In the final laps of a wild, action-packed NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge opener at EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway), Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott made a late-race pass on RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski to win the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart.
The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet picked up his first victory of the 2025 Cup Series season to snap a 44-race winless streak in his second win at his home track in Georgia.
Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10.
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On Lap 70, the red flag arrived after a huge multicar wreck involving 19 cars. Early in Stage 2, Denny Hamlin got turned around in front of the field on the backstretch in an incident that busted many In-Season Challenge brackets.
Hamlin entered the race as the No. 1 seed in the In-Season Challenge. With Hamlin finishing 31st, his opponent, No. 32 seed Ty Dillon, pulled off a big upset to advance to Round 2 in Chicago after finishing eighth in his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney were taken out of contention in the closing laps of Stage 1. When the pack was coming to three laps to go in the first stage, Bell and Kyle Larson made contact, sending the No. 20 Toyota around for a spin into the path of Bubba Wallace, who hit Bell to cause damage to both cars.
Blaney’s night ended early with a 40th-place finish after completing 56 laps when Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet spun down the track into the No. 12 Ford’s right rear, which ultimately put the Team Penske driver hard into the outside wall in Turn 4.
After spending time in the garage for repairs, Bell returned to the race to gain a few positions before officially retiring from the race in 30th place. Wallace was able to continue but had a late-race spin off Turn 2 into the inside wall on the backstretch. The 23XI Racing driver finished 22nd.
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The Cup Series returns to action next Sunday for the Grant Park 165 in the “Windy City,” with drivers set to tackle the twists and turns of the Chicago Street Course (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
This story will be updated.
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