NASCAR Live-Race Updates: Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway
Welcome to the Racing America On SI Live Race Updates page for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.
Be sure to refresh this post throughout Saturday night's event as the Live Race Updates story will be updated regularly with the biggest moments from the 400-mile race around the 1.54-mile drafting track, including lead changes, crash replays, the winner of the race, finishing results, and In-Season Tournament updates.
Final Stage Updates
CHECKERED FLAG: CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT ATLANTA
Chase Elliott made a thrilling last-lap pass on Brad Keselowski heading into Turns 1 and 2, and he was able to clear Keselowski for the race lead. Elliott was able to manage Keselowski behind him for the final half of the last lap of the race to snap a 43-race winless skid.
Click here to read the race recap.
Quaker State 400 Race Results
Pos | Car | Driver | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 260 | -- |
2 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 260 | 0.168 |
3 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 260 | 0.170 |
4 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 260 | 0.438 |
5 | 43 | Erik Jones | 260 | 0.523 |
6 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 260 | 0.579 |
7 | 38 | Zane Smith | 260 | 0.842 |
8 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 260 | 1.032 |
9 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 260 | 1.051 |
10 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 260 | 1.549 |
Click here for the full race results.
Lap 255: The Fight Is On!
Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse and several others are in position to fight for this victory.
Lap 248: STENHOUSE!
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got possibly the biggest run of the night, and he has now climbed from 21st to 2nd. However, Stenhouse is unable to keep Bowman behind him, and now Stenhouse has fallen to fourth.
Lap 246: Zane Smith Back to the Front
Zane Smith times a perfect run and he goes by Brad Keselowski for the race lead. Alex Bowman also gets around Keselowski for second, and now Bowman is working on the lead. However, a side-draft from Smith looks to have held Bowman off.
Lap 243: Bowman and Keselowski Dueling for the Lead
Back and forth, Alex Bowman and Brad Keselowski are exchanging the lead left and right. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has moved from 21st on the restart to 8th.
Lap 237: Zane Smith to the Lead!
Zane Smith worked into the runner-up spot, but then made a great move on Brad Keselowski for the race lead. It's short-lived as Keselowski gets back by a lap later. Now, Tyler Reddick is trying to get by Keselowski for the lead.
Reddick's run runs out of steam as Keselowski has all of the help. Reddick drops to eighth.
Lap 232: Back to Green!
Brad Keselowski was able to hold Chase Elliott, who had a great run on the restart, at bay for the lead with help from his teammate Chris Buescher.
Stenhouse had an issue choosing coming to the green flag, and had to restart from 21st place.
Lap 231: Stenhouse Wins Race Off Pit Road; Top Six Stay Out
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race off pit road under this cautuon, but the top-nine drivers stayed out so he will restart 10th. Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott will start from the front row.
Lap 226: Ty Dillon Spins Haley
Ty Dillon got loose in Turn 2, and collided wth Justin Haley, which sent Haley spinning to the inside of the track. Haley would barely graze the inside wall, and is now limping around on flat right side tires.
Lap 220: Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick Make Contact Battling for Second
Chase Elliott had an incredible run coming off of Turn 4, and he made a move to get between RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher to move into second, however, Buescher made contact with the side of Elliott's car in the dog leg which allowed Buescher to hang onto second. But a couple of laps later, Elliott has another big run on the outside and he's battling for the lead.
Lap 209: RFK Racing Duo Get Past Elliott
Brad Keselowski is back out front, and he gets there with his teammate Chris Buescher tucked in behind him in second. Chase Elliott has been shuffled back to third.
Lap 208: Back to Green!
Chase Elliott leads the field to green, and he pulls out front by himself with Brad Keselowski drafting behind him. Alex Bowman makes an aggressive move to the inside in an effort to pass Ty Gibbs. He gets by Gibbs, but the move stalls both out. Bowman now 6th, Gibbs is 7th.
Lap 204: Caution Again
David Starr has sun on the frontstretch, and we're back under caution.
Lap 201: Back to Green!
Chase Elliott leads the field back to green, but he is in a battle with Brad Keselowski, who takes the lead on Lap 202. However, Elliott snatches the lead right back on Lap 203.
Lap 195: Back Under Caution
Erik Jones lost control of his No. 43 Toyota, and spun out, but was able to not get hit by anyone and didn't hit anything else. But we're back under caution.
Lap 191: Back to Green!
We're back to green, and Ryan Preece works his way past Ty Gibbs and is now the race leader.
Lap 188: Top-Five Cars Stay Out
Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, Ryan Preece, and Connor Zilisch didn't pit under this caution and will restart as the top-five cars in the running order. Chris Buescher will be the first car that pitted in seventh, while Brad Keselowski, CHase Elliott, and Alex Bowman will round out the top-10.
Tyler Reddick was hit with a pit road penalty and will start from the rear.
Lap 186 Running Order
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Alex Bowman
3. Tyler Reddick
4. Chase Elliott
5. Justin Haley
6. Chris Buescher
7. Erik Jones
8. Ty Gibbs
9. Ty Dillon
10. Zane Smith
Lap 185: Back Under Caution
Bubba Wallace lost control of his No. 23 machine on the exit of Turn 2, he spun to the inside of the track, and barely hit the inside wall at the end of his slide.
Lap 184: Keselowski to the Lead
Utilizing a shove from Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski scooted around Alex Bowman for the race lead on Lap 184. Keselowski would then pull up in front of Bowman.
Lap 181: Back to Green!
Alex Bowman leads the field to green, and he has his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott battling him hard for the lead. Bowman leads the lap, and Brad Keselowski emerges in P2 all of a sudden. Elliott lost momentum on the low side of the track.
Lap 175: Under Caution
Shane van Gisbergen lost control of his No. 88 Trackhouse Chevrolet on the frontstretch after contact from another car, but was able to save the car through the infield grass. The incident was enough for NASCAR to throw the caution.
Lap 174: Alex Bowman to the Lead
As Chase Elliott was busy fending Chris Buescher off from behind him, Alex Bowman got out to the race lead. Bowman is in the front row of the field by himself.
Lap 169: Back to Green!
Chase Elliott leads the field back to the green flag after Tyler Reddick lost some spots on pit road. Elliott has control of this race, currently.
Stage 2 Updates
Wow, after a thrilling battle in the closing laps of Stage 2, Tyler Reddick took the Stage 2 win over Chase Elliott in a photo finish. According to timing and scoring it was a 0.000-second margin of victory.
It's @TylerReddick ... by 0.001 seconds to take Stage 2! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/cEqIHe3dtT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 29, 2025
NASCAR looked over the finish again to make sure Reddick indeed won the Stage, and he did... barely.
Unreal. https://t.co/utBcJubWJK pic.twitter.com/Yw8YfeB6Ei
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 29, 2025
Stage 2 Results
Fin | Car | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 10 | 1 |
2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 9 | -- |
3 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 8 | -- |
4 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 7 | -- |
5 | 43 | Erik Jones | 6 | -- |
6 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 5 | -- |
7 | 88 | Shane van Gisbergen # | 4 | -- |
8 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | 3 | -- |
9 | 38 | Zane Smith | 2 | -- |
10 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 1 | -- |
Lap 155: Elliott, Reddick Trading Off Lead
With five laps left in Stage 2, it looked like Tyler Reddick had taken control of the race, but in Turns 3 and 4, Elliott slingshot right back by Reddick.
They trade the lead again in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 156, and again in Turns 3 and 4, and Chris Buescher right behind them made an incredible save.
Lap 147: Chase Elliott Takes Lead From Bowman
Chase Elliott has positioned himself to potentially take the Stage 2 win as he got around his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman for the lead on Lap 147. As Elliott got around him, Bowman got shuffled back by Chris Buescher. Bowman is now fifth.
Lap 137: Elliott Makes Aggressive Move to go to P2
Chase Elliott was sitting behind Zane Smith while Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher were trading the lead. Elliott got tired of being back there, knifed to the inside of Smith and rocketed to the second spot. Now, Alex Bowman has gotten back by Elliott for the runner-up spot, and Bowman is challenging Buescher for the lead once again.
Lap 133: Zilisch Hanging Near the Front
Connor Zilisch in just his third NASCAR Cup Series start, sits 11th. Zilisch has indicated that he has aspirations of becoming the youngest ever NASCAR Cup Series race winner. At 18 years old, he could accomplish that feat tonight.
Lap 124: Bowman Prevails in Battle with Buescher
After a battle with Chris Buescher over a couple of laps, Alex Bowman reclaimed the lead on Lap 124.
Lap 120: Bowman Leads
Alex Bowman has prevailed in the battle with Reddick and is now leading this race.
Lap 118: Back to Green
We're back to green, and Tyler Reddick has his hands full with Alex Bowman in a battle for the lead. They are knifing high and low on each other and trading the lead every set of turns.
Lap 110: Herbst Spins; Gilliland Pounds Into Him
Riley Herbst spun in Turn 4 on Lap 110 of the Quaker State 400 and as Herbst was skidding along the wall, Todd Gilliland slammed into his motionless No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota.
Lap 102: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in trouble
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided with Erik Jones in Turns 3 and 4, and has a bent toe link, it appears. He'll have to come to pit road for repairs.
Lap 92: Ty Gibbs Back to the Front After Changing the Lead with Herbst, Reddick, and Buescher
There was a bit of a game of hot potato for the lead, but after Riley Herbst, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher had brief turns in the lead, Ty Gibbs has retaken the lead as things are single-file up front now.
Lap 77: Back to Green
We're back to green, and Ty Gibbs has taken the lead of this race.
Back to Green and THE BIG ONE Brings Out Caution
Chase Elliott leads the field back to green to start Stage 2, and he outpowers Chris buescher to take the lead by himself. But here is a BIG ONE down the backstretch. We have a bracket buster for sure.
Denny Hamlin has a lot of damage. Noah Gragson got spun into the inside wall. All sorts of other cars piled in. A massive crash.
Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, WIlliam Byron, Carson Hocevar, and more were involved in that melee. Hamlin is stuck on the track with flat tires.
So... did your In-Season Tournament bracket pick make it through this one?!?! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/EItux09OKh
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 29, 2025
Officially, Josh Berry, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, William Byron, Austin Cindric, and Corey LaJoie dropped out of the race due to this latest crash. Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin are still in the garage attempting to repair their cars.
It’s crazy to see some of the fastest cars we saw in this race back in the garage looking like Lego structures that have been kicked apart by an eight year old. pic.twitter.com/F8COcrbQaT
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 29, 2025
Stage 1 Updates
Austin Cindric Wins Stage 1
The Christopher Bell crash has concluded Stage 1. Austin Cindric was the leader at the time of caution and took the Stage 1 win.
Stage 1 Results
Fin | Car | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Austin Cindric | 10 | 1 |
2 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 9 | -- |
3 | 22 | Joey Logano | 8 | -- |
4 | 24 | William Byron | 7 | -- |
5 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 6 | -- |
6 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 5 | -- |
7 | 21 | Josh Berry | 4 | -- |
8 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 3 | -- |
9 | 88 | Shane van Gisbergen # | 2 | -- |
10 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 1 | -- |
Lap 57: Bell Spins in Front of Field; Blaney and Others Also Crash
Ryan Blaney looks to be done for the day after going hard into the outside wall following a spin by Christopher Bell in front of the majority of the pack on Lap 57 of Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.
This will likely end Blaney's bid to win the $1 million In-Season Tournament as his car took severe damage, and he seems done for the night.
A problem for Christopher Bell turned into a big problem for others. Ryan Blaney's bid to win, and advance in the In-Season Tournament is done thanks to this incident, which ended Stage 1 of the Quaker State 400. pic.twitter.com/7fcxxXj44D
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 29, 2025
Bubba Wallace lost a lap on pit road receiving repairs. Connor Zilisch, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, were also among those involved in the Bell crash.
Lap 55: Cindric Takes Lead Back
Austin Cindric has taken the lead back and he has cleared Logano on Lap 55. There are some three-wide battles behind Cindric and Logano, and now Logano finds himself in the middle of a threee-wide battle.
Brad Keselowski is on the outside pressuring Cindric for the lead.
Lap 52: Logano and Cindric Trading Lead in Side-by-Side Battle
Joey Logano and Austin Cindric have been trading the lead back and forth as they surge slightly ahead of each other in a side-by-side battle for the lead. Logano was credited as the leader of Lap 52.
Lap 48: Back to Green!
Jory Logano, and Austin Cindric, who did not pit under this caution, lead the field to green. They are side-by-side up front, and Cindric looks to have a slight advantage going into Turns 3 and 4, and Cindric leads Lap 49. This is the first lead change of the race.
Lap 46: Close Calls on Pit Road
The fuel can and fueling area on Noah Gragson's No. 4 Ford caught fire as he was peeling out of his pit stall during his pit stop under this caution. Fortunately, the fire went out as he drove off pit road.
Christopher Bell also exited his pit stall wide, which forced Bubba Wallace to drive through the grass with his right side tires.
Lap 44: Bell Needs Push From Tow Truck
Christopher Bell was the lone driver who couldn't get his car to fire on pit road, but after a push from the tow truck, Bell was able to catch up to the field and take his position back.
8:09 PM ET: Engines Re-fired
Track drying efforts are nearly completed, and the drivers have been instructed to re-fire their engines.
Red Flag Thoughts
While Joey Logano has led every lap of this race, we've seen some good racing in the pack, and drivers throughout the field have complained about ill-handling cars with the aging track surface at EchoPark Speedway. Handling will be at a premium tonight.
Chase Briscoe has had a rough start to the race and has dropped to 39th from the 10th starting spot. Briscoe has told his team it's like his right rear tire hasn't even been touching the track. A lot of bad balance issues are going on with the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota right now.
Lap 42: Cars Being Called to Pit Road
We're about to head to a red flag for rain as the drops continue to fall in Turns 1 and 2 and down the backstretch of the EchoPark Speedway. The NASCAR Tower is calling for drivers to park in the outside lane of pit road. Drivers are being told to stay in their cars as this is expected to be a brief delay.
Cars have been brought to pit road on Lap 43 due to weather.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2025
Drivers are currently remaining in their cars during this red-flag stoppage. pic.twitter.com/fDWabmByii
Lap 36: Caution No. 1
We're under caution for the first time in the Quaker State 400 on Lap 36. This caution is unfortunately for perecipitation. Right now, it looks like light sprinkles to light rain, but there are reports that drops are intensifying in Turns 1 and 2.
Lap 33: Keselowski Up to P2, and Pressuring Logano
Brad Keselowski has moved into the second position, and he is threatening to become the first leader of this race not named Joey Logano.
Lap 29: Byron Fights Back, Blasts Past Hocevar
William Byron was not happy with Carson Hocevar. he rebounded from being placed in the middle, and worked to the outside of the track, where he zoomed around Hocevar for the seventh position.
Lap 24: Six Chevrolets Lined Up Behind Six Fords Up Front
The Chevrolet camp has gotten their resources together and they have six cars lined up behind the top-six Fords. The Chevys, now led by William Byron are starting to make their move, but Hocevar cuts to the inside of Byron and goes three wide with Byron and Cindric. Yikes, that was sketchy, but they get through it. Hocevar has killed the Chevrolet momentum, and Byron is stuck in the middle.
Lap 22: Hocvear on the Move
Carson Hocevar has found a way through the pack as he has moved his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet from the 30th starting spot to seventh. Hocevar is now the highest-running non-Ford driver. Joey Logano continues to lead this race.
Lap 16: Hendrick Quartet Starting to Press Things
All four Hendrick Motorsports cars have gotten hooked up with Alex Bowman (8th) leading them. They are starting to try to pry some of the Ford contingent apart from each other. Logano still leads Berry, Blaney, Cindric, with Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece in front of the four Hendrick cars.
Lap 6: Blaney Clears Keselowski; All Penske Up Front
Ryan Blaney was able to clear Brad Keselowski, who had been hanging on his outside, and now it's all Team Penske up front. The top-four have broken into a single file line in front of the pack and are still led by Logano. It looks like Team Penske is doing its best impersonation of Stewart-Haas Racing at Talladega a few years ago.
Lap 4: Fords Dominating the Top-10
After a strong qualifying effort, the blue ovals hold the top eight spots in the running order on Lap 4. Joey Logano still leads. Kyle Larson is the first non-Ford in the running order in ninth.
Lap 1: Logano Gets a Good Surge
Joey Logano got a great push from Ryan Blaney to start the race, and he cleared Josh Berry in Turn 1. Coming off of Turn 1 on the opening lap, Logano goes to the outside lane in front of Berrt. All four Penske-affiliated cars are all now lined up bumper to tail on the bottom lane.
Brad Keselowski is leading the outside lane on the outside of Blaney.
7:22 PM ET Green Flag!
The green flag is waving on the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, GA. The front two rows leading the field are occupied by all of the Team Penske-affiliated cars. Joey Logano and Josh Berry lead the field into Turn 1.
Logano is in the inside line with Ryan Blaney behind him while Berry is up top with Austin Cindric behind him.
Pre-Race Updates
7:08 PM ET: Engines Are Fired
The engines have been fired, and we are ready to start pace laps for the Quaker State 400.
It's go time, baby!
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2025
Get to TNT, @truTV or @StreamOnMax for all the action from @EchoParkSpdwy! pic.twitter.com/tSbRCYetsy
7:02 PM ET: Inovcation, National Anthem, and Flyover
The invocation, National Anthem, and flyover ahead of Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway have been completed. The drivers are now sliding behind the wheel of their race cars, and we are approaching the command to fire engines.
A special Saturday night is on tap! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/6aQaHEiT8G
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2025
Drivers Introduced Along With Their Opponent in the NASCAR In-Season Tournament
Ahead of Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway, the 32 drivers taking part in the NASCAR In-Season Tournament were introduced on the frontstretch stage alongside their opponent in Round 1 of the tournament in a "fight weigh-in" style set up.
No drivers got more into the shtick than Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger, who had a tussle on the stage prior to stepping up on the scales.
Here was the "dust-up" in driver intros between McDowell and Allmendinger. pic.twitter.com/SvT56e0NOS
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 28, 2025
NASCAR Reveals Quaker State 400 Pre-Race Festivities Schedule
NASCAR has confirmed that as of now no cars will drop to the rear before the green flag of Saturday night's Quaker State 400.
The sanctioning body has also revealed the complete pre-race festivities schedulen and the approximate green flag time:
- 6:05 PM ET: Driver's Meeting
- 6:30 PM ET: Driver Introductions
- 7:00 PM ET: Invocation
- 7:01 PM ET: National Anthem
- 7:08 PM ET: Command to Start Engines
- 7:19 PM ET: Green Flag
6:01 PM ET: Lightning Hold Has Expired
The 30-minute clock has expired on the lightning hold at EchoPark Speedway. No additional lightning strikes have occurred in the vicinity of the 1.54-mile speedway in Hampton, GA, there has been no rain fall as of yet.
The situation at the track is very overcast skies, and the radar shows plenty of weather in and around the area. But as it stands, there is still no delay to Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.
Weather Rolling In; Track in Lightning Hold
Weather is building around EchoPark Speedway, and while no rain has hit the track just yet, lightning in the area has forced NASCAR and the track to evacuate the grandstands and pit road at the 1.54-mile speedway.
There is still over an hour before the scheduled start time of Saturday night's race, but there is a significant weather system building to the Northwest of the track, which has grown a lot in the last 30 minutes.
As of now, there is no delay to the start of the Quaker State 400. If the conditions change, we'll update you.
Bell Anxious Heading into Atlanta Race With Another New Spotter
Christopher Bell came out of the gates firing in 2025 as he scored three consecutive wins early in the season, and went on to win the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Strangely, Bell's longtime spotter Stevie Reeves quit the No. 20 team following the All-Star Race, which put Bell and his team in a bind.
Matt Philpott, a longtime crew member in the sport and relatively new spotter, stepped in to fill the void for Bell and the No. 20 team in the Coca-Cola 600. However, when HYAK Motorsports released veteran spotter Tab Boyd following a controversial social media post during the Mexico City race weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing saw an opportunity to add an experienced spotter for Bell's team.
However, with the latest spotter change, Bell will now need to build rapport at one of the most stressful tracks there are for driver/spotter combinations -- EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Needless to say, Bell is going into Saturday night's race expecting a struggle in the early portion of the race.
"Uh, yeah, it's going to be tough," Bell stated. "I've listened to Tab on our replay system, but aside from that, that's all we've got. It's going to be tough, for sure, getting acclimated at probably one of the most spotter-intense race tracks on the calendar, but Tab has a bunch of experience. So, we'll play it by ear. And definitely the first Stage or two is going to be a learning curve."
The Quaker State 400 Pre-Race Info
The Quaker State 400 will be televised on TNT, the first of five NASCAR Cup Series races to be covered by the cable television channel this season. The TNT Sports race broadcast will begin at 7:00 PM ET, and the five-race TNT schedule can also be streamed on the Max streaming service.
The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of Saturday's race. For subscribers of the Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today's race.
The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Saturday's race, is a total of $11,055,250.
The race distance is 260 laps around the 1.54-mile drafting track, which equates to a 400.4-mile race distance.
The Quaker State 400 will be broken up into three Stages. Stage 1 will end at the conclusion of Lap 60. Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 160. And the race is scheduled to finish at the end of Lap 260, barring an Overtime finish.
The winner of Stages 1 and 2 will be awarded one Playoff Point, and the overall race winner will be awarded five Playoff Points. The Playoff Points will be added to the reseeded point totals if the drivers make it into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and will be carried through each round of the Playoffs.
Joey Logano is the defending winner of this event, and Christopher Bell won the event at EchoPark Speedway earlier this season.
Joey Logano Takes Quaker State 400 Pole in First Tiebreaker Settled by a Tiebreaker Since 2007
Joey Logano, the defending winner of the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) will start the race from the pole position after he turned a lap time 30.979 seconds (178.960 mph) in Friday's qualifying session.
It took a tiebreaker for Logano to pick up his first pole of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season as Josh Berry, the driver of the Team Penske-affiliated No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse turned the exact same lap time.
All four of the Team Penske-affiliated cars will start from the top-four spots in Saturday night's race as Ryan Blaney secured the third starting spot and Austin Cindric will roll from the grid in fourth.
"Super proud of Team Penske, Roush-Yates, and Ford, obviously. To keep our Mustangs up there, really shows the ability to repeat from car to car," Logano said. "It's really hard to do. When you see we tied with the 21, and the other cars were all within a couple of hundredths of second. When you think of all of the parts and pieces in a race car and how you can put them together, to make them all end up the same like that is pretty impressive."
Quaker State 400 Starting Lineup
Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
2 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
4 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford |
5 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing | Ford |
6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford |
7 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | Ford |
8 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
9 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
10 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
Click here for the full official Quaker State 400 Starting Lineup.
Denny Hamlin Enters Atlanta as NASCAR In-Season Tournament No. 1 Seed
Despite missing the race at Mexico City (the second race of the three-race seeding period), Denny Hamlin will enter Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway as the No. 1 seed in the In-Season Tournament, which was based off of the Denny Hamlin bracket tournament that he created on his Actions Detrimental Podcast a season ago.
Seeding was determined by best race finish in the three-race period, and by way of his win at Michigan, Hamlin joined Chase Briscoe, who won at Pocono, as the only tournament-eligible drivers that won over the three race seeding period.
By way of a runner-up finish at Pocono, Hamlin won the tie-breaker over Briscoe to take the No. 1 seed.
In-Season Tournament Matchups
32 drivers will be paired off in groups of two (determined by the three-race tournament seeding period (Michigan, Mexico City, Pocono). The tournament will be a five-round head-to-head elimination style bracket tournament, where the top seed remaining will face off agains the lowest seed remaining each week.
The driver, who outlasts the 31 others in the bracket, will be awarded a $1 million bonus at the conclusion of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Here are all of the head-to-head matchups in Saturday night's race, which will serve as the opening round of NASCAR's inaugural In-Season Challenge.
- Denny Hamlin (1) vs Ty Dillon (32)
- Chase Briscoe (2) vs Noah Gragson (31)
- Chris Buescher (3) vs Todd Gilliland (30)
- Christopher Bell (4) vs Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (29)
- Chase Elliott (5) vs Austin Dillon (28)
- Ty Gibbs (6) vs Justin Haley (27)
- Ryan Blaney (7) vs Carson Hocevar (26)
- Alex Bowman (8) vs Joey Logano (25)
- Bubba Wallace (9) vs Daniel Suarez (24)
- Kyle Larson (10) vs Tyler Reddick (23)
- Michael McDowell (11) vs AJ Allmendinger (22)
- John Hunter Nemechek (12) vs Josh Berry (21)
- Ross Chastain (13) vs Erik Jones (20)
- Zane Smith (14) vs Austin Cindric (19)
- Ryan Preece (15) vs William Byron (18)
- Kyle Busch (16) vs Brad Keselowski (17)
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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