Ryan Blaney capped off a dominant run from pole position and a wild event mixed with late adversity, intense on-track battles and an extensive rain delay period that concluded the event in the early stages of Monday morning, July 13, to win the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led 14 times for a race-high 171 of 263 over-scheduled laps in an event where he led every lap from the first stage period after leading the field to the start from pole position. Through a rain delay period that went a little beyond three hours, Blaney extended his dominance in the second stage period by leading an extra 75 laps and claiming the stage victory as the on-track intensity within the drafting pack towards the front started to crescendo.
Despite being mired in 16th place due to being serviced with a long pit stop to have his entry full on fuel, Blaney methodically navigated his way back to the front and he was back out in front with less than 70 laps remaining. As he spent the event’s remainder swapping, drafting and duking it out for the lead with his fellow competitors amid the draft, an overtime shootout placed Blaney in a head-to-head showdown against Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace. After receiving a shove from Wallace to reel in and duel with Hocevar at the start of the final lap, Blaney received a final shove from Christopher Bell while engaged in a tight three-wide battle with Hocevar and Wallace to emerge ahead and win a wild conclusion of an event in Hampton, Georgia.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 11, Ryan Blaney secured his second Cup pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 179.912 mph in 30.815 seconds. Teammate Joey Logano started alongside Blaney on the front row with the second-fastest lap at 179.702 mph in 30.851 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano dueled for the lead in front of Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon and the field of two-stacked lanes for a full circuit. As the field started to fan out to three-packed lanes, Blaney, who opted to start on the outside lane, led the first lap and he gained the upper advantage through the first two turns to motor ahead. While Brad Keselowski scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after he got loose without drawing a caution, which dropped him towards the mid-field region after racing in the top 10, Blaney maintained the lead over the field that began to scatter through the fifth lap mark as Logano, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric were scored in the top five.
Through the Lap 10 mark, all 38 starters were separated by nearly 10 seconds of one another amid the draft as Blaney was out in front of a Team Penske 1-2-3 on the track, with teammates Logano and Austin Cindric occupying the top-three spots. Behind, Larson and Daniel Suarez were in the top five ahead of Austin Dillon, Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell, Meanwhile, Chris Buescher, Austin Hill, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Shane van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek were racing in the top 20 while Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Keselowski were mired in 24th, 29th and 34th, respectively.
Ten laps later, Blaney continued to lead ahead of teammates Logano and Cindric while Larson and Carson Hocevar followed suit in the top five. With the top-32 competitors separated by nine seconds, Austin Dillon, Hill, Wallace, Suarez and Elliott were scored in the top 10 while Briscoe, Reddick, Byron, McDowell, van Gisbergen, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Nemechek and Bowman were mired in the top 20, respectively.
As the first stage period reached its halfway mark on Lap 30, Team Penske’s Blaney, Logano and Cindric retained the top-three spots, respectively, over Hocevar as Austin Dillon, Larson, Reddick, Briscoe and Wallace were racing in the top-10 mark. By then, only the top-25 competitors were separated by nearly nine seconds of one another while Chad Finchum, BJ McLeod, Cody Ware and Noah Gragson were lapped.
By Lap 40, Reddick muscled his way into fourth place ahead of Hocevar, Larson, Dillon, Briscoe, Wallace and Elliott while Byron, Hill, van Gisbergen, Gibbs and McDowell occupied the top-15 spots ahead of Nemechek, Bell, Erik Jones. Suarez and Buescher. Meanwhile, Blaney maintained the lead in front of teammates Logano and Cindric within the draft and in single-line formation through the turns and the straightaways. Over the next 10 laps, Reddick and Larson broke up Team Penske’s dominant trio on the track as they moved into second and third, respectively. Logano and Cindric dropped to fourth and fifth, respectively, as Blaney retained the lead on Lap 50.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Blaney, who has led every lap thus far in tonight’s main event and fended off a challenge by Reddick over the last handful of laps, captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Reddick, Larson, Logano, Cindric, Hocevar, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Elliott and Wallace were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 30 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Keselowski and Todd Gilliland all being lapped.
Under the event’s first stage break period, nearly the entire field led by Blaney pitted while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Connor Zilisch remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Reddick exited pit road first and he was followed by Larson, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Bell, Hocevar, Cindric, Logano, Briscoe and Wallace, respectively. Stenhouse and Zilisch pitted shortly after, which allowed Reddick to cycle to the lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 68 as Reddick and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick, who elected to start on the outside lane in front of Blaney, held a narrow advantage through the first two turns until the inside lane led by Larson gained momentum. This allowed Larson to duel with Reddick for nearly a full circuit until the former tried to transition behind Reddick and in front of Blaney on the outside lane. As Reddick led the next lap, Larson was pinned in the middle lane. This allowed Austin Dillon to motor ahead into the runner-up spot as Larson dropped to fifth place behind Blaney and Carson Hocevar. Just behind the top-five group, Bell briefly stepped out of the throttle and settled behind Briscoe and Logano.
On Lap 70, Austin Dillon launched a side-by-side challenge for the lead on Reddick through the frontstretch, but he had no drafting help as Hocevar threw a three-wide move beneath Dillon while Blaney had Larson drafting him on the outside lane. For the next lap, Logano attempted his version of a three-wide move beneath Dillon and Briscoe, which cost Dillon a handful of spots as he was pinned in the middle lane. As Bell motored ahead of Logano, Wallace, Dillon, Cindric, Erik Jones and the field from sixth place, Reddick maintained a steady lead over Blaney, Hocevar, Larson and Briscoe during the Lap 72 mark.
Blaney then got beneath Reddick with a draft through the frontstretch to overtake the latter and reassume the lead through the first two turns as he was followed by Larson. Larson battled dead even with Blaney through the frontstretch by the next lap and they refused to lift off the throttle amid their side-by-side battle on Lap 75 as they had 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace reeling in from behind. Once Wallace filed in behind teammate Reddick, Larson muscled ahead through the backstretch and he had both lanes until his control by Lap 76 as Hocevar gained a strong launch to overtake both Reddick and Wallace to move into third place by Lap 77.
Through the Lap 80 mark, Blaney, who reassumed the lead two laps earlier, led Larson by two-tenths of a second, with Hocevar, Reddick (who briefly scrubbed the outside wall), Wallace, Bell, Elliott, van Gisbergen, Jones and Logano were in the top 10. Two laps later, Hocevar battled Blaney for the lead before he motored ahead by a tenth of a second during the next lap. As Hocevar led, Reddick darted to the inside lane and tried to mount a charge while dueling with Larson for third place despite having no drafting help. Amid the shuffling within the front pack, Reddick rocketed his way back to the front and nearly overtook Hocevar entering Turns 3 and 4 by Lap 87, but he was unable to. This allowed Wallace to overtake Reddick and Wallace occupied third place in front of Reddick and Larson while Hocevar led Blaney at the Lap 90 mark.
As the on-track intensity continued to ramp up, Blaney dueled and led the Lap 93 mark over Hocevar. The battle between Blaney and Hocevar allowed Wallace to join the battle as Blaney motored ahead by two-tenths of a second by Lap 95. Behind, Wallace drag-raced and motored ahead of Hocevar with second place by Lap 95. By Lap 100, Blaney was out in front of the field and ahead of Wallace, Bell, Reddick and Elliott while Hocevar, Jones, Logano, Larson and van Gisbergen were scored in the top-10 mark. By then, the top-14 competitors were racing within a second of one another while the top-19 competitors were separated by two seconds and the top 24 separated by three seconds.
On Lap 107, the caution flew, the field was directed to pit road, all entries were covered, the competitors were given permission to exit their respective entries and the event was halted during the next lap due to a lightning strike. At the moment of caution, Blaney was leading ahead of Wallace, Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Erik Jones, Larson, Hocevar, Logano and Ty Gibbs, respectively, while 30 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Three hours and nine minutes later, the engines re-fired as the competitors climbed back in their respective entries. As the field cycled back on the track, the competitors drove under a cautious pace on the track while pit road was being dried. The field then pitted once pit road became dry as NASCAR intends to run the event’s full distance into the early hours of Monday (July 13).
Once pit road became accessible, a majority led by Blaney pitted while the rest like Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cole Custer remained on the track. Following the pit stops and with mixed pit strategies ensuing, Blaney and Logano exited pit road in the top-two spots after both only opted for fuel for their entries, Wallace, who the first competitor who opted for two fresh tires, followed suit ahead of teammate Reddick, Hocevar, Cindric, McDowell, Bell, Hamlin and Jones. The competitors who remained on the track led by Berry pitted during the next lap, which allowed Blaney to cycle back as the leader.
When the event restarted on Lap 123, Blaney and Wallace dueled for the lead through the first two turns as they were drafted by their respective teammates of Logano and Reddick. Through the backstretch, Logano drafted Blaney ahead of Wallace and clear of the field as Blaney led the next lap. Hocevar then muscled as the lead competitor on the inside lane as he drew himself in a side-by-side battle with Wallace for third place while Logano then tried to battle Blaney for the lead. The field briefly fanned out as Wallace reassumed the runner-up spot entering the first turn on Lap 126. Amid the jostling of on-track spots towards the front, Blaney retained the lead.
At the halfway mark on Lap 130, Blaney, who reassumed the lead from Wallace two laps earlier, was leading ahead of Logano, Hocevar, Wallace, McDowell, Reddick, Hamlin, Cindric, Gibbs and Suarez, respectively. By then, the top-31 competitors were on the lead lap and separated by more than three seconds of one another as a variety of on-track shuffling and jostling for positions amid the draft ensued. Soon after, Blaney and Logano started to generate a reasonable gap between themselves and the field led by a side-by-side duel for third place between Wallace and Hocevar.
During the Lap 140 mark, Hocevar, Wallace, Suarez and Bell reeled in on Blaney and Logano for the lead as the top-six competitors generated a reasonable gap from seventh-place Cindric and the field. Cindric then tried to slide in front of Wallace for fifth place two laps later, but both Wallace and Bell placed him on the outside of a three-wide battle through the frontstretch. As more competitors racing both inside and outside of the top-10 mark reeled in on the lead group, Blaney continued to lead in front of Logano by Lap 145. Hocevar then aggressively navigated his way into the runner-up spot two laps later and Wallace followed suit while Logano battled Suarez and the oncoming competition to retain fourth place. Meanwhile, Blaney led the Lap 150 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 160, Blaney captured his second consecutive Cup stage victory of the event and the fourth of the 2026 season after he fended off both Logano and Reddick. Reddick settled in second ahead of Logano, Cindric, Suarez, Gibbs, Bell, Jones, Hamlin and van Gisbergen, respectively. Meanwhile, Wallace spun across the frontstretch’s grass after he got hit in the rear by Gibbs when Wallace moved in front of Gibbs on the inside lane in Turn 4. The spin dropped Wallace out of the top-10 mark and mired him back in 31st place. Meanwhile, Hocevar was mired in 29th place due to having a flat tire and falling off the pace a few laps earlier.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service while Hocevar remained on the track. Following the pit stops and with mixed pit strategies ensuing, Gibbs, who opted for a four-tire pit service, edged Cindric off of pit road first as they were followed by Buescher, Zilisch, Bell, Jones, Hamlin, van Gisbergen, Larson and Austin Dillon, respectively. Meanwhile, Reddick exited pit road in 12th place in front of Logano and Blaney was mired in 16th place to have enough loaded in his entry while Wallace and Hocevar were mired in 30th and 31st, respectively.
With 93 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Gibbs and Cindric occupied the front row in front of Buescher, Zilisch, Bell and Jones. At the start, Gibbs and Cindric dueled for the lead for a full lap as Cindric was being drafted by Zilisch on the inside lane while Gibbs was being drafted by Buescher on the outside lane. Despite losing their respective drafting partners through Turns 3 and 4, Gibbs managed to lead the next lap as both continued to battle dead even in front of two stacked lanes. As Hamlin ignited a third drafting lane to muscle his way towards the top-five mark, Cindric and Gibbs continued to battle for the lead with 90 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 85-lap mark, Ty Gibbs had a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Bell and Hamlin, marching and battling their way at the front. While Bell reeled in Gibbs for the lead, Hamlin was trying to fend off Buescher and a pack of eight competitors for third place. Amid Hamlin’s long battle with Buescher, Cindric joined the battle as van Gisbergen, Erik Jones, Suarez, Larson and more reeled in through every turn and straightaway. Meanwhile, Gibbs continued to defend all lanes as he led with 80 laps remaining.
Then with 67 laps remaining,, the caution flew when AJ Allmendinger, who was racing outside of the top-25 mark, spun through the frontstretch after he bumped into the left side of McDowell. During the latest caution period, the front-runners returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops and with most of the front-runners opting for a two-tire pit service, Bell exited pit road first and he was followed by Larson, Jones, Blaney, Buescher, Elliott, Hamlin, Wallace, Byron and Briscoe.
The next restart with 60 laps remaining featured Larson receiving a strong shove from Blaney from the inside lane to motor ahead through the first two turns before Blaney darted to the right and dueled with Larson, starting from the backstretch. Amid their side-by-side battle, Blaney led the next lap and he motored ahead of the field temporarily during the next lap before Bell navigated his way to the front.
As Bell led, Blaney, Jones and Elliott battled in the top-four spot ahead of Larson, Hamlin and a stacked field that fanned out to two and three-lanes deep. While a handful of four-wide action occurred within the pack that nearly instigated an on-track incident, Elliott assumed the lead for the first time with 53 laps remaining. Elliott led the next two laps while battling teammate Larson until Blaney threw a three-wide move beneath the latter two entering the first turn to reassume the lead and he brought Wallace with him with 50 laps remaining.
Down to the final 40 laps, Blaney, who led seven of the previous 10 laps and engaged through a variety of on-track swapping for the lead amid the draft, was leading by a tenth of a second over Larson, Elliott, Bell, Wallace, Reddick, Jones, Suarez, Ross Chastain and Hamlin, respectively. As the on-track intensity towards the front continued to intensity through a variety of three-wide action, Blaney maintained the lead over Wallace, Elliott, Larson and Reddick with 35 laps remaining. Wallace then dueled and overtook Blaney for the lead with 32 laps remaining after he was drafted by Reddick through the frontstretch. With Blaney, Reddick and Larson reeling in, Hocevar also navigated his way back into the top-six mark as he battled Bell for more while Wallace retained the lead with 30 laps remaining.
Then with 29 laps remaining, the caution returned when Allmendinger was involved in a second incident, with his latest incident occurring in Turns 3 and 4 when he went dead straight into the outside wall due to a cut tire. Prior to the caution, Blaney scrubbed the outside wall through the first two turns when he tried to make a move to the outside of Wallace for the lead and got aero-loose when Wallace blocked Blaney’s momentum. During the latest caution period, some including Chastain, van Gisbergen, Elliott, Suarez, Austin Hill, Zilisch, Briscoe, Buescher, Ty Dillon, Riley Herbst, Ryan Preece, Logano, Nemechek, Zane Smith, Keselowski, Cole Custer, Berry, Cindric and Stenhouse pitted while the rest led by Wallace remained on the track.
During the next restart with 23 laps remaining, Wallace received a strong start from the outside lane to lead through the first two turns before the inside lane led by Blaney fired back ahead through the backstretch. As Blaney aggressively moved in front of Wallace, Hocevar dueled alongside Blaney for the lead while Wallace was pinned in a three-wide battle with Bell and Jones for the next lap. Blaney, who reported a vibration from his entry, managed to motor ahead of Hocevar and lead the next lap while Wallace dropped to fifth place behind Bell and Jones. Amid the battles within the field and towards the front, Blaney maintained the lead with 20 laps remaining.
With 19 laps remaining, the caution returned when Larson, who was racing in the top-10 mark, veered to the left to avoid a stack-up caused when Reddick nearly came across the path of Gibbs and Hamlin, which forced the latter two to briefly step out of the throttle entering Turns 3 and 4. This caused Larson to veer sideways through the frontstretch’s grass as he slammed on the brakes and spun while his pace reduced.
Down to the final 14 laps, the field restarted under green as Hocevar and Blaney dueled in front of Bell, Wallace and two-stacked lanes through the first two turns. As the field scrambled while slowly fanning out to three lanes, Blaney and Hocevar continued to duel for the next lap until the latter received a shove from Wallace to motor ahead through the first two turns. Amid Blaney’s challenges from the inside lane, the latter did not have any strong pushes from behind mounting as Hocevar maintained the lead over Blaney, Wallace and the field with 10 laps remaining. Not long after, Blaney received a push from Bell exiting the backstretch to reel in, get underneath and overtake Hocevar through Turns 3 and 4. Bell then made an aggressive three-wide move beneath Wallace and Hocevar to move into the runner-up spot with eight laps remaining before the latter two came storming back amid a tight three-wide battle.
Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew due to a multi-car wreck that erupted in the backstretch when Larson, who was trying to rally his way back into the top-10 mark, moved to the right and made contact with Hamlin. The contact turned Larson sideways and down the backstretch’s inside wall, which he made hard contact against. Amid Larson’s incident, Briscoe veered sideways while trying to dodge Larson and hit the left side of Austin Hill’’s entry before Briscoe was hit by Herbst while Bowman spun. At the moment of caution, Hocevar, who executed a bold three-wide move a lap earlier, was leading ahead of Blaney, Wallace, Reddick, van Gisbergen, Bell, Austin Dillon, Gibbs, Chastain and Jones.
When the event restarted in overtime, Hocevar gained a slight advantage with drafting help from Reddick on the outside lane at the launch before Blaney was pushed cleared ahead of Wallace from the inside lane through the first two turns. Both Blaney and Wallace, however, disconnected entering the backstretch as Hocevar motored back ahead with a big lead. Amid Hocevar’s lead, a three-wide challenge for the runner-up spot ensued as Blaney was pinned beneath van Gisbergen and Reddick with all racing in front of a stacked field.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hocevar remained in the lead as both Blaney and Wallace quickly reeled in Hocevar with a two-car draft. Blaney then darted to the right and dueled with Hocevar through the first two turns. Then as Zane Smith wrecked entering the backstretch, Wallace threw a bold three-wide move beneath Hocevar and Blaney while briefly going off the track. With the trio battling dead even through three stacked lanes through Turns 3 and 4, Blaney received a shove from Bell from the outside lane to motor ahead and win at EchoPark Speedway in a thrilling finish.
With the victory, Blaney notched his 19th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his second at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway and his second of the 2026 season. He also recorded the 750th Cup career victory for the Ford manufacturer and the season of this season for Team Penske.
“Yeah, [the finish was] pretty wild, “Blaney said on the frontstretch on TNT. “I was second and it’s [like] OK. Just take the front row and we’ll see who gets behind me. Bubba [Wallace] gave me really good shoves. On the restart, we got hooked up pretty good. Bubba and I got a huge run down the front straightaway and I was able to get to the outside of Carson [Hocevar]. I wasn’t able to clear him, and Bubba went three wide bottom down the back, which lined up a really cool finish at the line. I really have to shout out Christopher Bell for being right on my bumper all the way through [Turns] 3 and 4 and a big push. He was a big reason why we won the race. I appreciate that, Christopher. The fans, thank you, guys, for sticking around. Is it 2 a.m.? It’s past my bedtime, but it ain’t past y’alls. Thank you so much for being here and hanging it out with us…Pretty cool to win here.”
Bubba Wallace initially crossed the finish line in a close runner-up result, but he was demoted to the last car on the lead lap in 29th place. This was due to Wallace steering his entry below the yellow line, out of lines, boundary through the backstretch as he was about to execute his overtaken on Carson Hocevar for position.
“I turned left and got super loose, and so just to keep [the car] straight, I ended up there,” Wallace, who disagreed with the penalty and had a brief post-race confrontation with Ty Gibbs over a late blocking move, said. “It’s unfortunate. You can go back and look at some STM [data]. I was all over the brakes trying to just get the spot back. [The rules] says, ‘Don’t go below the yellow line to gain your position,’ which I didn’t. I was still third and I got a shove from [Ty Gibbs] to go to second. It’s unfortunate. [I had] A really good day.”
Following the event, Wallace along with his crew chief, Charles Denike, and 23XI Racing’s performance director, Dave Rogers, met with NASCAR officials to review the penalty. At the conclusion of the meeting, NASCAR upheld its penalty on Wallace.
With Wallace’s penalty, Christopher Bell was awarded the runner-up spot as Hocevar, Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones ended up in the top five. Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher completed the top 10 in the final running order.
This event featured 30 lead changes for 10 different leaders and seven cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 29 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 20th event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin, who finished 12th at Atlanta, continues to lead the regular-season standings by 24 points over Tyler Reddick, 65 over Ryan Blaney, 126 over Ty Gibbs and 181 over Chase Elliott. Both Hamlin and Reddick have also officially clinched their spots for the 2026 Chase for the Cup.
Results:
- Ryan Blaney, 171 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Christopher Bell, five laps led
- Carson Hocevar, 25 laps led
- Ty Gibbs, 32 laps led
- Erik Jones
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Austin Dillon
- Tyler Reddick, eight laps led
- Joey Logano
- Chris Buescher
- Ross Chastain
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott, five laps led
- Austin Cindric
- Michael McDowell
- William Byron
- Cole Custer
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Todd Gilliland
- Ty Dillon
- Daniel Suarez
- Alex Bowman
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Preece, one lap led
- Josh Berry, one lap led
- Brad Keselowski
- Noah Gragson
- Connor Zilisch
- Bubba Wallace, 11 laps led
- Zane Smith, one lap down
- Austin Hill, two laps down
- Cody Ware, four laps down
- Chad Finchum, four laps down
- Kyle Larson, five laps down, four laps led
- Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
- Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
- AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident
- BJ McLeod – OUT, Mechanical
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 19, and air at 7 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
