NASCAR’s Cup Series is set to return to EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, on Sunday, July 12, for the Quaker State 400, a 260‑lap race that will cover 400.4 miles of high‑stakes competition.
Starting grid and stakes
The event will be televised on TNT and truTV, with a pre‑race show beginning at 6 p.m. ET, and it will also be available to stream live on HBO Max, giving fans multiple ways to follow the action as it starts at 7 p.m. ET.
Denny Hamlin currently sits atop the championship standings, holding a 44‑point lead over Tyler Reddick, who captured the most recent Cup victory at Atlanta in February, setting the stage for a fierce battle for the lead.
The $1 million In‑Season Challenge
The newly repaved and reconfigured 1.54‑mile oval has already proven its capacity for side‑by‑side racing, and the field will be led from the front by a pair of Team Penske Fords, with Ryan Blaney on pole and Joey Logano right behind him.
Behind the leaders, a tightly packed pack includes Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, and Daniel Suarez in Chevrolets, while AJ Allmendinger sits 19th, just three spots outside the postseason Chase cutoff.
The race also features NASCAR’s In‑Season Challenge, a $1 million prize that adds extra stakes to every lap, and the remaining matchups — Alex Bowman versus Todd Gilliland, Briscoe versus Chase Elliott, Hamlin versus Christopher Bell, and Blaney versus William Byron — promise further drama.
Team dynamics add another layer of intrigue, with Kaulig Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and 23XI Racing all fielding strong entries, while organizations such as NASCAR, TNT Sports, USA TODAY Sports, and others continue to shape the series’ broadcast and regulatory landscape.