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LEBANON, Tenn. — Bubba Wallace sees NASCAR having all the momentum possible right now with different media partners.

Perfect timing then for NASCAR’s “In-season Challenge” to debut, right?

Well, Wallace forgot that was about to debut.

“For me to forget about it and remember how exciting it was when they announced, I think it’s going to be big for the fans to tune in and and give them a little bit more … you’re just invested more,” Wallace said.

Kyle Larson just tried his latest attempt at “the Double” of the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. Count him among those who didn’t realize NASCAR’s new in-season competition had its field of 32 set after Sunday night’s Cup Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway.

“I just really haven’t seen anything promoted about it, so I think it’s easy to forget about it,” Larson said.

NASCAR announced this new in-season competition in May 2024, so drivers can be forgiven for being focused on the second half of the season.

The format is simple: 32 drivers race for seeding over the next three races starting at Michigan on Sunday and concluding at Pocono on June 22. Drivers are seeded by their best finish for the five-race competition starting at Atlanta.

Then it goes to single elimination with the field cut to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The winner gets $1 million, and that does get drivers’ attention as part of the new media rights deal that includes TNT.

“It’s going to be something fun that you pay attention to, and there’s good money on the line,” said Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champ. “So, you’ve just got to be really consistent throughout.”

Chris Buescher of RFK Racing is among those who didn’t realize this challenge is starting. He needs race victories after losing points for a penalty at Kansas in May. The prize is nice.

“That’s real money,” Buescher said. “But I don’t want that to change how we go to the race track. We need to figure out how to win races. There’s a lot more than that on the line at the end of the year.”

Three-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano compared this event’s prize to the money up for grabs in the All-Star Race and this new competition like a stage win.

“This is a little longer thing, but it’s a race within the race,” Logano said. “So you’re not willing to give up a lot to do that, right?”

Denny Hamlin was excited when the In-season Challenge was first announced. Then he saw the courses for this competition, and his enthusiasm dimmed with the number of road courses included.

“Truthfully, we’re going to get pretty lucky or have such a good draw that just things kind of work out,” Hamlin said. “I wish it was more conventional ovals, but I think that’s just the way the schedule works out. And it’s unfortunately not probably my prime part of the season.”

Brad Keselowski and his No. 6 Ford for RFK Racing went into Nashville at 32 — right on the line to be included in that chase for seeding. He hadn’t given the competition much thought focused on this season. But he thinks it will be fun once it starts.

“It’s good for the sport, good for our fans and it’s a competition,” Keselowski said. “If there’s competition, we want to win it. But that said, I think our heads down on one week at a time, in some ways one day at a time. … And it’s hard to look further ahead than that.”

PENSKE ALL SET

With Ryan Blaney’s first victory of the season at Nashville Superspeedway, Team Penske now has its three drivers qualified for the NASCAR Cup playoffs even with Nashville the first race of the second half of this year.

Blaney, who hadn’t won since November, joined Austin Cindric, who won at Talladega, and three-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano, a winner at Texas. Josh Berry, whose Wood Brothers Racing team has a relationship with Team Penske, also won at Las Vegas.

Michael Nelson, president of Team Penske’s NASCAR operations, said it was nice to have that pressure off all the teams.

“It’s obviously pretty awesome to have a little bit of that pressure off for the guys,” Nelson said. “And again … it gives you a chance to go out and take some chances here and there and try to rack up a bunch of wins. So now we’re grateful to be at this point with our cars this time of year.”

CAREFUL, HOCEVAR

Carson Hocevar matched his career-best finish driving from 26th to second at Nashville. The 22-year-old driver in his second Cup Series season with Spire Motorsports irritated Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with his aggressive style.

Hocevar clipped Stenhouse on Lap 106 of 300, sending him into the wall and out of the race. Stenhouse said Hocevar was overly aggressive and will talk to the young driver. Just not after the race.

“No,” Stenhouse said, “that costs too much money.”

Pete Stephens has been a consistent piece of Tod Quiring’s team throughout the years

Throughout Big Game Motorsports’ history, there’s been a quiet, reliable presence working hard to help ensure Tod Quiring’s cars remain some of the fastest in the country.

While a handful of drivers have come and gone, crew member Pete Stephens has almost always been there. He may have had some stints with other teams, but Big Game has remained a priority for 15 years.

That commitment led to him being tapped as the new car chief for David Gravel and the defending World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champions. He stepped into the role after Stephen Hamm-Reilly vacated the position at the end of the 2024 season.

Stephens’ path to becoming a car chief began in his home state of Washington. He’s from the town of Mount Vernon, which is just a 15-minute drive down I-5 from Skagit Speedway. Attending races with his family evolved into helping a local team to get his foot in the door.

“I started out at Skagit with Chad Hillier when he was young,” Stephens recalled. “He started in the Sportsman class out there. I just knew him through friends and everything and started working with him in the mid to late 90s, probably. I just kind of raced at Skagit with him for a long time.”

Eventually, Hillier got the opportunity to expand his operation nationally, which also allowed Stephens to hit the road for the first time.

“Chad got a chance to go out and run World of Outlaws stuff in 2007,” Stephens said. “I had a business back there at that time, and I always thought working on a World of Outlaws Sprint Car team was one of those things like, ‘Oh man, if I could do anything, that’s what I would do.’ So, he got a break to go run that stuff, and I just kind of called him one time and asked if he knew anybody looking for help because I’d maybe like to go try it, and he said they were. It was basically him and Tyler Swank at the time, so I went out with those guys for a bit and liked it.”

The business Stephens mentioned is part of what instilled his work ethic. He started a hoof trimming operation for cattle, which makes Sprint Car maintenance feel easy by comparison.

“You’re usually up by five-thirty or six in the morning,” Stephens said of a regular day in the hoof trimming business. “You usually got half an hour to an hour drive to your job site. You set up, and you’re usually there for eight to 10 hours, and you’re physically moving non-stop because in the hoof trimming world, if you’re not moving, you’re not making money. You’re physically working most of the day. We did dairy cows, and with the farms getting the size they are, it’s a very labor-intensive job.”

The time on the tour allowed Stephens to make some connections and led to working with one of the sport’s legends in 2009. Sammy Swindell was driving for Tom Rolfe, and Stephens joined the crew. The next domino to fall was heading to Lonnie Parsons’ team with Danny Lasoski in late 2009. Oddly enough, that’s where Stephens first met current Big Game crew chief Cody Jacobs as they both worked with Barry Jackson on the No. 6. The following year, Swindell joined forces with Big Game, and Stephens reunited with “Slammin’ Sammy” in Quiring’s camp for what became a hugely successful stretch.

“That was a lot of fun when Sammy got into that deal,” Stephens said. “We had a good time. We finished 2010 and started 2011 with a pretty light crew. There was only two of us, me and Scott Green was the kid’s name who did tires and stuff like that. That was a lot of fun, 2010, ’11, ’12. We won a lot of races and had a good time.”

Stephens worked for a different team following the run with Swindell but was quickly back in the Big Game shop, this time on Craig Dollansky’s car. But he wasn’t done with Swindell as Stephens returned to the No. 1 team in 2014.

In the late 2010s, Stephens made the decision to head home and focus on business as well as raising his child, but it wasn’t long until involvement with Big Game was back on his calendar. When Cody Jacobs went to the team in 2020, the two talked, and Stephens returned part-time, a period that birthed a nickname.

“Once Cody got here, the joke was kind of that I would only go to the big events,” Stephens said with a laugh. “My one friend Nate, he nicknamed me “Big Money Pete.” So, yeah, I’d go to the larger events and help out and stuff like that.”

Fast forward to the off-season heading into 2025, and Big Game was looking for a full-time car chief. Originally, Stephens had no plans of being on the road this season, but the team’s first candidate backed out. So, Stephens agreed to help get them ready for the season opener and navigate the opening portion of the season. But one thing led to another, and he agreed to come aboard for the entire season of their title defense.

It’s been the right move so far as the No. 2 team has been all but unstoppable in 2025. They’ve already piled up eight wins, 17 podiums, and 23 top fives through 27 races. Their average finish is third, and their worst result is seventh. Gravel owns a healthy 188-point advantage atop the standings.

There’s no doubt Big Game Motorsports is at the height of their powers. The team’s history features many successful chapters, but none quite as impactful as the last four-plus years since Gravel came aboard. Stephens has been around for nearly every step of the way, and he remains a key contributor – a rewarding journey for a Washington kid who wanted more than anything to work with a World of Outlaws team.

“It’s been pretty cool to see it built,” Stephens said. “So many people don’t realize how hard it is. These things are built over time. I don’t care how much money you’ve got; spending money is not going to win a race. It’s people. It’s engines. It’s all the small things that have to come together and work. It’s been really neat to kind of watch Tod and Cody. I mean, I knew Cody when he was in his mid-20s and have watched him grow into this and do what he’s done with Tod. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Stephens, Gravel, and the entire Big Game Motorsports team continue their quest for back-to-back World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car titles this week with four races in five nights. First up is Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex on Wednesday, June 4, for the FENDT Showdown. Then, the Badger State Triple takes teams to three Wisconsin tracks in three nights with visits to Plymouth Dirt Track (June 6), Beaver Dam Raceway (June 7), and Angell Park Speedway (June 8) on the calendar. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

Atlanta Motor Speedway, located in Atlanta, Georgia, has been on the NASCAR Cup schedule since 1960, but when the series returns there this summer, it will be going by a different name.

Atlanta will now be known as EchoPark Speedway as part of a seven-year branding deal worth several million dollars. The name atop the grandstands has already been changed.

EchoPark Automotive specializes in selling pre-owned vehicles and is owned by Sonic Automotive, which is headed by David Smith. He is the brother of Marcus Smith, who is the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, which owns Atlanta and many other tracks on the NASCAR schedule.

“We have enjoyed serving guests in the Atlanta metro area since EchoPark Atlanta opened its doors in 2020,” said David 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.”

The track hosts two Cup races each year and will serve as the opening round of TNT’s NASCAR broadcast schedule on June 28, as well as beginning the $1 million dollar in-season tournament that is being introduced this year.

Austin Cindric, Team Penske Ford, Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

The winner of that race will also receive a EchoPark-provided Chevy Silverado and a trailer equipped with a Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Limited Edition Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

“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 CEO Marcus Smith. “EchoPark Automotive is as committed to exceptional customer service as we are, and we know that together we’ll elevate our fan experience to a new level unmatched for Southern hospitality. This partnership will fuel great experiences for fans attending our speedway for years to come.”

Tracks changing their names as part of entitlement sponsor deals is not a new phenomena in NASCAR. Charlotte once went by Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Sonoma was previously called Infineon Raceway, Fontana became known as Auto Club Speedway, and Phoenix was using ISM Raceway for a time. And even on the current schedule, Gateway is called World Wide Technology (WWT) Raceway.