NASCAR Cup Series Highlights | 2026 EchoPark Speedway

This place always seems to produce those wonderful chaotic finishes. A beautiful day right now at Echo Park Speedway. It's going to be intense. You talk about the importance of being willing and ready to go, and these Toyota drivers have to do it tonight. Championship leader Denny Hamlin qualified 28th. The guy chasing him, Tyler Reddick, is outside the top 30. How do they manage this race, and how quickly can they get to the front? Stage one, only 60 laps. It's about to unfold in Atlanta, the stress and anxiety, the weather, the unpredictability of this place, seven races to the chase, good crowd on hand. It's an all Penske front row, two champions, Blaney and Logano. It's go time in Atlanta. See that inside line all linked together. The outside line needs to tighten it up a little bit to create a little bit of momentum for the 12 of Blaney. Already three wide. Hosevar in the 77 going out against the fence. Got his teammate right behind him, Michael Mcdowell. In the fence just a little bit, Mcdowell. Little brush with the right front fender, I believe. Car gets really tight on that flat tri-oval. When you're right up behind somebody, you lose the nose. Blaney jumps out front. He controls. Larson looking inside Logano. Dillon rallying up the second and the three. Oh, somebody in the wall back there in the back. It looks like Brad Keselowski qualified inside the top ten. Let's see what happens to the six bottom right of the screen. I can't tell. It looks like it got tight first and then he overcorrected a big loose wiggle. Hosevar in the picture. Nothing to do with it, I believe. But how about the last winner here at Atlanta, the 45 of Tyler Reddick? He's up over 20 spots already to the back bumper of the 19, up to the eighth position. That win in the spring was missing a right front fender on the warmer racetrack. I think that would be a little bit harder to do. But the 45 has got it figured out. Watch him climb the hill. Right side of the screen. He kind of goes to the top. He's able to just carry more speed through the middle of the corner and that gives him a run down the straightaway. You see on the left side of the screen the three of Dillon to the inside of the five. But this is answering the question you asked earlier, Adam, about the Toyotas that qualified in the back. Was that built in down force and drag that maybe made their cars not qualify as well? But now as we're getting deep into this tire run, the handling comes into play and they drive to the front. Plus 24. Going to be plus 25 soon. Incredible start. First half of stage one. Some lap cars creating some dynamic situations right here. Look at the 45 with the momentum. Five has to get out of the gas. All this dirty air. His car is tight. The 45 just full throttle right around the top. Found something right there at the top of the racetrack up against the wall. He has to lift, allowing the 45 to run the top so he has to go somewhere else to get that clean air. The 45 with a big run down the back straightaway going to the inside. Going to side draft a little bit down the back straightaway. Not going to clear the 2. 2 is going to drag him back a little bit on the quarter panel. Going to run him tight here to try to side draft and keep that 45 from clearing. up the racetrack. Almost contact right there. Again, here comes the 5. Going to go three wide once more. 5 has got a big run, though. He's got to clear the 45. Will he get the 2? Can he slide up in front of Cedric? He will. Look at Osavar. He said, I'm going to join the party. Looking down low on Reddick. What a move by Larson. There you go. Mission accomplished. One of the Penske Fords split up from the trio. 13 to go in this opening stage. Blaney has led them all. But he's got some fast ones behind him. Larson is there. Reddick has turned it up. Side by side off the corner. Larson is going to get to the quarter panel. Side draft. The 12 car down the back straightaway. He's going to move away into turn three. Wrap the corner. He's clear if he wants it. 12 is coming back on the outside. Side by side down the front straightaway here. A couple of champions going at it for the race lead. 12 to go in the stage. Blaney back out in front. And now Reddick right in their hip pocket. 45. Looking low. Wow. Can the 45 slow him down with the side draft? Got some lap cars in front of him as well. Going to be one to go in the stage here. Team Penske has won stage one in five of the last seven at Atlanta. I actually think the lap cars are an advantage to Blaney. I think he's getting the draft on the cars up the road. So at a down force track, this is the difference between Atlanta and other tracks. I think Blaney is going to have a little bit of a tow, help his straight line speed. Final lap, stage one. Off of turn two. Around the lap cars. You know, when Cendric won stage one here in the springtime, he started way back in the pack after a crash at Daytona. Reddick rallying in stage one tonight, but not going to be enough. Ryan Blaney back to the green and white checkered flag. It's his fourth stage victory here at Atlanta. I thought it was going to be a draft. It was more of a pick by Ryan Blaney. Using the traffic. Nice job by driver 12. Let's get a little chase briscoe radio here. That means go. Is that Australian for go? I was just making sure, I want to clear that up. I want to go back and confirm what you said earlier, too. This is an official race at lap 130. So as we start talking about the weather, the role it will play and how you manage the number to watch in that regard. Outside lane, race leader and control car, Tyler Reddick, to his inside, Kyle Larson. Stage two. Under way as we go through the eco park automotive restart zone. Good launch by the 45 of Reddick. Good push by Blaney back there on the outside. Going to clear the 45. Here comes the inside line back, though. Down the back straightaway. Everybody even. Two by two. Austin Dillon trying to give a good push to the five car of Larson on the inside. Oh, Larson trying to squeeze up in front of the 12. That was tight. I mean, one was going high, one was going low. Three wide for the runner up spot. Blaney high and Austin Dillon making a rally in the inside lane. He took that risk and it put him in the middle, lost a couple of spots now. Bit of an aggressive move, but he had to try it. Chase briscoe. Listen to his crew chief. 19 outside lane making up some ground on the restart. Side by side for the lead. Larson trying to get the outside corner on that 77. 77 is just going to go to the inside. Hosebar down into second place battling with the 12. He's going to wrap the bottom. Not quite clear, Blaney. Blaney is going to come back on the outside. Toyota, Ford, Chevy. Top three right now. They get a huge run up on the leader. Hosebar just couldn't get to the quarter panel. He got drug back by the car of Blaney. Logano three wide to the bottom. That shuffles out Austin Dillon. Chris Pobel who jumped quickly off the pit lane in the game. Logano knew he had Cedric behind him. That aggressive move, you see it at the top of your screen, that red 22 being pushed by that number two shoving it forward. Bubba Wallace got it wound up in the outside lane. He's so good in the draft. It was impressive here in the springtime. This 12 car, look at this thing on fresh tires. Big run. Just drive down and take the top spot. Ryan Blaney dominates stage one, leads again, and he brings Larson with him. Larson clears up in front of Blaney. Little less separation now. You can say everybody's worked on their cars. Handling's gotten a little bit better. We're not seeing as much separation at the front. Hosebar into the wall off of turn four, Steve. Light contact. We'll see if it does any more damage to that 77. I was mentioning, though, track also probably cooling, which is helping. Blaney says it doesn't matter. I've just got to go back. You want to lead? Okay. I'll take it back here. 12 strong tonight. Started on the pole. Big run by Hosebar down the back straightaway now into third position. The 77s gained several spots. He's to the inside of the 5 now for second. That 77 is working around the bottom of this racetrack. One lap you kiss the wall. Next lap you're thinking about the runner-up spot. Here's the 77 dancing around Larson. Not able to make the pass. Now he's in a bad spot, the 5 of 45 on the outside. Probably going to create momentum and go down the back straightaway. He's going to hang on the inside, though, of this 5 car. New leader is Carson Hosebar, and just as I say that, here comes Tyler Reddick. Look at the 45, just dancing off the corner, all clear, maybe not. He could have taken it. He was clear momentarily, but the 77 is going to get out there and go by. Three wide, Bubba Wallace around his teammate, and Blaney into second place. Slingshot, 23 making moves. Popped him earlier. Eric Jones was the best qualifier when you talk about the Toyotas. He was quiet in stage one after rolling off 11th, but that green and white machine looking good now. Three wide. 45 car here. Tyler Reddick got into the fence. We mentioned when the 77 hit the wall right behind him, Tyler also drives into the fence. Very light contact. Looking at the side of the car. Doesn't look like there's any damage. Just a little scrape or two. As we go back to the front, Hosebar, Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, here comes Christopher Bell. Four runner-up finishes this year for driver 20. Got that banged-up wrist, but, boy, has he been playing strong in the summertime despite the injury that he suffered at Michigan. Balance starting to go away on these cars. You see them using up a lot of racetrack, the 22 of Logano having to lift right there. Down here in three and four, they're starting to drive up the track into the door of each car on the outside line, getting into the tire run here, losing some balance, losing some comfort. It's making me nervous. This race just promotes anxiety. Go to a report on William Byron in the 24, Shannon. William Byron started 26th. He told me it would take about 10 to 15 laps to figure out what kind of car he had, guys. He's figured it out. He doesn't like it. He's having a conversation with Rudy Fugel about it right now. I heard you. Okay? I heard you. I got it. You're five number? I'll say it again. You got it. The first is, do we stay dry? And if we stay dry, how do you manage it? We have not seen many green flag pit stops here. It's interesting. It's a long pit road. It could be messy. Oh, the yellow is out. Lightning. Caution is out. Lightning. Cancel all that conversation about fuel and green flag. After a red flag and more than three hours, we're back in the saddle here in Atlanta. The red has been lifted. The cars have rolled off. And it's just a matter of time before we open pit road and then reset and go green again here at Echo Park Speedway. Blaney and Bubba on the front row. Number 12 in charge as the leaders come to the Echo Park automotive restart zone. That inside line did a really, really good job launching right around the same time. Basically, teammates pushing teammates here down the back straightaway. Who can stay locked together? It's like the Toyotas weren't able to do that. The Fords on the outside clear. Host of our getting with it. Our data originally indicated he got four tires. He actually only got two on that cycle of stops. But it hasn't hurt his confidence. He's up to third. It's been impressive to me how these Penske Fords have been able to find each other tonight. Trying to get back down there and block the 77 couldn't get there quick enough to the inside. Oh, Bubba's right there. I thought he had it cleared. It's going to try to already got really tight. Oh, but out the Reddick lost the nose of the car up off before way out of the gas. Everybody almost run over him down the front straightaway. Cedric had to lose a lot of spots there. Keep him wrecking and right on cue, Mr. Aggression. Here comes Shane Van Gisburg into the 97. That shape of the trial blend of turn one here just begs for a driver to turn right there. You got big trouble right there. Sometimes you get sometimes you give. There it is. He just loses. You see the exhaust pipes way out of gas car just come out of the racetrack down into the corners. He's going to have a big moment right here. Have a gas. Everybody goes by nine to go on the stage and look at this group of cars at the front. This reminds me a lot of what we saw at the end of the race last year. Logano three wide for second, but the one commonality. Go get stage points. They're on the line in three laps and problems for hosts of our well off the pace. I don't know if he got to the fence or whatever, but he is off the throttle. Reporting an issue. We'll have to get him to pit road and see what's wrong with the 77, Danielle. Steve, they're saying on the radio 77 has a flat tire. He's led 133 from the pole tonight, and he leads with one lap remaining. Stage two. Got his teammate right behind him. Reddick is there. Bubba is there. Austin Cendrick in the top five. Back to the outside of Logano. Logano at the racetrack trying to side draft Reddick. Bubba Wallace three wide to the inside has to think about it because of the block. Logano defends that well. Bubba in a bad spot. Ty Gibbs getting with it. Final lap of the stage. Bubba spun out off the nose of the 54 of Ty Gibbs. Wallace goes for a ride, was running inside the top five. As Ryan Blaney takes the green and white checkered flag, recording the sweep. We go back and watch what happened with Bubba. Bubba had to lift right there, and he comes back down the track right in front of Ty Gibbs. Ty is lifting out of gas, and he's like, man, I can't stop, so I'm doing all I can. Bubba is just desperately trying to get down the track and save him a few spots to be able to cross the finish line, get some stage points. Right there he's out of the gas and struggling with the handle of his race car. Right here you're going to see the pipes of the 54, the blue smoke, the fire out of the pipes. He's out of the gas as well. Gibbs, Sendrick, front row. Coming through the Echo Park restart zone. Final stage underway at Atlanta. Not really connected on the inside line just yet. Good push. Three cars tied together on the outside. Man, Gibbs trying to slow that 2 down. Some new players up here. A lot of these guys don't really know what it's like to be up front, what moves to make. Much like Jeff and Jamie talked about, can the 45 and the 12 find their way back to the front? Can they fight their way and get that track position? Lifted a little bit there. Let's see if he goes to the middle here. I'm not quite sure. Get back two by two. Now bailed to the inside. Three wide. Got to be careful there. That painted line down there is out of bounds. Him making the move to the inside is Sendrick. Gibbs jumps to the race lead. Had a moment back there. Off the corner. 17 around the top. Almost gets to the right rear quarter panel. This is wild racing. My gosh. Contact right there with the 5 of Larson. A little bit of ding on the right front with the 22. Contact right there. Pretty hard. What about this mix of teams we've got at the front? I mean, you've got Joe Gibbs racing one, too, but then it's Hendrick, SVG for track house, legacy and Erik Jones. Buescher got that RFK Ford up there. Team spire represented by the man that won here a couple of years ago, Daniel Suarez. Oh, the 16 spinning down the front straightaway, A.J. Allmendinger. A.J. Allmendinger. Just up the racetrack. Gets in the side of the 71 car and kind of turns himself around. Watch this. You go two tires. You jump out. This is what we talked about. How tight this pit road is. Everybody on a different strategy. You merge them together. It's just a lot to manage for everybody. That was a really nice job by the 43 to kind of not lose more time than he could have. Pushed up here. Keep it pushed up. Warmed up here. Still pushed. Even here. You're clear. Close. Not clear. 12 clear. You two are clear. And outside. Just showing him. He's with him now. Still on the way up top. Still there. Still too high behind you. Still tight here. 9-0. Still tight up top. Out by half. Out there 20. Still there. Still by one now. Lane. He was on point. Here comes bell. Chase Elliott right there. Larson slid back to fifth. Eric Jones a part of the equation. Outside lane in that green and white 43. Denny Hamlin back in the top six here. On the outside line. Chase Briscoe. Hadn't talked about him in a while. Mentioned the fact he had fallen outside the top 20. But that red, white and blue 19, last week's winner right in it. Blaney just takes the lead back that easily. This 12 car has unbelievable outright speed. Chastain on the scene here. About that lap down. Got a free pass in the game. Four wide. Not sure that will work. Look out. Logano. What a save. Chastain. Thank you. Coming through. He will put his nose in the middle of it. There's no doubt about it. Right here. Four wide bottom for Chastain and just it stacks up. Fire out the pipes on the 97. Look at that. Save sideways. And now if you're Chase Elliott or Larson, you have to ask yourself, are you settling in here? Because if you don't race, maybe you could protect. Elliott says, nope. Turns left down the hill. He wants to go to the point. Listen to the crowd. Oh, man. Hometown guy from Dawsonville. Engine number nine. Back on point at Atlanta. Teammates for the top spot. Larson looking outside of Elliott. Bell waiting in the wings. Lady three wide down the front straightaway. Slingshot. Look at him. Number 12. Showing the muscle again. And here comes Bubba Wallace in the 23. Chase to the inside for the lead. Blaney playing defense. Can't hold him off. Number nine. Jumps back by Hamlin looking outside as Larson paints the line down low. That looks like an absolute replay of how Chase Elliott won this race before that move down into turn one. Bubba Wallace around the bottom. Going to need a little help down there. Fall in behind. Right behind this 12 car in the third. Did it to the inside. Taking every run. Kyle Larson charging up the inside. Daniel Suarez right there. Great average running position for the 7 tonight after he got inside the top ten. He's really stayed there. Chastain still chipping away at it back there in ninth. This is his kind of racetrack. And his kind of race. You thought you got rid of him. You laughed him early. Yet here he is, back in the mix. He was a runner up here, 2022 in both races. The first year we went to the drafting configuration here at Echo Park Speedway. How about that bright white 24 back there, three wide with Chastain. Look at Reddick circling to the front, going inside a chase for the race lead. Got his teammate Bubba Wallace right behind him. What a swarm of flies. Oh, Bubba got real tight right there. Wow. Larson got to his left rear, made him really, really tight up the racetrack with three wide for the front. Blaney again. I mean, just it's a broken record. The 12 loses it and takes it right back. Still battling up front. Bubba Wallace making a play. You want to go back and talk about these guys at the back side of the top ten. They're racing for the lead. Almost every lap. Blaney needs his teammates up there. They're starting to gang up on him. Toyotas have now found their way into the top five. Oh, Blaney's in the wall. 158 laps tonight. We got caution for the fifth time this evening. He's upset. Yeah. He got squeezed right there. Yeah. Blaney said, what was that? I have no idea what he was doing. This is A.J. Back here on the right side of the screen. Right front tire blows out. He's hard into the wall. That's unfortunately a tough hit for A.J. Tonight. And then this is the block of the 23 car, Bubba Wallace, up the racetrack. There was no contact. But the 12 does just 12 gets loose up there in a little bit of the dirty stuff. Take a look at it. Blaney to the top and Bubba blocks it and turns the 12 sideways when they get really, really high up the racetrack into some of the marbles, I suppose. 23 to settle it in Atlanta. Big jump by the outside line there. Good launch for the 23. Back to the inside, though. Here comes Blaney. They separate the Toyotas. You got Josef are pushing Blaney assist Josef are back on point when that thing was dancing big time. But he hangs on to it. And now Josef are coming through the inside on that wave of pressure with those new tires. Eight or ten rows back is going to be real. Ryan Blaney just said, I have a massive vibration after that restart, Steve. Remember that wall contact? He didn't get a chance to feel it out. He was into the wall when the caution came out. Damage on the right side. Maybe it's a bent wheel, something like that. Obviously, there's air in the tires, but the 12 is going to have to ride it out at this point. Oh, we got to go down to the grass 19 ago. Caution number six. Keep it spinning. Try to stop right here and get it off of three and four. Kind of by himself. Yeah. Oh, a stackup. Goodness. There's the answer right there. The stackup. They all check up. The five just kind of get spit out of line. Try not to run the 11 and the 54 over. So Ryan Blaney did talk about the vibration with a spotter. Tim. Feel it. Listen in. It's a broken one. To be in the fence. If it did break. They're off down the back. Getting better. Oh, it's terrible. But it's driving in the wheels. We go green with 14 to go. Blaney in charge. Next. The host of our again. Another good launch by the outside line. But we're a little more organized on the inside here. Pretty even, though, as we push through turns one and two. Big run. Come from behind. Forty three. Chase Elliott back there making it happen in the nine. He's one of those on some fresher tires. Blaney and host of our stay side by side and outside lines going to be organized. That's going to get host of our clear into the lead. He's been the car all night long. Started on the pole. Swept the stages. Closing on 170 laps lead. Here's Blaney with a lead nine remaining. Another example of this 12 car. Very few can take that push to the lead. They take it door to door, but the 12 clears the 77 goes back in control. Six laps to go. Three wide for the lead. Here comes host of our 77 trying to get the top spot sliding through. What a mix at the front. Forty five. Larson spinning to the inside wall. Big wreck in the turn three. Austin is out. This is exiting turn two. The five in the middle. Three wide. Hamlin up top. He's going to get up there. Not clear on the outside. Drives across the nose of Hamlin. Then briscoe gets out of shape on the bottom of the racetrack. Multiple cars collected there going into turn three. Gets into Austin hill there. Joe Logano lucky to get by. Todd Dillon gets a little bit of contact there as well. 35. 48 goes spinning down the racetrack. Bonus time for all these fans. Host of our Blaney front row. Almost a perfect launch, but here comes the 12 car to the inside. They're going to wrap the bottom. Blaney should be clear. He's clear. They've come undone, though. There's no connection between the 23 and the 12. A big run coming down on the outside line here. Big run. Hosevar is going to stay to the outside. Blaney can't get the block. Hosevar to the race lead. SVG is right there to make it three wide. What a move for second. Coming back to the wag. Hosevar way out front. Big run. Comes from the 12 to the 23 down the front straightaway. Blaney goes outside. He's been great all night long. Leading 170 laps. Trying to get around Hosevar. What does Bubba do? We've got a wreck on the back straightaway. Bubba three wide below the line. That's going to be a penalty, I'm afraid. Three wide for the lead. Through turns three and four. Pushing Blaney. Middle lane. Hosevar. Back to the checkered flag. It's going to be Ryan Blaney who wins it in Atlanta. Oh, my. What a dominating win. Stage sweep. Lead 171. And by Blaney. number two of the season.