HAMPTON, Ga. – The NASCAR Cup Series, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series return to EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) this weekend for the 66th consecutive year. The race marks the second stop of the 2026 NASCAR national calendar following the season-opening Daytona 500 weekend, which gave Georgia fans plenty to cheer about. 

Between Austin Hill and Chandler Smith's victories in the O’Reilly and Truck Series, and Chase Elliott’s narrow defeat, Georgia drivers will enter the Autotrader 400 weekend as 2026’s most successful group. 

Here is everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s races. 

The Basics

EchoPark Speedway is a 1.5 mile oval located in Hampton, Georgia, about 40 minutes south of Atlanta. The track opened as Atlanta International Speedway in 1960, and has been a permanent fixture on the NASCAR calendar ever since. 

The track has undergone two renovations in 1997 and 2021. The second renovation increased the track’s banking from 24 to 28 degrees in corners, turning the speedway into a drafting track, also known as a superspeedway. 

Since the 2021 reconfiguration, the track has become one of the premier races on the calendar, even being called the “hottest ticket on the NASCAR circuit” by former driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. On June 3, 2025, the track was renamed to EchoPark Speedway.

This weekend features three races across two days. 

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 

Racing starts on Saturday, Feb. 21, when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series begins the Fr8 208. The green flag is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., but forecasted showers could impact the race. The Fr8 208 will be televised on FS1 and the Fox Sports streaming app. 

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is scheduled to follow the Trucks race with a projected start time of 5:00 p.m., weather permitting. NASCAR has not released a weather contingency plan to the public as of publication. The Bennet Transportation & Logistics 250 will be televised on The CW Network and the CW app.

NASCAR Cup Series

Finally, the NASCAR Cup Series rounds up the weekend’s action on Sunday, Feb. 22, with the Autotrader 400. The Cup Series race is the highlight of the weekend, and is expected to start at 3:00 p.m. The Autotrader 400 will be televised on Fox and the Fox Sports app. 

Georgia Drivers

Seven Georgia-born drivers will participate in this weekend's races. In the Cup Series, Chase Elliott of Dawsonville, Georgia, son of two-time NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, will drive the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Chevrolet. 

Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill will drive the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Bennett Transportation Chevrolet in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, alongside Ryan and Kyle Sieg. The Sieg brothers are from Tucker, Georgia, and will drive the No. 39 SA Recycling and No. 28 Big House Roofing Fords for their family team, Ryan Sieg Racing, respectively. 

Finally, the Craftsman Truck Series features three Georgia drivers: Corey Heim (Marietta), Chandler Smith (Talking Rock), and Jake Garcia (Monroe).

Heim will drive the No. 1 Robinhood Toyota for TRICON Garage, while Smith pilots the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 QuickTie Ford. Jake Garcia will drive ThorSport Racing’s No. 98 truck, sponsored by Quanta Services. 

Heartbreak to Homecoming: Elliott looks to turn Daytona speed into Atlanta-Repeat

Exiting the final corner of the Daytona 500, Dawsonville native Chase Elliott saw a crown jewel victory staring him in the face with zero cars ahead. However, as the Hendrick Motorsports driver neared the start-finish line, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick dove to the inside, pushed by his teammate Riley Herbst, and secured the victory. 

The move triggered a multi-car accident, and contact between Herbst and Brad Keselowski sent several cars, including Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet, sideways through the tri-oval. Elliott crossed the start-finish line backwards, in fourth place. 

Despite the heartbreak, the Autotrader 400 presents a golden opportunity for the 2020 Cup Series Champion to bounce back. 

Elliott has driven to victory lane twice at EchoPark Speedway. The first came at the 2022 Quaker State 400, while the other came last year, when Elliot passed Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski on the final lap in the 2025 Quaker State 400. The latter snapped a 44-race winless streak and marked Elliott’s 20th career Cup Series victory. 

While both of Elliott’s home-track wins have come during the summer dates, Elliott’s consistency on the new configuration can’t go unnoticed. With a 9.1 average finish at EchoPark Speedway, fans should expect to see the blue-and-white NAPA No. 9 near the front of the pack Sunday. 

King of the Hill: Can anyone stop Austin Hill? 

Tony Stewart and the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. are two of America’s biggest racing icons. The two drivers account for 10 NASCAR Championships and 125 wins at the Cup level. During the peaks of their careers, it wasn’t uncommon to see them run double-duty on race weekends, driving in both the Cup and the O’Reilly races. There, they reinforced their status as kings of the draft, netting eight super speedway victories each. 

However, as the O’Reilly Series returns to Atlanta this weekend, their achievements serve as a reminder of just how dominant Winston, Georgia native Austin Hill is. After dominating last week’s United Rentals 300 at Daytona, Hill secured his 11th career drafting-track win, putting him three clear of the Hall of Fame duo, placing him in an untouchable category for the foreseeable future. 

Driving the Richard Childress Racing No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, Hill boasts a 5.6 average finish at EchoPark Speedway, a number hampered by a 26th-place finish at the 2025 summer race, where Hill faced mechanical issues. 2026 is Hill’s fifth season in the O’Reilly parts series, and the veteran has won in five of his eight starts at EchoPark Speedway–a win rate of 62.5%, or one Atlanta trophy per season. Barring an incident, expect No. 21 to be the car to beat. 

Marietta’s Heim awaits as Talking Rock’s Chandler Smith returns after Daytona Victory

Hailing from Talking Rock, a small town in Pickens County with a population of just 91 (per the 2020 census), Chandler Smith got his racing start in go-karts and quarter midgets. 

After four years, Smith moved into Bandolero racing, including two victories at the then-named Atlanta Motor Speedway en route to the 2013 Bandolero National Championship.

Smith continued to climb the national series ladder through the 2010s and landed a full-time ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2021. 

After a brief stint in the O’Reilly Series, Smith returned to the trucks with Front Row Motorsports in 2025. In his first season back, Smith recorded five top 5’s and two wins while driving the No. 38 Ford F-150.

The 23-year old enters the weekend with momentum after a spectacular four-wide victory at Daytona last weekend. However, despite a 4.5 average finish on EchoPark Speedway’s new surface, Smith never won a NASCAR race on home soil; His best was a fourth-place finish in the 2022 Fr8 208.

Which brings us to Corey Heim, the winner of the 2022 Fr8 208. 

Born in Marietta, Georgia, Heim passed his then-teammate Smith on the final lap in 2022, claiming his first national series victory. Since then, Heim has won 23 Truck races, including a record-setting 12 in his 2025 championship season. 

Heim is running a part-time schedule across the Cup and Truck series this year, and is making his first truck start of the season at EchoPark Speedway, driving the TRICON Garage #1 Toyota Tundra.

Furthermore, Smith and Heim’s former boss, and truck series’ all-time wins leader Kyle Busch, is one of two Cup drivers pulling double duty this weekend alongside Carson Hocevar. Busch will drive the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s Cup race. Busch, a two-time Cup Series Champion, beat out Stewart Friesen by 0.017 seconds in the 2025 race. 

Heim and TRICON are a lethal combo; however, the team could experience some teething issues due to his part-time schedule. Regardless, the No. 1, No. 38 and No. 7 should all have strong weekends. However, this is the Craftsman Truck Series; the “wild west” of NASCAR. Expect the unexpected.