RYAN BLANEY PULLS OFF THRILLING NASCAR CUP SERIES VICTORY AT ATLANTA

Getty

In a race that did not finish until early hours of Monday morning, Ryan Blaney put on a dominating performance in the NASCAR Cup Series at EchoPark Speedway.

The driver of the No. 12 led a race-high 171 of 263 laps and outdueled Carson Hocevar on the final lap to win the Quaker State 400 at the EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Blaney secured his second win of 2026, 19th career victory, and first triumph at Atlanta.

Christopher Bell finished second, followed by Hocevar third, Ty Gibbs in fourth, and Erik Jones wound out the top five.

Bubba Wallace initially finished the race runner-up, but was penalized for advancing his position below the yellow line down the backstretch on the final lap. Because of this, Wallace finished 29th. 

Blaney passes Hocevar on the final lap to win Atlanta

with six laps remaining.   

A multi-car crash involving Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst, Austin Hill, and others set up an overtime restart.

Hocevar started up front for the restart and had his No. 77 machine in prime position to take the win as the field took the white flag.

The Spire Motorsports driver had built a gap on the rest of the field. However, a push from Wallace propelled Blaney past Hocevar. The two ran side-by-side, which then opened the door for Wallace to dive three-wide underneath.

With one final push from Bell up top, Blaney crossed the finish line first and scored the win.

The thrilling victory capped a dominant performance for the North Carolina native.

Rain delayed NASCAR’s finish by over three hours

Blaney started on the pole and led the field to the green flag. The 2023 Cup champion led all 60 laps of the opening stage en route to the victory. Tyler Reddick was second and Kyle Larson was third.

Blaney continued to lead for the bulk of the second stage, but swapped the lead with Kyle Larson. At the red flag on lap 108, Blaney was in command with Bubba Wallace second and Reddick third.

The rain delay lasted three hours and nine minutes as the cars did not get re-fired until just after 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. At 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, the race resumed on lap 123.

In the waning laps of the second stage, Blaney held off challenges from Wallace, Joey Logano, and Hocevar to complete the stage sweep. Reddick finished second in stage two, followed by Logano in third. 

Gibbs assumed the lead after a round of pit stops and was out front to start the final stage.

With just over 60 laps to go, A.J. Allmendinger’s single-car spin on the frontstretch brought out the fourth caution of the race.On the cycle of pit stops, Bell took over the lead, with Larson in second. 

The fifth caution came out with just under 30 laps remaining after Allmendinger slapped the outside retaining wall. 

With 23 laps to go, Wallace led the field back to green with Blaney alongside him. Blaney overtook Wallace and held the advantage with 19 laps remaining, when Larson spun through the infield grass and triggered the sixth caution.

With six races until The Chase, Denny Hamlin leads the points standings by 24 over Reddick.

- John Breeden

TYLER REDDICK WINS AT ATLANTA TO GIVE MICHAEL JORDAN SECOND STRAIGHT NASCAR VICTORY

 

Tyler Reddick rebounded from a crash to become the first driver in 17 years to sweep the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, winning in double overtime Sunday at Echo Park Speedway. David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

HAMPTON, Ga. — Whether on or off the racetrack, all Michael Jordan does is win in NASCAR.

For the second consecutive Sunday to open the season, the basketball great and co-owner of 23XI Racing celebrated in victory lane with driver Tyler Reddick. This time, after a thriller at Echo Park Speedway.

Jordan’s team now has the top two drivers in the Cup Series points standings with Reddick and Bubba Wallace. The six-time NBA champion already added a ring last week with Reddick in the Daytona 500, the crown jewel of stock-car racing.

Oh, and Jordan also settled a federal antitrust lawsuit with NASCAR in December, a major legal victory that secured a permanent franchise-style model and ensured his team would remain in business for the long-term.

“The guys worked hard all summer, and I know we had our little ordeal,” Jordan said after Reddick’s victory Sunday, referring to the bruising court battle that ended with him making peace with NASCAR CEO and chairman Jim France. “They kept working hard and this is the fruit of their labor. They put forth the effort, and for us to come out and win the first two races says a lot about our whole team.”

It especially says a lot about Reddick, who put on another dazzling performance the week after he became the fourth driver in history to win the Daytona 500 by leading only the final lap.

This time, he led a race-high 53 laps on the 1.54-mile oval south of Atlanta – including the final two in a double-overtime restart. He snatched the lead from Wallace despite the right-front fender of his No. 45 Toyota being damaged in a nine-car crash on the 224th of a scheduled 260 laps. Reddick fell two laps down for repairs but came roaring back from 27th for his 10th career victory.

“I mean, that’s crazy, ain’t it?” said Reddick, who became the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two NASCAR Cup Series races of the season. “I just found a way to get back in the top five, and I tried to stay committed to somebody.”

He got a helpful push from runner-up Chase Briscoe. Ross Chastain finished third, followed by the Spire Motorsports tandem of Carson Hocevar (who triggered a large crash in the first overtime) and Daniel Suarez.

“Tyler had like another gear,” Chastain said. “(He had) no fender, and he pulled us so fast.”

In a race that featured a track-record 57 lead changes, Wallace was first entering the final restart but shuffled to eighth. He still gained the second-most points (48) by winning the second stage and leading 46 laps.

“Tyler did an unbelievable job,” Jordan said. “I feel bad for Bubba because he had an unbelievable day. But Tyler drove his ass off. I’m very happy for Tyler. I’m very happy for 23XI.”

Green turns to yellow

Austin Cindric took advantage of a stretch of 61 green-flag laps to open the race, winning the first stage after starting 30th.

It was the second consecutive year that the first stage in the February race was completed without a yellow flag – an oddity for a track known for chaos since its 2022 reconfiguration into a high-banked drafting oval.

The cautions quickly picked up pace in the second stage with three yellow flags in 40 laps that collected 16 cars and eliminated notable drivers Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch. The 160-lap middle segment ended under another yellow when defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson slammed the outside wall after a collision with Shane van Gisbergen.

No Las Vegas love lost

Busch was perturbed after his No. 8 Chevrolet “got rammed” exiting Turn 2 by the No. 4 Ford of Noah Gragson on the 125th lap.

Though both drivers hail from Las Vegas, Nevada, the 40-year-old Busch felt little kinship in taking issue with the aggressive style of Gragson, who is 13 years younger.

“He didn’t give me an opportunity to make sure I was straight before hitting me or get into me gently to try and get the momentum back,” said Busch, who finished 33rd. “He just drove right through me.”

Up next

The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Circuit of the Americas, the first road course of the 2026 season, on Sunday, March 1. Christopher Bell outdueled Kyle Busch and William Byron to win at the Austin, Texas, track last year.

- Associated Press

BUBBA WALLACE EMOTIONAL INTERVIEW AFTER WINNING BRICKYARD 400 AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FINAL LAPS: BUBBA WALLACE WINS BRICKYARD 400 AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

 

WILLIAM BYRON WINS DAYTONA 500 UNDER CAUTION

USA TODAY Sports 

The perfect script played out for Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 66th Daytona 500 on Monday.

Race leader William Byron finished a four-lap shootout under caution in a Presidents' Day Daytona 500 delayed a day because of rain, making him the winner of the Great American Race in Daytona Beach, Fla.

As the late-afternoon start turned into night at the historic Daytona International Speedway and with the white flag approaching, Ross Chastain made a move into the middle lane and wrecked with second-place Austin Cindric.

That gave Byron his first Daytona 500 win and 11th of his career in the series.

Byron's teammate Alex Bowman finished second, giving Hendrick Motorsports its ninth 500 win, tying the organization for first all-time with Petty Enterprises, and a 1-2 finish in its 40th anniversary season in NASCAR. Monday marked the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports' first Cup Series start, which came in the Daytona 500.

MICHAEL JORDAN REACTS TO BUBBA WALLACE MAKING HISTORY