Despite it only being the second race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, there are a lot of storylines to look out for. Rivalries of the year have already started taking shape and one story to look out for could be the one involving Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. They might not have shared much of a rivalry last season, but there is a chance that the reigning Cup Series champion could ruin the Most Popular Driver’s return to a place he considers home.

Last year was perhaps the worst of the Hendrick Motorsports star’s career in the Cup Series as he failed to win even a single race. This year will be all about redemption for the driver of the #9. And what better place to redeem yourself than home? There’s just one problem, Elliott is not going to be the only person trying to win that race.

A tale of redemption for Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney

Winning the Cup Series is tough. Defending that title is almost impossible in today’s world of stock car racing. But Ryan Blaney will be looking to do just that. The Team Penske star would have hoped for a finish at least in the top 10 in the Daytona 500 but was collected in a wreck and ended up suffering a DNF. Much like Elliott, he too will be looking for redemption, and to be fair, he has more momentum.

Blaney and Elliott’s stats at the Atlanta Motor Speedway are almost identical. In 11 races, the driver of the #12 car has won at the track once and finished in the top 10 on six occasions. The HMS star has one less start than Blaney but has one more finish in the top 10 and one race victory. It’s safe to say that both racers are quite comfortable on the mile-and-a-half-track. But here’s why Blaney holds the edge over Elliott.

Despite the DNF at Daytona on Monday, it certainly feels like the driver of the #12 is in a better place to challenge for the win. Elliott may very well be one of the cars he beats to achieve that goal in the end, unless something untoward happens. Maybe it’s because he is the reigning champion and after an outing like last time, he is more determined to earn a result than he was before the season began.

Elliott, on the other hand, had a fairly decent race at Daytona last time out, which saw him finish in a respectable P14. So perhaps that need to prove himself is slightly lower than that of Ryan Blaney. In simple terms, the Team Penske star will probably want the more and that often makes all the difference. But what are the bookies saying?

What are the odds for the Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports stars?

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Well, the scales tip towards Ryan Blaney. It’s his teammate Joey Logano who is being considered the favorite to repeat his feat at the Atlanta Motor Speedway from last year with the best odds at 9-1 as per CBS Sports. The driver of the #12 is not far behind. He has the fourth-best odds of winning the race with 10-1 odds.

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Chase Elliott may be one of the best race car drivers from the present crop of Cup Series drivers, but the bookies do not believe that he has yet reached that level where he can challenge for race wins. When it comes to odds, the Hendrick Motorsports star languishes in eighth place with 12-1 odds to win the 2024 Ambetter Health 400. However, one can be certain that if the opportunity arises, the #9 will not spare any effort to take the checkered flag and make its way onto to victory road.

It will certainly be intriguing to see two of the best stock car racers in the world at the moment go up against each other in just the second race of the season. They might have had contrasting fortunes last year, but for Sunday, they are both looking to redeem themselves and that always makes for some good, hard racing.