It was an insanely wild Friday afternoon, evening, and early Saturday morning in Hampton, Georgia, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series field took on EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway).
While the event took significantly longer than expected, not only because of a lightning delay that pushed back the start of the race, but also due to the 80-minute red flag that appeared in the first stage.
There’s one driver, Nick Sanchez, who definitely wouldn’t trade the four-hour experience for anything, though, after pulling his Big Machine Racing Chevrolet into Victory Lane for the first time in his Xfinity Series career.
Sanchez paced the NASCAR Xfinity Series field three separate times for a total of 18 circuits, all of which came in the last 20 laps of the event when he was battling Jesse Love for the victory in a side-by-side fight.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NXS Focused Health 250 at EchoPark
To get position on the outside lane, Sanchez had to work hard on the inside lane, getting around a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Aric Almirola and Brandon Jones, who had the outside lane on lockdown for quite some time.
When it comes down to it, the fact that the Miami, Florida-native was in contention to win, especially after a ride through the infield grass at Lap 69, was impressive considering the damage it could have done to the front end of the No. 48.
“I’m going to be honest, this is just a reminder of my 2023 debut here in Trucks. I spun and I finished second. Now, I spun and I won, so that’s awesome,” Sanchez said after the race. “Just a huge thanks to Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Racing, Patrick Donahue, and everyone on this team. We’ve been so close the last couple of weeks, and it’s every little thing that could go wrong. I put a lot on my shoulders, so to come back here and get a win, it’s amazing.”
It’s the first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory for Nick Sanchez, who just crossed the halfway point of his rookie season in the second-tier series. For Big Machine Racing, the victory is the first since Tyler Reddick won at Texas Motor Speedway in 2022.
Carson Kvapil, a fellow contender for Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, attempted to make several runs at Sanchez in the final laps, but came up just a little bit short. It matches Bristol for the best finish of the season for the JR Motorsports driver.
Sam Mayer brought the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford Mustang home in third place, with another set of rookies, Connor Zilisch and Taylor Gray, rounding out the top five.
Four of the top-five positions at the end of Friday’s event were held by 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contenders.
Jesse Love brought his wounded No. 2 Roland Chevrolet home in sixth, with Aric Almirola in seventh, Daniel Dye eighth, Kyle Sieg ninth, and Jeremy Clements wrapping up the top-10 finishers.
Friday’s event featured 12 lead changes among nine different drivers, and nine caution flags for a total of 58 laps.
Leaving EchoPark Speedway, Justin Allgaier, despite being caught up in a massive pileup on Lap 42 of the event and finishing 31st, holds a 63-point lead over new second-place driver Sam Mayer.
Next, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Chicago Street Course. Coverage of the Grant Park 110 will take place on Saturday, July 5 at 3:30pm ET on The CW.
