NASCAR Race 19 at Echo Park
By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Hampton, Ga. — Racing at Chicagoland Speedway had fireworks along the Windy City skyline, and they carried over to hot-tempered drivers being taken to the Echopark NASCAR hauler. This led to festering tempers, and plenty of them insulted each other at Echo Park Speedway. Zane Smith does not like Carson Hocevar and his fans. Hocevar thinks his feud with Smith is a joke. SVG has a lot to lose in his feud with Austin Hill, who is still looking for payback on the track. EPS will give you payback whether you intend to take matters into your own hands or are involved in multiple multicar accidents.
Ryan Blaney leads the field to the first stage green flag.
First Stage (Lap 1-60)
Ryan Blaney leads the first 60 laps of the race with the top six/seven going single file. Austin Cindric goes to third, giving Ford the top-three spots. Austin Hill is up 23 spots, Reddick 21. Keselowski is down 23 spots by lap 27. Blaney laps Keselowski and others by lap 40. Reddick dices through the field and moves to second hot on the trail of the #12. Larson is third with Logano and Cindric falling to 4-5. Reddick and Blaney duel for the lead on lap 58, with Blaney regaining the edge. Blaney leads all 60 laps in S1 with no cautions for cause.
As drivers pit between the stages, Reddick takes the lead, winning the race off pit road. Ford has six drivers among places 30th-38th.
Second Stage (Lap 61-160) Eight dead laps bring the field to green with Reddick-Larson-Blaney your top three. Hocevar with the slingshot on lap 70 going around three machines for third. Blaney to the lead on lap 72 with many of the leaders racing two-wide. Larson grabs the lead on lap 76 with Blaney and Reddick/Hocevar battling for third. Hocevar is your race leader with Larson/Blaney dueling for second.
Hocevar takes his #77 along the low-line lead, and Blaney is in tow, racing a higher line. Bubba Wallace has taken over second place as Blaney takes the lead. Hocevar sinks to 7th with Blaney leading 83 of 105 laps. Bell, Wallace, and Reddick are trading places for 2-4. Lightning is spotted off turn one on lap 107.Dale Jr. said Blaney is leading due to the combination of speed and mostly his handling. Tyler Reddick said that would happen in this race in our conversation last week. WATCH THAT VIDEO FROM CHICAGOLAND ON REDDICK’S TAKE OF ECHO PARK With lightning in the area and rain coming down sideways, the drivers park their cars with covers on.
After a rain delay of over three hours, the race resumes a few minutes before midnight.
Blaney starts with the lead and Bubba catches the 12 on lap 128. Blaney then goes right back on top. As the stage winds down, most of the field runs single file except to pass. Logano is on the rear bumper of Logano and with ten to go in S2, Wallace challenges Blaney with Hocevar battling Logano for third. Blaney, Logano, and Reddick are 1-2-3 in the Stage with Bubba getting loose on the frontstretch as S2 is complete.
Seven drivers are at least one lap down. Five Toyotas are in the top ten. There has been three cautions in the race. Twice for stage breaks and one for weather.
Final Stage (Lap 160-Finish)
The first two stages have been outstanding and the skill levels of the drivers have on display. With pit cycling, Gibbs, Cindric, and Buescher are your top three. With machines bunched up, drivers near the front are racing three wide behind the leaders. Bell has put pressure on Gibbs, with Hamlin in third. Erik Jones is a surprise in 5th onlap 190 and Connor Zillisch has sunk 17 spots in the final Stage. AJ Allmendinger gets loose on lap 193, sliding along the front stretch. Drivers pit on lap 196 with most of the leaders taking tires and fuel.
Following the Allmendinger caution, the green flag is waived on lap 200.Most of the field is two wide with Blaney cycling back to the lead Elliott goes by Blaney for the lead on lap 214 with Reddick and Wallace up front. Blaney wrestles the lead back. Many drivers are serious and are bunching up two-wide.Reddick drafts Reddick to the lead with Blaney going to third with 32 laps to go.
The caution flag waves as AJ Allmendinger hits the wall off Turn Four. At the same time, Bubba Wallace pushes Ryan Blaney up the track, causing Ryan Blaney to brush the wall. The green flag is waived with x to go and Wallace is the leader with Blaney – Reddick 2-3. The green flag is dropped on lap 237 with Blaney going up front and Hocevar making a late race appearance. After the flag, Hocevar goes out front with Bubba and Blaney 2-3. Blaney goes by Hocevar with ten to go. Bell rockets around Wallace and Hocevar and machines are now 2-3 wide up front. A big wreck in turn three takes out several cars bringing OT. Hocevar and Blaney are out front with Blaney taking the flag.
Checkered Flag
Ryan Blaney won for the second time this year and is the only driver with Ford with a trip to victory lane. Blaney leads 171 of 260 laps. RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Flash I.V. Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “It was definitely, honestly, a pretty awesome night. I mean, having a really fast car and sitting on the pole, winning both stages and leading a ton of laps and just in a position to win the race. You never know how these things are gonna end, honestly. There are a couple of things I probably could have done better, but we were able to stick around and just how the last couple laps played out we were able to get the lead back and just barely hold on. It’s a pretty cool day when you have weekends like that. You can’t ask for a better weekend – sit on the pole, sweeps the stages, win the race. That’s a dream weekend right there. These guys are great. They brought a rocket ship and it was nice that we were able to close it out.”
They Said It
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was a battle. We got some good stage points and then a top 10, so we got the points we need, which is very crucial right now, especially when you come to a track like this because you just don’t know what’s gonna happen. I wish I had something to go win with, but once we got back there I couldn’t get back to the front. That’s about as good as I could have done there.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/Heinz Ketchup/Artesano Brioche Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was a fight by everybody on this team to get back to 11th. We got up there and drove to the front through some good strategy, but ultimately had to keep working on it all night to even get to the point where we were able to be in the hunt for a top 10, but it was a tough night. I’m still trying to get a handle on this place. To be honest, I miss the old Atlanta, but I’m trying to get this one figured out.”
Tale of the Tape
Fantasy
Echo Park is considered a roll of the dice to some CUP drivers, but like any race, there are always a few that rise to the top. On my list of starters is Ryan Blaney, who has five starts left in this fantasy regular season. Good track record and he wins the pole. He starts. Qualifying poorly is recent winner Christopher Bell. He has been running well lately and if he stays out of the wrecks, he has a good chance to be there in the end. Elliott is also a recent winner and so are Logano and Suarez. Carson Hocevar is sneaky good at EPS. Suarez is likely to leave the bench to a driver involved in an early wreck.
Great night with Blaney winning and getting all four matchups right. Bell finishes second, Hocevar fourth and solid finishes from Elliott and Logano.
Factoids that may interest only me
Ford placed cars 1-4-5 and the fourth fastest Ford (Josh Berry) is all the way back in 20th place. Nine Toyota’s are in the Top 20.
FORD RACING POSTS 750TH ALL-TIME CUP WIN AS RYAN BLANEY DRIVES TO VICTORY IN QUAKER STATE 400
- Ryan Blaney won his second race of 2026 and the 19th Cup race of his career today.
- Today’s win is the 750th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- It also marks Team Penske’s 109th series win with Ford.
- Ned Jarrett is Ford’s all-time winningest driver with 43 NASCAR Cup Series victories.
- “Shirtless” Jimmy Florian captured Ford’s first Cup win on June 25, 1950 at Dayton Speedway.
- A total of 91 drivers have won at least one Cup race in a Ford.
What’s Next
Roy J. Akers covers NASCAR for www.skyviewsports.net and is the host of High Banked Fury the podcast. Subscribe to both, they are free, and Skyview Sports YouTube Channel has plenty of coverage and YouTube shorts.
