2026 Fr8 208

2026 Fr8 208
Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Race 2 of 25 in the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Date February 21, 2026 (2026-02-21)
Location EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 1.54 miles (2.48 km)
Distance 125 laps, 192.5 mi (309.7 km)
Scheduled distance 135 laps, 207.9 mi (334.6 km)
Average speed 131.027 miles per hour (210.868 km/h)
Pole position
Driver ThorSport Racing
Time 32.050
Most laps led
Driver Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing
Laps 70
Fastest lap
Driver Tanner Gray Tricon Garage
Time 30.636
Winner
No. 7 Kyle Busch Spire Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network FS1
Announcers Jamie Little, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano
Radio in the United States
Radio NRN
Booth announcers Brad Gillie, Ross Chastain, and Nick Yeoman
Turn announcers Doug Turnbull (1 & 2) and Jack Johnson (3 & 4)

The 2026 Fr8 208 was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race held on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 125 laps—shortened from 135 laps due to time constraints with the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race on the 1.54-mile-long (2.48 km) asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway (with superspeedway rules), it was the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, and the 18th running of the event.

In a shortened race, Kyle Busch, driving for Spire Motorsports, survived late chaos and led the final seven laps to earn his 68th career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, his first of the season, and his third consecutive win in the Atlanta truck race.[9] Carson Hocevar finished second, and Gio Ruggiero finished third. Ben Rhodes and Corey Heim rounded out the top five, while Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, John Hunter Nemechek, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Justin Haley rounded out the top ten.

Report

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car races since 1992.

The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit. In July 2021 NASCAR announced that the track would be reprofiled for the 2022 season to have 28 degrees of banking and would be narrowed from 55 to 40 feet which the track claims will turn racing at the track similar to restrictor plate superspeedways. Despite the reprofiling being criticized by drivers, construction began in August 2021 and wrapped up in December 2021.[10][11] The track has seating capacity of 71,000 to 125,000 people depending on the tracks configuration.

On June 3, 2025, SMI announced the track's renaming to EchoPark Speedway under a new seven-year sponsorship deal with the Smith family-owned business, EchoPark. The renaming ended a 35-year stint under the Atlanta Motor Speedway name.[12]

Entry list

  • (R) denotes rookie driver.
  • (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
# Driver Team Make
1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota
2 Clayton Green Team Reaume Ford
5 Adam Andretti Tricon Garage Toyota
7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
9 Grant Enfinger CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet
10 Daniel Dye Kaulig Racing Ram
11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota
12 Brenden Queen (R) Kaulig Racing Ram
13 Cole Butcher (R) ThorSport Racing Ford
14 Mini Tyrrell (R) Kaulig Racing Ram
15 Tanner Gray Tricon Garage Toyota
16 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Ram
17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota
18 Tyler Ankrum McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet
19 Daniel Hemric McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet
22 Josh Reaume Team Reaume Ford
25 Ty Dillon (i) Kaulig Racing Ram
26 Dawson Sutton Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet
33 Frankie Muniz Team Reaume Ford
34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford
38 Chandler Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford
42 Tyler Reif Niece Motorsports Chevrolet
44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet
45 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet
52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota
62 John Hunter Nemechek (i) Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota
69 Tyler Tomassi MBM Motorsports Ford
76 Spencer Boyd Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevrolet
77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
81 Kris Wright McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet
88 Ty Majeski ThorSport Racing Ford
90 Justin Carroll TC Motorsports Toyota
91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet
93 Caleb Costner Costner Motorsports Chevrolet
98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford
99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford
Official entry list

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, February 20, at 3:00 PM EST.[13] Since EchoPark Speedway is an intermediate track with superspeedway rules, the qualifying procedure used was a single-car, single-lap system with two rounds. In the first round, drivers had one lap to set a time and determined positions 11–36. The fastest ten drivers from the first round advanced to the second and final round, and whoever set the fastest time in Round 2 won the pole and determined the rest of the starting lineup.[14]

Jake Garcia, driving for ThorSport Racing, qualified on pole position, having advanced from the preliminary round and set the fastest time in Round 2, with a lap of 32.050 seconds, and a speed of 172.980 miles per hour (278.384 km/h).[15]

No drivers failed to qualify.

Qualifying results

Pos. # Driver Team Make Time (R1) Speed (R1) Time (R2) Speed (R2)
1 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 32.230 172.014 32.050 172.980
2 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford 32.101 172.705 32.097 172.726
3 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 32.202 172.163 32.109 172.662
4 18 Tyler Ankrum McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 32.154 172.420 32.138 172.506
5 45 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 32.238 171.971 32.249 171.912
6 13 Cole Butcher (R) ThorSport Racing Ford 32.174 172.313 32.260 171.854
7 88 Ty Majeski ThorSport Racing Ford 32.165 172.361 32.265 171.827
8 5 Adam Andretti Tricon Garage Toyota 32.219 172.072 32.321 171.529
9 44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 32.242 171.950 32.348 171.386
10 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 32.155 172.415
Eliminated in Round 1
11 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 32.276 171.768
12 62 John Hunter Nemechek (i) Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 32.310 171.588
13 19 Daniel Hemric McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 32.348 171.386
14 9 Grant Enfinger CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet 32.349 171.381
15 91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 32.353 171.360
16 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 32.388 171.175
17 15 Tanner Gray Tricon Garage Toyota 32.482 170.679
18 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 32.494 170.616
19 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 32.497 170.600
20 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 32.512 170.522
21 81 Kris Wright McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 32.535 170.401
22 38 Chandler Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 32.575 170.192
23 26 Dawson Sutton Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet 32.628 169.915
24 76 Spencer Boyd Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevrolet 32.634 169.884
25 16 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Ram 32.673 169.681
26 25 Ty Dillon (i) Kaulig Racing Ram 32.749 169.288
27 42 Tyler Reif Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 32.750 169.282
28 12 Brenden Queen (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 32.841 168.813
29 14 Mini Tyrrell (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 32.845 168.793
30 10 Daniel Dye Kaulig Racing Ram 32.854 168.747
31 22 Josh Reaume Team Reaume Ford 33.005 167.975
Qualified by owner's points
32 33 Frankie Muniz Team Reaume Ford 33.271 166.632
33 2 Clayton Green Team Reaume Ford
34 69 Tyler Tomassi MBM Motorsports Ford
35 90 Justin Carroll TC Motorsports Toyota
36 93 Caleb Costner Costner Motorsports Chevrolet
Official qualifying results
Official starting lineup

Race

Race results

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 40

Pos. # Driver Team Make Pts
1 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 10
2 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford 9
3 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
4 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
5 88 Ty Majeski ThorSport Racing Ford 6
6 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 5
7 44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 4
8 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 3
9 19 Daniel Hemric McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 2
10 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 1

Stage Two Laps: 40

Pos. # Driver Team Make Pts
1 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 10
2 45 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 0
3 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
4 38 Chandler Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 7
5 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
6 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 5
7 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 4
8 44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 3
9 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 2
10 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 1

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 45

Fin St # Driver Team Make Laps Led Status Pts
1 3 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 125 37 Running 0
2 18 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 125 0 Running 0
3 10 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 125 0 Running 40
4 2 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford 125 70 Running 42
5 20 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 125 6 Running 44
6 22 38 Chandler Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 125 0 Running 38
7 1 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 125 2 Running 34
8 12 62 John Hunter Nemechek (i) Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 125 0 Running 0
9 5 45 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 125 0 Running 0
10 25 16 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Ram 125 0 Running 27
11 26 25 Ty Dillon (i) Kaulig Racing Ram 125 0 Running 0
12 8 5 Adam Andretti Tricon Garage Toyota 125 0 Running 25
13 30 10 Daniel Dye Kaulig Racing Ram 125 0 Running 24
14 4 18 Tyler Ankrum McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 125 0 Running 23
15 9 44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 125 0 Running 29
16 28 12 Brenden Queen (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 125 0 Running 21
17 27 42 Tyler Reif Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 125 0 Running 20
18 21 81 Kris Wright McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 125 0 Running 19
19 29 14 Mini Tyrrell (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 124 0 Running 18
20 16 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 124 10 Running 32
21 11 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 123 0 Running 19
22 14 9 Grant Enfinger CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet 123 0 Running 15
23 33 2 Clayton Green Team Reaume Ford 123 0 Running 14
24 31 22 Josh Reaume Team Reaume Ford 123 0 Running 13
25 32 33 Frankie Muniz Team Reaume Ford 123 0 Running 12
26 24 76 Spencer Boyd Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevrolet 120 0 Running 11
27 19 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 119 0 Running 11
28 7 88 Ty Majeski ThorSport Racing Ford 119 0 Running 15
29 34 69 Tyler Tomassi MBM Motorsports Ford 119 0 Running 8
30 17 15 Tanner Gray Tricon Garage Toyota 116 0 Running 8
31 6 13 Cole Butcher (R) ThorSport Racing Ford 100 0 Accident 6
32 23 26 Dawson Sutton Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet 100 0 Accident 5
33 36 93 Caleb Costner Costner Motorsports Chevrolet 99 0 Handling 4
34 13 19 Daniel Hemric McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 88 0 Suspension 5
35 35 90 Justin Carroll TC Motorsports Toyota 65 0 Rear Gear 2
36 15 91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 2 0 Transmission 1
Official race results

Race statistics

  • Lead changes: 14 among 5 different drivers
  • Cautions/Laps: 3 for 18 laps
  • Red flags: 0
  • Time of race: 1 hour, 28 minutes and 9 seconds
  • Average speed: 131.027 miles per hour (210.868 km/h)

Standings after the race

References

  1. ^ "2026 schedule". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  2. ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  3. ^ "NASCAR releases 2026 schedule, adding Chicagoland and shifting All-Star to Dover". NASCAR. August 20, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  4. ^ "Entry list" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 20, 2026. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  5. ^ "Qualifying Results" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 20, 2026. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  6. ^ "Starting Lineup" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 20, 2026. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  7. ^ "Race Results" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 21, 2026. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
  8. ^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 21, 2026. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
  9. ^ "Kyle Busch outduels field for record ninth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win at EchoPark Speedway". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 21, 2026. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
  10. ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway to re-profile track in 2022 and drivers are expressing frustration with the changes". CBSSports.com. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  11. ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway track reprofile begins | NASCAR". Official Site Of NASCAR. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  12. ^ Spanberg, Erik (June 3, 2025). "NASCAR track in Atlanta gets new name with Charlotte ties". Charlotte Business Journals. Retrieved June 3, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  13. ^ "2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Atlanta Race Page". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  14. ^ "2026 NASCAR Qualifying Procedures". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
  15. ^ Srigley, Joseph (February 20, 2026). "Jake Garcia Scores Hometown Pole at EchoPark Speedway". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 20, 2026.