By Roy J. Akers — Hampton, Ga.
NASCAR is down to seven regular-season races left this season. Echo Park is the first track to make its second and final appearance. EPS is known as a Ford track, but Ford has had a disastrous season and only one victory. (Ryan Blaney at Phoenix).
| STELLAR IN THE SUMMER RACE Chevrolet’s long history of success at EchoPark Speedway has seen the Bowtie brand set the pace with 46 wins in NASCAR’s top division – a double-digit record over the next leading manufacturer, Ford, with 36 wins. That list includes five trips to victory lane that have been made in the track’s superspeedway-style era (Mar. 2022 – present), with three of those wins coming during the summer race. Georgia native Chase Elliott is one of just four active two-time EchoPark Speedway winners, with both of his triumphs coming in the track’s summer date (June 2025; July 2022). Joining the likes of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron has two EchoPark Speedway victories under his belt, with his most recent coming in the July 2023 event. In the four summer races that have been held since the reconfiguration, Team Chevy has owned at least half of the top-10 finishing positions in each event. Among those contributors includes Elliott and Daniel Suarez, who each earned top-10s in three of the past four summer races. |
 BYRON’S BACK Heading into NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway, a strong points day was at the forefront of William Byron’s goals, and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team was able to achieve just that. In one of the team’s strongest runs of the season, the North Carolina native drove to a sweep of the stage wins, going on to lead a race-high, and season-best, 94 laps led en route to a strong fourth-place finish. The showing concluded with a 53-point day, which sat second-highest of the field, just behind the race winner. The effort kept the Rudy Fugle-led team in the 12th position of the standings, but now with a 92-point advantage over the cutline. While EchoPark Speedway might be arguably one of the most challenging ovals on the circuit, this weekend is a momentum-building opportunity for the No. 24 team. Byron is one of just four active two-time EchoPark Speedway winners, both of which have been earned on the track’s reconfigured surface (July 2023; March 2022). Drafting-style racing, in general, is right in Byron’s wheelhouse, with the Team Chevy driver boosting a resume of five career wins on the configuration at NASCAR’s highest level. |
 HOCEVAR HOPING FOR A RESET While it’s been a rocky start of the summer stretch for Carson Hocevar and the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team, they’ve managed to maintain a top-10 point position, with a triple-digit cushion over the cutline heading into the EchoPark Speedway race weekend. While superspeedway races are filled with chaos and unpredictability, it’s a style of racing that’s turned into arguably one of Hocevar’s strongest in his short NASCAR Cup Series career. This season alone, the Michigan native has turned in two top-four results on drafting-style tracks, with his most notable finish coming at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this spring when he became a first-time winner at NASCAR’s highest level. In just five career starts at EchoPark Speedway, Hocevar holds a streak of three-straight top-10 results – dating back to his best-finish of second that came in the Feb. 2025 event. |
| IN-SEASON CHALLENGE: ROUND THREEEntering Round Three of the In-Season Challenge, just eight drivers remain in the battle for the one-million-dollar grand prize. The No. 32 seed, Alex Bowman, continues to make noise with yet another upset finish at Chicagoland Speedway – driving to a top-five result to knock-out No. 16 seed, Austin Cindric, and advance to Round Three at EchoPark Speedway. Bowman’s history at the Georgia-based venue includes back-to-back top-five finishes in the track’s summer race, including a career-best third-place result that came one year ago. Joining in on the upset action was William Byron, who’s fourth-place finish was enough to defeat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, while Chase Elliott’s 11th-place finish topped Michael McDowell to advance. Among the eight drivers left in contention, Byron and Elliott are the only two-time EchoPark Speedway winners. |
 AUSTIN HILL: THE SUPERSPEEDWAY ACE Austin Hill has earned the honors as one of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series most decorated superspeedway racers. Currently competing in his fifth full-time campaign in the division, 11 of his 16 career victories have come on a drafting-style track – a record that surpasses NASCAR Hall of Famers, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Sr., as the series’ winningest speedway driver. A big part of that success has come at Hill’s home track of EchoPark Speedway. In six of his first seven career starts at the Georgia-based venue, Hill earned results no worse than second, including five trips to victory lane to make him the track’s winningest driver in the second-level series. |
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NOAPS/NCTS
Briscoe makes 200th Cup start … Sunday’s race at EchoPark Speedway marks the 200th in the Cup Series career of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR)’s Chase Briscoe, who comes off a victory at Chicagoland Speedway last weekend – his first triumph of 2026. To-date, the driver of the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for JGR has six career wins, 35 top-fives, 58 top-10s and nine career pole positions to his credit. This will also be his 12th career start at EchoPark Speedway on Sunday, returning off a runner-up finish in February, barely losing out to Tyler Reddick at the end.
Toyota continues recent success… Toyota drivers are on an incredible stretch of success. Including the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover in mid-May, Toyota drivers have won six of the last eight races. Toyota partner teams Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB have scored 20 of the last 24 top-three finishes, with podium sweeps at Dover, Nashville, Michigan and Chicago. Toyota also had seven Camrys finish in the top 10 at Chicago, the most Toyotas in the top 10 in a single Cup Series race in NASCAR history.
Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell advance in In-Season Challenge … After the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge at Chicagoland Speedway, three Toyota Camry XSE drivers have advanced to the quarterfinals this weekend at EchoPark Speedway. Denny Hamlin, the No. 2 overall seed, will take on his JGR teammate Christopher Bell, while Briscoe goes up against Chase Elliott.
Reddick eyes Atlanta sweep … A part of the historic start to the 2026 Cup Series season for Reddick was his thrilling victory at EchoPark Speedway back in February, which marked his second victory in the first two races after also winning the Daytona 500. This weekend, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing looks for a season sweep at the 1.540-mile Georgia track, which would be his sixth win of the season. Reddick has garnered plenty of success in Atlanta as of late, with top-10s in three of the last four races and top-fives in the last two.
Jones looks for repeat win … Brandon Jones arrives to EchoPark Speedway this weekend in search of a second consecutive victory after his triumph at Chicagoland Speedway last Saturday. The win was Jones’ eighth career win in the O’Reilly Series and first of 2026. This weekend is Jones’ 17th start at his home track, where the Atlanta native finished 10th in the first race at the oval in February.
Crews remains strong … A fourth-place result last weekend in Chicagoland gave Brent Crews his eighth top-five and 11th top-10 finish in his rookie season in the O’Reilly Series, along with a fourth top-five in the last five races. The 18-year-old makes his debut at EchoPark Speedway this weekend in only his second drafting track race in the series, to which he finished second in his drafting track debut at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
| BLANEY EXTENDS PERSONAL BESTTOP-10 STREAKRyan Blaney has been a model of consistency this season and he provided further proof of that over the weekend as his seventh-place run at Chicagoland Speedway marked his seventh straight Top-10 finish. That is a personal best for Blaney, who leads all NASCAR Cup Series drivers with 14 Top-10s in 19 starts this season. He is currently third in the overall point standings and goes into this weekend’s race at EchoPark Speedway having finished 10th or better in seven of the last eight events. |
 CINDRIC FLYING UNDER THE RADAR Austin Cindric finds himself in Chase contention as he sits 15th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings with seven races remaining in the regular season. Cindric has finished 15th or better in four of the last five races and is coming off a 13th-place run at Chicagoland Speedway in which he led 18 laps. Cindric, who has qualified for the postseason in three of his four full-time seasons, is 27 points above the cut line. He’s led at least five laps in each of the last eight Cup events at EchoPark Speedway, including a race-high 92 in the 2024 fall event where he finished 10th. |
 SITTING ON 749The next Ford win will be its 750th all-time in NASCAR’s top series. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s win leader with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Shirtless Jimmy Florian scored the Blue Oval’s first series victory when he upset the likes of Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly at Dayton Speedway on June 25, 1950. Florian earned his nickname after getting out of his 1950 flathead Ford without a shirt. Overall, 91 drivers have won at least one series race with Ford, including notable drivers Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt |
