By David Morgan, Associate Editor
HAMPTON, Ga. – It may have taken waiting through a three-hour rain delay and a finish at nearly 2:00 a.m. ET, but Ryan Blaney would not be denied, bringing home the victory in Sunday night’s Quaker State 400 in what would become another thrilling chapter of racing at EchoPark Speedway.
After starting from pole, it became clear early on that it would be Blaney’s race to lose and if anyone else was going to win, they were going to have to take it away from him.
Blaney would lead 171 laps on the night, showcasing the dominance of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford throughout the night, but even with the stoutest car in the field, Blaney’s second win of the season would come down to an overtime finish to settle it.
Lining up ahead of Bubba Wallace on the low lane for the final restart, with Carson Hocevar and spring Atlanta winner Tyler Reddick up top, things didn’t get off to a hot start for Blaney and Wallace with Hocevar getting the edge early on, but Blaney would hold steady and set himself up for the charge to the win on the final lap.
With a shove from Wallace as they took the white flag, Blaney was able to power to the outside of Hocevar in Turn 1, staying neck and neck with Hocevar all the way down the backstretch until Wallace joined the fray to make it three-wide into Turn 3.
They all stayed locked in their three-wide formation off Turn 4 and heading toward the checkers when Blaney would get a boost from Christopher Bell to give him the edge he needed to surge out front and capture the victory.
WHAT A FINISH IN ATLANTA!! pic.twitter.com/KpYKIe4bzo
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 13, 2026
“It was definitely, honestly, a pretty awesome night,” said Blaney. “I mean, having a really fast car and sitting on the pole, winning both stages and leading a ton of laps and just in a position to win the race. You never know how these things are gonna end, honestly.
“There are a couple of things I probably could have done better, but we were able to stick around and just how the last couple laps played out we were able to get the lead back and just barely hold on.
“It’s a pretty cool day when you have weekends like that. You can’t ask for a better weekend – sit on the pole, sweeps the stages, win the race. That’s a dream weekend right there. These guys are great. They brought a rocket ship and it was nice that we were able to close it out.”
In the rundown after they crossed the line, Wallace would be credited with the runner-up finish, with Bell in third, Hocevar in fourth, and Gibbs rounding out the top-five finishers.
But NASCAR would ding Wallace for his three wide move on the final lap, penalizing him for passing below the yellow line, dropping him from a second-place finish to 29th – the last car on the lead lap.
A devastating blow in the points race as Wallace is hanging onto one of the final spots in the Chase with six races remaining in the regular season.
Wallace was adamant that he did not advance his position and the penalty was not warranted, vowing to challenge NASCAR on the penalty, but his concerns went unheeded as the penalty and his finishing position would stand.
“It says advancing your position, which I did not do,” said Wallace. “I stayed third and I was all over the brakes to make sure I did not advance. So as soon as I turned, I’m like, ‘I’m going to wreck.’ And got on the brakes and kept underneath me and still ended up side by side.
“That move should have propelled us to the lead and it didn’t because I knew it was wrong because my car did not like that move. And so, we’ll see what we can do, but did not advance my position. I got advanced. I stayed third from entry to three all the way until 50 yards away.”
With Wallace’s penalty, the re-ordered results would see Bell in second, Hocevar in third, Gibbs in fourth, and Erik Jones rounding out the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 went to Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Buescher.
For Hocevar, he was all smiles coming home with third as one of the only cars that seemed to be able to challenge Blaney all night.
“It was fun. I’m happy for Ryan (Blaney, race winner). I just didn’t quite have enough help there at the end, unfortunately,” said Hocevar.
“Once I got a big lead, I needed them to stay three-wide and I think I would have just ran away. But they got cleared and it was just too big of a run to throw a block. We got three-wide there and I just needed a little help. Our No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet team had a lot of fun. We were able to execute at a high level all night.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will pack up and head back to North Carolina where the first points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996 will take place. The track has held the All-Star Race for the last three seasons.
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