Ryan Blaney Wins Atlanta, Bubba Wallace Penalized

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup series race at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta in the early hours of Monday morning. The No. 12 Team Penske Ford team endured a long rain delay and prevailed in a thrilling battle to the finish.

“Bubba gave me really good shoves,” Blaney said. “On the restart we got hooked up really good. Then yeah, Bubba and I got a huge run down the front straightaway and I was able to get to the outside of Carson. Wasn’t able to clear him and then Bubba went three-wide bottom down the back.”

Spire Motorsports phenom Carson Hocevar led at the white flag in the race’s single overtime restart. He was caught in Turn 1 when Blaney received a massive push from Bubba Wallace. Blaney’s win Monday is his second of the season and the 19th of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

“We lined up for a really cool finish at the line, and I really have to shout out Christopher Bell for being right on my bumper all the way through three and four and a big push,” Blaney continued. “He was a big reason why we won the race.”

Bubba Wallace’s Penalty

On the backstretch of the final lap Wallace was ruled by NASCAR officials to have passed Hocevar beneath the yellow line. Initially scored second, Wallace was relegated to 29th, the last position on the lead lap. After a 31-minute deliberation with NASCAR, Wallace had only one comment: “A penalty’s a penalty.”

“It says advancing your position, which I did not do,” Wallace told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass on pit road after the race. NASCAR disagreed; they ruled that Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota moved past Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet before he merged back above the line.

Ryan Blaney’s Stage Sweep

Ryan Blaney swept both the first two stages of the race before winning, earning the maximum possible points haul. At both stage ends he held off strong runs from all around him, manipulating aerodynamics to halt the momentum of his competitors.

Christopher Bell finished second, having crossed the finish line side-by-side with Wallace. Hocevar finished third, followed by Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones to round out the top-five.

Points Outlook

Denny Hamlin retained his points lead with a 12th-place finish on Monday. Tyler Reddick remains second, shrinking Hamlin’s advantage from 44 to 24 points with a solid eighth-place finish and strong stage points haul. Hamlin and Reddick are now the first two drivers to have clinched their spot in the 2026 Chase.

Ryan Blaney entered the Atlanta race weekend 113 points behind Hamlin for the regular season points lead. He whittled that margin all the way down to 65 with his perfect points day. Reddick sits 41 points ahead of Blaney for the second Chase seed.

Due to his penalty from NASCAR, Bubba Wallace received 27 fewer points than he would’ve from where he crossed the finish line. With six races until the start of the Chase, that places Wallace 55 points above the cutoff line instead of 82.

Shane van Gisbergen and Erik Jones occupy the last two spots in the Chase, at 31 and eight points above the cutoff line respectively. Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano rose to 17th in points with a ninth place run, putting him just eight points outside the Chase. The RFK Racing duo of Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski are next at 26 and 43 points out.

WHAT A FINISH IN ATLANTA!! pic.twitter.com/KpYKIe4bzo

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 13, 2026

Race Results