2026 Autotrader 400 Race Recap

By Adam Carabine

Tyler Reddick makes it back-to-back wins to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Season!

Despite some earlier damage, and no front right fender, Reddick was able to make his way back up to the front for a Double-Overtime win at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.

Lap 1: Due to rained out qualifying, the math-based qualifying metric was used, and last week’s winner Tyler Reddick started on the pole.

Lap 4: Joey Logano and Reddick were trading the lead back and forth, lap by lap, as they each led one of the two-wide lines.

Lap 29:  Carson Hocevar has a tire go down, tags the wall, and limps it to pit road.  It stays green, and Hocevar loses two laps getting it fixed.

Lap 43:  Because of Hocevar’s fresh tires, it looks like he might get one of his laps back by making his way to the front of the pack. 

Lap 60:  Stage One finishes completely green, Austin Cindric came from starting 30^th to win the first stage.

Lap 65: Larson wins the race off pit road to get the lead.  Penalties on pit road to Ryan Blaney for speeding and Cody Ware for pitting outside of his box.

Lap 69:  Green flag for Stage Two!

Lap 82:  CAUTION – Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry get the worst of it, they’re both out of the race.  Gibbs’ car sets fire to the grass for a moment, but they put it out.

Lap 88:  Pits open, Larson maintains the lead through another round of pit stops.

Lap 92:  Green flag

Lap 103: CAUTION – Bigger wreck with Riley Herbst, Austin Dillon, Todd Gilliland and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. involved.  Stenhouse is the lone DNF after this wreck.

Lap 111: The top 18 cars stay out, and most everyone else comes down for a fuel top-up and some fresh tires.  Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace make up the front row as the green flag flies again.

Lap 124: CAUTION – Kyle Busch gets loose, moves up the track, gets a little nudge from Noah Gragson, which sends Busch spinning and hitting the inside wall on the backstretch.  That’s the end of his day.

Lap 131: Back to green.

Lap 160: End of Stage Two – finishes under caution at the last minute as Kyle Larson comes down the track, seemingly not realizing SVG is below him.  He spins, hits the outside wall hard, and is done for the day.  Important note: Bubba Wallace wins Stage Two (his second stage win of the season already).

Lap 170: Final Stage is Green!

Lap 198: CAUTION – SVG gets loose and spins on his own.  Todd Gilliland is the free pass.

Lap 201: Pits open, most everyone comes down.  Denny Hamlin is off first with a fuel-only pit stop.

Lap 204: Green flag again.

Lap 224: CAUTION – a big one, Hamlin looks to have started things, but a bunch of cars are involved, including Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, Connor Zilisch, Alex Bowman, etc. 

Lap 232: Back to green.

Lap 239: CAUTION – Joey Logano gets turned by Carson Hocevar, though it looks like Logano did it to himself by cutting off Hocevar’s nose. 

Lap 244: Back to green.

Lap 257: CAUTION – William Byron got loose, hit the wall and lost a lot of speed.  Further back in the pack, everyone trying to avoid him end up getting into a big wreck.  This ends the race for Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Byron, Gilliland, and Cody Ware.

Lap 260: The scheduled end of this race – but we are going to Overtime because of all the cleanup needed after that last wreck.

OT1: Immediately after taking the green flag, Hocevar tries to find an opening between leaders Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell.  Bell goes into the wall, and CAUTION comes out again. 

OT2:    Green flag, then White flag.  Bubba Wallace tries to block the high line, but goes too high and Hocevar capitalizes on a crossover move. Tyler Reddick on the bottom gets a good push from Chase Briscoe, and makes his way to the checkered flag for the second week in a row!