CHASE ELLIOTT’S FAMOUS No. 9 NAPA CHEVROLET IN THE FAN ZONE AT ECHO PARK SPEEDWAY IN ATLANTA
MOTORSPORT AMERICA PHOTO
NASCAR is set to face yet another weekend of superspeedway-style racing
as all three national touring series will head south to the suburbs of
Atlanta to take on the 1.54-mile oval of EchoPark Speedway.
The tripleheader weekend will kick-off with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series (NCTS) on Saturday afternoon, where the event’s defending
winner, Kyle Busch, will return to the seat of the No. 7 Spire
Motorsports Chevrolet to make his first NCTS appearance of the season.
Rounding out the weekend
on Sunday is the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS), with hometown hero, Chase
Elliott, looking for redemption after a heartbreaking end to his pursuit
for his first Harley J. Earl trophy last week at Daytona.
Entering its fifth season of competition on the track’s reconfigured
surface, Chevrolet continues to be the only manufacturer to find victory
lane in all three national divisions – entering the weekend with five
NCS wins, six NOAPS wins and three NCTS wins.
Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series at EchoPark Speedway:
The 2022 NASCAR season saw a new evolution of racing at EchoPark
Speedway with a complete reprofiling that saw the 1.54-mile venue
produce superspeedway-style racing. The Bowtie brand quickly made a
statement with the pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates, William Byron
and Chase Elliott, driving Chevrolet to a sweep of the track’s two
dates that season.
Now, with four seasons complete on the configuration,
Chevrolet has paid at least one visit to victory lane at EchoPark
Speedway each year – most recently by Georgia native, Elliott, in the
series’ most recent appearance at the track (June 2025). Among
Chevrolet’s other notable triumphs at the track includes Daniel
Suarez’s victory two years ago – an ending that went down in history
as the closest three-wide finish in NASCAR’s top division.
ELLIOTT EYES REBOUND AT HOME
Coming off of Turn Four to the checkered flag, Chase Elliott sat in the
catbird seat with hist first Harley J. Earl trophy in reach. But in true
Daytona fashion, a crash in the tri-oval saw the No. 9 Hendrick
Motorsports Chevrolet team take home a fourth-place result. Despite a
heartbreaking end to his Daytona Speedweek, the 2020 champion proved to
be a contender all week long. With a top-10 qualifying effort, Elliott
went on to capture the win in Duel No. 2 to secure a second-row starting
position for the 68th running of the DAYTONA 500. Amassing a 33-point
day, the 30-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia, native will head to his home
track sitting third in the driver’s points standings.
What better way to get redemption than in front of a hometown crowd.
Elliott already has the momentum on his side – returning to the
Georgia venue as the track’s most recent winner (June 2025). The
victory made Elliott just the third two-time winner on the track’s
superspeedway-style configuration, joining the company of his Hendrick
Motorsports teammate, William Byron, and Joey Logano. Elliott also paces
the series with a best average finish of 11.357.
STATEMENT SEASON-OPENER IN THE NOAPS
Coming off a record season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series,
Chevrolet picked up right where it left off with a near-dominate
performance at Daytona International Speedway. With a front-row sweep in
qualifying courtesy of the pair of Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet’s, Austin Hill went on to take both stage wins en route to
the organization’s fifth-straight season-opening race win. On top of
the victory, the manufacturer led all but two laps of the event with
seven Team Chevy drivers tallying a combined 118 laps led. At the
checkered flag, it was the Bowtie brigade that swept the top-20
positions of the final running order – a feat accomplished by 11
different organizations that are competing under the Chevrolet banner.
RCR Continues to Stun on Superspeedways
The Richard Childress Racing stable is always a frontrunner at
drafting-style tracks, and the start of the 2026 season proved no
difference. Once again, ECR power prevailed in qualifying at Daytona
with the teammates, Austin Hill and Jesse Love, taking the top-two
positions on the speed chart. The duo went on to lead 87.5 percent of
the laps en route to the organization’s fifth consecutive win in the
series’ season-opening event – a feat that ties the record
previously set by Dale Earnhardt Inc. (1990-1994).
Hill quickly found his footing post-reconfiguration of EchoPark Speedway
– earning wins in five of the series’ past eight races at the venue.
His most recent came one year ago in the track’s spring date – a
victory that was solidified by an impressive 146 of 163 laps led.
Returning to his stomping grounds, Hill has the perfect opportunity to
add onto his already storied superspeedway legacy with last weekend’s
victory bringing his career total to 11 victories on the series’
drafting-style tracks.
BUSCH IS BACK
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winningest driver, Kyle Busch, will
climb back behind the wheel of a Silverado RST this weekend for his
first of eight starts in the series this season. A 67-time NCTS winner,
Busch’s most recent trip to victory lane in the series came one year
ago at EchoPark Speedway. Since pairing with Spire Motorsports for his
NCTS effort over the past two seasons, the 40-year-old Las Vegas,
Nevada, native has scored three wins, five top-fives and six top-10s in
10 starts.
TUNE-IN:
NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader 400
Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. ET
FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250
Saturday, Feb. 21, at 5 p.m. ET
CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 Racing 208
Saturday, Feb. 21, at 1:30 p.m. ET
FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90