Tyler Reddick Wins for the Second Week in a Row at NASCAR Atlanta

EchoPark Speedway, Hampton, GA — February 22, 2026

Qualifying at EchoPark Speedway for the Autotrader 400 was rained out Saturday, and the lineup was determined by the NASCAR Rulebook. Essentially, the finishing order from Daytona determined the lineup. Tyler Reddick(35) and Joey Logano(22) start on the front row. With no practice time allotted, the drivers have only memory to rely on for what to expect when the green flag drops.

While skies are clear and the sun is shining brightly, drivers will have to cope with stiff 20-25 mph winds out of the northwest with gusts as high as 40 mph. As far as the track is concerned, the wind will blow the cars down the back stretch and make turns three and four more treacherous than they already are.

Since the track at EchoPark Speedway was reconfigured prior to the 2022 season, the circuit previously known as Atlanta Motor Speedway has become a drafting track similar to Daytona and Talladega. Close pack racing, two, three and even four wide racing makes it a fan favorite and a driver nightmare. Accidents are wild and the potential of “the big one” lurks in driver’s minds all race long. A good handling race car is essential to avoiding a crash and driving to the front of the pack.

Stage One

Stages for the 260 laps/400 miles today are 60/100/100 laps. The Ford Mustang Dark Horse cars of Logano, Brad Keselowski(6), Josh Berry(21), Zane Smith(38), Chris Buescher(17), and Ryan Blaney(12) lined up on the bottom of the track to push Logano out into the lead.

In the early going, Carson Hocevar(77) was the car on the move. He started 15th and slowly picked off spots one-by-one to move into the top ten. To the cheers of the hometown crowd, Chase Elliott(9) nosed out front on lap 30.

Trouble for Hocevar. He cut down a right front tire, possibly from contact with the wall, and had to come to pit road for new Goodyear rubber on the right side of his machine. Hocevar lost a lap to the field in the process.

Austin Cindric(2) started 30th. He advanced into the top three with 35 laps down in the first Stage. On lap 40, the field caught Hocevar, running by himself on the track, putting him two laps down.

Hocevar drove around the leader, Joey Logano, with a push from Elliott to get one lap back. If he can stay there for another 13 laps he can return to the lead lap via the lucky dog wave around. The lead car is vulnerable depending on which driver can get a big push from behind. Kyle Larson(5) takes a turn at the front with six laps to go in the Stage.

With a shove from Cindric, Bubba Wallace(23) goes to the front. However, Cindric uses the momentum to slingshot around Wallace to take the Stage One win.

Results of Stage One

Chase Elliott’s crew had trouble on his pit stop costing their driver a ton of track position. Elliott will start Stage Two near the rear of the field.

Stage Two

Teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron will start on the front row for the restart. Bubba Wallace and Noa Gragson(4) line up in row two. Swapping the lead continues as the order of the day. Larson, Byron, Wallace take turns at the front. A new name joins the top five as Kyle Busch(8) joins the top five.

Aggression at the front of the field is very high for so early in the race. However, it is trouble at the rear of the field that brings out the first caution for cause on the day. Ty Gibbs(54) and Josh Berry get together in the middle of turns three and four. Slight contact turns into a wreck for both drivers. They are able to exit their race cars but will have to go to the infield care center as part of NASCAR’s safety protocol. Both cars were towed to the garage.

The yellow flag is good news for Carson Hocevar. He got one lap back on the end of Stage caution and gets the free pass on the latest yellow as he was the only car a lap down. Most of the field opted to pit under the caution with fuel being the highest priority.

Larson and Reddick lead the field back to the green, with Byron and Logano in row two. They fan out single file off turn four with Ross Chastain(1) entering the mix in fourth.

Another incident on lap 102 brought out the caution again. Riley Herbst(35) and Austin Dillon(3) got together and collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47), BJ McLeod(78), and Todd Gilliland(34). Stenhouse suffered the most damage and took his car to the garage.

Few takers on pit road this time, mostly just the cars involved getting minor repairs to continue racing.

It is a 23XI front row as Reddick and Wallace lead the field back to green. Larson and Chase Briscoe(19) push them to the flag.

Time to roll out the “cautions breed cautions” adage. With 36 laps to go in Stage Two, Kyle Busch slid high, lost control, got slight contact from Noah Gragson, and spun down the back stretch in a single car incident bringing out the yellow flag again. With track position so valuable the leaders stayed out, drivers from midpack back came to pit road for fuel and tires.

Again Reddick and Wallace pace the field to the restart. Briscoe, Byron, Larson, Chastain, Shane Van Gisbergen(97) (SVG), Logano, Connor Zilisch(88), and Cindric round out the top ten.

Generally at some point during the middle of the race drivers take a break, line up, and ride, just booking laps. However, at EchoPark Speedway the fans have become accustomed to an all-out battle for the lead every lap. Making Atlanta a must see experience for NASCAR race fans.

As the end of Stage Two nears, Larson goes to the front, then Briscoe, and Carson Hocevar makes his return to the top five looking for a shot at the top spot. Three wide racing for the lead with four laps to go in the Stage. Larson, Byron and Wallace break away slightly from Hocevar and Elliott. SVG and Larson go spinning across the start finish line as Bubba Wallace was in the lead when the yellow flag waved and he gets the Stage win.

Results of Stage Two

SVG slid through the quad-oval grass and saved his car. Larson slammed the outside wall and had to be towed to the garage.

Stage Three

Everyone came to pit road on the Stage ending caution for a full tank of Sunoco Racing Fuel and tires. Ryan Blaney(12) won the race off pit road leading four Ford Mustang Dark Horse race cars driven by Zane Smith, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney(60), and Brad Keselowski.

One more pit stop will be required to complete the final 90 laps of the race, likely just for fuel. When iot comes and how quickly it can be accomplished could determine the race winner.

Denny Hamlin(11) takes the lead for the first time in the race. For the first time today we see more single file racing as drivers guard their positions. Passes are still being made, but it is one car and one position at a time for the most part. Briscoe out front with his teammate Hamlin right behind are content to lead the train for the time being.

Driver patience does not last long as Wallace leads a line on the bottom of the track going forward to try and regain the lead. Two and three wide racing resumes.

SVG gets loose and slides through the quad oval grass again with 61 laps to go in the race. This could be the final stop of the day as most teams fell they are within the fuel window. It is a mixed bag on pit road as some teams go with fuel only and others take fuel and tires.

With 56 laps to go, Hamlin and Reddick on row one, Elliott and Blaney on row two. 50 laps to go and it’s a shootout at the front. Blaney gets lined up with his teammate Cindric and they challenge Reddick and Hamlin for the lead. No more give and take, everyone has their elbows up. Keselowski and Logano join the Ford line to help the attack.

The “big one” breaks out as the field comes to the line with 37 laps to go. Hamlin get loose and taps the outside wall sending him across the race track in front of Reddick, Connor Zilisch(88), Buescher, Alex Bowman(48). Remarkably no one suffers serious damage outside of Zilisch (goes behind the wall), Reddick and Hamlin. Just lots of tire smoke from the sliders. More pit stops coming! More cautions coming? Bet on it.

The race restarts with 29 laps to go, Cindric and Chastain on row one, Blaney and Elliott in row two. Christopher Bell, last year’s winner of this race makes a run to the lead and no one is giving an inch of leeway.

With 22 laps to go, Logano spins through the grass on the front stretch off the bumper of Carson Hocevar. Line em back up and take another shot at it.

This time the restart comes with 17 laps to go just as the sun is dipping below the horizon. The top four are Bell, Cindric, Wallace and Blaney.

Wallace goes to the lead with eight laps to go, Bell and Hocevar follow. Hocevar takes second with four laps to go and Ross Chastain joins the fight at the front.

Byron clips the wall with four laps to go and appears to have a tire go down. As the #24 car is dropping back the field bunches up. Byron spins and collects Cindric, Austin Dillon(3), Gragson, Logano, Gilliland, Cole Custer(41), John Hunter Nemechek(42) and Cody Ware(51) in the really big one. NASCAR red flags the race to clean up the track and prepare for overtime.

Bell and Wallace line up on the front row, Reddick and Hocevar behind them. When the green drops, Hocevar tries to create a hole between the two with a push from Chastain. They don’t even make it to turn one as Bell gets turned and we go to overtime #2.

Wallace and Hocevar on row one, Reddick and Chastain on row two. Reddick pushes Wallace to the lead, he goes high to block Hocevar and they both drop back as Reddick moves to the top spot. Briscoe moves to second and pushes Reddick to the win with Chastain in third and Hocevar in fourth. Wallace finished eighth.

Despite losing the right front fender in an early race incident, Reddick is able to hang with the lead lap and pull out an improbable win for the second week in a row.

NASCAR Cup Series Points Standings

Results of the Autotrader 400 from EchoPark Speedway

Next Week the NASCAR Cup Series moves to COTA for the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne.