Chase Briscoe will face off against Noah Gragson in Round 1 of the five-week tournament, which adds an extra wrinkle to these upcoming summer races.

Of course, there’s no direct impact on the championship, but the newly introduced challenge offers $1 million to the winning driver … as well as bragging rights. Any fan who can put together a perfect bracket could also walk away with one million dollars in prize money.

A very different race

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images

“It definitely is going to be a unique complexion to the race,” said Briscoe in a Friday media availability. “I’ve never really been where it is head-to-head with one other guy. In the Playoffs, you are racing only really against 15 or 11 or 7 or 3 other guys, but never head-to-head. It will kind of be unique – if you are running 14th and they are running 16th – like that battle is going to be really intense in the mix of the battle of the race itself.

“It will be kind of hard, having that play out on a superspeedway – just because here, we can really be all right on top of each other, right? You could almost have a battle for the win for 15th with the guy. It is going to be a unique layer to the race. Maybe it could cause chaos at the end. I don’t know how desperate people will be in the first round, but if you get knocked out the first round, you can’t move on. I think it will add a very unique element to the race, and I’m looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.”

Will it change the strategy?

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images

The tournament begins with 16 pairs of 32 drivers. In each individual battle, the driver who places higher at Atlanta moves on to the second round. Briscoe is paying attention to it, as well as who he may be facing in the rounds to come if he beats Gragson this weekend. However, while it may influence the drivers, Briscoe doesn’t see it changing the way the teams approach each race.

“I don’t think the teams are going to change their strategy based on who you are racing, because based on the Playoff standpoint, it doesn’t really do anything. I do think when you get to the final round, or even the final four, I think there is maybe a chance that maybe teams will call a different strategy based on the Playoff situation, but yeah, it is definitely something I looked at.

“Noah and I trash talked each other for a little bit this week, so it will be fun to kind of have that competition, and certainly, out of all of the tracks, I would say, in this matchup deal, I’m by far the most nervous about this one – especially going up against Noah. This is a place where you can come and run really, really well, so it will be a tough challenge for sure.” 

A level playing field

Noah Gragson, Front Row Motorsports Ford

Photo by: Jam Media / Getty Images

And while most weeks we can expect Briscoe to out-run Gragson on pure pace, Atlanta is an entirely different situation. The drafting-style track opens up doors for drivers who normally wouldn’t have much of a shot, adding some unpredictability to the in-season challenge. 

“This is one of those race tracks that no matter what team you are with, you kind of have a shot to go and win,” said Briscoe.

“Noah [Gragson] is not at one of the powerhouse teams, but when he comes here, he can be right here in the mix. Front Row cars qualified on the front row here last year, so it will be a challenge. I know that Noah will probably qualify well. The Toyotas don’t typically qualify quite as well, but our cars will handle really, really good in the race. It is going to be a tough challenge. Anybody that you are going up against in the Cup Series is going to be hard. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day, so it is going to be a hard one. Of all the weeks, I definitely feel like this is the one that I’m the most nervous about because this is the one that is the most out of my control, but it will be fun.

“Hopefully, I win because if I don’t, I will never hear the end of it from Noah or my son.”

Photos from Atlanta II – Qualifying

LIME ROCK PARK, Connecticut- (41NBC/WMGT) – As the engines rev for the inaugural LiUNA 500, Dublin native Caleb Williams prepares for another intense NASCAR weekend, but his path to this moment has been anything but conventional.

Williams, a 2020 Georgia Southern graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering, grew up immersed in the world of racing. Dirt tracks around his hometown and weekends spent with racing buddies sparked an early love for the sport.

“Growing up in Dublin, I’ve kind of been interested in racing… I was always a fan,” Williams said. “We had dirt tracks around our area… and that’s where I first started getting my feet wet. Probably not going to make it happen for me as a race car driver, so I was like, well, maybe this is my opportunity to still get my hands on the cars, have an impact on a team.”

After graduating from West Laurens High School, Williams found direction through Georgia Southern’s Formula SAE program, a national engineering competition that gave students the chance to design, build, and race their own cars.

“We get sponsorships, proposals, get more funding for your program, spend that budget and come up with the best design,” he said. “At the end of the year, we always got to go compete and put the car on track.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Williams said he struggled to maintain motivation after graduation, until he landed an interview with Niece Motorsports, who hired him on the spot. He immediately dropped out of graduate school and moved to North Carolina to pursue his dream.

“These drivers that I’m working with now, definitely a step up from anything I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “They are the best at what they do in the country. It really just pushes us more to always be on our game.”

Williams now plays a crucial role as an engineer with Front Row Motorsports, where he’s helping lead efforts for Chandler Smith’s No. 38 truck in the Craftsman Truck Series. The switch to Smith’s crew was a personal and professional decision.

“I’ve been at Front Row… this was my third year there, and I had the opportunity to be with Todd Gilliland in the 38 Cup Series,” Williams said. “Over the winter, they decided to add another Craftsman truck… and they told us about Chandler Smith, he’s from Georgia as well. I just wanted to switch it up this year, get some more wins under my belt and get a championship.”

With the LiUNA 500 set to go green Saturday at 1 p.m., Williams broke down what race weekends typically look like from the engineering side.

“We’ll have a practice session… I’ll usually recommend [setup] changes to my crew chief, and any changes the driver gives me on feedback, we will all recommend,” he explained. “Friday night, the guys will get the truck cleaned up, put back together for technical inspection. Then Saturday morning, we’ll go in and qualify, and we’ll race Saturday and fly back shortly after that.”

Now operating at the highest level of American motorsports, Williams hasn’t forgotten his roots in Middle Georgia.

“I’m sure a lot of kids can relate with me where I was at that time. I could never have seen it working out the way it has,” he said. “But just stay the course and work hard, you can get very far. Even from Dublin, there’s no telling where you may end up.”

Fans can watch Williams and Front Row Motorsports in action as Chandler Smith drives the No. 38 truck at Lime Rock Park for the LiUNA 500 on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at 2025 Atlanta, a.k.a. the Focused Health 250, is the first race on the weekend schedule at the newly rechristened EchoPark Speedway on Friday, June 27 (6/27/2025) at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series at 2025 Atlanta will air on The CW, and streams live on DirecTV (free trial).

What: Focused Health 250, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race

When: Friday, June 27, 2025

Where: EchoPark Speedway, Atlanta, Georgia

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

TV: The CW

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

What are the differences between the streaming services?

DirecTV is a subscription streaming service that lets you watch live TV from major broadcast and popular cable networks. Enjoy local and national live sports, breaking news, and must-see shows the moment they air. Included: unlimited cloud DVR storage space so you can record as many shows as you want and stream them from wherever you go. DTV starts at $34.99 per month after a 5-day free trial when you shop their customizable genre packs.

*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’s important to note that The CW has less reliable coverage on fubo, and new subscribers should check local channel availability. 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.

BET: Extended BetMGM Bonus Code “CUSE150″: New $150 sports betting deal all week!

Austin Hill is a +220 favorite to win, according to DraftKings. Connor Zilisch won last week in Pocono, and is +1200 to do it again in Atlanta

Here’s a recent NASCAR story via The AP:

All Times Eastern

NASCAR CUP SERIES

Challenge Round 1 – Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart

Site: Hampton, Georgia.

Track: EchoPark Speedway.

Race distance: 260 laps, 400.4 miles.

Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 5:05 p.m.; Saturday, race, 7 p.m. (TNT and MAX).

Last year: Joey Logano earned an overtime victory and his second win of the season after a push from teammate Ryan Blaney vaulted him into the lead.

Last race: Leading the last 34 laps while utilizing a fuel-saving strategy, Chase Briscoe held off teammate Denny Hamlin at Pocono to earn his first win with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Next race: July 6, Chicago.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

Focused Health 250

Site: Hampton, Georgia.

Track: EchoPark Speedway.

Race distance: 163 laps, 251.02 miles.

Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 3 p.m., race, 7:30 p.m. (CW).

Last year: Austin Hill claimed the victory while holding off Parker Kligerman on a late-race restart.

Last race: Connor Zilisch secured his second win of the year in Pennsylvania after a late pass of Jesse Love with four laps to go.

Next race: July 5, Chicago.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

LIUNA 150

Site: Lakeville, Connecticut.

Track: Lime Rock Park.

Race distance: 100 laps, 147.8 miles.

Schedule: Friday, practice, 1:05 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 9:30 a.m., race, 1 p.m. (FOX).

Last year: Nascar will make its debut at Lime Rock Park after last years race in Milwaukee saw victor Layen Riggs take the lead from Ty Majeski with 53 laps to go.

Last race: Pole-sitter Layne Riggs snagged his first win of the season at Pocono while leading the last 20 laps and finishing nearly four seconds ahead of second-place Tanner Gray.

Next race: July 25, Indianapolis.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

FORMULA ONE

MSC Cruises Austrian Grand Prix

Site: Spielberg, Austria.

Track: Red Bull Ring.

Race distance: 71 laps, 190.4 miles.

Schedule: Friday, practice, 7:25 a.m., practice, 10:55 a.m.; Saturday, practice, 6:25 a.m., qualifying, 9:55 a.m.; Sunday, race 8:55 a.m. (ESPN).

Last year: George Russell took his first win since 2022 after capitalizing on a dramatic crash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris late in the race.

Last race: Russell held off Verstappen and took hist first win of the season in Canada in a dramatic race that saw McLaren teammates Norris and Piastri collide.

Next race: July 6, Towcester, United Kingdom.

Online: http://www.formula1.com

INDYCAR

Last race: Alex Palou took advantage of leader Scott Dixon’s late pit stop to secure the victory, giving him the win in six out of nine races so far this season.

Next race: July 6, Lexington, Ohio.

Online: http://www.indycar.com

NHRA DRAG RACING

Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals

Site: Norwalk, Ohio.

Track: Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Race distance: 1/4 mile.

Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 6 p.m., qualifying, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, noon, qualifying, 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, race, 2 p.m. (FOX).

Next race: July 20, Kent, Washington.

Online: http://www.nhra.com

WORLD OF OUTLAWS

Fergus Falls Showdown

Independence Spectacular

Grand Forks Showdown

Independence Spectacular

Norman County Showdown

Minot Mayhem

Next events: July 3 – 5, Spring Valley, Minnesota.

Online: http://worldofoutlaws.com

More lightning in the area, and that means the NASCAR Xfinity Series race is on hold at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Sheldon Creed will be on the pole whenever this race goes green tonight.

Lightning in Atlanta has been an issue today for both the Xfinity and Cup Series. It led to multiple delays in qualifying earlier in the afternoon.

We will be around throughout this delay. Check back in for more updates, like when the race will start.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta is set to go green. The anthem and invocation will start at 8:10 PM ET.

UPDATE: After just 37 laps, the red flag has come out in the Xfinity Series race. A lightning hold is in effect and could run later into the night. We will see what happens and whether or not this race is completed tonight or tomorrow at some point.

HAMPTON, Ga. — Two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch says for he and his team to make the playoffs, they need to do “what we’re paid to do and that’s to execute.”

Busch, who missed the playoffs last year and is winless in his last 74 Cup starts, said Friday that he sees a path to make the playoffs even without a victory.

Advertisement

Busch enters Saturday night’s race at EchoPark Speedway 63 points below the cutline. Nine races remain in the regular season.

Kyle Larson states ‘I don’t have any desire’ to do Indy 500/Coke 600 Double again

Kyle Larson became the fifth driver to compete in both races on the same day this year.

Eleven drivers have won this season, leaving five playoff spots via points.

“I would say if you find another winner outside (a playoff spot), then I would say you’re in a must-win (situation),” Busch said Friday. “I would say right now, today, pointing your way in with no more new winners is certainly doable. Our biggest fault is just not being able to get stage points.”

Advertisement

Busch has 19 stage points this season — 14 came at Circuit of the Americas in March. Busch’s stage point total ranks 26th among the 36 full-time drivers in the series.

Busch, who has one top-10 finish in the last nine races, noted that he and his team have to be strong the rest of the regular season to have a chance to make the playoffs.

Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Atlanta weekend

Kyle Busch has finished in the top 10 in all five races at Atlanta with Richard Childress Racing.

Busch starts Saturday night’s race 29th, but this has been his best track since joining Richard Childress Racing after the 2022 season. He has scored five consecutive top-10 finishes at Atlanta.

Advertisement

Putting together a string of top-10 finishes is challenging. No driver has scored more than four top 10s in a row this season.

“I think it just boils down to all of us on our team being accountable,” Busch said. “Pit crew, myself, (crew chief) Randall (Burnett), engineers, everybody and being able to do what we know how to do and what we’re paid to do and that’s to execute. It starts here this weekend.”

HAMPTON, Ga. — The debut of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge in Saturday night’s Cup Series race in Atlanta generated differing opinions and expectations from drivers.

After all, there’s a points race to attend to. Every team’s top priority is qualifying for the playoffs and trying to win the championship. Some drivers acknowledge they simply haven’t paid attention to the new race within the race.

Joey Logano says he sees no reason to view the new tournament as a distraction.

“If there’s something to win, you want to go win it,” Logano said Friday before winning the pole for Saturday night’s race in his Team Penske Ford.

Denny Hamlin is the No. 1 seed in the 32-driver In-Season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament. Chase Briscoe, who held off Hamlin for his first win for Joe Gibbs Racing last week at Pocono Raceway, is the No. 2 seed. A $1 million prize awaits the winner as part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT.

Briscoe said Friday he felt “definitely a sigh of relief, you know, just a weight off your shoulders” following last week’s win. He said that sense of relief was shortlived.

“I’m expected to win multiple races, not just one,” Briscoe said. “It’s a sense of relief, but also more pressure because now they know you can win.”

NASCAR hopes the tournament generates mid-season interest. The single-elimination format cuts the field to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Many drivers expect their interest in the tournament will increase after Saturday night’s race.

“I think some of the drivers have been kind of dismissive over the bracket challenge,” said Brad Keselowski, who enters the race No. 30 in the points standings and in need of a win in Atlanta to earn a playoff spot in his RFK Racing Ford.

“I think it’ll become a lot more real, whether it be for the drivers or for the media or the fans, as it progresses into the later rounds over the next few weeks,” Keselowski said.

Added Ricky Stenhouse, who is 24th in the points race, of the new tournament: “It’s cool. I think after this weekend you’ll have a little better idea of what you have. Our main goal in Atlanta is winning and getting into the playoffs.”

Team Penske claimed four of the top five qualifying positions and Ford claimed all of the top five spots.

Logano was first at 178.960 mph, tying Josh Berry, who drives for Wood Brothers but has a technical alliance with Team Penske. Ryan Blaney qualified third and Austin Cindric was one spot back for Team Penske, while Ryan Preece, in another Ford for RFK Racing, was fifth.

“It definitely helps at the start for sure,” Logano said. “Being at the front and controlling the race is the thing for sure.”

Briscoe is facing No. 31 seed Noah Gragson in the first bracket. He says it’s a difficult matchup, in part because “he’s actually probably my best friend on the circuit … and my son’s favorite driver.”

Briscoe said his 3-year-old son, Brooks, thinks of Gragson “like that uncle that just you take your kid to, and he has Pop-Tarts and ice cream and everything else when he’s with them.”

Added Briscoe: “Hopefully I’ll win. If not I’ll never here the end of it from Noah or my son.”

Briscoe posted a photo on his X account of his son’s bracket. The photo shows the smiling Brooks holding a bracket with his father’s No. 19 winning every round of the tournament.

Chase Elliott has a special paint scheme on his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that was designed by 11-year-old cancer patient Rhealynn Mills. Elliott chose Mills’ design to highlight his foundation’s efforts to raise money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Elliott said the “Design to Drive” program has raised $500,000 for the children’s hospital.

“The only bad thing is I feel like we’ve crashed every time we’ve done it,” Elliott said, adding his sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts, deserved credit “for giving up the car” so the paint scheme could instead feature Mills’ design.

EchoPark Speedway is the new name for the track that was still known as Atlanta Motor Speedway in February when Christopher Bell won while leading only the final lap in overtime. It’s the home track for Elliott, from Dawsonville, Georgia, and he acknowledged seeing the name change and the new green paint “was different for me. I think it’s fine.”

Ryan Blaney is the favorite (+800) to win the race, per BetMGM Sportsbook. Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, each at +1000, were next.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing