By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Hampton, Ga. — Drivers all agree that Echo Park Speedway is changing with the track aging each time the drivers visit and teams have to adapt. With the in-season challenge bracket kicking off, the top 32 drivers will be pared to 32 after just one race. The winner of the tournament receives $1 million dollars. The second-place finisher receives nothing more than an atta boy.
First Stage Top 8 Stage One
Joey Logano is the defending champion of the Quaker State 400 and is the seventh consecutive Ford driver to capture the pole and leads the field to the green flag. Logano, Berry, and Cindric run 1-2-3 early with the first five drivers running single file. Halfway through Stage One, the running order is largely the same and Carson Hocevar, who finished second at Echo Park in February, is now 7th. By lap 33/60, Keselowski and Cindric are now 2-3 and Berry is 4th. Larson is now up to 7th and the caution flag is thrown for mist on lap 36. Drivers circled the track until lap 43 when they parked for track cleanup. The race resumes on lap 48 with Logano once again leading the field to the green flag. Cindric and Berry are 2-3. Cindric leads by a nose on lap 49 and again on lap 51 being pushed by Keselowski.
The field is running two wide from front to back with a few three wide variations. Cindric goes up by two car lengths over the 22 and the six. Turn four of lap 57 brings the second caution of the race. Bell gets sideways and Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney are collected. The stage ends. Fords are 1-2-3. Kyle Larson gets light damage but escapes most of the carnage.
Second Stage Final Stage 2- Top 8
Drivers take advantage of pitting and a big reshuffle happens as Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, and Justin Haley are 1-2-3 on lap 68. By the third turn, the big one happens. Brad Keselowski makes a move in the outside lane, getting alongside Austin Cindric and taking the lead. In Turn 3 and Turn 4, Brad Keselowski makes a move in the outside lane, getting alongside Austin Cindric and taking the lead. In Turn 3 and Turn 4, Christopher Bell receives contact while running near eighth position and slowly spins. This triggers a multi-car crash involving Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, AJ Allmendinger, and Bubba Wallace, all of whom sustain damage.
This continues until lap 109 when a wreck in turn four brings the next caution. A caution flag is waved as Riley Herbst spins out near fifth position in Turn 4 after contact with Chase Elliott. Todd Gilliland is also caught up in the crash. The pits are opened, and a reshuffle puts Reddic, Alex Bowman, and Justin Haley 1-2-3. The restart on lap 117 brings the field to green. The talk is about Hocevar, who has a highly damaged machine but is back on the lead lap. As the Second Stage has a handful of laps left, it’s Buescher, Bowman, and Zane Smith 1-2-3. Multiple runs by drivers have several rising and falling. Reddick and Chase Elliott are 1-2. Buescher and Erik Jones are 3-4. Drivers take turns with the lead. Reddiick, Elliott and Buescher run 1-2-3. Twenty-two cars are still on the lead lap.
Final Stage
Elliott brings the field to the green flag on lap 169. Bowman takes the lead just a lap later. Keselowski joins Elliott. vanGisbergen skids in the front stretch on lap 175, bringing the sixth caution of the race. Bowman, Keselowski, and Elliott bring the field to the green flag on lap 181.
Drivers are jockeying for position, and Ryan Preece takes the lead with Gibbs second and Buescher third. On lap 194 in turn four, Jones gets loose and goes into the wall. When the green flag is dropped on lap 200, Elliott brings the field to the green flag. It is shortly lived as David Starr’s car finally expires. Lap 207 brings the field for the tenth time to the green flag with Elliott, Kezelowski, and Buescher your top three. Keselowski continues to lead, and Elliott gets loose on lap 221, getting into Buescher. Both drivers somehow save their rides.
Haley and Gibbs connect on lap 226 as the 7’s right rear tire blows up. Keselowski leads his teammate Buescher as the green flag is dropped on lap 262. Bowman is third. Zane Smith grabs the lead on turn four of lap 237, but BK is on top on lap 239. Smith and Bowman go around Keselowski with Reddick 4th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. joins the top five party to third.Stenhouse Jr uses the downlow sling shot to take the lead. BK is second and Smith third. The final four laps have breathtaking passing and drafting. Elliott overtakes BK for the checkered flag. Keselowski finishes second and Bowman third.
Checkered Flags
Elliott wins for the first time in 46 races and for the second time at Echo Park Speedway. He is the third Rick Hendrick driver to clinch the playoffs out of the four-driver team in 2025. Elliott Nation is alive once again. Bet Hendrick Motorsports sends out plenty of merchandise advertisements this week. Yep, just got three. A very popular win for Chase Nation and its nice to see Elliott smile once again.
Media Question: Chase, the reaction from the crowd after 44 races not hearing them do that, the chanting, what does it mean to you personally that even after 44 races without winning, you’re still the face of the sport, the only one that can get the crowd like this?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, thanks.
It was, yeah, truthfully a pretty surreal moment. There’s really only been one other time in my career that I felt like — I don’t know. I’m not sure anything has ever matched that. It was crazy. I’ve never, like, been onstage and been a singer or anything like that. I would have to imagine it would feel something like that. It was such an incredible experience.
To your point, I think it just kind of goes to show how great our fans have been to me and to us. It just kind of really makes you appreciate them even more for really sticking with us and not giving up hope, ultimately being able to give both me and my team an experience like that, because their determination and unwillingness to quit on us is really cool.
They Said It…
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED? “I got caught up in a wreck. I don’t know. That’s per usual this year. We get caught up in someone else’s mess.” WHAT DID YOU SEE? “I saw a couple guys spinning and slowing. I got to the apron and there was really nowhere else for me to go but the apron. I tried to get there and get clear of it, but they kind of came down and got me in the right-rear and I ended up in the fence. There was no missing that one.” DID YOU THINK YOU HAD IT CLEARED? “I thought I had it cleared. I really did. I thought I got low enough on the apron to get it clear and try to get through it in time and, honestly, I didn’t even see the 3 when he clipped me. I thought I got past it and then I got clipped. I couldn’t really get any lower by the speed I was doing, trying to, A, get by it with enough speed and, B, try to get as low as I could. I really thought I got by it and just got barely clipped.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU JUST SAW THE REPLAY. WHAT DID YOU THINK? “Basically, what I saw there, I didn’t realize there were that many cars in it, but it wrecked the whole field. I still don’t know exactly how it started. It wasn’t the best of replays, but it was total chaos. Cars were sideways and on the brakes. I got hit from every corner possible. I was right in the middle of the whole thing. It’s a real bummer. What do you do? It’s just part of the game sometimes. It’s just the crappy part of our racing sometimes. You get caught up in something you couldn’t do anything about.” WHAT DID YOU SEE? “A lot of smoke and sideways cars, including myself somewhere in that mix. I don’t know exactly what happened. They tried to show me a replay, but I still couldn’t see good enough to see exactly what happened, just when a car gets turned sideways in front of everyone.”
Factoids that may interest only me
The 23-car wreck on lap 69 basically busted everyone’s bracket. Hamlin, Blaney, Bell. If you did not have one of these three drivers going deep in the tournament, you had no chance anyway. Add Larson, who received light damage in the pileup and you understand the craziness of Echo Park.
Elliott is the third of four Rick Hendrick drivers to clinch the playoffs behind Kyle Larson, and William Byron. Only Alex Bowman is still looking for a 2025 victory. Tonight, Bowman finishes third. Elliott breaks a 46-race winless streak.
Tale of the Tape
Final Standings
Roy J. Akers is a NASCAR reporter for www.skyviewsports.net
