It’s rare when all three of NASCAR’s top divisions have finished their races by Saturday night, but that’s the case for this weekend. And, what a weekend it was.

Fans were treated to some exciting racing, epic crashes, and an In-Season Challenge that has been turned upside down after the first of five races.

The Xfinity Series started off the festivities with a Friday night race at EchoPark Speedway. The Focus Health 250 was capped off by a driver picking up his first career win.

NASCAR fans then turned their attention towards the Truck Series on Saturday afternoon for the LIUNA 150. However, this Series was competing at the historic road course of Lime Rock Park and not in Atlanta like the other two circuits.

It was also the first-ever Truck race at this venue and it turned out to be an entertaining event won by our expert pick. NASCAR bettors would’ve cashed in on this prediction along with our Cup Series picks as well.

Saturday night hosted the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway, and it ended up becoming a war of attrition that was won by the local kid; who we were very high on in a variety of our NASCAR Cup Series predictions.

If you missed any of the racing action from this weekend, we’ve got you covered. Continue reading our NASCAR results, race recaps, and catch up on all of the weekend’s excitement.

Additionally, check out how our NASCAR picks fared for the Cup Series and Xfinity Series EchoPark races, along with the Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park.

NASCAR Cup Series Results

The following NASCAR Cup Series results are for the Quaker State 400:

Cup Series Results	Driver	Team
Race Winner	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports
Stage 1 Winner	Austin Cindric	Team Penske
Stage 2 Winner	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing
Led Most Laps	Joey Logano (51/260)	Team Penske
Pole Position	Joey Logano	Team Penske

The Cup Series was in the spotlight on Saturday night in more ways than one. And, after a crazy race that saw many of the top stars involved in crashes, the local kid Chase Elliott won the race.

Elliott and Ryan Blaney were my top drivers for Saturday night’s race. I gave Blaney the edge to win, but said Elliott was definitely worthy of a wager to win the race and applied a two-driver bet. Additionally, I picked Elliott as my best Top 5 bet and Hendrick Motorsports as the team to win in an effort to hedge my Blaney pick.

Furthermore, I also nailed the Over/Under 18.5 winning car number by taking the Under with an emphatic wager. And, if that wasn’t all, Elliott also won me my prop bet pick of the #9 car finishing as the Top Chevy driver at a +650 payout.

But it gets even better for those of us that rode with Elliott this weekend. Prior to the weekend, I picked Elliott to win the In-Season Challenge, which looks even better today after many of the top drivers were eliminated from the tournament due to the crashes at EchoPark Speedway on Saturday night.

In total, Elliott not only won us a number of bets but he also secured a spot in the Playoffs and is arguably the one driver that the rest of the field does not want to see heat up.

After his win, an emotional Elliott made the following comments:

“Unbelievable … unbelievable. How about that? Are you kidding me? I’ve never in my life. … This is unbelievable. Thank you guys so much. What a special car, and just a huge thanks to [sponsor] NAPA Auto Parts and everything they do for me and to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. [Cancer patient] Rhealynn Mills designed the fast NAPA Chevrolet tonight, so this was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget.”

Elliott took the lead on the final lap from the runner up Brad Keselowski. It was the veteran’s best result of the year as he also led 46 laps which was the second most on the day.

Alex Bowman finished third, which was another surprise to many fans and pundits as he’s struggled as of late. Yet, Bowman was my choice as the best longshot of the race and a Top 10 wager:

“Bowman is my longshot of choice this weekend. Sure, there are other drivers with longer odds on the board, but he’s the lowest that I’m willing to go and still feel like there’s small chance of success. Bowman was 5th in this race last year, which is why I think he can surprise this weekend. He does have four Top 10s in 14 Atlanta starts. Two of his three Atlanta Top 5 finishes have come in this specific race, as well.”

Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones rounded out the Top 5. Additionally, other drivers that greatly benefited from the wrecks were Zane Smith (7^th), Ty Dillon (8^th) and Carson Hocevar (10^th). All three were big underdogs for their In-Season Challenge matchups and ended up pulling off the upsets due to the in-race crashes.

Speaking of crashes, the following stars were knocked out of the race and the tournament due to the wrecks: Hamlin, Byron, Logano, Bell, Briscoe, Cindric and Blaney.

In total, there were 10 cautions for 68 of the 260 laps. There was also a stoppage in the opening stage due to rain. Joey Logano led the most laps with 51, before exiting the race on a lap 69 crash.

On Sunday, July 6, the Cup Series returns to Chicago for the Grant Park 165 on the streets of the Windy City. This race begins at 2pm ET and can be seen on TNT, TruTV, and MAX.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Results

The following NASCAR Xfinity Series results are for the Explore the Focus Health 250:

Xfinity Series Results	Driver	Team
Race Winner	Nick Sanchez	Big Machine Racing
Stage 1 Winner	Taylor Gray	Joe Gibbs Racing
Stage 2 Winner	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing
Led Most Laps	Aric Almirola (48/163)	Joe Gibbs Racing
Pole Position	Carson Kvapil	JR Motorsports

The weekend festivities at EchoPark Speedway got off to a Cinderella like beginning, as Nick Sanchez shocked the field, the fans, and won his first ever Xfinity Series race.

Sanchez took the lead on lap 158 from Jesse Love, a driver we were really high on, to hold on for the final six laps and win the race. And where Cinderella rushed home at midnight, Sanchez rushed to victory lane and made the following post-race comments:

“It’s a weight lifted off my shoulders, that’s for sure. Now we can go chase checkered flags.”

Carson Kvapil, who started on the pole, did everything he could do to try and chase down Sanchez in the final laps, but he could not. Rounding out the Top 5 were Sam Mayer, Connor Zilisch and Taylor Gray. That gave JR Motorsports two drivers in the Top 5.

Zilisch was someone that I thought could pull off a strong result on Friday night. Yet, going into this race, it was all about the Richard Childress Racing cars of Austin Hille and Jesse Love.

Hill had won five times at this venue in seven starts, which included three victories in a row. Unfortunately, he ran into some issues and finished 26^th. Love was my pick for the best Top 5 bet, but he faded to 6^th in the final lap.

Another driver to have a disappointing finish was Sheldon Creed. He led 37 laps and was one of the top cars before a crash took him out. The result was a 32^nd place finish.

In total, there were nine cautions for 58 laps. The last caution came for debris on lap 153 and lasted four laps. The field went green on lap 157, where Sanchez ended up taking the lead from Love on the next lap.

The Xfinity Series will return to its normal Saturday time slot with The Loop 110 at Chicago’s Street Course. This race will begin at 4:30pm ET and air live on The CW.

NASCAR Truck Series Results

The following NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results are for the LIUNA 150:

Truck Series Results	Driver	Team
Race Winner	Corey Heim	Tricon Garage
Stage 1 Winner	Corey Heim	Tricon Garage
Stage 2 Winner	Corey Heim	Tricon Garage
Led Most Laps	Corey Heim (99/100)	Tricon Garage
Pole Position	Corey Heim	Tricon Garage

If you want to see what domination looks like, then watch the highlights or replay of the LIUNA 150 and see how Corey Heim absolutely dominated the Truck Series field and race.

Heim led 99 of the 100 laps. In fact, the only lap that he didn’t lead was a restart on lap 95. Layne Riggs led that lap, but Heim quickly got the lead back on lap 96 and pulled away for the win.

Like with Austin Hill for the Xfinity Series, Corey Heim was our lock to win this Truck Series race:

“Let’s not get cute here. It’s Corey Heim or bust. The Truck Series’ best driver on the season to date, is chomping at the bit to snag another checkered flag this year. And, he’s more than capable of outracing the regulars and the ringers at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.”

It wasn’t a surprise that Heim won the race. The only surprise came with how much he dominated the first ever Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park.

Heim would go on to make the following post-race comments after picking up his 5^th win of the season:

“Yeah, that was nothing short of incredible. These road courses — I really look forward to them… Obviously, the truck was so good today. I can’t complain one bit about that. A flawless day and we will take that and move forward and try and collect some wins that we should have had this year.”

Heim also became the first driver in Truck Series history to win three consecutive road course races. He also won last year’s race at COTA and the 2023 Mid-Ohio event.

Ty Majeski finished second on Saturday and it was just the kind of result that I predicted: “Majeski is far too talented to keep performing at this subpar level. A fresh track could be the break he needs.”

Rounding out the Top 5 were Giovanni Ruggiero, Ben Rhodes and Cameron Waters. The latter is a road-course ringer from Australia. He was one of the pre-race favorites.

The Craftsman Truck Series will be on a mini-Summer break for the next four weeks. They will not return on Friday, July 25, for the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.aturday night at the same location. This reshuffling of race days will be clearly laid out in our NASCAR content for the race week.