HAMPTON, Ga. (WSPA) – It’s one of the most thrilling stops on the NASCAR schedule for both Xfinity and Cup Series drivers.

Atlanta is home to some of the tightest finishes in NASCAR history, massive wrecks, and unpredictable outcomes.

The newly named EchoPark Speedway, formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, is known for its unpredictability. Here are four things to look for this weekend.

Historical Home Track Success

One driver has historically had great success at the track. Look for Xfinity Series driver, and Georgia native, Austin Hill to maintain his home track dominance.

Hill claimed victory in the February race at Atlanta, marking his third straight win and fifth overall at the track. Some other drivers said the 21 car is the one to beat.

“We have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to bring to the track and, you know, shout out to Joe Gibbs Racing’s motor department. They’ve helped us here these last couple of weeks making our motor program a little bit better to get closer to battle that 21 car. He’s always the one that we see that’s fast at this style of race tracks,” said Brandon Jones, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver.

The Drafting Dynamics

Wins in Atlanta don’t come easy, which leads us to our second focus of the weekend: the drafting dynamics.

Since its track reconfiguration in 2022, Atlanta features 28-degree banks and narrow superspeedway-style racing. It’s setting up what’s expected to be a weekend of action under the lights.

Recent NASCAR Cup Series races at Atlanta have delivered dramatic finishes, which include Daniel Suarez’s 0.003-second win in 2024 and Christopher Bell’s last-lap overtime pass in 2025.

As the sun goes down, the conditions are expected to change, including the temperature on track, which makes execution and pit stops elements that can make or break a race.
Three-time Cup Series Champion Joey Logano will look to lock up another win at the track.

“We continue wanting to bring more to the record books and to our fans, our race team, our sponsors, and all that,” said Logano.

That factors into the importance of Cup qualifying, the first thing to look for.

Competitive Qualifying Session

Expect a fiercely competitive qualifying session Friday afternoon that will determine critical track positioning that will be needed to stay up front and avoid wrecks.

Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney won the spring pole in Atlanta at 170 mph.

Debut of Cup Series In-Season Challenge

Saturday marks the debut of the first-ever Cup Series in-season tournament.

It’s a NASCAR-style spin-off of March Madness. The first bracket round kicks off at EchoPark Speedway with 32 drivers battling for a $1 million prize over the next five races.

The field of drivers was set based on points through the Pocono race last week, and drivers were seeded based on performances at Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono, according to NASCAR.

The race carries dual significance: traditional season points and knock-out tournament elimination. One bad day could eliminate even the top drivers from the million-dollar chase.

The green flag will drop for the Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on CW and the Cup Series Quaker State 400 will follow Saturday night at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Leah Sander, InkFreeNews

Warsaw’s Sparc Engineers wants to support the orthopedic industry and not compete with it.
It’s why the business at 715 Orthopedic Drive, mainly focuses on work for the motorsports and aerospace industries, said CEO Matthew Townsend.
The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting for Sparc on Tuesday.
Sparc started and moved into its 18,000-square-foot space last year, with half of it for manufacturing.
Townsend said the company’s seven employees have done work for Dallara.
“They make all of the IndyCar chassis, and we’ve done work for Penske racing (and) AJ Foyt Racing and for aerospace for Vast and York Space Systems,” he said.
Townsend added Sparc, named after a Disney World attraction, does “provide manufacturing engineering services and also automation integrations for the orthopedic industry.”
He and others at Sparc previously worked in the orthopedic industry.
Townsend said Sparc is different from its competitors in that it’s focused on “transparency.”
“A lot of contract manufacturers hold things close to the vest, and we are very open to communication and using technology to do so,” he said.
Plans are continued growth, with Townsend mentioning half of the building’s manufacturing space isn’t being utilized yet.
“We only have four machines, but we’re working on deals where we might have to quadruple in size quickly,” he said.
Townsend said he hopes to bring in several motorsports companies to work out of Sparc’s building and “(have) us run their facility for them, so it’s their product, so dedicated equipment, dedicated people for them, and we’d have everything.”
People may learn more about Sparc at sparcengineers.com. Sparc should have an open house in the next month for people to view the facility, which they will announce on LinkedIn and Facebook, said Townsend.

Any long-time NASCAR fans know the name Larry McClure, as he was the co-owner at Morgan-McClure Motorsports alongside Tim Morgan and brother Jerry McClure, which operated a NASCAR team from 1983 through 2012. Larry’s family confirmed that he passed away on Wednesday at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, Virginia.

McClure’s race team won 14 Cup races including three Daytona 500s. They earned their first 500 win with Ernie Irvan in 1991, and then two more with Sterling Marlin in 1994 and 1995. They are one of just ten teams to ever won three or more Daytona 500s. They utilized the No. 4 car, which became iconic with its Kodak paint scheme.

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While most of their race wins came at the superspeedway tracks, they also earned wins at Bristol, Watkins Glen, Sonoma, Darlington, and Martinsville. Bobby Hamilton earned their final win in 1998, winning from pole at Martinsville and leading 378 of 500 laps — their most dominant victory.

They also finished as high as third in the championship standings, courtesy of Marlin in 1995. The team’s first driver in 1983 was NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, but it wasn’t until Irvan’s arrival in 1990 when they finally reached Victory Lane.

Larry’s nephew Eric McClure competed as a driver for many years, running almost 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, and he tragically passed away a few years ago at the age of 42.

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