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DrivingOnMarbles Race Wrap-Up: Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway

Well, That Was a Heck of a Race

Okay, let’s just take a second to appreciate what happened Sunday at EchoPark Speedway, because it was genuinely one of the crazier finishes we’ve seen in recent memory. Ten cautions. Fifty-seven lead changes among fourteen different drivers. Double overtime. A missing fender. And somehow, someway, our lineup came out of it looking pretty great.

Before we get into the picks breakdown, here’s the headline you already know. Tyler Reddick won Sunday’s Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway without a right-front fender on his No. 45 Toyota, becoming just the sixth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two races in a Cup Series season. The guy was running 30th with a demolished car and still found a way to the front. Incredible stuff.

And the best part? I had him in my lineup this week. So yeah, this was a good Sunday.

Let’s get into this week’s race wrap up.

How the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway Played Out

Qualifying got washed out by Saturday rain, which meant no practice, no qualifying session, and zero certainty about where the speed really was in the field. The starting lineup was set by the qualifying metric, with Reddick taking the pole and Joey Logano lining up second.  That meant two of our six picks were front and center from the drop of the green flag.

Stage 1 was relatively clean.

The opening segment featured the most lead changes in a first stage since the track’s reconfiguration EchoPark Speedway, with the pack staying glued together and drivers constantly swapping the top spot.

Austin Cindric charged from 30th on the grid to win Stage 1, which nobody saw coming, but our guys were running well throughout.

Stage 2 is where things started getting spicy and a little painful.

Kyle Larson had been running up front and looking like a legitimate threat before he made a wild move from the top lane to the bottom late in the stage, tagged Shane van Gisbergen, and ended his own day by slamming the outside wall. Kyle Busch had a single-car spin that put him into the inside wall on the backstretch too. Our guys were mostly staying clean through all of this, which is exactly what you need to do at a track like Atlanta.

Bubba Wallace edged William Byron for the Stage 2 win Beyond the Flag, with Briscoe and Reddick right there in the top five.

Then Lap 224 happened. A major crash on the frontstretch swept up several contenders, including Denny Hamlin, Reddick, Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher. Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota sustained significant right-front damage but continued. EchoPark Speedway That was the moment that looked like it might ruin our whole day. Reddick was back in 30th. Hamlin was done as a factor. It felt like the race was slipping away.

But then Reddick just… drove through the field. In a car with a fender missing. In 39-degree weather. Reddick’s crew chief Billy Scott revealed post-race that the temperatures were so cold it was difficult to fully repair the car after the accident, and the team had to resort to heavy tape on the front end.

The pivotal moment came on Lap 256 when a massive crash in Turn 3 triggered a red flag and set up overtime, with William Byron, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Hamlin and others collected in the melee. EchoPark Speedway That unfortunately swept up Logano and essentially ended his day in 18th. Then on the first overtime restart, Hocevar tried to force a gap entering Turn 1 and spun Christopher Bell into the wall, bringing out yet another caution. That gave us a second overtime restart and a two-lap sprint to the finish. Reddick made his move, Bubba Wallace couldn’t hold the lead after going too high, and the 45 car crossed the line 0.164 seconds ahead of Briscoe. Michael Jordan summed it up perfectly from the pits: “Tyler drove his a** off.” Yardbarker Hard to argue with that.

How My Atlanta Fantasy Picks Performed

Here is a look at how my six picks for the Autotrader 400 ended up. It was a week with some real highs, some tough luck, and one result that I genuinely could not have scripted any better.

Christopher Bell (No. 20) — 21st Place

This one is frustrating because Bell really did not do anything wrong on Sunday. He was running well, staying out of trouble, and was in a decent position heading into overtime when Hocevar turned him into the outside wall on the first overtime restart. Race over. Just like that. Hocevar admitted afterward: “I was taking every run. I’m sure I owe people apologies.” Yardbarker That does not make a 21st place finish feel any better, but I am not second guessing this pick at all. Bell was a victim of superspeedway chaos, plain and simple. He will bounce back.

Tyler Reddick (No. 45) — 1st Place. WINNER!

I am not going to pretend I had this one figured out, because let’s be real…he was my full time main driver last year and I dropped him for Bell. I had thought fading Reddick made sense after Daytona, but I decided to race Toyota’s and he absolutely delivered. Reddick won Sunday’s Autotrader 400 without a right-front fender on his No. 45 Toyota. 

He was collected in the Lap 224 frontstretch crash, fell back to 30th, and then somehow picked his way back through the field with a demolished car. He told Fox Sports afterward: “I guess determination outweighs handling. We were back there in 30th after we got collected with the 11. I just found a way to kind of get back in the top five.” Yardbarker Maximum fantasy points. What a performance.

Joey Logano (No. 22) — 18th Place

Logano actually looked pretty good early. He was up front in the opening laps and showed the kind of speed you expect from a Team Penske car at a superspeedway track. But the massive Turn 3 crash late in the race collected Logano  along with a bunch of other contenders and that was the end of his day. He salvaged 18th which at least keeps him on the board for points, but it is not the result I was hoping for. Atlanta just keeps finding a way to bite the 22 car at the worst possible moment.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11) — 13th Place

This one actually hurts a little because Hamlin was genuinely one of the better cars on the track through Stage 3. He was running top five and looking like he was going to give me that strong bounce-back run after a tough Daytona. Then the Lap 224 frontstretch crash swept him up along with Reddick, Bowman, and Buescher and his shot at a big finish was gone. He managed to hang on for 13th which helps a little with points, but you could see a top-five run building before that crash hit. Not a bad pick, just really bad timing.

Chase Briscoe (No. 19) — 2nd Place

Honestly this might be the result of the week when you factor in where Briscoe was sitting in the odds coming in. He was running up front all afternoon, finished inside the top five in Stage 2, and then came within 0.164 seconds of winning the whole race outright in double overtime. Briscoe has historically struggled at EchoPark Speedway, but the speed really showed up for the Toyotas on Sunday. A runner-up finish for a car that most people were not talking about as a serious win contender is exactly the kind of result that can make your week in a fantasy pool. Really happy with this one.

Briscoe was actually on my short list to be my main driver this year, so I will definitely be keeping my eyes on him this season.

Austin Dillon (No. 3) — 29th Place

Unfortunately this one went sideways early and there was not much Dillon could do about it. Riley Herbst turned Austin Dillon’s No. 3 to trigger a wreck on Lap 103 that also collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and several others. Dillon was caught up in someone else’s mess before the race even really got going. Once you are collecting wreck damage before halfway at a superspeedway-style track, your day is basically done. He came home 29th. Moving on.

Having the race winner and a runner-up in the same lineup is a really solid week. Bell and Dillon both took bad luck hits that had nothing to do with car selection, and Logano and Hamlin were competitive before the late-race chaos got them. Reddick and Briscoe carried the card and did it in a big way.

Looking Ahead: COTA is Next

The Cup Series heads to Austin, Texas next Sunday for the DuraMax Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, with the green flag dropping at 3:30 PM ET on FOX. We go from superspeedway pack racing to a technical road course, which is a completely different kind of race. Road course specialists are going to matter a lot this week, and the draft alliances that defined Atlanta are out the window entirely.

I will have my full COTA fantasy picks and lineup strategy up later this week right here on DrivingOnMarbles.com. Make sure you get your picks in before qualifying closes. See you at COTA!

Author Profile

Bryan
Hey there race fans, welcome to Driving on Marbles, where I break down NASCAR with real insight, smart strategy, and race by race analysis. This isn’t just race recaps and highlight talk, it’s trends, track history, driver momentum, and the little details that actually make a difference on race day.

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