HAMPTON, Ga. — EchoPark Speedway may be the perfect setting for Tyler Reddick to regain some momentum in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Reddick won five of the first nine points races this year in his 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota, including at EchoPark Speedway on Feb. 22 — one week after winning the season-opening Daytona 500 — to take a dominant lead in the standings.
Reddick’s points lead has disappeared in recent weeks. Denny Hamlin, who drives the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota but co-owns 23XI Racing, enters Sunday night’s race at the same 1.54-mile oval leading Reddick by 44 points.
Overall, Reddick has two wins in three starts on drafting tracks this season, giving him reason for optimism. Reddick said Saturday he is “extremely” confident he can enjoy more success in his return to the Atlanta-area track.
“In my opinion, we’re stronger when we come back here in the summer race,” Reddick said. “We’re still plenty good in the spring, but what we do well at EchoPark Speedway really shows up in the summer. … Our strength typically is handling, and I feel like the more that’s in play the better I do with these kind of races.”
Hamlin was third while Reddick finished 36th in last weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, where Chase Briscoe was the winner in the JGR No. 19 Toyota. Reddick has finished 25th or worse in four of the past five Cup Series races.
“For us to still be second in points … all things considered, I think most people with a race car would do anything to have that,” Reddick said.
Meanwhile, reigning Cup Series Kyle Larson is trying to end a 43-race winless streak and also win for the first time at EchoPark Speedway. He finished third at the track in February 2025.
The winless stretch is his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. His last win in the Hendrick No. 5 Chevrolet came at Kansas Speedway in May 2025. Larson, whose second Cup Series title last fall came four years after his first, finished 34th after qualifying second last week at Chicagoland. He was in the top five before losing several laps following a spin in the second stage of the race.
Larson said he feels his team has been making gains each week.
“I feel like we’ve noticed each week, I feel like Hendrick as a whole has gotten just a little bit better and closed the gap a little,” Larson said. “I think it feels like a large chunk still left to get, but I feel like in this sport … you’re probably closer than it really feels out on the track.”
Chase Elliott, one of Larson’s teammates at Hendrick, won last summer’s race at EchoPark Speedway to end a 44-race winless streak. Elliott is from Dawsonville, Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and just 60 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Despite his streak, Larson is sixth in the points race, only one point behind Elliott.
On top of the battle for position in the regular-seson standings, the second year of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge continues with the third round. The winner of the five-race, bracketed tournament will earn $1 million. One compelling matchup is Hamlin and JGR teammate Christopher Bell.
“I guess probably we’ll be the underdog against Christopher,” Hamlin said before adding “whoever doesn’t wreck” has the advantage.
Elliott is matched against Briscoe. The other pairings are Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) against William Byron (Hendrick) against as well as Alex Bowman (Hendrick) versus Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports).
Four drivers will advance in the bracket for next weekend’s Cup Series race in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and the championship round is scheduled for July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bell will again wear a cast on his left wrist that was broken during a hit at Michigan International Speedway on June 7. He had only a wrap on the wrist Saturday but said he’ll add the cast for the race “just in case something happens.”
He said he hopes this will be the last race with the cast.
“I’m close, if not 100% right there,” Bell said.
Team Penske Fords secured the front row spots for Sunday night’s race. Blaney earned the pole position with a lap time of 30.815 seconds at 179.912 mph during qualifying Saturday, while three-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano was second with a lap time of 30.851 seconds at 179.702 mph.
“Feels good to have a Penske front row,” Blaney said, adding he also can work well with other Ford drivers. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get organized at some point but it’s nice that Joey and I are starting at the front.”
Blaney is third in the Cup Series points race. Hamlin qualified 28th and Reddick 31st.
“They normally don’t qualify great at these speedways,” Blaney said, adding he expects the Toyotas “can probably be aggressive in the draft. … You look at the spring race here. The Toyotas were really good in the race.”
Larson was third in qualifying, followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and fellow Chevrolet driver Daniel Suarez of Spire Motorsports. Bowman, Elliott, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.