2026 Fr8 208
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at EchoPark Speedway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 Fr8 208 was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race held on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 125 laps—shortened from 135 laps due to time constraints with the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway (with superspeedway rules), it was the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, and the 18th running of the event.
| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||
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| Race 2 of 25 in the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series | |||
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| Date | February 21, 2026 | ||
| Location | EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.54 miles (2.48 km) | ||
| Distance | 125 laps, 192.5 mi (309.7 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 135 laps, 207.9 mi (334.6 km) | ||
| Average speed | 131.027 miles per hour (210.868 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | ThorSport Racing | ||
| Time | 32.050 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | |
| Laps | 70 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver | Tanner Gray | Tricon Garage | |
| Time | 30.636 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 7 | Kyle Busch | Spire Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | FS1 | ||
| Announcers | Jamie Little, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | NRN | ||
| Booth announcers | Brad Gillie, Ross Chastain, and Nick Yeoman | ||
| Turn announcers | Doug Turnbull (1 & 2) and Jack Johnson (3 & 4) | ||
In a shortened race, Kyle Busch, driving for Spire Motorsports, survived late chaos and led the final seven laps to earn his 68th career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, his first of the season, and his third consecutive win in the Atlanta truck race.[9] Carson Hocevar finished second, and Gio Ruggiero finished third. Ben Rhodes and Corey Heim rounded out the top five, while Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Justin Haley rounded out the top ten.
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 Xfinity Series stock car races since 1992.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 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.[10][11] 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.[12]
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Friday, February 20, at 3:00 PM EST.[13] Since EchoPark Speedway is an intermediate track 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 11–36. The fastest ten drivers from the first round advanced to the second and final round, and whoever set the fastest time in Round 2 won the pole and determined the rest of the starting lineup.[14]
Jake Garcia, driving for ThorSport Racing, qualified on pole position, having advanced from the preliminary round and set the fastest time in Round 2, with a lap of 32.050 seconds, and a speed of 172.980 miles per hour (278.384 km/h).[15]
No drivers failed to qualify.
Qualifying results
Race
Race results
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Corey Heim | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 10 |
| 2 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 9 |
| 3 | 7 | Kyle Busch (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 4 | 77 | Carson Hocevar (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 5 | 88 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 5 |
| 7 | 44 | Andrés Pérez de Lara | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 11 | Kaden Honeycutt | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 3 |
| 9 | 19 | Daniel Hemric | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 17 | Gio Ruggiero | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 1 |
Stage Two Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 10 |
| 2 | 45 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 3 | 77 | Carson Hocevar (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 4 | 38 | Chandler Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 7 |
| 5 | 7 | Kyle Busch (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 6 | 17 | Gio Ruggiero | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 5 |
| 7 | 98 | Jake Garcia | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 4 |
| 8 | 44 | Andrés Pérez de Lara | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 1 | Corey Heim | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 34 | Layne Riggs | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 1 |
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 45
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 7 | Kyle Busch (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 125 | 37 | Running | 0 |
| 2 | 18 | 77 | Carson Hocevar (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 3 | 10 | 17 | Gio Ruggiero | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 125 | 0 | Running | 40 |
| 4 | 2 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 125 | 70 | Running | 42 |
| 5 | 20 | 1 | Corey Heim | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 125 | 6 | Running | 44 |
| 6 | 22 | 38 | Chandler Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 125 | 0 | Running | 38 |
| 7 | 1 | 98 | Jake Garcia | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 125 | 2 | Running | 34 |
| 8 | 12 | 62 | John Hunter Nemechek (i) | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 125 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 9 | 5 | 45 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 10 | 25 | 16 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Ram | 125 | 0 | Running | 27 |
| 11 | 26 | 25 | Ty Dillon (i) | Kaulig Racing | Ram | 125 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 12 | 8 | 5 | Adam Andretti | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 125 | 0 | Running | 25 |
| 13 | 30 | 10 | Daniel Dye | Kaulig Racing | Ram | 125 | 0 | Running | 24 |
| 14 | 4 | 18 | Tyler Ankrum | McAnally–Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 23 |
| 15 | 9 | 44 | Andrés Pérez de Lara | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 29 |
| 16 | 28 | 12 | Brenden Queen (R) | Kaulig Racing | Ram | 125 | 0 | Running | 21 |
| 17 | 27 | 42 | Tyler Reif | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 20 |
| 18 | 21 | 81 | Kris Wright | McAnally–Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Running | 19 |
| 19 | 29 | 14 | Mini Tyrrell (R) | Kaulig Racing | Ram | 124 | 0 | Running | 18 |
| 20 | 16 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 124 | 10 | Running | 32 |
| 21 | 11 | 11 | Kaden Honeycutt | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 123 | 0 | Running | 19 |
| 22 | 14 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet | 123 | 0 | Running | 15 |
| 23 | 33 | 2 | Clayton Green | Team Reaume | Ford | 123 | 0 | Running | 14 |
| 24 | 31 | 22 | Josh Reaume | Team Reaume | Ford | 123 | 0 | Running | 13 |
| 25 | 32 | 33 | Frankie Muniz | Team Reaume | Ford | 123 | 0 | Running | 12 |
| 26 | 24 | 76 | Spencer Boyd | Freedom Racing Enterprises | Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Running | 11 |
| 27 | 19 | 34 | Layne Riggs | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 119 | 0 | Running | 11 |
| 28 | 7 | 88 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 119 | 0 | Running | 15 |
| 29 | 34 | 69 | Tyler Tomassi | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 119 | 0 | Running | 8 |
| 30 | 17 | 15 | Tanner Gray | Tricon Garage | Toyota | 116 | 0 | Running | 8 |
| 31 | 6 | 13 | Cole Butcher (R) | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 100 | 0 | Accident | 6 |
| 32 | 23 | 26 | Dawson Sutton | Rackley W.A.R. | Chevrolet | 100 | 0 | Accident | 5 |
| 33 | 36 | 93 | Caleb Costner | Costner Motorsports | Chevrolet | 99 | 0 | Handling | 4 |
| 34 | 13 | 19 | Daniel Hemric | McAnally–Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 88 | 0 | Suspension | 5 |
| 35 | 35 | 90 | Justin Carroll | TC Motorsports | Toyota | 65 | 0 | Rear Gear | 2 |
| 36 | 15 | 91 | Christian Eckes | McAnally–Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 2 | 0 | Transmission | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||||
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 14 among 5 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 3 for 18 laps
- Red flags: 0
- Time of race: 1 hour, 28 minutes and 9 seconds
- Average speed: 131.027 miles per hour (210.868 km/h)
Standings after the race
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