Quaker State 400: Ryan Blaney dominates, wins at EchoPark Speedway

HAMPTON, Ga. — Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney dominated the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, taking a thrilling victory in a NASCAR Overtime finish just before 2 a.m. ET in Georgia.

A three-hour and nine-minute-long red flag due to lightning and rain pushed the race into the early hours of Monday morning, but that did not stop Blaney from controlling the race.

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion swept both stages and led 171 of 263 laps, which was the most laps led in the modern era on a superspeedway and the most on a drafting-style track since Richard Petty in the 1964 Daytona 500, according to NASCAR Insights.

“It was definitely, honestly, a pretty awesome night,” Blaney said. “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.”

Bubba Wallace crossed the line as the second-place finisher, but was penalized for going under the yellow line and “gaining a position.” At this moment, it is unclear if Wallace and 23XI Racing will appeal or be allowed to appeal the penalty, but Wallace and the No. 23 team made their case post-race in a conversation with NASCAR officials that lasted over 30 minutes.

After Wallace’s penalty, Christopher Bell was credited with a runner-up finish, his fifth of the 2026 season and his second in a row. Bell, who has won at EchoPark before, used fresh tires to climb through the field toward the end to finish second.

“It was a pretty good finish for us,” Bell said. “I just felt like I didn’t quite have the speed to be up there with Ryan (Blaney). I could be up there in second or third, but it seemed like a couple of guys with faster cars could always get by me. Great finish with our Rheem Camry.”

Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar led 25 of 263 laps and was in prime position to win coming to the final lap. Hocevar had a relatively clean race and wound up third.

“It was fun,” Hocevar said. “I’m happy for Ryan (Blaney, race winner). I just didn’t quite have enough help there at the end, unfortunately. Once I got a big lead, I needed them to stay three-wide and I think I would have just ran away. But they got cleared and it was just too big of a run to throw a block. We got three-wide there and I just needed a little help. Our No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet team had a lot of fun. We were able to execute at a high level all night.”

Results from the 2026 Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at EchoPark Speedway are listed below:

Other Race Facts

According to Daniel Céspedes, Ryan Blaney joined Chase Elliott as the only drivers to start on pole, lead the most laps, sweep the stages and win the race on a drafting-style track. Elliott did it at EchoPark Speedway in 2022.

Blaney’s win was also Ford’s 750th in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Erik Jones and Shane van Gisbergen had respectful days, as Jones wound up in fifth and van Gisbergen ended up sixth. Both drivers currently remain above The Chase cutline.

Ty Gibbs finished fourth and led 32 of 263 laps, marking his best finish at the 1.54-mile Georgia track in his eight races.

“Wild long night sums it up honestly,” Gibbs said. “Glad that we could get this No. 54 Monster Energy Camry in contention there at the end, trying to help my teammate out (Christopher) Bell and that was pretty fun. Going to move on to next week and looking forward to it. Thank you to Monster Energy, thank you to SAIA, Oakley and everyone who helps us out. Had a lot of fun there, and let’s move on.”

In-Season Challenge Updates

Year 2 of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge heads into the final two rounds after Round 3 at EchoPark Speedway.

Todd Gilliland (No. 25 seed) beat Alex Bowman (No. 32 seed), Chase Elliott (No. 4 seed) beat Chase Briscoe (No. 12 seed), Christopher Bell (No. 10 seed) beat Denny Hamlin (No. 2 seed) and Ryan Blaney (No. 3 seed) beat William Byron (No. 11 seed).

Gilliland will face off against Elliott, while Bell will go head-to-head with Blaney in the semifinals at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

GRID RANKING

The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system, which was initially released on Sunday, April 5.

The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
Tyler Reddick	15.66	3rd	8th	15.17	4th
Denny Hamlin	14.88	5th	12th	14.13	5th
Ty Gibbs	9.74	22nd	4th	10.14	19th
Christopher Bell	N/A	N/A	2nd	9.84	21st
Ryan Blaney	N/A	N/A	1st	9.47	25th

Week 15 of the GRID Ranking:

Week 15 of the NASCAR GRID Rating saw Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney jump back into the GRID Ranking, while Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe fell out after they both were involved in incidents.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, July 19. Coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET on TNT Sports.

 

GRID Network