Following a historic season-opener at Daytona, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to EchoPark Speedway this weekend for the 2026 Autotrader 400. As the second stop of the season, Sunday’s 400-mile battle marks the ninth time the Next Gen car has tackled Atlanta’s high-banked, drafting-style layout.
The stakes are higher than ever for the 40-car field. Beyond the critical championship points at play, NASCAR has confirmed a massive $11,233,037 total prize pool for the event. The Autotrader 400 sees a significant boost of nearly $178,000 over last year’s total. While Christopher Bell won the 2025 event, this year’s winner will be fighting for a share of a much larger pie.
Moreover, the lower series also sees incremental increases. The O’Reilly Series (Xfinity) winner will compete for a portion of the $1.65 million pool, while the Truck Series purse remains the most compact at just under $790,000.
Here’s what Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass wrote in his tweet:
“Purses for Atlanta weekend. Purses include all payouts for all positions as well as charter payouts and contingency awards and end-of-season fund: Cup: $11,233,037 OReilly: $1,653,590 Truck: $789,700”
The fight for both the trophy and the 2026 “Chase” points began on Saturday, February 21, with Cup Series qualifying. This session determined the starting grid for Sunday’s main event, where the field will tackle 400 miles of high-speed, drafting-heavy action at EchoPark Speedway.
Qualifying order for the 2026 Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway
As we inch closer to the season’s second points-paying race, Bob Pockrass shared the qualifying order for the 2026 Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway:
The battle for the pole at EchoPark Speedway is set to begin on Saturday, February 21. Veteran driver JJ Yeley (No. 44) has been tapped to start with the first lap of qualifying. Meanwhile, last week’s Daytona 500 champion Tyler Reddick (No. 45) will be the final driver to hit the track.
In a post on X, Pockrass shared:
Qualifying orders for Atlanta weekend:
@NASCARONFOX
- JJ Yeley (i) – 41.9 2
- BJ McLeod – 40.7
- Alex Bowman – 39.1
- Todd Gilliland – 38.1
- Chase Briscoe – 36.6
- Austin Dillon – 35.8
- Christopher Bell – 34.1
- Connor Zilisch – 33.6
- Austin Cindric – 32.8
- Denny Hamlin – 31.9
- Shane van Gisbergen – 29.7
- Cole Custer – 25.2
- Ryan Preece – 24.7
- Ty Gibbs – 23.9
- John Hunter Nemechek – 23.9
- Erik Jones – 22.2
- Ryan Blaney – 21.9
- Ross Chastain – 20.9
- Michael McDowell – 20.5
- AJ Allmendinger – 19.9
- Cody Ware – 18.2
- Ty Dillon – 15.8
- Kyle Larson – 15.7
- Carson Hocevar – 15.3
- Kyle Busch – 14.7
- William Byron – 13.8
- Daniel Suárez – 12.7
- Noah Gragson – 12.5
- Josh Berry – 10.2
- Bubba Wallace – 9.4
- Riley Herbst – 8.9
- Chris Buescher – 7.0
- Zane Smith – 5.4
- Brad Keselowski – 5.3
- Chase Elliott – 3.7
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 2.9
- Joey Logano – 2.7
- Tyler Reddick – 1.0
