20-time Cup Collection champ Chase Elliott lastly snapped his 44-race winless streak within the In-Season Problem opener, Quaker State 400 at his house monitor, EchoPark Speedway, on Sunday. EchoPark Speedway is a 1.54 quad-oval monitor nestled simply 40 minutes outdoors of Atlanta in Hampton, Georgia. Forward of Sunday’s race, Elliott had notched solely a single win on the monitor in 2022, so the house state favourite’s victory was a very long time coming. The No. 9 driver took the checkered flag over RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski in simply over 0.618 seconds. The race was nothing wanting thrilling, and the flip of occasions that led to Elliott’s last-lap cross previous Keselowski was simply the tip of the iceberg.
Recap of the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway
Initially of the Quaker State 400, all eyes have been on 37-time winner Joey Logano, who certified from the Walmart pole forward of Sunday’s race, clocking a powerful 30.979 seconds at 178.96 mph. Logano led the sector of 40 to the inexperienced flag forward of begin time and would proceed this momentum till a rain delay at lap 37 stifled it. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than the rain handed, and the race was referred to as to motion as soon as once more at lap 49.
The race continued uneventfully into Stage 1 till Christopher Bell rounded flip three too arduous on lap 57 and misplaced management of his No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE. The incident induced the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to slam into and gather seven drivers, together with Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Connor Zilisch, ending stage 1 underneath warning. This propelled Crew Penske’s Austin Cindric to hammer your complete Stage 1, however he would rapidly be knocked out of the lead on the lap 69 restart, which induced a 23-car pileup.
Legacy Motor Membership’s John Hunter Nemechek, who was preventing with Hamlin to remain inside the highest ten, pushed off an out of doors wall, inflicting Hamlin to spin out right into a still-active area. The crimson flag was then dropped to permit the cleanup crew to clear particles from the monitor, and after 10 minutes, the race resumed. The Quaker State 400 continued with no important incident to report, getting into stage 2, and the warmth was on as drivers upped the ante to safe a high spot. Riley
Herbst, specifically, who was sitting at P5 when he pushed somewhat too arduous into the flip of lap 110, slammed into Todd Gilliland, knocking them each out of competition. It was then all the way down to the wire within the the rest of stage 2, and it turned an all-out struggle between 23XL Racing’s Tyler Reddick and hometown hero Chase Elliott. The pair battled on for a number of laps earlier than Reddick was declared the winner of the stage by a mere second.
The race’s last stage, then again, was simply eventful. It appeared this was the place many of the cautions have been dropped, beginning with Shane van Gisbergen’s backstretch spinout with 85 laps remaining. Bubba Wallace, who was in P12, continued this string through the last 76 laps, additionally spinning out, prompting a series response of incidents, adopted by Ty Dillon’s assortment of Justin Haley with 34 laps left.
Drivers Concerned in Stage 2 23-Automotive Pileup
1. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Trackhouse Racing)
2. Corey LaJoie, No. 01 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (Rick Ware Racing)
3. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (Crew Penske)
4. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Richard Childress Racing)
5. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (Entrance Row Motorsports)
6. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Hendrick Motorsports)
7. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (RFK Racing)
8. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Richard Childress Racing)
9. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Kaulig Racing)
10. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE (Joe Gibbs Racing)
11. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE (Joe Gibbs Racing)
12. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (Wooden Brothers Racing)
13. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (Crew Penske)
14. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Hendrick Motorsports)
15. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE (Legacy Motor Membership)
16. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE (Legacy Motor Membership)
17. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Hendrick Motorsports)
18. Cody Ware, No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Rick Ware Racing)
19. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse (RFK Racing)
20. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Spire Motorsports)
21. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Spire Motorsports)
22. B.J. McLeod, No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Reside Quick Motorsports)
23. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Trackhouse Racing)
Chase Elliott’s Closing Cost for the Win
On the last stage, Chase Elliott turned a power to be reckoned with on the remaining 5 laps of the Quaker State 400. He fought with all his would possibly to edge Brad Keselowski, who tried to tighten up the block on any entry factors, holding off Elliott till the ultimate lap of the race when his luck modified. In flip 2, Bowman, who got here up quick, gave Elliott the shove he wanted to push him previous Keselowski and into the highest spot for the win.
As Chase Elliott crossed the end line, he didn’t anticipate breaking a winless streak regardless of Brad Keselowski’s sturdy 41-race main bid. The win was memorable for Elliott, other than successful on his house turf, as a result of his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was specifically designed by a affected person of Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Rhealynn.
It meant so much for him to honor her not solely by displaying her art work on his automobile but additionally by pulling out a win regardless of beginning in P15. It was robust, and surviving 10 race cautions and 46 totally different race leaders is a testomony to his progress as a driver, although it was largely sudden. Chase Elliott himself had a tough time believing he had pulled off the win, and when he spoke to the media post-race, that’s exactly what he emphasised. He talked about how unbelievable it was that all the things fell into place the best way it did on the ultimate two laps of the In-Season Problem opener.
“That is unbelievable,” Chase Elliott mentioned of his iconic win. “All the playing cards fell in the best locations within the final couple of laps,” mentioned Elliott. “What a loopy race. It was wild from my seat, however I’m glad we bought to run that factor on the market to the top.”
Closing Ideas
Chase Elliott’s second profession win at EchoPark Speedway within the Cup Collection was a improbable technique to provoke the beginning of the In-Season Problem. The Georgia native has had a fairly respectable 2025 season, notching a mean begin of 15.5 and end of 10.82. He hasn’t secured a single pole out of 17 races run, however stands at a low end of 20 and a excessive of three out of 4,490 laps run.
Elliott additionally managed to tug 5 high 5 top-five finishes and 9 top-ten finishes, however Sunday’s Quaker State 400 win is in the end what edged him to the quantity two spot within the Cup Collection Standings. The victory additionally pushed Chase Elliott to fourth within the playoff standings at 594 factors, however can he double this common this weekend on the Grant Park 165 in Chicago? Keep tuned.
