Chase Elliott gets NASCAR Cup playoff berth with EchoPark Atlanta win

HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Elliott virtually locked himself into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with a thrilling win at EchoPark Speedway Atlanta.

Elliott made a bold move on Brad Keselowski going into turn one after Alex Bowman gave him the perfect push as they took the white flag. Keselowski tried to rally back but Bowman put up too much of a fight, letting Elliott get away and win.

“Unbelievable. How about that? I’ve never in my life. That was unbelievable. What a special car,” Elliott said. “To benefit the children’s hospital in Atlanta, Rhealynn designed a fast hot rod… I think all the cards fell right. It was a crazy race. I don’t know what you thought but it was wild from my seat.”

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 260): Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar.

Connor Zilisch finished 11th and secured his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. Cody Ware and BJ McLeod finished 13th and 16th, respectively, for their best finishes of the season.

Elliott had a strong car all night, earning a stage point in the first stage.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 60): Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Elliott.

Elliott jumped to the lead to start the second stage — right as a big wreck broke out and set up the right opportunity for a new winner, as only two winners in 2025 left in the race.

Tyler Reddick beat Chase Elliott in a thrilling photo finish to the second stage.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 160): Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Ty Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski.

Elliott led nine times for 41 laps, including the final lap.

Elliott is above the cutline on points so the NASCAR Cup Series playoff cutline didn’t move. Here is what the cutline looks like after EchoPark Atlanta:

• Tyler Reddick +128
• Chris Buescher +52
• Alex Bowman +39
• Bubba Wallace +23
• Ryan Preece -23
• Erik Jones -49
• AJ Allmendinger -59
• Carson Hocevar -62

Below is the live race updates archive on the NASCAR Cup Series’ Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway Atlanta.

FINAL STAGE

LAP 255: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads after a bold three-wide move. Brad Keselowski goes to the lead but it is anyone’s race.

LAP 250: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. makes a bold move to get to second but Alex Bowman takes it back and comes for Zane Smith, clears him, for the lead.

lap 247: Carson Hocevar is back baby! Baby back baby back Hocevar is back up in the top-5 with a severely-damaged car as Zane Smith takes the lead back. Alex Bowman now challenges Brad Keselowski and gets a push from teammate Chase Elliott.

LAP 245: Alex Bowman takes the lead from Brad Keselowski as the intensity ratchets up. Keselowski is racing hard to fight Bowman back, a push from Zane Smith — also a Ford — gets him the lead back.

LAP 242: Chris Buescher is back to fifth and broken up from teammate Brad Keselowski, who is under fire from Alex Bowman for the lead.

LAP 238: Zane Smith to the lead over Brad Keselowski. Big move, Keselowski responds and takes it back.

LAP 236: Tyler Reddick is up to fifth after restarting in the rear of the field with a penalty. Zane Smith is in the picture and breaks up the RFK Racing car

LAP 230: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, AJ Allmendinger, BJ McLeod, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell pit. Top-9 stayed out: Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Cole Custer. Stenhouse is 10th. Reddick and Hocevar got penalties.

LAP 229: Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick are the only drivers who haven’t been in a wreck.

LAP 228: Ty Dillon got tight off of turn two and got into Justin Haley. Haley spun after running for the lead just a couple of laps before.

LAP 226: The RFK Racing cars are hooked up again but the Chevrolet drivers of Chase Elliott and Justin Haley are rallying on the outside.

LAP 222: A lap after Chase Elliott made a bold move on RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, Elliott finally passed Buescher for second and broke up the RFK cars. Now Elliott goes for the lead but Buescher is rallying to give him help two laps later, lap 224.

LAP 219: Ty Gibbs goes three-wide and gets by Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. Tyler Reddick goes to third over Justin Haley. Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher have a stranglehold on the front of the field.

LAP 216: Chase Elliott breaks up the RFK Racing duo briefly but Chris Buescher rebounds to second. Justin Haley is up to fifth after pitting for tires.

LAP 211: Brad Keselowski goes to the lead with Chris Buescher pushing on the bottom. Alex Bowman is third in that lane as teammate Chase Elliott leads the outside with Tyler Reddick pushing him. Bowman now jumps up high and gets by Reddick to slot in behind his teammate, Elliott. Now Reddick gets Bowman back as Bowman slides backward.

LAP 207: Chase Elliott leads Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar and Cody Ware.

LAP 204: David Starr has spun in the dogleg and stopped at the end of pit road. Starr is 26th, 20 laps down, ahead of John Hunter Nemechek who was in contention earlier in the race before an incident with Shane van Gisbergen. Caution flies again.

LAP 201: Green flag flies with Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Zane Smith and Cody Ware in the top-10. Ty Dillon, Justin Haley, Kyle Busch and BJ McLeod pitted.

LAP 196: Chase Elliott takes the lead as Erik Jones spins in turn three. Remarkably, no one hit him. Caution flies. Fuel mileage is out of thae question. Everyone can make it on fuel.

LAP 193: RYAN PREECE. He takes the lead from Ty Gibbs with 68 laps to go.

LAP 188: Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Ryan Preece and Connor Zilisch stayed out while everyone else pitted. Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman lead the group that pitted. Tyler Reddick went to the rear with a penalty.

Shane van Gisbergen is three laps down while Kyle Larson is 15th, meaning we are likely getting a new winner in this race.

LAP 185: Bubba Wallace spins and smacks the inside wall on the backstretch. Brad Keselowski took the lead before that happened.

LAP 182: Green flag flies with Alex Bowman taking the lead and teammate Chase Elliott pushing him. Elliott pushes him far out and pulls out to pass. They race side-by-side.

LAP 177: Shane van Gisbergen spins in the dogleg and brings out the caution. Everyone pits on lap 179, except for Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.

LAP 169: Green flag with Chase Elliott leading Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski.

STAGE TWO WINNER: Tyler Reddick

0.001 second. That was the margin of victory in stage two for Tyler Reddick over Chase Elliott in a wild finish to the stage.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 160): Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, TY Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski

LAP 158: Tyler Reddick takes the lead from Chase Elliott with a big run. Two to go in the stage.

LAP 156: Chris Buescher saves it! John Hunter Nemechek got into his left-rear quarter panel and had him sideways while racing for third. They keep going.

LAP 147: The jostling continues with Chase Elliott taking the lead from teammate Alex Bowman. Bowman drops back to fifth as Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher are all over Elliott for the lead. Ty Gibbs gets tight further back.

LAP 123: Alex Bowman is now battling Chris Buescher for the lead. TNT reports Bowman has had pain on the side of his body from his back down his leg after his crash at Michigan earlier this month.

LAP 120: Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick are trading the lead back and forth.

LAP 115: Ty Gibbs lost a lot of ground on pit road. Tyler Reddick emerged with the lead.

CAUTION, LAP 111: Riley Herbst has crashed and collected Todd Gilliland. Everyone can make it to the end of stage on fuel from here. Carson Hocevar is now back on the lead lap after almost unlapping himself.

TOP-10: Gibbs, Buescher, Reddick, Elliott, Bowman, Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Haley, John Hunter Nemechek, Keselowski.

LAP 104: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets into Erik Jones in the middle of turns three and four and hits the wall. Stenhouse has a bent toe link now.

LAP 93: Ty Gibbs goes back to the lead. He and Chris Buescher are trading the lead with Tyler Reddick in tow.

Connor Zilisch runs 10th in just his third career start.

LAP 91: Only two winners this season are running on the lead lap — Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson. The chance of this race producing a new winner this season is 92% with 25 lead-lap cars.

LAP 86: Riley Herbst goes to the lead over Ty Gibbs. Tyler Reddick takes it two laps later.

LAP 82: Ty Gibbs goes to the lead ahead of Chris Buescher. Chase Elliott is up to the top-5. Tyler Reddick is up to third after a pit road penalty.

TOP-10, LAP 76 RESTART: Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Zane Smith, Todd Gilliland, Connor Zilisch, Austin Dillon.

A huge incident involving many drivers entering Turn 3! pic.twitter.com/SUqVofDprQ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 29, 2025

The big one has struck! Seeing Austin Cindric, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Cody Ware, Connor Zilisch, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Riley Herbst, Erik Jones, BJ McLeod involved in the wreck on lap 70.

Chastain, Logano, Byron, Hamlin, Cindric, Suarez, Briscoe, Berry and LaJoie are in the garage getting repairs. Wallace, McDowell and Hocevar are off of the lead lap after getting damage.

LAP 68: Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland stayed out and now comprise the top-nine spots. Shane van Gisbergen, who came off pit road first, is 10th. Stage one winner Austin Cindric is outside of the top-15.

The second stage is 100 laps and will end on lap 160. Ryan Blaney won’t contest the stage win after crashing at the end of the first stage.

“I couldn’t see much. I tried to get to the apron and by the time I got there, I was blocked. Story of my year, get caught up in someone’s garbage. Whenever we get something going, we have something like that happen. That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Blaney said after his sixth DNF of the 2025 season.

STAGE ONE WINNER: Austin Cindric

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 60): Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Elliott. Cindric took the lead on lap 49 and led three times for eight laps at the end of the stage to claim the 10 bonus points and a playoff point.

LAP 57: Brad Keselowski goes for the lead and takes it briefly but Austin Cindric gets out in front as Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon crash in turn four. A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Larson and Connor Zilisch also got in the crash. Blaney is likely done for the day after a hard hit.

LAP 49: Austin Cindric takes the lead from Joey Logano to take the lead away from him for the first time all day. Logano led the first 48 laps. Cindric leads for three, Logano takes it back as they jostle for the lead.

Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson stayed out from first and seventh. Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also stayed out and round out the top-10. They ran 13th, 31st and 32nd before this.

The red flag is lifted and the field is back under caution. Here are the biggest movers so far:

• Carson Hocevar +24 to 6th
• Christopher Bell +19 to 9th
• William Byron +13 to 5th
• Shane van Gisbergen +12 to 23rd
• Chase Briscoe -29 to 39th
• Cole Custer -27 to 34th
• Justin Haley -13 to 35th
• Zane Smith -10 to 18th

Full running order under red flag, lap 43 of 60 in the first stage.

1. Joey Logano
2. Austin Cindric +2 positions since the start
3. Josh Berry -1 position since the start
4. Brad Keselowski +2
5. William Byron +13
6. Carson Hocevar +24
7. Kyle Larson +4
8. Ryan Preece -3
9. Christopher Bell +19
10. Ryan Blaney -7
11. Chase Elliott +4
12. Alex Bowman -3
13. Austin Dillon -1
14. Ty Gibbs +2
15. John Hunter Nemechek +3
16. A.J. Allmendinger +5
17. Ty Dillon -3
18. Zane Smith -10
19. Todd Gilliland -2
20. Chris Buescher -7
21. Bubba Wallace +3
22. Daniel Suarez +9
23. Shane van Gisbergen +12
24. Ross Chastain +10
25. Kyle Busch +4
26. Tyler Reddick -3
27. Erik Jones -1
28. Riley Herbst -8
29. Noah Gragson -2
30. Corey LaJoie -5
31. Michael McDowell +1
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +5
33. Denny Hamlin
34. Cole Custer -27
35. Justin Haley -13
36. BJ McLeod +2
37. Connor Zilisch -1
38. Cody Ware +1
39. Chase Briscoe -29
40. David Starr (-2 laps)

LAP 37: Caution flies for rain. Joey Logano leads Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.

NASCAR officials: “Light rain all the way around the track but no change to the surface.”

Chase Briscoe fell back to 39th with a tight-handling car. He says, “The spike is worse on the bottom but the rest of the corner is variable. As soon as I get to throttle, the load feels like a broken toe link.” Briscoe reports he hit the wall on the first lap and is struggling with the bumps.

LAP 32: Joey Logano has led every lap but Josh Berry and Brad Keselowski are all over Logano. One lap, it’s Berry going to the inside of Logano. One lap, it’s Keselowski. Another lap, it’s one of them going to the outside. It’s a close battle for the lead.

LAP 25: No one has moved through the field more than Carson Hocevar. Hocevar started 30th and has moved up to sixth.

Brad Keselowski caught up to the top-four driver and is trying to break them up. He is somewhat successful and looks for second.

Tyler Reddick reports he is, “really tight,” along with other drivers.

Ryan Blaney clears Brad Keselowski from the inside lane. the charge from Keselowski on back is dying out. Cole Custer challenges Ryan Preece for position and Preece takes it. Everyone is spaced out some but still racing closely. Handling is a clear factor.

TOP-10, LAP 10: Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, Alex Bowman, Cole Custer, Chris Buescher.

Justin Haley dropped back to 36th from 22nd. TNT revealed radio transmission that Haley drank an energy drink before getting in the car.

LAP 1: Joey Logano leads with Josh Berry and Austin Cindric in tow. Ryan Blaney runs behind his teammates but Brad Keselowski is challenging with help from teammate and driver Ryan Preece.

The engines are fired and drivers are ready to roll for the NASCAR Cup Series’ Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway Atlanta. The first stage is 60 laps in length.

On average, there is at least one caution in stage one. Three of the seven stage one winners on this configuration of Atlanta have gone on to win the race. There is an average of around 9-10 cautions in Cup races at Atlanta.

RACE START

Joey Logano and Josh Berry tied for the pole but Logano won the tiebreaker to lead eight Ford drivers to the green flag. Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe start ninth and tenth as the only non-Ford drivers in the top-10.

Joey Logano has won seven NASCAR Cup Series races from the pole — most recently in March 2023 at this track. Logano has won a pole in 14 of his 17 seasons.

• Logano keeps Ford undefeated for Cup pole at new Atlanta

NASCAR provided TRE with the following information the 2025 Quaker State 400 at EchoPark:

• Broadcast: TNT Sports, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 260 laps / 400.4 miles
• Stages: 60 / 160 / 260
• Average time of race: 3:14:15
• Pit road speed: Sections 1 and 2: 90 mph / Other sections: 45 mph
• Caution car speed: 55 mph
• Fuel Window: 65 laps

Here is when everything will start:

• Invocation: 7:00:20 p.m.
• National Anthem: 7:01:00 p.m.
• Command: 7:08:00 p.m.
• Green Flag: 7:19:00 p.m.

The track was under a 30-minute lightning hold as of 5:36 p.m. ET. However, this isn’t expected to bleed into the scheduled start of the race.