Chase Elliott Squanders 44-Race Winless Streak With EchoPark Speedway Win

20-time Cup Series champ Chase Elliott finally snapped his 44-race winless streak in the In-Season Challenge opener, Quaker State 400 at his home track, EchoPark Speedway, on Sunday. EchoPark Speedway is a 1.54 quad-oval track nestled just 40 minutes outside of Atlanta in Hampton, Georgia. Ahead of Sunday’s race, Elliott had notched only a single win at the track in 2022, so the home state favorite’s victory was a long time coming.  The No. 9 driver took the checkered flag over RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski in just over 0.618 seconds. The race was nothing short of exciting, and the turn of events that led to Elliott’s last-lap pass past Keselowski was just the tip of the iceberg.

Recap of the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway

At the start of the Quaker State 400, all eyes were on 37-time winner Joey Logano, who qualified from the Walmart pole ahead of Sunday’s race, clocking an impressive 30.979 seconds at 178.96 mph. Logano led the field of 40 to the green flag ahead of start time and would continue this momentum until a rain delay at lap 37 stifled it. However, it wouldn’t be long before the rain passed, and the race was called to action once again at lap 49.

The race continued uneventfully into Stage 1 until Christopher Bell rounded turn three too hard on lap 57 and lost control of his No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE. The incident caused the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to slam into and collect seven drivers, including Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Connor Zilisch, ending stage 1 under caution. This propelled Team Penske’s Austin Cindric to hammer the entire Stage 1, but he would quickly be knocked out of the lead at the lap 69 restart, which caused a 23-car pileup.

Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek, who was fighting with Hamlin to stay inside the top ten, pushed off an outside wall, causing Hamlin to spin out into a still-active field. The red flag was then dropped to allow the cleanup crew to clear debris from the track, and after 10 minutes, the race resumed. The Quaker State 400 continued without a significant incident to report, entering stage 2, and the heat was on as drivers upped the ante to secure a top spot. Riley

Herbst, in particular, who was sitting at P5 when he pushed a little too hard into the turn of lap 110, slammed into Todd Gilliland, knocking them both out of contention. It was then down to the wire in the remainder of stage 2, and it became an all-out war between 23XL Racing’s Tyler Reddick and hometown hero Chase Elliott. The pair battled on for several laps before Reddick was declared the winner of the stage by a mere second.

The race’s final stage, on the other hand, was just eventful. It seemed this was where most of the cautions were dropped, starting with Shane van Gisbergen’s backstretch spinout with 85 laps remaining. Bubba Wallace, who was in P12, continued this string during the final 76 laps, also spinning out, prompting a chain reaction of incidents, followed by Ty Dillon’s collection of Justin Haley with 34 laps left.

Drivers Involved in Stage 2 23-Car Pileup

• 1. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Trackhouse Racing)
• 2. Corey LaJoie, No. 01 Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Rick Ware Racing)
• 3. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Team Penske)
• 4. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Richard Childress Racing)
• 5. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Front Row Motorsports)
• 6. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Hendrick Motorsports)
• 7. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark 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 Dark Horse (Wood Brothers Racing)
• 13. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Team Penske)
• 14. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Hendrick Motorsports)
• 15. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE (Legacy Motor Club)
• 16. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE (Legacy Motor Club)
• 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 Dark 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 (Live Fast Motorsports)
• 23. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Trackhouse Racing)

Chase Elliott’s Final Charge for the Win

At the final stage, Chase Elliott became a force to be reckoned with on the remaining five laps of the Quaker State 400. He fought with all his might to edge Brad Keselowski, who attempted to tighten up the block on any entry points, holding off Elliott until the final lap of the race when his luck changed. In turn 2, Bowman, who came up fast, gave Elliott the shove he needed to push him past Keselowski and into the top spot for the win.

As Chase Elliott crossed the finish line, he did not anticipate breaking a winless streak despite Brad Keselowski’s strong 41-race leading bid. The win was memorable for Elliott, apart from winning on his home turf, because his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was specially designed by a patient of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Rhealynn.

It meant a lot for him to honor her not only by displaying her artwork on his car but also by pulling out a win despite starting in P15. It was tough, and surviving 10 race cautions and 46 different race leaders is a testament to his growth as a driver, though it was largely unexpected. Chase Elliott himself had a hard time believing he had pulled off the win, and when he spoke to the media post-race, that’s precisely what he emphasized. He mentioned how unbelievable it was that everything fell into place the way it did on the final two laps of the In-Season Challenge opener.

“This is unbelievable,” Chase Elliott said of his iconic win. “All of the cards fell in the right places in the last couple of laps,” said Elliott. “What a crazy race. It was wild from my seat, but I’m glad we got to run that thing out there to the end.”

Final Thoughts

Chase Elliott’s second career win at EchoPark Speedway in the Cup Series was a fantastic way to initiate the start of the In-Season Challenge. The Georgia native has had a pretty decent 2025 season, notching an average start of 15.5 and finish of 10.82. He hasn’t secured a single pole out of 17 races run, but stands at a low finish of 20 and a high of 3 out of 4,490 laps run.

Elliott also managed to pull 5 top five top-five finishes and nine top-ten finishes, but Sunday’s Quaker State 400 win is ultimately what edged him to the number two spot in the Cup Series Standings. The victory also pushed Chase Elliott to fourth in the playoff standings at 594 points, but can he double this average this weekend at the Grant Park 165 in Chicago? Stay tuned.