Following Chase Briscoe's fuel-saving masterclass to hold off teammate Denny Hamlin and win his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Saturday night for the running of the Quaker State 400 (7 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
This will be the 18th race of the season and will serve as the first race of the new In-Season Challenge. The top 32 drivers in points are seeded in a head-to-head, bracket-style tournament based on their finishes from the last three races. The driver that finishes ahead of the other in the head-to-head matchup advances to the next round until a champion is ultimately crowned and the $1 million prize is won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26.
Since EchoPark Speedway was reconfigured as a drafting-style track ahead of the 2022 season, there have been five different winners in the seven races, leaving the door open for several drivers in the field to find Victory Lane. For these three, in particular, they could especially use a rebound at Atlanta this weekend after disappointing results in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.
William Byron, No. 24 (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
After posting the fastest lap in practice at Pocono, it appeared that Byron was on his way to a successful weekend in the Pocono mountains. A crash toward the end of his qualifying lap proved otherwise, forcing his team to make repairs and making his Sunday even more difficult having to come from the back of the field. Although he drove his way through the field in the opening stage, he could never maintain the track position, settling for a 27th-place finish in a car that looked plenty capable of winning prior to qualifying.
Despite the adversity, Byron enters EchoPark Speedway as the points leader, mostly due to his 10 top-10 finishes and zero DNFs. Byron has won a pair of races at the 1.54-mile, drafting-style track since 2022, claiming victories in the 2022 spring race and 2023 summer race. He has also won the last two Daytona 500s, so look for Byron to be in contention under the lights on Saturday night and respond from the issues at Pocono.
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 (23XI Racing Toyota)
Much like Byron, Wallace had a fast car in practice at Pocono, but had a starter issue on pit road before his qualifying lap and had to start at the back of the field. A brake rotor issue on Lap 54 derailed his day and put him 36th out of 37 cars in the race.
At just 29 points to the good in the playoff standings, Wallace heads to Atlanta in desperate need of a turnaround. While he has run well at Daytona and won the 2021 playoff race at Talladega, Wallace has struggled to put the results together at EchoPark Speedway with only two top-10s in the seven races on the reconfigured surface. That is not a good sign for a driver that is firmly on the playoff bubble.
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 (23XI Racing Toyota)
Reddick, Wallace's 23XI Racing teammate, experienced similar brake issues at Pocono and had to go behind the wall to make repairs on Lap 84. His 32nd-place finish was his third straight outside the top-10. To make matters worse, Reddick has not recorded a top-five finish since a fourth at Darlington on April 6.
Drafting-style tracks have not been kind to Reddick, although he did win the 2024 spring race at Talladega. Three of his last four starts at EchoPark Speedway, though, have resulted in finishes of 19th or worse. Reddick has had speed to win several races, but has not been able to capitalize for one reason or another. His time will come, but if past results are any indication, it will not be this weekend.