2026 Focused Health 250 (Atlanta)
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway
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The 2026 Focused Health 250 was a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race held on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 172 laps—extended from 163 laps due to a double overtime finish on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway (with superspeedway rules), it was the 21st race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, and the fifth and final running of the event.
| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 21 of 33 in the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series | |||
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| Date | July 11, 2026 | ||
| Location | EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.54 miles (2.48 km) | ||
| Distance | 172 laps, 264.88 mi (426.56 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 163 laps, 251.02 mi (404.24 km) | ||
| Average speed | 89.060 miles per hour (143.328 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Haas Factory Team | ||
| Time | 31.944 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | |
| Laps | 34 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Time | 31.233 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | The CW | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Denny Hamlin | ||
| Nielsen ratings | 1.011 million[9] | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
| Booth announcers | Brad Gillie and Nick Yeoman | ||
| Turn announcers | Doug Turnbull (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4) | ||
In one of the most chaotic and wreck-filled races in history, which resulted in four red flags and a track-record of cautions, Justin Allgaier, driving for JR Motorsports, survived the crash fest, including a double overtime restart, taking the victory after the leaders of Brennan Poole and Nick Sanchez wrecked on the final lap. This was Allgaier's 34th career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win, and his sixth of the season.[10] Carson Kvapil won the first stage, leading 29 laps, while Allgaier won the second stage, leading 15 laps. Despite 19 lead changes, Sammy Smith led the race-high 34 laps. At race's end, Kvapil finished second, and Parker Retzlaff finished third. William Sawalich and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top five, while Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg, Rajah Caruth, and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top ten.
Following the race, Allgaier clinched the regular season championship three races early.[10] Jesse Love would also clinch a spot in The Chase.
Report
Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series stock car races since 1992.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. Then in 1994, a total of 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit. In July 2021 NASCAR announced that the track would be reprofiled for the 2022 season to have 28 degrees of banking and would be narrowed from 55 to 40 feet which the track claims will turn racing at the track similar to restrictor plate superspeedways. Despite the reprofiling being criticized by drivers, construction began in August 2021 and wrapped up in December 2021.[11][12] The track has seating capacity of 71,000 to 125,000 people depending on the tracks configuration.
On June 3, 2025, SMI announced the track's renaming to EchoPark Speedway under a new seven-year sponsorship deal with the Smith family-owned business, EchoPark. The renaming ended a 35-year stint under the Atlanta Motor Speedway name.[13]
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Saturday, July 11, at 11:00 AM EST.[14] Since EchoPark Speedway is an intermediate racetrack with superspeedway rules, the qualifying procedure used was a single-car, single-lap system with two rounds. In the first round, drivers had one lap to set a time and determined positions 11-38. The fastest ten drivers from the first round advanced to the second round, and whoever set the fastest time in Round 2 won the pole and determined the rest of the starting lineup.[15]
Sam Mayer, driving for Haas Factory Team, qualified on pole position, having advanced from the preliminary round and set the fastest time in Round 2, with a lap of 31.944 seconds, and a speed of 173.554 miles per hour (279.308 km/h).[16]
No drivers failed to qualify.
Qualifying results
Race
Race results
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 45
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Carson Kvapil | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 2 | Jesse Love | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 88 | Rajah Caruth | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 17 | Corey Day | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 26 | Dean Thompson | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 1 |
Stage Two Laps: 45
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 88 | Rajah Caruth | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 1 | Carson Kvapil | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 17 | Corey Day | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 2 | Jesse Love | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 99 | Parker Retzlaff | Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 1 |
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 82
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 15 | Running | 68 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | Carson Kvapil | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 29 | Running | 52 |
| 3 | 22 | 99 | Parker Retzlaff | Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 37 |
| 4 | 4 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 172 | 0 | Running | 35 |
| 5 | 17 | 96 | Anthony Alfredo | Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 32 |
| 6 | 26 | 0 | Garrett Smithley | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 31 |
| 7 | 12 | 20 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 172 | 0 | Running | 31 |
| 8 | 20 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 29 |
| 9 | 8 | 88 | Rajah Caruth | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 18 | Running | 43 |
| 10 | 14 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 37 |
| 11 | 28 | 91 | Mason Maggio | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 26 |
| 12 | 34 | 07 | Josh Bilicki | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 25 |
| 13 | 10 | 48 | Patrick Staropoli (R) | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 24 |
| 14 | 23 | 26 | Dean Thompson | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 172 | 0 | Running | 24 |
| 15 | 31 | 53 | Glen Reen | Joey Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 22 |
| 16 | 19 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 0 | Running | 21 |
| 17 | 30 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 1 | Running | 20 |
| 18 | 5 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | 34 | Running | 37 |
| 19 | 18 | 87 | Nick Sanchez | Peterson Racing | Chevrolet | 171 | 0 | Running | 18 |
| 20 | 37 | 31 | Blaine Perkins | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 171 | 0 | Running | 17 |
| 21 | 32 | 45 | Lavar Scott (R) | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 169 | 0 | Running | 16 |
| 22 | 11 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 159 | 7 | Accident | 16 |
| 23 | 27 | 02 | Ryan Ellis | Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | 159 | 1 | Accident | 14 |
| 24 | 7 | 19 | Brent Crews (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 153 | 5 | Accident | 13 |
| 25 | 6 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 152 | 27 | Accident | 20 |
| 26 | 3 | 2 | Jesse Love | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 151 | 0 | Accident | 23 |
| 27 | 38 | 32 | Jordan Anderson | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 151 | 0 | Accident | 10 |
| 28 | 24 | 92 | Leland Honeyman (i) | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 151 | 0 | Accident | 0 |
| 29 | 29 | 42 | Nick Leitz (i) | Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | 151 | 0 | Accident | 0 |
| 30 | 15 | 9 | Jake Finch | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 143 | 0 | Accident | 7 |
| 31 | 1 | 41 | Sam Mayer | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 119 | 33 | Accident | 6 |
| 32 | 13 | 17 | Corey Day | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 112 | 0 | Accident | 15 |
| 33 | 9 | 54 | Taylor Gray | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 112 | 0 | Accident | 4 |
| 34 | 25 | 24 | Harrison Burton | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 101 | 2 | Engine | 3 |
| 35 | 35 | 38 | Logan Bearden | RSS Racing | Ford | 69 | 0 | Fuel Pump | 2 |
| 36 | 36 | 47 | Carson Ware | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 63 | 0 | Suspension | 1 |
| 37 | 33 | 55 | Joey Gase | Joey Gase Motorsports | Ford | 2 | 0 | Engine | 1 |
| 38 | 21 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | Brakes | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||||
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 19 among 11 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 13 for 76 laps
- Red flags: 4
- Time of race: 2 hours, 58 minutes and 27 seconds
- Average speed: 89.060 miles per hour (143.328 km/h)
Standings after the race
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