Despite Mother Nature and some big wrecks playing a factor, the Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The Focused Health 250 had plenty of highlight-worthy moments, including a first-time winner.

Rookie Nick Sanchez Scores First Xfinity Series Win

Nick Sanchez has had plenty of moments in his first season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, from leading laps to scoring Top 10 finishes. He even scored a career-best finish of third at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. That career best was topped on Friday night.  The 24-year-old rose to the challenge in a race that saw plenty of the favorites and best drivers on drafting tracks, including Austin Hill, who was knocked out of contention early. Heck, even Sanchez had a moment early in the race as he spun out, but kept his No. 48 Chevy from hitting anything.

Nick held off challenges from the likes of Connor Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, and Jesse Love to score his first Xfinity Series win, and just the second ever win for his team, Big Machine Racing.

Nick Sanchez gets his first career #XfinitySeries win! pic.twitter.com/0R15dhgUwx

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) June 28, 2025

Massive Wreck Takes Out Top Xfinity Stars

After an hour-plus-long weather delay, the race was able to resume, with just under 40 laps complete. The moment the racing got going again, things changed for some of the top stars of the series. A massive crash on the backstretch saw plenty of drivers who have already won this season taken out. The melee saw defending series champion Justin Allgaier caught up in the crash. As was Sammy Smith, polesitter Sheldon Creed, and multi-time Atlanta winner Austin Hill.

Despite Hill being caught up in the incident, he ended up back in the race, but multiple laps down. That wreck was certainly one way to clear out Hill, who has been the driver to beat in the draft.

Spin and Rally

Even when you think you’re out of the running at a drafting track in NASCAR, you’re not. That’s exactly what this race played out to be, with so many cars out of the race. Nick Sanchez certainly had to rally from his spin on lap 68. The spin occurred on the frontstretch grass, which could have easily destroyed the front of his car. By chance, it didn’t, and he eventually climbed his way back into the picture. As did Jesse Love, who was involved in the lap 40 pileup. Love, despite a heavily damaged nose on his car, was able to put his No. 2 Chevy in the front. Aric Almirola was also a factor in the closing laps of the race, but Love and Sanchez didn’t care about the former Cup driver.

Love and Sanchez put on a show during the final restart, which came on lap 157. Despite Love having plenty of pushers behind him, he had nothing to say to stop Sanchez’s No. 48 from holding off all challengers. That included a late run from both Zilisch and Kvapil. It was certainly an exciting duel for the race win, especially with so many drivers in the picture that hadn’t won before. So for Sanchez to rally from his spin and win, that was simply some great driving by the rookie.

A Very Notable Pit Road Incident

Following the race, Hill appeared to share words with Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Dye. Hill was multiple laps down and not in contention for the win, but still found himself racing near the front. In Dye’s case, he was in the battle for a very strong finish. The pair appeared to share words about something that happened during the race or the closing laps.

The pair were caught on video by Frontstretch.com discussing something, and it appears Hill threatened Dye about flipping him off.

.@_AustinHill and @danieldye43 had a tense discussion after the race that ended with Hill telling Dye “flip me off again motherfucker”#NASCAR
Presenting Partner: @MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/WiaDRBQnhT

— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) June 28, 2025

Whatever that was about was certainly eye-catching. Sure seems like Hill needs to chill, given he seems to only go after the younger guys, when he’s done some questionable things in racing himself.

Read Next: NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway Preview

Main Photo: Sean Gardner, Getty Images

Recording Date: 6/27/2025

Ford drivers managed to qualify first through eighth as Team Penske’s Joey Logano claimed pole position for the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, narrowly beating Josh Berry in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Along with the technically-aligned No. 21 machine, cars prepared by Penske ended up locking out the first two rows on the grid.

“Well you know we all have the same thing and obviously, Team Penske does a great job at building the same cars it seems like — all of us in the top four there,” said Logano, who has two wins at the Georgia track. “Proud of everyone at the shop. Proud of Roush-Yates engines. This is always a test of how much speed you can put in them. They’re fast for qualifying but let’s see what we got in the race.”

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Logano and Berry will be followed by Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece in the top five. Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer, Zane Smith, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe filled out the remainder of the top ten. Showcasing just how dominant they were, Bowman in ninth was the top-qualifying non-Ford driver.

While it was blue skies at the track, lightning within eight miles of the 1.5-mile speedway forced NASCAR to put things on hold early in the qualifying. At the time, 14 cars had qualified, but in the name of safety, NASCAR waited 30 minutes before resuming the session.

At the time of the lightning hold, Custer had the fast time in the No. 41 Haas Factory Ford. It was a solid lap, but not good enough as his fellow Ford drivers began to knock him down the order.

There were no incidents, but Michael McDowell did touch the outside wall as he began his flying lap. Chase Elliott also had a sketchy moment in Turns 3/4, getting loose.

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Several big names find themselves buried deep in the field as the entirety of Trackhouse Racing qualified outside the top 30. Denny Hamlin, who would have started on pole (per the metric) if the lightning had persisted, ended up 33rd in the final order. Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar, who finished 1-2 in the last Cup race at Atlanta, qualified 28th and 30th, respectively.

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads back to EchoPark Speedway for the second time this season on Saturday night, as drivers begin to battle it out in the Quaker State 400, kicking off the first-ever In-Season Challenge.

The In-Season Challenge is very simple. Over the next five weeks, 32 NCS drivers will fight it out in single-elimination racing, where drivers go in individual head-to-head battles, with the driver who has the better finish advancing to the next round.

NASCAR STREAMING OPTIONS

For example, first-seeded Denny Hamlin will go up against the No. 32 seed, Ty Dillon, on Saturday, while No. 7 Ryan Blaney will go up against Portage native Carson Hocevar, who is ranked 26th.

The winner of the event, which will be crowned in the return of the Brickyard 400 next month, will receive a $1 million prize.

Heading into the In-Season Championship, a shakeup in the regular season battle came ahead last Sunday when Chase Briscoe managed to keep enough gas in the tanke to outlast Denny Hamlin for his first win of the season, securing a spot in the playoffs. As it stands, 11 drivers have qualified for the postseason thanks to winning already this year.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

Quaker State 400

When: Saturday, June 28

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Where: EchoPark Speedway (Hampton, Ga.)

Channel: TNT

Check out the NASCAR schedule and results here

Saturday

At Lime Rock Park

Lakeville, Conn.

Lap length: 1.53 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (1) Corey Heim, Toyota, 100 laps, 60 points.

2. (4) Ty Majeski, Ford, 100, 41.

3. (12) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 100, 34.

4. (19) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 100, 33.

5. (16) Cam Waters, Ford, 100, 32.

6. (9) Chandler Smith, Ford, 100, 41.

7. (18) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 100, 0.

8. (5) Brent Crews, Toyota, 100, 36.

9. (11) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 100, 28.

10. (15) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 100, 27.

11. (14) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 100, 27.

12. (6) Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 100, 35.

13. (3) Layne Riggs, Ford, 100, 42.

14. (24) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 100, 23.

15. (13) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, 100, 0.

16. (8) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 100, 0.

17. (10) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 100, 20.

18. (20) Ben Maier, Chevrolet, 100, 19.

19. (23) Matt Crafton, Ford, 100, 18.

20. (2) Jordan Taylor, Chevrolet, 100, 33.

21. (7) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 100, 21.

22. (34) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 100, 15.

23. (22) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 100, 14.

24. (17) Jake Garcia, Ford, 99, 13.

25. (27) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 98, 12.

26. (21) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 98, 11.

27. (29) William Lambros, Ford, 98, 10.

28. (30) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 98, 9.

29. (28) Toni Breidinger, Toyota, 98, 8.

30. (25) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 96, 7.

31. (32) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 92, 6.

32. (31) Dale Quarterley, Chevrolet, electrical, 91, 5.

33. (33) Wesley Slimp, Toyota, ignition, 90, 4.

34. (26) Alex Labbe, Ford, reargear, 34, 0.

___

Race Statistics were not immediately available.

___

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Connecticut for the LiUNA! 150, the second race on the weekend schedule at the 2025 Lime Rock on Saturday, June 28 (6/28/2025) at 1 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race at 2025 Lime Rock will air on FOX, and streams live on fuboTV (free trial).

Qualifying airs starting 9:30 a.m. ET on FS1. Get the full EchoPark/Lime Rock weekend schedule here.

What: LiUNA! 150, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race

When: Saturday, June 28

Where: Lime Rock Park, Salisbury, Connecticut

Start time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

Channel finder: DirecTV, Verizon Fios, Cox, Xfinity, Spectrum, Optimum

What are the differences between the streaming services?

fuboTV is a live TV streaming service focused on live sports, including U.S. and international soccer, the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and more. It also includes its own fubo Sports Networks with exclusive programming. It offers 212 channels starting at $64.99 (for one month, then $84.99), includes unlimited DVR, and streams on most devices. Right now you can try fuboTV free.

DirecTV is comparable to FuboTV, as it provides similar channels and functionalities. Their Choice package, priced at $89.99 per month with a free trial, includes just over 125 live TV channels, and is currently $30 off for the first month of service. You can explore all of DirecTV’s channel packages on their website.

Hulu + Live TV features similar channels to fubo and DirecTV Stream, but also offers Disney+ and ESPN+ in their plan, which starts at $82.99 a month.

BET: Upgraded DraftKings Promo Code: Get $150 bonus, plus new casino and Pick6 deals this June

Corey Heim is the favorite to win at +130 with -310 odds for a top 3 finish, according to DraftKings. Layne Riggs, who won last week at Pocono, is +1000 to do it again.

Here’s a recent motorsports story via The AP:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — One of the founders of Spire Motorsports has entered an agreement to purchase the NASCAR team owned by Rick Ware and is jumping back into the stock car series because he believes the current charters are grossly undervalued.

T.J. Puchyr, who in 2018 alongside Jeff Dickerson launched the Spire team to take over the charter that Furniture Row Racing could not unload, told The Associated Press on Thursday he and Rick Ware Racing have a deal for him to take over Ware’s organization next season.

When Puchyr and Dickerson bought the Furniture Row charter, the market for NASCAR’s version of franchise models was essentially dead. Their agency had been hired by Furniture Row owner Barney Visser to sell the charter and when they couldn’t find a buyer, the two decided to purchase it themselves for $6 million and launch their own team.

That decision jump-started the charter market and the most recent charters sold — when Stewart-Haas Racing went out of business at the end of last season — went for approximately $30 million. Puchyr and Dickerson are largely credited with pumping life and value into an otherwise dormant charter system.

Puchyr last year sold his shares of Spire to Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports and head of the new Cadillac F1 team. Puchyr has spent 2025 consulting with various teams, including RWR and Legacy Motor Club. He’s watched the market closely and has attended several of the recent court hearings involving NASCAR against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, who have filed an antitrust lawsuit over the charter agreement those two teams refused to sign last September.

There are only 36 Cup Series charters, which guarantee a team entry into every NASCAR race and a steady revenue stream. Puchyr believes they are greatly undervalued and in one of his final deals with Spire, he helped acquire a charter from Live Fast Motorsports for $40 million.

“I am bullish on wanting to build a three-car team. I believe in the France family and the direction of the sport and I want the rest of the shareholders and industry to know that I believe the charters are worth $75 million or more,” he told AP.

What about Ware’s second charter?

In his deal with Ware, Puchyr will keep Ware on board as a partner, also keep Ware’s son, Cody, in the No. 51 Ford, and retain all of the current RWR employees. Ware’s current second charter is leased to RFK Racing, but Legacy Motor Club made a legal claim that it had entered an agreement to buy that charter next season.

A judge did not agree with Legacy, and said Ware has a lease deal with RFK for 2026 on a second charter. Puchyr believes none of the parties can perform to the Legacy-RWR contract — which he said was written by Legacy — and there is no charter available from Ware for Legacy for either lease or purchase in 2026. Ware has filed a countersuit against Legacy.

Legacy, a two-car Cup team, is currently owned by seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson. He has recently taken on partnership from private equity firm Knighthead Capital Management, which alongside Johnson is exploring expansion into several other motorsports series.

“If anybody deserves a pass it is Jimmie and if he wants to sit down and talk about it like men, I’d entertain the conversation,” said Puchyr, who was offended that Legacy sued Ware.

“I don’t think Jimmie has all the facts, doesn’t understand the deal we had, and they tried to humiliate Rick publicly. We don’t do business that way.”

Now, Puchyr and Ware are confident the second charter currently leased to RFK will be returned to their team in 2027, allowing Puchyr to expand the organization. He wants to buy a third charter that makes the organization a three-car Cup team by 2027.

Can Puchyr build a winning team?

Ware has done the second-most charter transactions in the industry only to Spire and at one point held four. Now he’s trying to rebuild his organization and win races with his son as the driver, something Puchyr wants to help him achieve.

“I’ve won at everything I’ve done at every level and I think we can compete with these guys,” Puchyr said. “I think we can build it brick-by-brick and it’s going to take people, money and time. It’s not lost on me that (RWR) is the 36th-place car in the garage, we all see it. But I believe we can make this a competitive organization, even a winner.

“And I believe we can get these charters valued at their true worth.”

Ware fields winning organizations in other motorsports series, including NHRA with Clay Millican. A Ware-owned team won the 2024 American Flat Track championship, the 2022 FIM World Supercross Championship and the 2019-2020 Asian Le Mans Series prototype title.

Puchyr did not reveal to the AP how much he’s paying for Ware’s organization, which technically only holds the charter for Cody Ware’s car this season and runs Corey Lajoie in a second “open” car in select races. Once it gets its leased charter back from RFK in 2027, the team will have at least two cars with the focus on purchasing a third.

Purchasing charters is not easy at this time as multiple teams have interest but lack the monetary funds to buy them at the ever-increasing rates. Among them is Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has not been able to get his hands on charters to take his Xfinity Series team to NASCAR’s top Cup Series level.