HAMPTON, Ga. — The NASCAR Cup Series heads to EchoPark Speedway for the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart on Saturday, June 28, 2025, marking the 18th race of the 2025 season and the inaugural event of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. The 400-mile, 260-lap race, held at the 1.54-mile quad-oval track, begins at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT Sports, with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The event, the 56th annual Quaker State 400, promises high-speed action as 40 drivers, including four open entries, compete for a $1 million prize in the tournament’s opening round.
The Quaker State 400 serves as the first of five races in the In-Season Challenge, a 32-driver bracket-style competition seeded from last week’s Pocono Raceway results. Notable matchups include No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin versus No. 32 seed Ty Dillon and No. 2 seed Chase Briscoe against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson. The winner of the challenge, concluding after five races, will claim the $1 million prize. Qualifying for the race takes place on Friday, June 27, at 5:05 p.m. ET, airing on TruTV. The race’s three stages consist of 60 laps for Stage 1, 100 laps for Stage 2, and 100 laps for the final stage.
EchoPark Speedway, formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, hosts its second Cup Series race of 2025 after Christopher Bell’s victory in February. The track, reconfigured in 2021 with 28-degree banking in turns and 5-degree banking on straightaways, is known for close finishes and frequent lead changes. In February 2024, Daniel Suárez won the closest three-wide finish in NASCAR history, edging Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch by 0.003 and 0.007 seconds. Joey Logano, the 2024 Quaker State 400 winner, aims to defend his title, while drivers like Bell, Blaney, and Carson Hocevar are among those to watch, per motorsport analysts.
“EchoPark Speedway doesn’t just host races—it delivers iconic moments, comeback stories, and photo finishes that fans talk about for years,” according to the speedway’s promotional materials. The race winner will receive a “nearly new” EchoPark Chevy Silverado and a trailer with a limited-edition Harley-Davidson motorcycle, one of only 26 produced for the 85th Anniversary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, available for pre-order at SturgisHD.com.
The weekend’s schedule includes the NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, streamed on the CW app, with qualifying at 3:05 p.m. ET. The Truck Series and ARCA Series races, the LiUNA! 150 and Lime Rock Park 100, occur at Lime Rock Park on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET, respectively, broadcast on FOX, FS2, and MRN. Fan events include a NASCAR Xfinity Series autograph session on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Echo Park Fan Stage, requiring wristbands distributed from 11:30 a.m. A pre-race concert by Jet Black Roses and a Trackside Live show with driver interviews from 4–5 p.m. on Saturday enhance the fan experience.
Dignitaries for the event include Grand Marshals EchoPark Automotive CMO Dino Bernacchi and eight-time Cup Series winner Kyle Petty, with All Elite Wrestling star Swerve Strickland as the honorary pace car driver. Walmart Market Manager Lisa Israel will wave the green flag, and TV personality Jessie Woo will perform the national anthem, accompanied by a C-130 flyover from Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The Speedway Children’s Charities hosts a cornhole tournament on Thursday, June 26, and a track walk with driver Ross Chastain on Saturday, with proceeds supporting local children in need.
The entry list features 40 drivers, including open entries Corey LaJoie (No. 01, Rick Ware Racing), David Starr (No. 66, MBM Motorsports), B.J. McLeod (No. 78, Live Fast Motorsports), and Connor Zilisch (No. 87, Trackhouse Racing). The track’s 850-acre facility, rebranded as EchoPark Speedway in June 2025 through a seven-year partnership with EchoPark Automotive, sports a new green color scheme and updated logo, visible across track walls and Victory Lane. Tickets and camping details are available at EchoParkSpeedway.com.
Since its inaugural race in 1960, won by Fireball Roberts, EchoPark Speedway has hosted 123 Cup Series races, with Cale Yarborough holding the record for most Quaker State 400 wins at six. The track’s history includes two races annually from 1960–2010 (except 1961, with three), one race from 2011–2020, and two since 2021. The 2025 race, with a purse of $11,055,250, marks the seventh event on the track’s current configuration, known for producing five or more cautions in the final stage in four of the last six races. Fans can expect intense, superspeedway-style racing, with Team Penske drivers Logano, Blaney, and Austin Cindric among the favorites, per Caesar’s Sportsbook odds.
