As Georgia-native Chase Elliott took the checkered flag to win the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), the fans packing the grandstands went berserk.
Elliott, a seven-time winner of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award, captured an extremely popular victory on Saturday, snapping a 44-race winless streak with a last-lap pass on Brad Keselowski.
The 29-year-old driver has now parked his No. 9 Chevrolet ZL1 in Victory Lane on two occasions at his home racetrack, after previously earning the win on the drafting configuration at Atlanta in the Summer of 2022.
In what ended up being a chaotic event — with all but four drivers getting some crash damage — Elliott kept his NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored machine clean and used a late push from teammate Alex Bowman to get the lead exiting Turn 2 on the final lap.
The victory was the first of the season for Elliott, meaning that the Hendrick Motorsports driver is locked into the postseason. The win was also a landmark for the 29-year-old, who collected his 20th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
“Well, I just think that, honestly, all the cards fell in the right places there those last couple laps,” Elliott said post-race. “What a crazy race, man. I don’t know if y’all had fun, but it was wild from my seat. I’m so glad we got to run that thing out there to the end.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NCS Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway
Brad Keselowski paced the field for a total of 46 laps on Saturday, second only to polesitter Joey Logano, and was leading when the field took the white flag. But the move from Elliott was undefendable, leaving Keselowski to finish runner-up.
Alex Bowman was responsible for the last-lap push that gave Chase Elliott the victory on Saturday, but came home third after drag racing Keselowski to the start-finish line for second.
Tyler Reddick found himself in contention for the win late, but came home in fourth, with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones rounding out the top five, continuing a great stretch of races for the organization.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. had a shot to win late in the going for HYAK Motorsports and finished in sixth, while Zane Smith also led the race late and came home in seventh place.
Ty Dillon, who came into the in-season tournament seeded 32nd, earned an eighth-place finish and knocked out first-seeded Denny Hamlin as the field moves to Chicago for the second race in the five-race series.
Chris Buescher brought home a ninth-place finish, while the wounded Carson Hocevar rounded out the top-10.
The 260-lap contest from EchoPark Speedway featured a total of 46 lead changes among 13 drivers, and 10 caution flags totaling 68 laps. All of which is surprising, considering the early-race carnage.
Ryan Blaney, one of the favorites for Saturday’s event, was taken out early in a multi-car accident that also damaged the likes of Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, and Austin Dillon.
That wasn’t the biggest issue, though. On Lap 70, total carnage broke out when John Hunter Nemechek got into Denny Hamlin, sending him spinning across the racetrack and collecting 23 cars, including several heavy-hitters.
After those incidents, the field had been heavily neutralized, and with less than 25 cars on the lead lap for most of the night, the pack was still surprisingly racey — and proved that they could still get into trouble.
Leaving EchoPark Speedway, William Byron holds the regular-season points lead over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who jumps from fifth to second in points and closes the gap down to only 37 markers.
Up next for the NASCAR Cup Series is a trip to Chicago for the third annual Chicago Street Race. Coverage will be on TNT Sports on Sunday, July 6 at 3:30pm ET.
