HAMPTON, Ga. — Say goodbye to the Atlanta Motor Speedway and hello to EchoPark Speedway.

Gov. Brian Kemp joined officials on Tuesday morning at the iconic track in Hampton to announce the new name.

EchoPark Automotive has secured a seven-year, multimillion dollar agreement for the naming rights.

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Channel 2’s Alison Mastrangelo was there as the new name and branding were unveiled around the speedway.

“We’re thrilled to partner with an innovative, customer-focused company like EchoPark Automotive as the entitlement partner of our newly named EchoPark Speedway,” said Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith. “This partnership will fuel great experiences for fans attending our speedway for years to come.”

After the announcement, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain took Gov. Kemp on a ride around the newly renamed track.

Fans will get their first chance to see the new track logo along the track walls and Victory Lane at the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart on Saturday, June 28.

EchoPark Automotive specializes in pre-owned vehicle sales and is one of three operating segments of Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 300 company and one of the largest automotive and powersports retailers in the U.S.

According to a news release, EchoPark Automotive operates 17 locations in 13 markets, including Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, where a majority of Atlanta NASCAR fans travel from each year to visit the historic speedway.

“We have enjoyed serving guests in the Atlanta metro area since EchoPark Atlanta opened its doors in 2020,” said David B. Smith, Chairman and CEO of Sonic Automotive. “This partnership allows us to share the value of the exceptional EchoPark car-buying experience with more guests in Atlanta and the surrounding area who enjoy the excitement of NASCAR racing at this iconic venue.”

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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Atlanta Motor Speedway is no more — at least, as far as its name goes.

State officials, NASCAR drivers and the speedway’s leadership gathered on Tuesday to announce the venue’s new name: EchoPark Speedway. The venue is decked out in the company’s signature green, and the sign above the grandstands now reads “EchoPark Speedway.”

WATCH THE LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT ON ANF+:

Owned by Sonic Automotive, a Fortune 300 company, EchoPark Automotive specializes in selling pre-owned vehicles. In 2020, the company opened a storefront in Duluth. Later that year, it also sponsored the speedway’s EchoPark 250, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

Sonic Automotive CEO David Smith said during the announcement that he hopes the renaming helps Echo Park become a household name.

Open since 1960, the iconic speedway has been home to some of NASCAR’s closest race finishes. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said it sees more than 1 million visitors each year and has an estimated annual economic impact of $250 million.

“To me, today is just another feather in our cap, if you will, when you think about the great sports Mecca that Georgia is becoming,” Kemp said.

The speedway’s EchoPark partnership will last for at least seven years, as per the agreement.

The next major race at EchoPark Speedway is the Quaker State 400 on June 28.

Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved.

Game On

RACE INFO

DATE: Sunday, June 8, 2025

RACE: FireKeepers Casino 400

TRACK: Michigan International Speedway (Brooklyn, MI)

TRACK LENGTH: 2 miles

TV: Prime Video (2 p.m. ET)

RADIO: MRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (2 p.m. ET)

JOE GIBBS RACING

JGR AT MICHIGAN: Joe Gibbs Racing owns eight NASCAR Cup Series victories at Michigan International Speedway. In 162 combined starts at the two-mile track, the organization has tallied 48 top-five finishes, 78 top-10s, eight pole awards, and 1,279 laps led. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, and Tony Stewart have all driven JGR entries to victory lane at Michigan.

DENNY HAMLIN

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HAMLIN AT MICHIGAN: Denny Hamlin is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at Michigan International Speedway after claiming victories in 2010 and 2011. In 34 career starts at the two-mile track, Hamlin has earned 12 top-five finishes, 19 top-10s, one pole award, and 263 laps led. The Virginia native has finished inside the top 10 in seven consecutive Michigan races and has led in eight of the last nine races at the track dating back to August 2018.

NASHVILLE RECAP: Hamlin finished third in last weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway. After starting second, he led 79 laps and won the opening stage of the race. He ran inside the top three throughout the final two segments before ultimately ending the night with a third-place result.

FASTEST LAP: Hamlin posted the Xfinity Fastest Lap in the past two races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway. Overall, Hamlin is tied for the series lead with three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season.

CHRIS GAYLE: Crew chief Chris Gayle’s best Cup Series performance at Michigan International Speedway was a third-place result with Ty Gibbs last August. He also has a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series victories atop the pit box at the two-mile track. In June 2015, he led Kyle Busch to victory lane and he followed that up by guiding Gibbs to a win in August 2022.

CHASE BRISCOE

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BRISCOE AT MICHIGAN: Chase Briscoe has four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway with a best finish of 11th in 2021. Briscoe finished inside the top 10 in his only Michigan starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (seventh in 2019), NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (ninth in 2017), and the ARCA Menards Series (second in 2016).

NASHVILLE RECAP: Briscoe started on the pole and led a season-high 51 laps last Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway. Briscoe earned valuable stage points with a third-place finish in stage one before ultimately finishing 17th.

2025 POLE AWARDS: Chase Briscoe set a new track record (164.396 mph) last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway to capture his series-leading third pole award of the 2025 season. With three poles in the first 14 races, Briscoe has earned more pole awards in 2025 than in his previous four seasons combined.

JAMES SMALL: 2025 marks James Small’s sixth season as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief. The first five years of his tenure as crew chief were spent with Martin Truex Jr. as Small led the No. 19 team to eight wins, 46 top-five finishes, 86 top-10s, and four NASCAR playoffs appearances. The Australia native led Truex to a runner-up finish in the 2021 championship and to the 2023 regular season championship.

BASS PRO SHOPS: Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Newsweek as “America’s Most Trusted Retailer for Outdoor Gear”. For more information or to shop online, visit www.basspro.com.

CHRISTOPHER BELL

No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE

BELL AT MICHIGAN: Christopher Bell’s best finish in six NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway is a trio of 13th-place finishes. Bell was on his way to a solid run at Michigan last year before a late-race accident relegated him to a 35th-place finish. The Oklahoma native posted a second-place finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Michigan during his 2017 championship season.

STARTING UP FRONT: In three races with the Next Gen car at Michigan, Bell has started second (2022), first (2023), and third (2024). His pole-winning lap of 193.382 mph in August 2023 is the fastest qualifying lap at any track since the Next Gen car’s inception in 2022.

NASHVILLE RECAP: Bell scored his seventh top-10 finish in the last eight races with a 10th-place result last Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway. After starting seventh, he ran up front early on and finished fifth in stage one. During stage two, Bell was involved in an accident on a restart that sent his No. 20 Toyota spinning into the outside wall. Despite the setback, the No. 20 team repaired Bell’s car well enough to allow him to recover for another top-10 result.

SEASON TO DATE: The 2025 season got off to a solid start for Bell, highlighted by three back-to-back-to-back wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway. Most recently, Bell proved to be an All-Star, taking home the $1 million prize for winning at North Wilkesboro Speedway. With 14 races completed this season, Bell is tied for the series lead with three wins and 10 top-10 finishes to go along with six top-fives, one pole award, and 147 laps led.

RHEEM AT MICHIGAN: Rheem will host more than 65 guests this weekend in Michigan. Executives will be on site from the Rheem Operations team in addition to guests from the Water Heater Division (WHD), Commercial Air Division, and customers from key distributor Ferguson.

TY GIBBS

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GIBBS AT MICHIGAN: Ty Gibbs has finished 11th or better in all three of his NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway, including a third-place result last August. In three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, Gibbs has one win, two top-five results, and never finish finished worse than 13th.

MICHIGAN WINS: Gibbs owns a pair of victories at Michigan International Speedway. In August 2021, he started on the pole and led 99 of 100 laps to win the ARCA Menards Series race at the two-mile facility. In August 2022, Gibbs led 54 of 125 laps to win the Xfinity Series race at Michigan.

NASHVILLE RECAP: Gibbs started 22nd and finished 31st in last weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway.

TYLER ALLEN: Crew chief Tyler Allen is in his first year leading Gibbs and the No. 54 team. While this is Allen’s first experience as a crew chief at the Cup Series level, he had a standout season in 2024 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allen led JGR’s No. 20 Xfinity Series team to eight victories and a runner-up finish in the owner’s championship.

JGR PR

He’s racing into history!

On a Friday night in Nashville, 22-year-old Rajah Caruth made history once again, capturing his second career victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and reigniting a winning legacy for Spire Motorsports. The Washington, D.C. native took the checkered flag at the Nashville Superspeedway on May 30th, ending a 31-race winless streak for the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado—and marking his first victory of the 2025 season, BET reports.

Caruth’s triumph didn’t just secure a win, it sent a message. After claiming the lead on pit road at the end of Stage 2, he never looked back, holding off fierce competitors Corey Heim and Layne Riggs by mere fractions of a second. Over the final 51 laps, Caruth drove with the kind of determination that champions are made of, finishing 0.518 seconds ahead of Heim and 0.629 seconds ahead of Riggs.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Caruth said, breathless after the race. “Those guys were breathing down my neck the whole run. My pit crew won that race—Jarius, Zico, Dawson, Josh, Cody—they won that race for us. Thanks to them, thanks to everyone at HendrickCars.com, the men and women at Spire Motorsports. We’ve been off this year, but good to get a dub tonight, man. I’m out of breath.”

Caruth becomes only the third driver to notch multiple wins for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series, joining NASCAR greats Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. More than a win, this was a statement, a reminder that young Black talent is not only present in motorsports but pushing the sport into a new era.

“I was just asking myself, ‘How bad do you want it?’” Caruth shared. “I don’t know, I just tried my best and we had clean air and their stuff was better, but I just did my best. That was it.”

Corey Heim, who finished just behind him, echoed the sentiment. “But big congrats to Rajah. He did an awesome job managing from the lead… It’s nice racing against people that aren’t going to wreck you, racing for the race lead.”

Because of his victory, Caruth clinched a spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, a huge milestone for the young driver who is steadily blazing a trail through a sport still learning how to fully embrace diversity.

The road ahead continues June 7th at Michigan International Speedway, where Caruth will carry not only momentum but the hopes of a new generation of fans who see themselves in every turn he takes.

Cover photo: HBCU Grad Rajah Caruth Secures Second Career NASCAR Truck Series Win/Photo credit: WME Sports/Instagram

Pocono Raceway President Ben May will have two new changes to account for as the NASCAR season quickly approaches the Tricky Triangle.

Jim France wanted to fund a car for an upcoming Cup Series race because of his love of the sport, and further demonstrate that elite drivers from other racing series can be competitive on a NASCAR road course.

The Athletic reported Thursday that France would fund a car that would have been fielded at Sonoma Raceway by Spire Motorsports with Jack Aitken behind the wheel. However, the piece reported that backlash from the garage resulted in the plans being scrapped.

RACER has since learned, amid the speculation as to his reason, that the venture was driven by France’s love of racing. France, praised for his “racer” mentality, has been chairman and CEO of NASCAR since 2018. His father, Bill France Sr, founded the sport.

The revelation that France wanted to fund an entry was not new; he had entertained the idea in the past, but a deal never materialized. Additionally, while the garage viewed it as a conflict of interest, the plans changed in this case because it was seen as bad timing. Sources with knowledge of the situation did not elaborate as to the nature of the bad timing, but pushed back against the speculation of it being tied to the ongoing antitrust lawsuit between NASCAR and two of its teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, or because of the backlash from the garage that The Athletic reported.

The car would have given Aitken a chance at NASCAR’s top level while showing that elite drivers from other motorsports disciplines could compete in NASCAR on a road course. Action Express, with which Aitken competes in IMSA and is co-owned by France, did the Next Gen testing when the car was in development.

Sources acknowledged to RACER that while the deal would have represented a conflict of interest, it would have been manageable as a one-off entry and not a full-time team. It was expressed that if France wanted to be full-time in the series, that decision would have been made a long while ago.

There is no telling if France will look to enter a race in the future, but it is presumptuous to say it would be off the table.

RACER reached out to multiple team executives looking for further insight into the garage’s feelings about a potential France-backed entry. Only one, a team owner, spoke with RACER on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to expressing how it would be a conflict of interest, the owner expressed the overall bad optics of the scenario. As the sport is trying to find ways to continue to collaborate and grow the business, and sees itself in the middle of an antitrust lawsuit, the idea of fielding a car was confusing. But the owner also admitted they didn’t know what France’s motivation was for doing so.

The owner summarized the situation: “It makes zero sense for anyone who owns a series to compete in it. It’s a bad look.”