It was, “one of those” NASCAR races that ran long into the early morning at EchoPark Speedway. This time, it was Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 car crossing the finish line first.
Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, looked like they were going to repeat Atlanta’s 2024 historic photo-finish, but with a strong run on the outside lane, the No. 12 car set sail into the tri-oval approaching the checkered flag. Blaney dominated the Quaker State 400 and earned a well-deserved victory.
Sundays’ race began had a green flag start time around 7:20pm, however, it wasn’t until 1:50ish in the morning that the Cup Series field was able to complete all 400-miles. This was due to a 3 hour, 9 minutes, and 17 second red flag which was caused by a lightning strike in stage two.
When the race has a late start time and teams are aware that weather is coming, it’s always a question whether the race will end early at the halfway mark. This time, the lightning struck before the field was able to reach the 200th mile.
After the initial lightning strike, a rain shower poured over the track resulting in a prolonged delay. After about an hour, the rain stopped and track drying activity started. NASCAR estimated for a 11:45pm EST dry track, but were able to try the track quickly enough to send drivers to their cars at 11:15pm.
Once the race started, there were 137-laps to go in the event. If you were hoping for multi-lane, energetic, nail-biting racing, you got exactly what you wanted. Drivers and teams were unsure of how the track surface would react with the cooler, wet, slick surface, it only appeared as if it made the cars faster.
There were no major wrecks before this point in the race, it was fairly clean with some wall-taps here and there. The first wreck came on the final lap of stage 2 as Bubba Wallace spun through the infield grass. This was a minor incident, he had some contact from Ty Gibbs and collected minimal damage from this spin.
Kyle Larson was the next driver to be involved in a caution, the No. 5 had a rough day with a solo spin on the straightaway, and eventually wrecked again moments later putting an end to his day. He resulted in a 34th-place finish.
Christopher Bell was the reason why Blaney won this race, he gave the No. 12 a fantastic push off of turn four on the final lap, pushing Blaney to victory. After the race, Blaney thanked Bell in his post-race interview recognizing how important that help was.
There was no doubt that the Team Penske No. 12 car was the strongest all day, the Ford swept each stage, won the race, and almost had a perfect 76-point, ending with 75. Cody Ware had the fastest lap of the race and was awarded one point for that.
Bubba Wallace crossed the finish line in third, however, would be credited with a 29th-place finish. On the final lap, his No. 23 crossed the double-yellow line and NASCAR gave him a penalty for advancing his position under the double-yellow line, this would take away crucial points from the No. 23 team, who is fighting to stay alive in the Chase.
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the 21st-race of the 2026 season, tune into TNT Sports on Sunday, July 19th, at 7:00pm to catch the race line.