The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made its second stop of the 2026 season at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race saw a thrilling conclusion to the time-shortened event.
Kyle Busch claimed his 68th career victory after fending off his Spire Motorsports teammate, Carson Hocevar, in the closing laps.
“Huge help from behind (Hocevar),” Busch said to FS1 in his victory lane interview. “Carson Hocevar was a great teammate today. Early on in the race, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, same old Carson.’
“But, as we got closer towards the end, we started working together. And we started being able to maneuver our way through the end of the second stage there.
“I was behind him pushing him and we were able to go forward. There at the end, he was my wingman. So if he gives me a hat, I might wear a hat. Thanks to HendrickCars.com, appreciate you guys. Thanks to Spire Motorsports, Gainebridge, (crew chief) Brian Petty, all these guys. It was great to have the family here and win one, and celebrate one in victory lane.”
Due to showers impacting the area early Saturday morning, the start of the Truck Series race was delayed. NASCAR implemented a rule called the “Adverse Conditions” rule. This meant that the race would end at 4:20 p.m. ET.
This was done due to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race starting at 5 p.m./ET as part of the doubleheader on Saturday. In addition, the leader would receive the white flag at the next lap and end the race the following lap with no overtime finish.
Qualifying was held Friday afternoon in advance of Saturday’s race and saw Monroe, Georgia native Jake Garcia win the pole for the fourth time in his Truck Series career. Originally, stage lengths were made up of 40-40-55 for what was supposed to be the 135 lapper, but was cut short by 10 laps due to time constraints.
During the first stage, numerous incidents saw several spins with no cautions. One of those was Adam Andretti, who was making his series debut in the No.5 Tricon Garage Toyota Tundra. Andretti had a little trouble from the get-go getting loose in Turn 2. Just a few laps later on Lap 14, he would spin in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 while running in the 19th position. There was no caution for the spin.
Meanwhile, as Andretti was having his problems, Christian Eckes went behind the wall for driveshaft issues early in the going. At Lap 17, veteran Grant Enfinger had damage on his left front wheel and went down a lap to receive service on pit road. As the stage neared its end on Lap 34, Tanner Gray went spinning around before Turn 1, and no yellows were thrown there either.
As far as the action on the track, the leaders went single file by Lap 10 and saw Rhodes maintain the top spot over teammate Majeski and Busch. Just a few laps shy of the stage finish, Busch made a move past Majeski to move into the second spot. However, things began heating up with two laps to go. 2025 series champion Corey Heim returned to his first start of the year in the trucks and grabbed the stage victory after having a push from Majeski and passing Rhodes. Heim, Rhodes, Busch, Hocevar, Majeski, Stewart, Friesen, Andres Perez, Kaden Honeycutt, Daniel Hemric, and Gio Ruggiero rounded out the Top 10 finishers.
Stage 2 took place from laps 47 to 80 and saw many contenders have more trouble. At Lap 60, Majeski blew a right front tire and made a pit stop before returning to the track multiple laps down. Five laps later, Honeycutt also had a right front tire go down and came to pit road. Unfortunately, during the pit stop, he was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes.
As for Rhodes, he contended for the stage victory and was out front numerous times. However, trouble hit him with two laps to go in the stage as he would run out of gas on the backstretch and lose the lead, and ultimately go a lap down. Truck Series veteran, Friesen, assumed the lead during the process. Friesen received a challenge from Ricky Stenhouse Jr, but held on for the stage win. Friesen, Stenhouse Jr, Hocevar, Chandler Smith, Busch, Garcia, Ruggiero, Perez, Heim an Layne Riggs completed the Top 10.
Running short on time, the field went back green with the start of Stage 3 at Lap 87, with 48 laps to go. Friesen and Garcia were on the front row. However, Friesen’s lead was short-lived with Busch taking the top spot two laps later. The race was calm for a brief while. It seemed like they might be able to complete the 135 laps. But a caution came out with 35 laps to go for a wreck off Turn 4. Kris Wight, piloting the No. 81 machine, slid up and made contact with the No. 13 of Butcher when he slapped the wall off Turn 4, collecting Sutton in the process.
This slowed the race for several laps, and time became a growing concern to the field as there was roughly just nine minutes left for what would be the final restart of the race with 28 laps to go. Before that restart, however, Rhodes received the free pass and was back on the lead lap under caution.
Once the green flag flew, drivers wasted no time making things exciting. There were multiple challengers and multiple bold moves made in the closing laps and minutes of the event. A couple of those drivers were Busch, Hocevar, Stenhouse Jr, and Rhodes, just to name a few. In the final laps, Busch was passed for the lead for a brief period until he charged back and regained the top position with Hocevar behind him.
Despite having his teammate Hocevar helping him, Busch needed to hold off several challengers in hopes of grabbing the win. At Lap 125, which was the final lap of the race due to the adverse condition rule, the Las Vegas native indeed held off his competitors, including Hocevar, to nab his first Truck Series win of the season and his third consecutive at the track dating back to 2024.
Busch led four times for 37 laps en route to victory and won by a margin of victory of .114 seconds.
Official Race Results Following The Fr8 Racing 208 at EchoPark Speedway.
- Kyle Busch led 37 laps
- Carson Hocevar
- Gio Ruggiero
- Ben Rhodes led 70 laps
- Corey Heim won Stage 1, led six laps
- Chandler Smith
- Jake Garcia led two laps
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr
- Justin Haley
- Ty Dillon
- Adam Andretti
- Daniel Dye
- Tyler Ankrum
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Brenden Queen
- Tyler Reif
- Kris Wright
- Mini Tyrell, 1 lap down
- Stewart Friesen won Stage 2, led 10 laps, 1 lap down
- Kaden Honeycutt, 2 laps down
- Grant Enfinger, 2 laps down
- Clayton Green, 2 laps down
- Josh Reaume, 2 laps down
- Frankie Muniz, 2 laps down
- Spencer Boyd, 5 laps down
- Layne Riggs, 6 laps down
- Ty Majeski, 6 laps down
- Tyler Tomassi, 6 laps down
- Tanner Gray, 9 laps down
- Cole Butcher, OUT, Accident
- Dawson Sutton, OUT, Accident
- Caleb Costner, OUT, Handling
- Daniel Hemric, OUT, Suspension
- Justin Carroll, OUT, Rear Gear
- Christian Eckes, OUT, Transmission
Up Next – The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads south to St. Petersburg, Florida, for the series debut at the Street of St. Petersburg, Saturday, February 28, live on FOX and MRN Radio at noon eastern.
