First, it was a war of attrition. Then, it was a test of maneuvering through the draft over and over again. In the end, it was Georgia native and former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott who delivered in front of his hometown fans.
Elliott was one of just four drivers to make it through the night at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway without being involved in an accident, and it took both that luck and plenty of skill for him to emerge with his first win of 2025. The victory snapped a 44-race winless streak for Elliott dating back to Texas Motor Speedway in April 2024.
“What a crazy race, man,” Elliott told TNT Sports after exiting his race car. “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.”
As the laps in the final stage ticked down, with continuous battles along the top 10 or so drivers, it became a question of when and not if one more caution would come. Justin Haley was the victim as the yellow flag flew with less than 35 laps to go, setting up another intriguing restart.
Brad Keselowski and Elliott led the field to green again after staying out while others pitted, with the No. 6 Ford prevailing. Zane Smith and Alex Bowman emerged as challengers, as each were able to get by at different times. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., on fresher tires than some of the other contenders, drove through the field and into the battle for the lead as well.
But with some help from Bowman, it was Elliott who managed to make his way to the front when it mattered, slipping past Keselowski just after the white flag dropped and staying there until the end.
“I honestly just think all the cards fell in the right places those last couple laps,” Elliott added to TNT Sports. He also returned the love to the fans, thanking them and saying “you can’t dream of this.”
It hardly looked like it would be Elliott’s night early on. Joey Logano started the evening from the pole and led every lap until the race was halted for a brief rain shower. His grip on the lead changed once the green flag dropped again, bringing other players, including Keselowski and Logano’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric, into the fray.
But they never really got to settle anything among themselves as Christopher Bell got loose in the middle of the pack with four to go in stage one, causing chaos behind him as drivers scurried to avoid his spinning Toyota. While a number of cars ended up with at least a little damage, Ryan Blaney took the hardest hit into the outside wall, and Cindric took the green-and-white checkered flag under yellow.
As it turned out, the incident at the end of stage one was just an appetizer for what was served up at the start of stage two. With Chase Elliott in front leading a two-by-two pack, John Hunter Nemechek and Denny Hamlin touched off a chain reaction that enveloped a number of vehicles, leaving Hamlin to wonder over his radio if it “took out half the field” while being towed to the garage.
Indeed, more than half of the cars in the race took at least some damage — 29 in all — and the race was red flagged for track cleanup.
The magnitude of that wreck meant a handful of new faces were trading the lead after the race was finally restarted on lap 76, including Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher. After Riley Herbst brought out another caution, it was time for Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick to battle for the lead, with Buescher, Zane Smith and others lurking close behind.
With more room to make big moves thanks to the thinned-out field, the remainder of stage two was a sometimes mesmerizing sequence of cars navigating the draft. Elliott found his way to the front on lap 147, but he quickly found himself side by side with Reddick. They diced it up all the way to the end of the stage and ended in almost a dead heat, with Reddick barely getting his nose to the line first.
Then came the final stage, filled with high drama and plenty of different faces out front as it became clear there would be a new first-time winner this season. There were a total of 46 lead changes, the third time in eight Atlanta races the race has reached that number since a repave turned this oval into a drafting track in 2022.
NASCAR Atlanta Cup Series Results
The Cup Series now heads to the Chicago Street Course for the third edition of the Grant Park 165. The race is expected to begin on Sunday, July 6 at 2 p.m. ET with coverage provided by TNT and SIRIUS XM Radio Channel 90.
