Rookie Nick Sanchez scores first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at EchoPark Speedway: Nick Sanchez charged to the front after a restart with seven laps left in Friday night’s Focused Health 250 and held off fellow Sunoco rookie Carson Kvapil to secure his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory. Sanchez, who rallied from a spin through the frontstretch grass at EchoPark Speedway on Lap 68, lost the top spot to Jesse Love on the final restart on Lap 157 of 163, but regained it on the following circuit.(Read More)(NASCAR)
#48-Nick Sanchez won the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Motor Speedway. The win is his first career win.
#1-Carson Kvapil finished second followed by #41-Sam Mayer, #88-Connor Zilisch and #54-Taylor Gray rounding out the top five. #2-Jesse Love, #19-Aric Almirola, #10-Daniel Dye, #28-Kyle Sieg, and #51-Jeremy Clements filled the top 10.
Pole sitter #00-Sheldon Creed was caught in an accident just before the end of stage 1 and finished 32nd.
The race started 50 minutes late after lightning was detected in the area and then was delay by another 80 minutes during stage 1, because of lightning.
#54-Taylor Gray won Stage 1. #20-Brandon Jones won Stage 2.
The fastest lap bonus was earned by#21-Austin Hill.
There were 12 lead changes among nine drivers and nine cautions for 58 yellow flag laps.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Atlanta Paint Schemes
Race Fast Facts – EchoPark Speedway:
Nick Sanchez # won the Focused Health 250, his first victory in 25 Xfinity Series races.
This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at EchoPark Speedway.
Carson Kvapil # (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at EchoPark Speedway. It is his seventh top-10 finish in 2025.
Sam Mayer (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in nine races at EchoPark Speedway.
Nick Sanchez (first) was the highest finishing rookie.
Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 63 points over Sam Mayer.
Xfinity Series Playoff Standings after Atlanta (Race 17 of 33):
1)#7-Justin Allgaier 3 wins (21 playoff points, regular season championship leader)
2)#21-Austin Hill 3 wins (21 playoff points)
3)#88-Connor Zilisch 2 win (13 playoff points)
4)#8-Sammy Smith 1 win (7 playoff points)
5)#2-Jesse Love 1 win (6 playoff points)
6)#20-Brandon Jones 1 win (6 playoff points)
7)#48-Nick Sanchez 1 win (5 playoff points)
8)#41-Sam Mayer 561, +136
9)#1-Carson Kvapil 488, +61
10)#54-Taylor Gray 453, +28
11)#27-Jeb Burton 445, +20
12)#00-Sheldon Creed 425, +0
Currently below elimination line
13)#39-Ryan Sieg 425, -0
14)#25-Harrison Burton 424, -1
15)#16-Christian Eckes 374, -51
16)#10-Daniel Dye 373, -52
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race Updates:
Checkered flag for Sanchez. His first career win over Kvapil, Mayer, Zilisch, Gray, Love, Almirola, Dye, KSeig and Clements.
White flag for Sanchez. Kvapil second, then Mayer, Gray, Almirola and Zilisch.
Lap 161 – Three to go. Sanchez still the leader. Kvapil and Zilisch battling for second.
Lap 159 – Sanchez back to the lead over Kvapil, Zilisch, Mayer, and Love.
Lap 158 – Love takes the lead on the restart and holds it.
Lap 157 – Green flag with 7 laps remaining. Sanchez leads Love, Almirola, Kvapil, Zilisch, Mayer, Honeyman, Dye, Gray, and Jones.
Lap 155 – Pit road is open. Leaders all stay out.
Lap 152 – CAUTION for debris from McLaughlin on the backstretch. Sanchez leads Love, Almirola, Zilisch, and Kvapil.
Lap 149 – Sanchez back out front with Almirola behind him. Love and Zilisch down low on the inside.
Lap 147 – Love, on the inside, leads Sanchez at the line. Almirola third, then Zilisch and Kvapil.
Lap 144 – Sanchez leads at the line with 20 to go.
Lap 140 – Back to green with 24 laps to go. Almirola, Gray, Sanchez, Mayer, DiBenedetto, Love, Jones, Honeyman, Kvapil, Zilisch.
Lap 135 – CAUTION for debris on the frontstretch. It’s a tire carcass from Maggio.
Lap 133 – Almirola and Gray still up front. Sanchez up to third, followed by Mayer and DiBenedetto.
Lap 131 – Green flag with 33 laps remaining. Almirola leads Gray, Mayer, Jones, Love, Honeyman, Thompson, DiBenedetto, Dye and Perkins the top 10.
Lap 129 – Pit road is open for a quickie yellow. The top 3 stay out. Zilisch and Kvapil are the first to come to pit road. A mix of strategies through the field.
Lap 126 – CAUTION is out for McLaughlin stopped on track after spinning off turn 4.
Lap 125 – Less than 40 laps remaining. Almirola still leads Gray. The top 7 cars are separated by less than 1 second.
Lap 111 – The race seems to have settled into a groove for a bit. Just over 50 laps remaining.
Lap 101 – 63 laps remaining, the top 5 are Almirola, Gray, Mayer, Kvapil, and HBurton.
Lap 96 – Almirola takes the lead.
Lap 94 – Green for the start of the final stage: Gray, Honeyman, Almirola, Smith, HBurton, Mayer, Zilisch, Jones, Kvapiol and Love.
Lap 92 – Pit road is open. A vast majority of the field comes in. Gray, Honeyman, and Almirola among those that stay out. Off pit road: Mayer, Zilisch, Jones, Kvapil.
Lap 91 – Stage 2 ends under caution: Jones, Love, Kvapil, DiBenedetto, Poole, Thompson, Sanchez, KSieg, Perkins, and Ellis the top 10.
Lap 86 – CAUTION right back out. Clements spins in turn 1.
Lap 86 – Green flag back out with five laps remaining in stage 2. Kvapil leads Love, DiBenedetto, Jones, Clements, Thompson, Poole, KSieg, Ellis and Sanchez.
Lap 84 – Pit road is open. Zilisch and several others pit. Kvapil stays out to take the lead.
Lap 83 – The race is now halfway and an official race. It will end tonight.
Lap 81 – CAUTION out for a spin by HBurton on the backstretch.
Lap 74 – Green flag back out. Zilisch and Kvapil still up front.
Lap 72 – Pit road is open but most drivers stay out.
Lap 68 – CAUTION out for a spin by Sanchez on the frontstretch.
Lap 60 – Zilisch and Kvapil side by side for the lead, as they have been since the restart. Much of the field running double-wide.
Lap 55 – Back to green for the start of the second stage. Zilisch leads Honeyman, Kvapil, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Burton, Clements, KSeig, Ellis and Jones.
Lap 52 – A good number of drivers come to pit road for service. Zilisch takes over the lead. Mayer is the first off pit road, then Leitz, Gray, Sanchez, and Dye.
Lap 51 – After track cleanup has been completed, pit road will be open next time by. Drivers out from that accident include Allgaier, Sieg, Creed, Smith, Legge, and Staropoli.
Lap 46 – Stage 1 ends under caution. Gray wins it over Mayer, Dye, Sanchez, Thompson, Poole, DiBenedetto, Zilisch, Kvapil, and DiBenedetto.
Lap 41 – CAUTION out for an accident on the backstretch involving a number of cars: Creed, RSieg, Allgaier, Love, Smith, Alfredo, JBurton, Legge, Staropoli.
Lap 41 – Back to green at 10:33pm/et with five laps left in stage 1. Mayer leads Love, Gray, RSieg, Sanchez, Allgaier, Dye, JBurton, Eckes, and Poole.
Lap 39 – Pit road is open. Quickie yellow. A handful of drivers pit including Creed and Zilisch.
10:25pm/et – Engines have been re-fired and the red flag has been lifted after 1 hour and 19 minutes.
10:18pm/et – The lightning hold has been lifted. NASCAR will get back to racing as quickly as possible. They would like to be rolling cars off pit road by 10:25pm/et.
10:00pm/et – The lightning clock is down to 16 minutes. It has not gotten this low since the red flag.
9:37pm/et – The lightning clock continues to reset on a regular basis.
9:25pm/et – The lightning clock has reset again. It still has not rained at the track however.
9:20pm/et – More lightning.
9:16pm/et – Another lightning strike.
9:10pm/et – There has been another lightning strike in the area. The clock has been reset.
Lap 37 – NASCAR brings the cars to pit road. They each park in their stall.
Lap 34 – CAUTION out for lightning in the area. Minimum 30 minute delay if there are no additional strikes within 8 miles of the track.
Lap 31 – Hill comes to pit road.
Lap 25 – Hill’s car has shut off a couple times. The team is going to try to run him to the stage break and then diagnose the problem. He’s fallen to 28th, 7 seconds off the lead.
Lap 20 – Creed leads Zilisch, Love, Mayer and Gray. Hill is having fuel pickup problems and is dropping back.
Lap 19 – Williams, Retzlaff and Sawalich are officially out of the race.
Lap 16 – Back to green with Creed and Hill still up front. Rain and storms continue to be in the area.
Lap 13 – A few drivers in the back of the pack come down pit road for service. The leads stay out.
Lap 10 – Eckes is still on the lead lap, Perkins two laps down. The other drivers when to the garage for repairs.
Lap 5 – CAUTION is out for an accident involving Perkins, Williams, Retzlaff, Sawalich and Eckes in turn 4. Eckes got into Perkins to start it. Everyone drives to pit road.
Lap 3 – Creed and Hill have pulled away slightly but three wide behind them.
Lap 2 – Creed leads the first lap.
• 8:31pm/et – Green flag at Atlanta. Creed and Hill on the front row. First stage is 45 laps.
• 8:17pm/et – Engines fired.
• 8:10pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway. There are some light sprinkles at the track.
• 7:57pm/et – The lightning hold has been lifted. NASCAR plans to start pre-race ceremonies at 8:10pm/et. That will lead to a green flag time of about 8:30pm/et.
• Drivers to the rear tonight: #1-Carson Kvapil (Unapproved adjustments), #27-Jeb Burton (Unapproved adjustments), #53-Mason Maggio (Engine change), #91-C.J. McLaughlin (Unapproved adjustments)
• 7:21pm/et – More lightning has been detected in the area. Everything is on hold for 30 minutes if no other strikes are detected.
• 7:00pm/et – CW is now live with TV coverage
• 6:50pm/et – Despite a couple of lightning holds impacting Xfinity and Cup qualifying, the race is expected to start on time.
Race details:
Focused Health 250
Broadcast: CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 163 laps / 251.02 miles
Average time of race: 2:09:45
Stages: 45 / 90 / 163
Pit road speed: Sections 1 and 2: 90 mph / Other sections: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Fuel Window: 60 laps
To the rear: #1-Carson Kvapil (Unapproved adjustments), #27-Jeb Burton (Unapproved adjustments), #53-Mason Maggio (Engine change), #91-C.J. McLaughlin (Unapproved adjustments)
Pit-Stall Selections
#00-Sheledon Creed won the pole for the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway with a speed of 172.673mph. It’s his first pole at Atlanta, first of the year, and fourth of his career.
#21-Austin Hill will start the race in second, followed by #41-Sam Mayer, #20-Brandon Jones, #2-Jesse Love, #88-Connor Zilisch, #54-Taylor Gray, #91-CJ McLaughlin, #25-Harrison Burton, and #19-Aric Almirola.
Lightning at the track cancelled the final round of qualifying. The lineup was set based on the first round.
Did Not Qualify: None
See the complete Atlanta Starting Lineup
Qualifying Fast Facts — EchoPark Speedway:
Sheldon Creed won the Pole Award for the Focused Health 250 with a lap of 32.107 seconds, 172.673 mph.
This is his fourth pole in 120 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
This is his first pole and eighth top-10 start in 2025.
This is his first pole in eight races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Austin Hill (second) posted his 11th top-10 start of 2025 and his seventh in eight races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Sam Mayer (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his 12th in 17 races this season.
Connor Zilisch (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
There is no practice for the Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway.
Qualifying Order
Crew Rosters
NASCAR National Series News & Notes
- This weekend marks the 39th running of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway, and the eighth at Atlanta since the track was reconfigured to drafting track in 2022.
- JR Motorsports #88 won three races with three different driver/crew chief combos this season.
- Austin Hill won the last three Atlanta races and five of the last six.
- Austin Hill is tied with Kevin Harvick for most Atlanta wins all-time, Harvick won five prior to reconfiguration, Hill won five since reconfiguration.
- Austin Hill is the all-time drafting track leader in wins (9), stage wins (14) and laps led (754).
- Jesse Love won three straight poles at Atlanta and four straight poles on drafting tracks.
- Jesse Love’s six drafting track poles rank second to Joe Nemechek with 10.
- Sammy Smith has four straight top 10s at Atlanta, the longest active streak.
- Harrison Burton is the only driver to finish inside the top-10 in all three drafting track races this season.
- Richard Childress Racing won all three drafting track races this season and swept all six stages.
- Richard Childress Racing led 315 laps on drafting tracks this season (78%), the next closest team led 24.
- Richard Childress Racing won 11 of last 20 races on drafting tracks, all since Austin Hill joined team in 2022.
- Richard Childress Racing won seven of the last nine drafting track races (Austin Hill-5, Jesse Love 2).
Goodyear Tire Notes
There are 38 drivers/teams on the entry list for the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway. No cars will miss the show.
Notables: #07-Nick Leitz, #14-Garrett Smithley, #19-Aric Almirola, #24-Patrick Staropoli, #32-Katherine Legge, #35-Joey Gase, #45-Mason Massey, #53-Mason Maggio, #70-Leland Honeyman Jr. and #91-CJ McLaughlin.
See the full Atlanta entry list.
2025 practice and qualifying procedures
Atlanta At-Track Schedule
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Race rules and information:
