Turn four. Most drivers do not consider AMS as a superspeedway and note how the track is changing after the repave and track remodel during COVID-19. Rarely do tracks earn their second date back after losing it, and all NASCAR stakeholders including the AMS staff make sure the race is one that fans look forward to. In June, The NASCAR Cup Series returns to AMS for the second time in 2025 as drivers have their sights set on victory. The Saturday night showdown comes with added stakes as 32 drivers begin their quest to win $1 million in the first-of-its-kind NASCAR In-Season Tournament.
This weekend
Big Boi is the Honorary Pace Car official for the Ambetter 400
HAMPTON, Ga. – Diamond-selling recording artist, rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and philanthropist Big Boi will lead NASCAR’s stars to the green flag at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23. Well known as one half of Outkast and the Dungeon Family’s foremost wordsmith, Big Boi will serve as the Honorary Pace Car Official during the Ambetter Health 400.
Big Boi’s career has been prolific, achieving stardom as a member of the hip hop duo Outkast and topping the charts with hits like “Ms. Jackson”, “So Fresh, So Clean”, and “The Way You Move”. The legendary duo sold over 25 million albums and garnered seven GRAMMY Awards, becoming the first and only hip hop artist to win the Grammy for album of the year.
Chase Elliott looks to make the locals proud
As NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott always has a lot of people cheering for him at the track – and that’s especially true at his home track: Atlanta Motor Speedway.
As a 19-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and a former champion, the Dawsonville native has certainly provided Georgia racing fans plenty to cheer about. Lately, Elliott says, his home track in Hampton has been doing the same.
“I always look forward to racing there. I’m really happy that we have two dates at Atlanta,” Elliott said. “I think that it’s a track that made a large investment to improve their product and I think that they have successfully created a lot of chatter down there around the racetrack and around the events.
“I hear it and I see it first-hand, which I don’t typically see and feel that first-hand from other racetracks, but being around the area you run into people that went and they’re like, ‘Man, that was awesome!’”
Elliott kicked off his 10th full-time season of racing in the sport’s top series with a win at Bowman Gray Stadium in the Clash earlier this month.
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons is the Grand Marshall
Atlanta Motor Speedway announced today ZZ Top lead singer and guitarist Billy F Gibbons will be the grand marshal for the upcoming Ambetter Health 400. As part of his grand marshal duties, Gibbons will say the most famous words in motorsports, compelling the starting field to life when he says, “Drivers, start your engines.”
“Time to roll…fast and faster!” Billy F Gibbons will growl as motors rev.
With his signature beard and African headgear, Billy F Gibbons is instantly recognizable and best known as the centerpiece of ZZ Top. His iconic vocals and riffs played a major role in the band’s ascent to becoming one of the country’s top rock bands with renowned tracks like “La Grange”, “Tush”, and later “Give Me All Your Loving” and “Sharp Dressed Man”. Over the course of more than five decades more than 50 million ZZ Top albums have been sold as well as a significant number of Billy F Gibbons solo albums. Billy and his ZZ Top bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, his friend and admirer.
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s races. The parking lot will have plenty of family activities.
Roy J. Akers is a NASCAR reporter for www.skyviewsports.net
