Chase Elliott gets first win of 2025 in Atlanta

Chase Elliott defeated Brad Keselowski in the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway to claim his first victory since Texas 2024. The driver of the No. 9 for Hendrick Motorsports had gone 44 races without a win.

Alex Bowman finished third. The race was the first event of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Tournament, where Elliott eliminated Austin Dillon to advance to the next round.

Photo By Nascar Media

Elliott passes Keselowski on final lap

The Hendrick Motorsports driver overtook Keselowski on the last lap with drafting help from teammate Alex Bowman. Elliott crossed the finish line first after completing all 260 scheduled laps at the Atlanta oval.

The victory marked Elliott's second win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 20th of his career. The car featured a special design honoring Rhealynn Mills, a cancer patient from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts.

Keselowski leads 46 laps but loses at the end

The RFK Racing driver led laps 255-259 before losing the top spot. Keselowski had eliminated Kyle Busch in the tournament but couldn't defend against the combined attack from the two Hendrick cars.

"The 9 had the 48 behind him pushing, and there was nothing I could do to cover that," Keselowski explained. "When our RFK cars were together we could do the same thing, but we lost that. It was two against one."

22-car wreck

A multi-car crash on lap 69 eliminated several In-Season Tournament contenders. Chris Buescher braked to avoid then-leader Chase Elliott on the backstretch, causing a chain reaction that damaged 22 of the 40 participating cars.

Ross Chastain, William Byron, Daniel Suárez, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry and Corey LaJoie ended up in the garage after the massive incident.

Photo By Nascar Media

Ty Dillon surprises by eliminating Hamlin

Denny Hamlin, the top seed in the In-Season Tournament, lost to Ty Dillon due to the crash.

"For all of Denny's fans, I just beat your favorite driver," declared Ty Dillon, paraphrasing one of Hamlin's signature phrases.

Chase Briscoe, the second seed, was also eliminated by Noah Gragson. William Byron lost to Ryan Preece after being involved in the accident.

Photo By Nascar Media

Fifteen drivers advance to second round

The qualifiers are: Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Ty Dillon, Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith.

Tyler Reddick eliminated Kyle Larson to advance. The In-Season Tournament will continue with 15 participants instead of 16 due to the single-elimination format.

Logano leads most laps before crash

Joey Logano led 51 laps, the most of any driver, before being involved in the lap 69 crash. The driver of the No. 22 had started from the pole position.

The race saw 46 lead changes among 13 different drivers. An earlier crash on lap 57 had eliminated Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.

Austin Cindric won the first stage. Tyler Reddick took the second stage by narrowly beating Elliott. The race had 10 cautions for 68 laps.

Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Carson Hocevar completed the final top 10.

Complete Results - Quaker State 400