Tag: Geico 500

Rookie of the Year Contenders Shine in GEICO 500

Talladega Superspeedway has always had a reputation for being a total crapshoot. But with that said, it’s still been a venue reputed for giving drivers career runs and in some cases, giving them first wins as well.

Ryan Preece and Daniel Hemric were just short of becoming the first rookies to win since Joey Logano in 2009, but with Preece’s third-place finish and Hemric’s fifth-place finish, they did take advantage of Talladega’s unpredictable nature. Both rookies ran a conservative race and stayed out of trouble and in the draft, and in the end, they kept their cars in one piece.

Preece’s third-place run seems to be more than just luck; the 28-year-old was also a contender in the Daytona 500 this year before getting shuffled back to finish eighth in the final running order. His top-five solidified the fact that he’s an exceptional restrictor-plate racer.

“It was awesome,” said Preece. “I was only here one other time (2016 Xfinity Series) and I was running third with three to go and went for the hole and got flushed. So I wasn’t going to do that today.”

Something else helping Preece on the superspeedways is his own JTG-Daugherty Racing equipment. Preece’s predecessor A.J. Allmendinger managed to score several strong runs at Daytona and Talladega in the No. 47, finishing in the top-five at both speedways on multiple occasions.

Hemric was also quietly consistent at Talladega, his fifth-place run being a career-best so far in his rookie season.

“That was a day the No. 8 needed,” said Hemric. “First off, it’s great to see Chevrolet and all their drivers and teams put in the effort to communicate in the last few weeks to stay dedicated to each other. We’ve never had such unity on the track like we did today. That’s what led us to ultimately have our best finish as a group.”

A large factor for both rookies was the ability to pass with the new aero package. Instead of the freight-train finishes we’ve seen at Daytona and Talladega in recent years, there was plenty of passing and on-track action, with the product receiving positive reviews following the race.

Both Preece and Hemric have managed to keep low profiles this year, and although JTG-Daugherty hasn’t been an A-List team in 2019 they have kept Preece in a position where he can keep his car in one piece and at the same time keep it as a consistent finisher. With the exception of two crashes at Atlanta and Phoenix, he’s been a steady top-25 finisher in 2019.

Hemric hasn’t been as fortunate, with only three top-20 finishes preceding his Talladega finish. But if there’s any justice in the world he can use this run to build momentum as the season progresses. At the moment it looks like Preece is ahead in the rookie race, so Hemric could use any momentum he can get to catch up with the No. 47 crew.

April 28, 2019

Elliott name back in victory lane at Talladega

With four different crashes in the final seven laps, Chase Elliott emerged victorious in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series.

“Obviously it could have gone both ways but fortunately everybody stayed together and stayed the course and had some help on that last lap with the caution,” Elliott said. “I just appreciate all the support. This is unbelievable. This is special. This is close to home for me. It feels a little bit like a home race.

“We’ll take it. Unbelievable feeling. The crowd was intense. We’re proud to get it done for them.”

Elliott is the first driver for the 2019 season to break the win streak by Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske. He edged his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who was disappointed to not have a chance at the win coming to the line despite scoring his career-best finish.

“I’m not just going to let him win, right?” Bowman asked rhetorically. “I’ve got to try. I knew I could get to his quarter panel. I was pretty confident I could get to his quarter panel through the tri-oval. Who knows who is going to get to the line first? At that point, I thought I could do it. Depends on the car behind you, where he goes.

“It would have been fun to try, but happy for Chase, Nationwide (Bowman’s sponsor), everybody that lets us keep doing this thing. I’m glad to kind of turn the season around. It’s been a rough start to the year. These guys deserve way better than the finishes they’ve had. To come home second, it’s not a win, but headed in the right direction.”

Ryan Preece also scored his best career Cup series finish with a third place run. Upon further video evidence, Joey Logano unofficially finishes in fourth just slightly ahead of Daniel Hemric, who also got his best career finish. The rest of the top 10 finishing positions were Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Brendan Gaughan, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch. Busch now extends his top-10 finishing streak to 10 for the 2019 season.

Three Multi-Car Wrecks at Talladega

The race officially ended under caution on the final lap as William Byron tangled with David Ragan on the back stretch. The two drivers collected Kyle Larson and Jeffrey Earnhardt. Both Larson and Earnhardt spun toward the inside wall, with Larson beginning to flip moments before impact with the inside SAFER barrier. The No. 42 Chevrolet tumbled and began to flip multiple times before finally coming to rest on the wheels. However, with Stenhouse spinning on the front stretch as the field took the white flag, the combination of debris on the track a few hundred feet before the start-finish line and Larson’s flip on the back stretch, NASCAR had to throw the yellow. Erik Jones spun in Turns 3 and 4 with two laps to go, but was able to continue on right away.

“That was probably the longest flip I’ve ever had,” Larson said after he was checked out of the infield care center. “I didn’t know if it would ever stop. It was a little bit scary, but thankfully I’m all right.”

A separate incident occurred with just seven laps remaining, as Chris Buescher’s No. 37 Chevrolet got turned by Aric Almirola on the backstretch. For the majority of that previous lap, Almirola kept looking to the inside to make a three-wide pass, but tucked back in line. However, on the back stretch, Almirola made contact with Buescher as he fell back in line and started a five-car crash. Buescher’s car hit the outside wall, then was t-boned by Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 95 Toyota, lifting Buescher’s car in the air. Martin Truex Jr. made slight contact, but avoided most of the wreck and was able to continue in the race. Justin Haley, who was making his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut, was not so fortunate and had his great debut end after hitting DiBenedetto in the side.

“We just got turned,” Buescher told FOX. ”Good position there with just a handful of laps to go. Just got turned right, destroyed our race car.”

The red flag lasted for 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

Back in the first stage, another multi-car wreck took out a few other major contenders as well. Just 10 laps into the race, Bubba Wallace had a strong run on Ryan Blaney. While the two bump drafted around, Blaney’s car got sideways but he was able to correct it. Wallace was not, and spun toward the inside across traffic. Clint Bowyer’s car slid up and collected his Stewart-Haas teammate Kevin Harvick. Michael McDowell and Matt Tifft were also collected, and those four retired from the race immediately.

“The No. 22 (Joey Logano) pulled up and he checked up a little bit,” Wallace said of the crash. “I went to go to the bottom, where I was safe. I don’t know if I crossed (Blaney’s) bumper or whatever. But it got him wiggled down and shoved me even farther down than I wanted to go.

“So I went back up just to stay off the apron and it just unloaded. It’s just unfortunate, but I tried not to wreck my buddy, Ryan, and it cost our day and some others’.”

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota also received damage, and went a few laps down early. After hitting the wall on Lap 83, Hamlin took his car to the garage with mechanical failures and would not return to the race. Jimmie Johnson received damage after running over debris from McDowell’s car. On Lap 25, Johnson hit the wall in Turn 3. He was able to get his Chevrolet to pit road, but was out of contention after finishing nine laps down.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competes next at Dover International Speedway on May 5.

Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 10
Race Results for the 50th Annual GEICO 500 – Sunday, April 28, 2019
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 188 Laps – 500.08 Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	11	9	Chase Elliott	Mountain Dew/Little Caesar’s Chevrolet	188	4	1	57	Running
2	9	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide Chevrolet	188	2	2	53	Running
3	30	47	Ryan Preece #	Kroger Chevrolet	188	0	0	34	Running
4	8	22	Joey Logano	MoneyLion Ford	188	0	9	35	Running
5	5	8	Daniel Hemric #	Caterpillar Chevrolet	188	0	8	35	Running
6	14	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet	188	0	6	36	Running
7	24	6	Ryan Newman	Acorns Ford	188	6	0	35	Running
8	29	62	* Brendan Gaughan(i)	BeardOilDstrbtng/SthPntHtl&Casino Chevrolet	188	0	0	0	Running
9	2	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	188	0	0	28	Running
10	22	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota	188	9	10	30	Running
11	36	32	Corey LaJoie	Schuler Systems Ford	188	0	0	26	Running
12	16	41	Daniel Suarez	Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla Ford	188	5	0	31	Running
13	4	2	Brad Keselowski	Snap On Ford	188	0	0	24	Running
14	1	3	Austin Dillon	Dow Chevrolet	188	3	5	37	Running
15	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards/Knauf Ford	188	0	4	29	Running
16	17	21	Paul Menard	Quick Land Tire & Auto Center Ford	188	0	0	21	Running
17	13	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO Chevrolet	188	1	0	30	Running
18	37	27	* Reed Sorenson	Low-T Centers Chevrolet	188	0	0	19	Running
19	27	20	Erik Jones	STANLEY Toyota	188	0	0	18	Running
20	20	19	Martin Truex Jr	Bass Pro Shops Toyota	188	0	0	17	Running
21	25	24	William Byron	Hertz Chevrolet	188	7	3	28	Running
22	33	81	* Jeffrey Earnhardt(i)	Xtreme Concepts Toyota	187	0	0	0	Accident
23	15	38	David Ragan	Shriners Hospital for Children Ford	187	0	0	14	Accident
24	10	42	Kyle Larson	Clover Chevrolet	187	0	7	17	Accident
25	6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Fifth Third Bank Ford	187	8	0	15	Accident
26	34	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Chevrolet	187	0	0	0	Running
27	35	96	* Parker Kligerman(i)	TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota	186	0	0	0	Running
28	40	51	Cody Ware(i)	JACOB Companies Ford	184	0	0	9	Running
29	3	14	Clint Bowyer	Toco Warranty Ford	182	0	0	8	Running
30	31	37	Chris Buescher	Tide Pods Chevrolet	181	0	0	7	Accident
31	26	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Procore Toyota	181	10	0	7	Accident
32	38	77	Justin Haley(i)	Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet	180	0	0	0	Accident
33	21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally Chevrolet	178	0	0	4	Running
34	32	0	Landon Cassill(i)	Home Town Lenders Chevrolet	154	0	0	0	Running
35	39	52	Stanton Barrett	HUSKI CHOCOLATE Chevrolet	132	0	0	2	Suspension
36	23	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	80	0	0	1	Accident
37	18	36	Matt Tifft #	Surface Suncreen/Tunity Ford	11	0	0	1	Accident
38	19	4	Kevin Harvick	Busch Beer Flannel Ford	11	0	0	1	Accident
39	28	43	Bubba Wallace	World Wide Technology Chevrolet	10	0	0	1	Accident
40	12	34	Michael McDowell	Love’s Travel Stops Ford	10	0	0	1	Accident

April 28, 2019

Logano ends winless drought at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Through the escape hatch with steering wheel in hand, Joey Logano hi-fived his crew, then turned around let out a roar of victory.

“Ford teamwork did it today, not only with the Team Penske Fords, but all of the Fords out there,” Logano said. “We worked really well together and we got a blue oval in victory lane, so so proud of that. So proud to get this Shell Pennzoil team back in victory lane.

“It feels so good to be back in victory lane. There’s no feeling like this. Whoah, it feels so good.

“It’s been quite the weekend. It was a long time coming. We’ve been getting consistent and scoring points, but the win was just around the corner.

“Man, it feels so good. Gosh, I don’t have to worry about the whole Playoffs thing anymore. We’re in! God, it just feels really good.”

With no serious threat from the outside line to contend with in the closing laps, Logano held off Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch during the 18-lap run to the finish to score his 19th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in 337 starts.

Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the Top-five.

“We just needed the assistance from behind,” Busch said. “The 17 car was strong. All the Fords were great today. I was hoping he would get to us on the back straightaway so we could go on offense on the front to go win it but it just didn’t materialize. I wanted to stay with Harvick, my teammate, and navigate around the 22 but everyone behind kind of broke off and was racing too hard and nobody got that big head of steam to try to push through and break apart the 22’s lead.”

“I thought our NAPA Chevy was good,” Elliott said. “It wasn’t, I don’t think, as fast as we’ve been previously at the restrictor plate tracks, but I feel like it was a solid car. I got to the end and those guys around me were working together so much. I thought for sure one of them wanted to win a little worse than what they did. They were being very patient with one another and I was surprised by that. If it was me, I feel like I would have wanted to try or do something. Those guys weren’t having it. I was trying to move forward and make a lane and push and they were not interested in advancing. So, it could have been a lot worse, so we’ll move on to Dover.”

“We had a really good Bush Ford,” Harvick said. “We got the handling a lot better there after the first run of the race when it was pushing really bad and loose in the corners and through the tri-oval. They did a good job adjusting the car. The 41 pulled out sooner than I thought he would there and we wound up getting hung out. All in all it was a really good day. I am happy to finish the race. It is a good day for the guys. We can tweak on one finally rather than having to rebuild one.”

“I just wasn’t sure what to do there,” Stenhouse said. “I knew the 9 was going to try to get by us and we are all trying to get a win there. The 22 was in a great position. When we got two-wide behind him it didn’t slow him down much. We weren’t ever really gaining on him. It was a lot of fun out there today. I made a few mistakes on pit road and we caught some good cautions to keep us on the lead lap. I thought the racing was good. The cars were super tough to drive. They were sliding around everywhere which was fun. I think that made for a good race throughout the runs and the stages and the different strategies that we had. All in all it was a fun weekend and I had fun on the boulevard with all the fans. I appreciate all of them coming out. I really wanted to win on Dale Sr.’s birthday. That would have been really cool.”

David Ragan, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Ryan Newman and Daniel Suarez rounded out the Top-10.

RACE SUMMARY

Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 2:26 p.m. As was the case in the previous day’s XFINITY Grand National Series race, the lead cars merged into a single-file line (but on the bottom in today’s race). Harvick and the Fords (and Martin Truex Jr.) broke up the single-file train when they pitted on Lap 13, and handed the lead to Alex Bowman. He and the four-car, eventually 14-car, lead pack held a lead of over 30 seconds, over the, at one point, 15-car peloton (main group). Darrell Wallace Jr. acquired the lead from him on Lap 39. He and the Chevrolets pitted on Lap 43, and the lead cycled to Brad Keselowski, who drove on to win the first stage.

Back to green on Lap 61, Brad Keselowski fell to the bottom line to be in front of teammate Joey Logano, which allowed William Byron and the outside line to advance past him to take the lead on Lap 62. Keselowski got pushed past Byron and back to the lead the following lap. He and the Fords, along with Daniel Suarez, pitted on Lap 67, followed by the Toyotas and most of the Chevrolets the next lap. The lead cycled to Matt DiBenedetto.

A multi-car wreck on the backstretch brought out the caution on Lap 71. DiBenedetto pitted under the caution, handing the lead to Joey Logano.

The race restarted on Lap 78. As Jimmie Johnson pulled the outside line up to the front, Denny Hamlin jumped in front. Then on the 97, he went to pass Logano on the outside going into Turn 1. Logano threw the block, but Hamlin dove to the open space on the bottom, and took the lead. Hamlin held court on the high side for five laps, but jumped to the bottom when Kurt Busch pulled the inside line back up. Paul Menard took up the reigns of the top line and ran side-by-side with Hamlin for the lead for three laps (starting on Lap 104), before pulling ahead, with the Penske Fords in tow, and winning the second stage.

Byron exited pit road with the race lead and led the field back to green with 72 laps to go. Harvick didn’t get going on the restart and the outside lane fell back to fifth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. jumped to the outside to takeover the top line, but kicked Harvick out of line in the process. With 65 to go, Kurt Busch jumped to the high side and powered by Byron exiting Turn 2 to take the lead, just edging out Byron at the line, with 63 to go. Ryan Blaney made contact with Byron going into Turn 1, killing the momentum of the bottom line. With 60 to go, the entire field was in a single-file line against the wall.

Debris on the frontstretch brought out the caution with 60 to go. Stenhouse took fuel only and exited the pits with the lead.

Back to green with 55 to go, Stenhouse powered ahead of Hamlin exiting Turn 2. He tried to throw the block on Suarez, but got himself kicked out of line, handing the lead back to Hamlin. Logano jumped to the high-side to try and pass Hamlin with 51 to go. When Keselowski jumped up to join him up high, they powered by Hamlin exiting Turn 4 and Logano took the lead with 49 to go. Keselowski got under his teammate to fight for the lead, but it ended with 43 to go when the Fords and Hamlin pitted. The rest pitted the following lap, and the lead cycled back to Logano.

During that cycle, Hamlin served a pass through for speeding, and a stop and go penalty for speeding during his pass through.

Caution flew with 32 to go for Timmy Hill blowing his engine in Turn 4.

The race restarted with 29 to go.

A 14-car wreck in Turn 4 brought out the caution with 23 to go, setting up the run to the finish.

Back to green with 18 to go, the outside line faded quickly. With 12 to go, it regained momentum enough that Chase Elliott jumped to the high side and pulled the line up to fifth. With 10 to go, Stenhouse jumped to the high line, but Elliott juked to the bottom, and Stenhouse followed suit. Two laps later, the leaders merged into the bottom lane. Aric Almirola tried frantically to reform the outside line, but he couldn’t pull the field up to Logano, who held off Harvick and Kurt Busch’s attempt to break out of line to pass him and score the victory.

NUTS & BOLTS

The race lasted three hours, 16minutes and 47 seconds, at an average speed of 152.489 mph. There were 25 lead changes among 16 different drivers, and six cautions for 29 laps.

Kyle Busch leaves Talladega with a 30-point lead over Logano.

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April 29, 2018
Harvick Takes Pole Position at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — A part failure by his teammate almost ruined the day for Kevin Harvick. But when he went back out, he topped the chart. When he pulled his car into victory lane to celebrate winning the Busch Pole Award, he was hugging crew chief Rodney Childers like he’d just won the race.

“It’s just a huge credit to the team and Roush-Yates Engines, and everybody who works on all the super-speedway stuff to make it what it is. Made some huge improvements.”

Harvick earned his 22nd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole with a final round lap of 49.247 seconds and 194.448 mph.

His first run cut short when he ran over debris left by teammate Aric Almirola, who’d spun out after a piece of the left-rear end broke in Turn 1. Further inspection revealed the debris punctured his left-rear tire.

But NASCAR gave him a new left-rear tire (which is allowed, at their discretion) and he turned the fastest lap in the first round, at 49.291 and 194.275 mph.

Kurt Busch will start second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott in the Top-five.

“I have never been on the pole for a plate race,” Busch said, “and I wanted to check that off the list. Thank you, Doug Yates. We wouldn’t be in this position if we didn’t have great horsepower. That is the fun part of our qualifying, showcasing the talent of the engine builder and the way these guys build the aero package. To have two Stewart-Haas cars on the front row is great. We would have loved to gotten the pole but outside pole is great and I am proud of our Monster Energy Ford.”

Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski round out the Top-10 starters.

Alex Bowman and David Ragan round out the 12 drivers that made the final round.

Forty cars will start tomorrow’s race.

Nobody failed to make the event.

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April 28, 2018
McMurray Barrel Rolls and Tops Chart in Final Practice

*THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO NOTE THAT NASCAR HAS CHANGED THE SIZE OF THE RESTRICTOR PLATES IN THE CUP CARS THIS WEEKEND, FOLLOWING JAMIE MCMURRAY’S WRECK.

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Outside the infield care center at Talladega Superspeedway, Jamie McMurray stood by the guard rails and watched a replay of the backstretch barrel roll that sent him to the care center.

“I think that we blew a left-rear tire. I don’t know. That’s what it sounded like. I heard the tire start to come apart, and you’re kind of along for the ride. The car, I think it turned to the right and then kind of back to the left. Obviously, I was in the front of that draft. Once it starts rolling, you don’t have any control. You can’t tell what’s up and what’s down. You’re spinning so fast. I was just thankful. Honestly, the whole time it’s flipping, I was like ‘Just please land the right way up so I can get out.’ You just never know if there’s going to be a fire. We literally had only run like four or five laps. You know you have a full tank of fuel. To get out upside-down, I’ve never done that. But it’s a challenge when you watch guys try to do that. So I was thankful that the car landed on all four.”

McMurray had only completed five laps in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, when he suffered a left-rear tire failure, spun-out and got airborne. Compounding the matter, Ryan Newman t-boned him just as he was getting airborne, sending him rolling right over the front of Newman’s car and landing on the hood of his car.

McMurray rolled over two and a half times before the catch fence stopped him, accelerating his roll down the apron until he came to a halt.

Along with Newman, Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez collected damage.

McMurray’s barrel roll wreck prompted NASCAR to reduce the size of the restrictor plates in the Cup cars this weekend from 7/8th’s of an inch to 55/64th’s of an inch.

Ironically, McMurray ended the session at the top of the chart, with a time of 46.947 and a speed of 203.975 mph.

Dillon, Suarez, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the Top-five.

First practice results

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April 27, 2018
Ty Dillon Fastest in First Practice

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ty Dillon topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 47.182 and a speed of 202.959 mph.

He took over the top spot at the tail-end of the session, while running in a nine-car pack.

Following him were Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch at a time of 47.247 and a speed of 202.680 mph, Denny Hamlin at 47.249 and 202.671 mph and Ryan Newman, at 47.257 and 202.637 mph.

Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman rounded out the Top-10.

Hamlin posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 198.109 mph.

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April 27, 2018
‘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.

May 8, 2017
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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May 7, 2017
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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May 6, 2017
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.”

May 6, 2017