NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers as Ryan Blaney wins, Bubba Wallace penalized on final lap

Jul 13, 2026 - 10:25

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Ryan Blaney dominated before and after a 3-hour weather delay on July 12 and 13 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 3-wide race to the line.

Blaney won, while Wallace was penalized for going below the yellow line on the backstretch. Hocevar finished 3rd, 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:

NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers as Ryan Blaney enters regular-season championship picture

Winner: Ryan Blaney

Ryan 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 Carson Hocevar and Bubba 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 3rd in the standings and a full race's amount of points ahead of Ty Gibbs in 4th.

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 all night and surged to 5th on the overtime finish.

Handling was a major factor all night long, 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 next week at North Wilkesboro.

Loser: Bubba Wallace on the final lap

Bubba Wallace was a contender all night long, then finished with back-breaking penalty on the final lap.

Wallace crossed the finish line in 2nd after a 3-wide duel with Ryan Blaney and Carson 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.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers as Ryan Blaney wins, Bubba Wallace penalized on final lap