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Author: Tucker White

  • ‘Big One’ strikes in waning laps of Talladega Cup race

    ‘Big One’ strikes in waning laps of Talladega Cup race

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Over a dozens cars were collected in the “Big One” in the closing laps of the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    With 20 laps to go, Chase Elliott was getting a bump from AJ Allmendinger working to draft past race leader Kyle Busch. Exiting Turn 2, Allmendinger drifted down towards the left-rear corner of Elliott’s car, getting Elliott loose. His No. 24 Chevrolet pointed down towards the inside wall for a second, then turned back up the track.

    Allmendinger hooked Elliott and sent him spinning into the path of Joey Logano, who’s No. 22 Ford submarined underneath Elliott’s car and the air lifted his car off the ground. His car was airborne for roughly three seconds before coming to a rest with the left-front tire riding the steel barrier of the outside retaining wall and on the hood of Michael McDowell’s car down the backstretch.

    This triggered a 16-car wreck and brought out the sixth caution of the race. Cleanup necessitated a 26-minute, 51-second red flag.

    Elliott, the primary pinball in the wreck, said afterwards that Allmendinger “had a big run and he kind of got to my bumper and just happened to be in a bad spot coming up off the corner and was skewed a little bit to my left rear. And when that happens, it just unloads these cars too much.”

    AJ Allmendinger’s car lies upside-down from contact from Joey Logano late in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

    After Allmendinger hooked Elliott, his car got loose and turned up towards the wall. It was aided by contact from Kevin Harvick, who caught Allmendinger as he was swerving down to avoid him and hooked him in the process.

    Allmendinger did a roughly half-spin before sliding backwards and slamming rear-on into the drivers side of Erik Jones.

    Further contact from Logano, and the added force of cars piling into the 22 car, lifted Allmendinger’s car onto it’s left-side for roughly three seconds before settling upside-down.

    After exiting the infield care center, Allmendinger said he was glad he “didn’t get hit upside down.”

    “It’s just Talladega. It’s all it is,” he said. “The plan worked out. We waited in the back and got up front and I had (Dale Earnhardt) Junior pushing me, I had the best guy pushing me. I’m not sure. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the No. 24 of Chase they were kind of moving around and at the time I think Harvick got behind me and we were shoving and Chase opened the door and then kind of closed it and I tried to check up just a little bit and tapped him and when I checked up it was a big wreck after that.”

    Other collected included Danica Patrick, who came down across the nose of Matt DiBenedetto and slammed into the jutted out opening of the inside retaining wall, Harvick, who spun up the track and sideswiped the outside wall, Martin Truex Jr. and Trevor Bayne, who both t-boned the passenger side of Logano’s car, and Austin Dillon, who slammed into the rear-end of Matt Kenseth’s car driving through the smoke of the wreck.

  • Last Lap Pass Gives Stenhouse First Cup Victory

    Last Lap Pass Gives Stenhouse First Cup Victory

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Coming to the white flag, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running second. Coming to the checkered flag, he was leading and scored the victory.

    On the final restart in overtime, Kyle Busch was the leader with Stenhouse to his inside. He got ahead of Busch initially with two to go but was swallowed up with no draft help. He recovered with Jimmie Johnson pushing him past the inside of Busch coming to the line to take the white flag. The lead belonged to Stenhouse rounding Turn 1 and he blocked the advances of Busch and Jamie McMurray to score his first career victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

    “It’s been a long time coming,” Stenhouse said. “We’ve run really well here at Talladega. This is the closest race track to home. I got a lot of cheers riding around here today and the fans were awesome. We had a lot packed in here at Talladega and it felt old-school. Man, to finally get that win for Jack and everyone on our team is really special.”

    It’s the first victory by a Roush Fenway Racing driver since Carl Edwards at Sonoma Raceway in 2014.

    McMurray finished runner-up and Busch rounded out the podium.

    Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five.

    Stenhouse led the field to the green flag at 2:20 p.m. and led the first 15 laps before trash on his grille forced him to jump out of line to get behind a car to remove it. This handed the lead to Brad Keselowski. The caution flew for the first time on lap 17 when Kyle Larson brushed the Turn 1 wall as a result of a cut right-front tire. Clint Bowyer ascended to the lead by opting not to pit.

    Back to green on lap 21, three lines battled for the race lead with Busch on the top line edging out the others on lap 28. Keselowski edged him out at the line on lap 34 to retake the lead.

    Denny Hamlin made an unscheduled stop for a vibration on lap 48, which played to his advantage when the stage concluded.

    Keselowski won the first stage.

    Hamlin cycled to the lead thanks to the timing of the vibration.

    The second stage was tamer, only interrupted by caution twice, Reed Sorenson’s right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in in the tri-oval, and the end of the stage on lap 110, won by Hamlin.

    The lead changes during the stage came on laps 81 (Busch), during the third caution (Ryan Newman), 90 (Bowyer) and 92 (Hamlin).

    The final stage started with 72 to go, with Matt Kenseth in the lead.

    Hamlin took the lead with 70 to go, Keselowski with 69 to go, Hamlin with 68 to go, Keselowski with 67 to go, Kevin Harvick with 65 to go, Johnson with 59 to go and Harvick with 55 to go.

    Joey Logano took the lead for the first time exiting Turn 2 with 49 to go.

    A cycle of green flag stops with 45 to go cycled Kyle Busch to the race lead with 37 to go.

    Ryan Blaney brought out the fifth caution with 28 to go when he was impeded by Gray Gaulding going down the backstretch, bumped by Stenhouse and turned into the outside wall.

    With 20 to go, AJ Allmendinger bumped Chase Elliott exiting Turn 2, getting the 24 car loose which turned up the track and triggered a 16-car multi-car wreck.

    The seventh caution flew when Landon Cassill’s car stopped on the race track.

    Newman’s wreck on the backstretch with two to go set up the overtime run to the finish.

    The race lasted three hours, 29 minutes and 16 seconds at an average speed of 145.669 mph. There were 26 lead changes among 14 different drivers and eight cautions for 33 laps.

    Kyle Larson leaves with a 54-point lead over Martin Truex Jr.

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  • ‘Big One’ Strikes Early in XFINITY Talladega Race

    ‘Big One’ Strikes Early in XFINITY Talladega Race

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — The field was four laps shy of the end of the first stage of the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway when the Big One was triggered.

    Riding down the backstretch on the 21st lap, Brennan Poole attempted to thread the needle between Kasey Kahne to his low-side and Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez to his high-side. Poole made contact with Tifft, leading to Tifft’s loose car turning down and hooking the 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet up the track and into the left-rear corner panel of Suarez.

    This triggered a nine-car wreck, brought out the second caution of the race and cleanup necessitated a nine-minute and 28-second red flag.

    Despite being at the eye of the wreck, Suarez and Tifft both drove to a top-10 finish.

    “That’s the big thing here, surviving,” Tifft said. “This stage racing deal sure makes for a lot of intensity and wrecks at that to. We just got caught up in the first stage crash, hurt the nose of the Camry and got to a point where if we didn’t have a good pusher out back it was going to be hard to move around and get a lane going.”

    Among those collected were William Byron, who t-boned Suarez as Suarez slid down the track. Daniel Hemric was barely clipped by Suarez, spun up the track and his right-rear corner slammed into the wall in Turn 3. Darrell Wallace Jr. was turned down the track, following a shunt from the 13 car of Mark Thompson, and clipped the 24 car of Scott Lagasse Jr. Brandon Jones was turned down into the inside wall by Spencer Gallagher as both drove onto the apron to avoid the spinning cars ahead.

  • Stenhouse Takes Pole Position at Talladega

    Stenhouse Takes Pole Position at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday after winning the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford won the pole after posting a final round time of 49.993 and a speed of 191.547 mph. It was his first pole at Talladega and his second Cup Series career pole in 158 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.

    “It’ll be nice to lead the field to green here. The Fifth Third guys worked really, really hard on these cars. Like I said earlier, Jimmy Fennig has done a great job on these speedway cars. This is cool. Doug Yates builds awesome horsepower. With his dad, Robert, not doing as well as we would like, it would be cool to dedicate this one to him and all the hard work that the engine shop does. Man, it’s a cool way to start the weekend. I’m ready to get to Sunday,” Stenhouse said of his qualifying run.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 50.194 and a speed of 190.780 mph.

    “We always kind of come down here and find ourselves with an opportunity for the pole,” Earnhardt said. “Hopefully, we will get one before the year is out at one of these plate tracks. I know the guys have been so close at Daytona and Talladega for so many years, so it would be great to do it this last season together. Just came up a little short today, but the car is fast and it will be good for Sunday.”

    Brad Keselowski will start third in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 50.287 and a speed of 190.427 mph.

    “A good effort for the Miller Lite Ford team. Qualifying was good. Qualifying up front means that you have a fast car,” Keselowski said. “To run a time that we did makes you feel like you have a car that will run up front and challenge for a win. We have a fast race car and I hope to make it count.”

    Matt Kenseth will start fourth in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 50.359 and a speed of 190.155 mph. Trevor Bayne will round out the top-five in his No. 6 RFR Ford after posting a time of 50.394 and a speed of 190.023 mph.

    Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

    Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    DJ Kennington is the lone DNQ of the race.

    GEICO 500 Starting Lineup:

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  • Almirola Wins Competitive XFINITY Race at Talladega

    Almirola Wins Competitive XFINITY Race at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — The final run to the finish had five lead changes, and Aric Almirola took the lead with four laps remaining to win a competitive XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Justin Allgaier led the field to the final restart with 11 laps to go. Joey Logano, with Almirola in tow, powered down the backstretch and “chicaned” around Allgaier to take the lead with nine to go. He swapped the lead with Erik Jones before Jones was edged out by Almirola coming to the line with four to go and Almirola drove on to score the victory.

    Elliott Sadler came home second and Joey Logano finished third.

    Ben Kennedy and Erik Jones rounded out the top-five.

    Matt Tifft, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Daniel Suarez and Jeff Green rounded out the top-10.

    Blake Koch led the field to the green flag at 1:21 p.m., but Kasey Kahne used a push from the outside lane on to lead the first lap. Kennedy took the lead on the sixth lap. Ray Black Jr. brought out the first caution on the seventh lap for a blown engine.

    On the ensuing restart on lap 11, Kahne retook the lead. Logano took the lead for the first time on lap 16, edging out Suarez at the line. Almirola followed suit on lap 20, edging out Logano at the line. The following lap on the backstretch, Brennan Poole attempted to thread the needle between Kasey Kahne, Tifft and Suarez. He made contact with Tifft, who hooked him into the left-rear corner panel of Suarez, which sent him spinning, triggering a nine-car spin and bringing out the second caution.

    Red flag was displayed for nine minutes and 28 seconds.

    The race restarted on lap 23 and ran to the end of the first stage, two laps later, that was won by Almirola.

    Michael Annett, who opted not to pit, led the field to the restart on lap 32, and lost the led to Ty Dillon on lap 34. Dillon and Logan swapped the lead back and forth for the next few laps until Jones powered by on the top coming to the line on lap 47 to take the lead. Allgaier jumped in front to take the lead on lap 48.

    A second multi-car wreck, triggered by Almirola bumping Ryan Reed, sending him into the wall and collecting Brendan Gaughan in the process, brought out the fourth caution on lap 49 and ended the second stage with Allgaier in the race lead.

    The multi-car wreck brought out an 11-minute and 30-second red flag.

    Back to green on lap 55, Jones retook the lead on lap 59, only to lose it on the backstretch the following lap to Almirola, who then lost it to Kahne.

    With 44 to go, the top-six cars had broken away from the field. Three of the six, including race leader Kahne, pitted with 43 to go. Jones, who inherited the lead, pitted the following lap, giving the lead to Jeff Green.

    Green led 18 laps, the most he’s led in an XFINITY Series race since Rockingham in 2002, but pitted with 24 to go and the lead cycled back to Allgaier.

    Debris brought out the final caution with 16 to go, setting up the 11-lap run to the finish.

    The race lasted two hours, nine minutes and 41 seconds at an average speed of 139.068 mph. There were 28 lead changes among 14 different drivers and five cautions for 20 laps.

    Sadler leaves Talladega with a 29-point lead over Allgaier.

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  • Elliott’s Sophomore Season After Nine Races

    Elliott’s Sophomore Season After Nine Races

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Chase Elliott is on track to best his stellar rookie campaign from last season at the one-quarter mark of the season.

    At this point last season, Elliott finished in the top-10 five times, twice in the top-five and led only four laps. This season, the reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie of the year has finished top-10 in six races and top-five in three. He’s also led 169 laps this year to four at this point last season.

    His first dominant race of this season came in the fourth of the season at Phoenix International Raceway, where he led 106 of the 314 laps and won the second stage on his way to a 12th-place finish. His breakout race of 2016 came later in the season at Pocono Raceway, where he led a race high of 51 of 160 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish.

    Elliott also won a stage and finished third at Martinsville Speedway, a track where he finished 20th and 12th in 2016.

    It should come as no surprise that the son of 1988 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott runs third in points, 52 back of points leader Kyle Larson, going into this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Assessing his season after nine races, Elliott — who’s known for being hard on himself, even on a day with a great run — said it’s “had some ups and downs.”

    “I feel like we fired off really well with the way we ran at Daytona and Atlanta,” Elliott said. “I thought our West Coast swing was pretty strong. I feel like over the past few weeks we really haven’t performed up to our potential. As a group, I think anybody in our group would feel the same way. We’ve had some fast cars at times. We’ve had our driving good and then other weeks, not so much. But, we definitely need to execute races; even on the days that your car is not driving like you want it to. That execution and doing everything correctly on pit road, restarts, giving the right information, can turn a bad day into a pretty good day, really. Like last week, for instance, we ran not very good and just inside the 15th; not quite inside the top-10 the majority of the day. We got towards the end of the day and had an opportunity to finish up well inside the top-10 if we had just executed a little bit better. So, that’s what we need to do. And we know we need to do that. And, we’ll try to make that happen.”

  • Bowyer Fastest in First Practice at Talladega

    Bowyer Fastest in First Practice at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Clint Bowyer topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 48.653 and a speed of 196.822 mph. Kevin Harvick was second in his SHR Ford with a time of 48.748 and a speed of 196.439 mph followed by Brad Keselowski in third in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 48.905 and a speed of 195.808 mph.

    Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 SHR Ford with a time of 48.911 and a speed of 195.784 mph while Joey Logano rounded out the top-five in his No. 22 Penske Ford with a time of 48.918 and a speed of 195.756 mph.

    No driver posted a 10 consecutive lap average.

    The session was cut short due to rain.

     

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  • Brandon Jones Fastest at Talladega in Final XFINITY Practice

    Brandon Jones Fastest at Talladega in Final XFINITY Practice

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Brandon Jones topped the chart in final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 52.381 and a speed of 182.814 mph followed by Blake Koch in second in his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet with a time of 52.508 and a speed of 182.372 mph.

    Daniel Hemric was third in his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 52.623 and a speed of 181.974 mph. Ben Kennedy was fourth in his No. 2 Childress Chevrolet with a time of 52.766 and a speed of 181.480 mph while Ty Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 Childress Chevrolet with a time of 52.890 and a speed of 181.055 mph.

    No driver posted a 10 consecutive lap average.

    Koch Fastest In First Talladega XFINITY Practice

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  • Elliott Sadler says there’s a big difference between racing Daytona and Talladega

    Elliott Sadler says there’s a big difference between racing Daytona and Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — The late Barney Hall once said, “They don’t race ’em anywhere in the world like they do at Talladega,” and there’s truth to that statement.

    Restrictor plate racing, while polarizing to some, is beloved by many in the NASCAR nation for its unpredictability and intensity. A byproduct of the use of restrictor plates, the racing consists of cars packed together racing inches apart three, four and sometimes five-wide, at 200 mph.

    Brad Keselowski summed up plate racing as a “balance of daredevils and chess players” and said that Talladega is a “daredevil style of track.”

    “…racing has always been that balance of daredevils and chess players. Some weekends we’re chess players, some weekends we’re daredevils,” Keselowski said. “(Talladega) has always been the more daredevil style of track, which probably offsets some of the tracks that we go to where we’re the chess player.”

    This type of racing is done exclusively at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, both of which were built to serve as cathedrals of speed.

    Talladega is essentially an enlarged version of Daytona, being 2.66 miles in length to Daytona’s 2.5. It’s also wider, allowing for four to five-wide racing, whereas the narrow confines of Daytona restrict pack racing to three-wide racing.

    Beyond the size, you’d almost think there was no difference in racing at either track. That’s unless you ask NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Elliott Sadler.

    “To me, it’s a big difference,” Sadler said. “It is restrictor plate racing and we have the bumpers all lined up. But Daytona, there are some handling characteristics involved. The turns are a lot tighter. The course is a lot more narrow. The tri-oval is more of a sharp corner. You have some handling characteristics where two-wide is good, but three-wide is not real good at Daytona. We can run three and four-wide around here (at Talladega) all day long. The corners are a lot longer. It’s a little bit more banked. The tri-oval is not as sharp of a turn. So handling is not a characteristic. So what that means is more people are in play.”

  • Koch Fastest in First Talladega XFINITY Practice

    Koch Fastest in First Talladega XFINITY Practice

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Blake Koch topped the chart in first NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 49.722 and a speed of 192.591 mph. followed by Brendan Gaughan in second in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.732 and a speed of 192.552 mph.

    Ben Kennedy was third in his No. 2 Childress Chevrolet with a time of 49.784 and a speed of 192.351 mph. Daniel Hemric was fourth in his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.803 and a speed of 192.278 mph while Ty Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 Childress Chevrolet with a time of 50.128 and a speed of 191.031 mph.

    Dillon posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 188.343 mph.

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