DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 14: Parker Kligerman, driver of the #75 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet celebrates with his crew after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
The National Motorsports Appeals Panel has ruled in favor of NASCAR’s post-race disqualification of Parker Kligerman and Henderson Motorsports. NASCAR disqualified the No. 75 for not meeting post-race height requirements following their victory at Daytona last Friday.
Update: Unfortunately we have lost our appeal regarding our disqualification from last week's race in Daytona. While we feel that we had a very strong case, we respect the panel’s decision. We’d again like to thank all the fans for their support. We’ve shown that we can compete,…
The panel ruled: “It is more likely than not a rules violation did occur and the disqualification penalties in Rule 10.5.2.4 necessitate a race disqualification.” Prior to the hearing, Kligerman had stated he felt the team had a “very valid case to make.”
In 2019, NASCAR changed its DQ policy to strip race winner who fails post-race inspection of their win. With this disqualification official, Kligerman becomes the second Truck Series driver to be stripped of a victory since NASCAR’s policy change.
Kligerman retired from full-time Xfinity Series racing after the 2024 season to work as an analyst for NASCAR on the CW. However, he is running a part-time Truck Series schedule with Henderson Motorsports, an underdog team with which he has a winning history.
The team, owned by Charlie Henderson, despite not running a full-time truck series season in 14 seasons, has won two races with Kligerman. The team and drivers next race together is unknown.
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EchoPark Speedway, or Atlanta Motor Speedway, is often touted as the most exciting track on the NASCAR circuit. What was first seen as a Frankenstein experiment, Marcus Smith’s idea to turn AMS into a baby Daytona worked out in the end. We’ve gotten great race after great race and tonight was no different as fans saw Tyler Reddick power by Carson Hocevar to go two in a row to start the season.
But not everyone had a season to remember. Many drivers and teams had a season that they’d sooner forget. These are the biggest losers of the 2026 EchoPark Speedway racing weekend.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race officials rightly got blasted online by fans after they made the extremely questionable decision to put the Truck race on Saturday on the weather clock. That would have been an understandable move if circumstances were different. But they caught flak because 1.) EchoPark Speedway has lights, 2.) the weather had moved out for the weekend, and 3.)…umm…they were only 10 laps shy from the scheduled distance anyway.
Now, we know who the defenders are. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race was slated to follow, but NASCAR has pushed races off in the past. And really, how much time would the CW have lost? Ten minutes? Twenty? If that? That, in my book, makes the NCTS officials some of the biggest losers on the weekend. They owe us fans ten more measly laps for racing!
Of any driver currently in the Chevy ranks, none has had the support thrown behind them like Corey Day. Day, a protege of proven NASCAR champion Kyle Larson, apparently has turned some heads on the dirt scene. Makes sense, since Larson himself said that he’d rather win the Chili Bowl than the Daytona 500. But unlike other drivers, such as Connor Zilisch, who have excelled in other racing disciplines outside of NASCAR, Day’s career so far has been lukewarm at best. And his race yesterday was the epitome of a rookie race, ladened with senseless mistakes.
The incident that hurt the most was the one where he wrecked his fellow HMS/JRM teammates, Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. He simply just took them out while racing for the race lead. Though he was, somehow, able to rebound to finish the race in the 4th position, yesterday was a sloppy performance that even Corey himself acknowledges that he’d rather put behind him.
Chastain did it again! And now, the feelings are mixed. Remember when Ross Chastain used to just send drivers willy-nilly, and it really got on fans’ nerves? Well, thankfully, he’s calmed down in recent years and has become a more respectable veteran of the sport. That is not to say that he still doesn’t have his…moments. Saturday night at the O’Reilly Auto Parts race, Ross Chastain, going for the win, entered turn 1 and sent leader Austin Hill.
Hill was the overwhelming favorite to win this race, and fans have grown sick of him. So, really, this was a welcome return to form for Chastain, a version of him that used to be loathed by fans. Thus, while fans might have won out by Chastain doing what he does best and slaying Austin Hill, the RCR team, and really, anyone who has Chastain in their rearview mirror in the closing laps, are the real losers this weekend.
There were a couple of drivers who ended 2025 on a sour note and were looking to turn things around and start 2026 strong. One of those has to be Josh Berry and his entire Wood Brothers team. After floundering around with Harrison Burton for a few seasons, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford got the shot in the arm that they needed with a new crew chief and Josh Berry as their new driver. They led a bunch of laps at Atlanta in 2025, only for a wreck with 10 laps to go to take them out of contention. Not to worry, though: they followed it up with a win at Las Vegas.
But since that win, the team suffered a steep decline heading into the summer months. By the time the postseason rolled around, they had the single worst Playoff performance in history with three straight last-place finishes. Though he had a promising start to the season with a 9th-place run in the Daytona 500, it was the same old same old tonight. Berry showed some speed in the first stage but ultimately crashed after Christopher Bell forced the issue in the beginning of Stage 2. It’s a familiar routine for the Wood Brothers. Yet another last-place finish. That makes them one of the biggest losers of the weekend. If only they could have capitalized.
This one’s a tired subject, so I won’t dwell on it too long. Kyle Busch’s late career decline at Richard Childress Racing should be studied. Though he showed speed early on, it was yet again a single-car spin that ended his day prematurely. Granted, he didn’t spin completely on his own. He was tagged from behind by Noah Gragson. But, that was after he checked up twice and recklessly pulled up in front of him in a hole that was barely there. Yet another disappointing outing for Rowdy Nation.
The checkered flag has flown in the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season. And, at the end of the day, it was Tyler Reddick who went back-to-back to win at EchoPark Speedway. Tonight, Reddick became the sixth NASCAR Cup Series driver to win the first two races of the season. He is the first since NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth did it to kick off the 2009 season.
But, of course, Reddick wasn’t the only one to have a great start to the season. Several drivers leave Atlanta with a great points day, including Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney. Here are the highlights of tonight’s race:
It was a chilly day down in Hampton, Georgia for the NASCAR Cup Series event at EchoPark Speedway (formerly the Atlanta Motor Speedway). There was a big fat question mark around this event as qualifying was rained out on Saturday morning. This meant that the metric determined the field and it was largely based upon the Daytona 500 finishing order. Daytona 500 champ Tyler Reddick started on the pole with his teammates Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst starting not far behind.
Stage 1 was relatively tame. There was a lot of juking for positions, but the best of the best in the NASCAR Cup Series were largely able to keep their noses clean. Austin Cindric won stage 1, with Bubba Wallace taking stage two. The top two stage earners for today’s race were Bubba Wallace (19) and William Byron (16).
A number of contenders were involved in massive crashes littered throughout the day. Among drivers caught up in incidents are Josh Berry, Shane van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, and Kyle Larson, among others. When it comes to superspeedway-style racing, big crashes are inevitable.
In the last 10 laps of the race, it was still anybody’s game. Bubba Wallace led with a hornet’s nest of Bell, Hocevar, Chastain, Reddick, and Suarez behind him. With 4 laps to go, Byron had a tire go down, causing a huge late-race caution. The race would finish in overtime.
The overtime finish was thrilling. After one false start, Bubba Wallace lined up on the inside with his teammate, Tyler Reddick. Behind them was Chase Briscoe. In the high lane, we had the wrecking ball duo of Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain with Daniel Suarez behind them. As Reddick gave Bubba a great shot, the No. 23 jumped up to block Hocevar. Unfortunately, he jumped up too car and allowed Hocevar to get down below him. Then, the tandem of Reddick and Briscoe powered back on the inside and Tyler Reddick cruised to victory with no right front fender.
Key Incidents
Berry & Gibbs Tangle
From an awful showing in the 2025 Playoffs to yet another last-place finish, Josh Berry’s 2026 season is off to a rough start. Today, he got together with Ty Gibbs after Gibbs had an awful start to the year last year. The No. 54 was able to turn it around later in the season, though. But, for their 2026 outing, there’s a lot left to be desired. Check it out.
Kyle Busch’s 2025 season was abysmal. But, after he put his No. 8 RCR Chevy on the pole for the 2026 Daytona 500, things seemed to be looking up. He smartly survived last week by lying back on the last lap and safely navigating through the crash, finishing 15th. And he was a contender early in this race. However, late, Kyle Busch continued his dismal legacy at RCR by spinning after contact with Noah Gragson. His day ended prematurely. Check it out:
We got our first big crash of the race at Lap 224 when both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got loose in front of the field. You can read all about that incident with the link below:
Things started to get real for the NASCAR Cup Series drivers as we got inside 40 laps to go. We got our first Big One of the afternoon at Lap 224. It was triggered as the field came out of Turn 4 and entered the dogleg. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, both whose cars were upset by the dirty air, got together. Logano was able to scoot on virtually unscathed. However, Hamlin turned in front of the pack, collecting several stars and heavy hitters. Here’s what happened:
Taking a look at it, it looks like Joey Logano got loose and let out of the throttle. Initially, it looks like he saved it. However, he was still barely hanging on. He got loose again and once again let off. Hamlin had nowhere to go.
Hamlin, reacting to Logano, overcorrected and ricocheted off the outside SAFER Barrier. This bounced him down into traffic, where he collected the likes of Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, A. J. Allmendinger, Connor Zilisch, and several others.
It has been a bad offseason for Denny Hamlin. He lost the 2025 championship in devastating fashion, he was in the thick of a lawsuit against NASCAR with Michael Jordan, he tragically lost his father in a house fire in December, and now he has two DNF finishes to start his 2026 campaign. After starting the season with three wild card races, one could only imagine that Hamlin is excited to get back to “normal racing” in a couple weeks when NASCAR heads to Phoenix.
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