Sanchez Secures First Xfinity Win Amid Atlanta Chaos

Nick Sanchez celebrates with a burnout after winning Friday night at EchoPark Speedway. (Max Corcoran/Race Face Digital photo)

HAMPTON, Ga. – Nick Sanchez rose above a chaotic Friday night at EchoPark Speedway to score an emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win for Big Machine Racing and owner Scott Borchetta.

Two weeks after Borchetta’s father Mike passed away at the age of 84, Sanchez drove to victory lane in the family’s honor, surging forward over the final 20 laps of the Focused Health 250.

Sanchez first found the front row via the choose rule for a restart with 24 laps left, getting several strong pushes from Jesse Love to challenge and eventually nip ahead of Aric Almirola for the top spot.

Once Sanchez got clear of Almirola’s No. 19, he slid up the track to move into defense, with Love taking charge and becoming the one to battle on the low side of the 1.54-mile quad-oval.

A back-and-forth war ensued for about six miles before Sanchez was able to clear once again to the top spot, but the last of nine caution flags waved with 12 to go for debris in turn two from C.J. McLaughlin’s wounded machine.

Sanchez lined up on the top lane for a seven-lap shootout with Love to his left flank, but getting up to speed his No. 48 Chevrolet got stuck between third and fourth gears, and he dropped from the lead to third as he worked to recapture his momentum.

Love was pushed briefly to the lead by Carson Kvapil at that point, but Sanchez’s momentum swung back around with six to go when he and the rest of the lead draft hung Love out to dry up front.

After that, Sanchez played perfect defense the rest of the way, fending off Kvapil to the checkered flag for his first Xfinity Series victory by .104 seconds.

It completed a frenetic rally for Sanchez, who spun on the frontstretch on lap 68 while running sixth and had to battle all the way back just to be in contention when the pay window opened.

“I’m going to be honest, this is a reminder of my 2023 debut here in a truck in Atlanta. I spun and I finished second, so now I’ve spun and won. It’s awesome,” said a reflective Sanchez. “Just a huge thanks to Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Racing, Patrick Donahue, and everyone on this team. We’ve been so close the last couple of weeks and had every little thing that could go wrong go wrong for us.

“I put a lot of that on my shoulders, so to come back and get a win is just everything we needed.”

Sanchez’s maiden victory capped a wild Xfinity Series program in Atlanta that featured three lightning delays – including one before the green flag and a one-hour, 18-minute delay with 35 laps complete – and two multi-car accidents that vastly altered the complexion of the field.

With all the chaos, the race finished in the early hours of Saturday morning on the East Coast.

The first caution at lap four was slightly less consequential, sparked after a tap from Christian Eckes sent Blaine Perkins spinning in the center of turn three and collected William Sawalich, Parker Retzlaff, and Josh Williams all get collected with heavy damage.

What transpired immediately after the long red flag, during a lap-41 restart, was far more shocking.

Battling for a spot inside the top five, Love tried to slip to the outside of Sam Mayer down the backstretch and go three-wide for position, but was squeezed and had to check up as a result.

With nowhere to go, Sanchez got into the back of the No. 2 and sent Love’s Chevrolet spinning down across traffic. It ignited a 10-car pileup that eliminated the likes of polesitter Sheldon Creed – who led the first 37 laps – Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, and Ryan Sieg.

That crashed thinned out some of the early contenders and paved the way for Sanchez and others to make their mark as the race went on.

Nick Sanchez (48) beats Carson Kvapil to the checkered flag to win at EchoPark Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

After working with Sanchez to get back past Love, Kvapil just didn’t have enough energy behind him on the final lap to build a run and was forced to settle for runner-up honors.

It’s the third career second-place finish in Xfinity Series competition for Kvapil and his second this year.

Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer was third, followed by Connor Zilisch and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Taylor Gray.

Love, Almirola, Daniel Dye, Kyle Sieg, and Jeremy Clements closed out the top 10 at the finish.

Almirola took the lead to start the final stage and led a race-high 48 laps, while there were nine total leaders and 12 lead changes during the 163-lap race. The winner’s average speed was 96.407 mph.

NASCAR Xfinity Series teams go next to the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course, where Shane van Gisbergen won last summer and will return in a fifth JR Motorsports entry for this year’s event.

Broadcast coverage of the Loop 110 is slated for Saturday, July 5 at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.