NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers as Ryan Blaney wins, Bubba Wallace penalized on final lap
Ryan Blaney (front, right) and crew chief Jonathan Hassler celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway on Sunday in Hampton, Georgia.
Ryan Blaney dominated before and after a three-hour weather delay Sunday night at EchoPark Speedway.
But he still had to make a final-lap pass for the win on the drafting track via a major push from Christopher Bell to claim the Quaker State 400 NASCAR Cup Series race in Atlanta.
Carson Hocevar held the lead at the white flag, but Blaney and Bubba Wallace made runs into turns 3 and 4 to create a three-wide race to the line.
Blaney won, while Wallace was penalized for going below the yellow line on the backstretch. Hocevar finished third, singing on the radio before the overtime finish and during his post-race interview.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Atlanta race:
Winner: Ryan Blaney
Blaney leaves Atlanta with a 65-point deficit behind points leader Denny Hamlin after his second win of the season while also sweeping the stages.
Blaney has Christopher Bell partly to thank for the race victory, as the No. 20 gave the No. 12 a major push from the exit of turn 4 through the tri-oval to pass Hocevar and Wallace for the lead.
It might be a week too soon to call the regular-season title race a three-driver race, but Blaney is within range to make a three-team battle given the short-track heavy schedule coming up
At the very least, Blaney is secure at no worse than third in the standings and a full race's amount of points ahead of Ty Gibbs in fourth.
Ford has had a disappointing 2026 season overall, but Blaney is the exception.
Winner: Erik Jones
Erik Jones only managed a four-point gain in 16th as he sits next to the Chase cutline, but the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota had a very strong run.
In another race dominated by the top teams, Jones ran inside the top 15 consistently and surged to fifth on the overtime finish.
Handling was a major factor throughout the race, before and after the red flag. Jones continues to impress.
Legacy Motor Club's run of good form has happened without a short track on the schedule. With three upcoming in the next four weekends, LMC will have something more to prove starting this weekend at North Wilkesboro.
Loser: Bubba Wallace on the final lap
Wallace was a contender until the final lap with back-breaking penalty.
Wallace crossed the finish line in second after a three-wide duel with Blaney and Hocevar for the win, but was penalized for a darting move in the backstretch in which he drove below the yellow line and advanced his position.
NASCAR pushed Wallace back to 29th in the finishing order as the final car on the lead lap.
In his post-race interview with TNT, Wallace disputed that he gained an advantage on his backstretch move below the yellow line. But the move did allow Wallace to have the bottom lane in a battle for the lead, and he was the leader by a nose for a few moments through turns 3 and 4.
Wallace lost 27 points with the penalty, a weighty outcome. The driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota is still 55 points above the cutline, but Wallace sure would have liked an 82-point cushion instead.
Loser: AJ Allmendinger's long-shot Chase hopes
As longshot as they were, AJ Allmendinger's Chase hopes likely were lost after a couple incidents at Atlanta.
Allmendinger spun on Lap 194 after contact, then had a race-ending tire failure into the turn 4 wall 38 laps later.
Allmendinger, after a 37th-place finish, leaves Atlanta in 22nd in points — 50 points behind the Chase cutline.
With no road courses left in the regular season, Allmendinger needed a run of consistency to have a chance to make the Chase. That didn't start with his performance at EchoPark Speedway.
