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  • Brandon Brown achieves first NASCAR Xfinity career win at Talladega

    Brandon Brown achieves first NASCAR Xfinity career win at Talladega

    An ultimate underdog story was made on a dark afternoon in Talladega, Alabama, after Brandon Brown dodged two late multi-car wrecks and emerged out in front of the field to win the weather-shortened Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 2, and score his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win.

    Brown, who achieved his first Xfinity win in his 114th career start, had managed to remain as the leader ahead of Playoff contenders Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier when the caution flew for a late multi-car wreck involving Harrison Burton. During the cleanup session, the track was beginning to darken and NASCAR eventually made the call for the race to be deemed official six laps shy of the scheduled distance and under caution, thus handing a first career win for the Woodbridge, Virginia, native and his family operated team.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Playoff contender Justin Allgaier started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Austin Cindric.

    Prior to the event, Justin Haley, winner of both Xfinity events at Talladega in 2020, started at the rear of the field due to illegally applied decals that were found on the rear roof of his car during pre-race inspection. In addition, he was forced to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allgaier jumped ahead with an early advantage through the first turn until Cindric fought back on the inside lane entering the backstretch. 

    With the field fanning out to double lanes and running in a tight pack for a full turn, Cindric, who moved in front of Allgaier through the backstretch, led the first lap by a nose over Allgaier. Cindric was the lead car on the inside lane followed by Josh Berry while Allgaier led the outside lane, where he received drafting help from teammate Noah Gragson.

    Two laps later, Berry, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Las Vegas, gained a draft on Cindric through the frontstretch and pulled a slingshot move to lead a lap for himself.

    Through the first six laps of the event, Cindric, who reassumed the lead two laps earlier, was leading followed by Berry, Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and Gragson while Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider and John Hunter Nemechek were in the top 10 as Jeb Burton, winner of the spring Talladega event, was in 11th.

    By Lap 10, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Brandon Jones, Cindric and a steaming pack of cars competing in close quarters and double lanes. By then, three different competitors (Allmendinger, Cindric and Berry) had led a lap, comprising of six lead changes.

    Five laps later and as the field fanned out to three and four lanes, Brandon Jones, who took over the lead on Lap 13, was leading followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Harrison Burton, Nemechek and Hemric while Allmendinger settled in fifth ahead of teammate Jeb Burton and Myatt Snider. 

    A lap later, Harrison Burton took the lead after Jones got stalled by Justin Haley in Turn 1, who was trying to remain on the lead lap following his opening lap penalty. Behind, Allgaier and Jeb Burton made contact and nearly wrecked in the middle of the field. 

    The following lap, Jones shoved Haley out of the draft with the pack, placing him a lap behind the leaders as Harrison Burton continued to lead ahead of the field. 

    Then through the frontstretch, Harrison Burton was placed in a three-wide battle with teammates Jones and Nemechek before he got shuffled out, which allowed Nemechek to take the lead on Lap 20. By then, the field started to get dicey with multiple competitors fanning out as high as four lanes and trying to formulate a run to the front.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage, the caution flew when rookie Sam Mayer got turned out of a four-wide battle with Allmendinger, Brandon Brown and Brett Moffitt before he made hard contact into the outside wall in Turn 3, collecting Allmendinger as both competitors were taken out with demolished race cars. 

    “I just got hung up there and once you get back [to the field] with the people that you’re racing, there’s a chance of [a wreck] happening,” Allmendinger, who was released from the infield care center, said. “At the end of the day, it’s disappointing, but that’s why you work hard in the regular season, to gain all those bonus points. [It] Doesn’t completely put you in a hole. We’re going to a pretty good race track for us [next weekend]…It is what it is.”

    The wreck involving Allmendinger and Mayer ended the first stage scheduled on Lap 25 under caution as Nemechek, who zigged and zagged through the inside and outside lanes to maintain the lead, claimed the stage victory. Jeb Burton settled in second followed by Riley Herbst, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Snider, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Blaine Perkins and Daniel Hemric. By then, six different competitors led at least one lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Herbst, who opted for a two-tire service, left his pit stall with the lead followed by Nemechek, Snider, Cindric and Harrison Burton. Jeb Burton, who was second, got boxed behind Tommy Joe Martins while exiting his stall and came out in 10th.

    Not long after, the race was red-flagged for five minutes due to repairs being made on the SAFER barriers in Turn 3 where Mayer and Allmendinger wrecked.

    When the red flag lifted and the second stage started on Lap 30, Herbst gained a brief advantage through the first turn until Nemechek fought back on the inside lane. With the field running in close quarters and double lanes through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, Herbst managed to maintain a brief advantage ahead of Nemechek and Cindric.

    By Lap 35, Herbst was leading ahead of Cindric, Hemric, Blaine Perkins and Gragson while Nemechek, Brandon Brown, Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton and Snider were in the top 10. By then, Haley, who received the free pass under the first stage, was up in 12th behind Allgaier.

    Five laps later and with the field running in a long, single file line, Herbst continued to lead followed by Cindric, Hemric, Perkins, Brown and Jeb Burton.

    In the closing laps of the second stage, the field started to fan out to multiple lanes and charge to the front as Herbst continued to lead by a narrow margin. 

    Then on the final lap of the second stage, Blaine Perkins challenged Herbst for the top spot through the backstretch. Despite the field gaining a run on him through the frontstretch, Perkins managed to claim the stage 2 victory on Lap 50. Moffitt settled in second followed by Nemechek, Herbst, Allgaier, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Haley, Cindric and Gragson. By then,  the race featured nine different leaders for 14 lead changes.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Herbst reassumed the lead followed by Haley. During the pit stops, names like Joe Graf Jr., Bayley Currey, Ryan Vargas and Mason Massey remained on the track, though all pitted prior to the restart.

    With 59 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Herbst and Haley started on the front row. At the start, Herbst jumped ahead of Haley followed by Allgaier before Allgaier moved to the lead the following lap. With Allgaier leading, he was followed by Cindric and Harrison Burton.

    The following lap, Cindric moved to the front followed by Herbst, Allgaier, Harrison Burton and the field.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Allgaier was leading ahead of Moffitt, Gragson, Jeb Burton and Berry while Hemric, Haley, Perkins, Cindric and Herbst were in the top 10. Harrison Burton was in 11th while teammate John Hunter Nemechek was in 13th. 

    A lap later, Moffitt moved into the lead. Another two laps later, Jeb Burton led a lap for himself before Cindric re-took the top spot. 

    Shortly after, Moffitt joined Berry, Allgaier and Gragson in pitting under green. A few laps later, names like Cindric, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Hemric and Nemechek pitted under green. While most of the Toyota competitors pitted, Brandon Jones failed to dive on to pit road with his teammates. 

    Soon after, names like Jeb Burton, Haley, Jones, Jade Buford, Snider, Jordan Anderson and others pitted under green. 

    With 40 laps remaining, names like Mason Massey, Kyle Weatherman, CJ McLaughlin and Jason White had yet to pit while the first 10 competitors, running in a single file line on fresh tires and full fuel led by Herbst, were trailing by 20 seconds. 

    Just then, the caution flew when Bayley Currey stalled his car on pit road. Under caution, names like Massey, Weatherman, McLaughlin, White and Moffitt pitted while the rest led by Herbst and Cindric remained on the track. Playoff contender Jeremy Clements also pitted due to experiencing cylinder issues in his car.

    With 34 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Herbst received a push from Allgaier to jump ahead with the lead and in front of Cindric. Then through the backstretch, Herbst and Cindric moved up to the outside lane as Gragson challenged for the lead on the inside lane.

    As Gragson took the lead, Herbst challenged on the outside lane followed by Cindric and Allgaier while Josh Berry closed in on teammate Gragson’s rear bumper.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes in a pack, Gragson was leading ahead of teammate Berry, Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Snider, Brandon Jones, Cindric, Jordan Anderson, Haley and Herbst. Allgaier was in 12th, Henric was in 14th and Harrison Burton was in 17th in front of teammate John Hunter Nemechek.

    Five laps later, Moffitt and Gragson challenged in a side-by-side battle for the lead. Then, the caution flew for a vicious crash that started when Jeb Burton and Moffitt made contact in Turn 3, which sent Moffitt turning into Gragson as Gragson pounded into the outside wall and was hit by Myatt Snider. As more cars wrecked behind, Gragson received another vicious hit by McLaughlin and Caesar Bacarella before his battered No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro came to a rest below the apron. Among those involved included Jeb Burton, Moffitt, Berry, Brandon Jones, Bacarella, Vargas, Garrett Smithley, McLaughlin, Santino Ferrucci, Ryan Sieg and Mason Massey. The wreck was enough to pause the race for more than 15 minutes as all competitors, including Gragson, were okay.

    Following an extensive cleanup period and with the skies darkening as rain was being reported near the superspeedway, the race restarted with 20 laps remaining as Jeb Burton and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. 

    At the start, Brandon Jones jumped to the lead followed by Allgaier, Hemric and Haley while Jeb Burton was falling behind on the outside lane. 

    The following lap, Jeffrey Earnhardt made contact with the outside wall near the pit entrance and spun, but he was able to nurse his car to pit road as the race remained running in green. 

    Back on the track, Jones continued to lead followed by Allgaier, Hemric, Haley, Brown, Jade Buford, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson and Austin Cindric. 

    With 15 laps remaining, Brandon Jones was leading a long single-file line ahead of Allgaier, Hemric, Haley and Brown as Jeb Burton led a charge on the outside lane. Burton’s momentum, though, stalled was the leaders moved up the outside lane.

    A few laps later, the field fanned out to multiple lanes and in a tight pack as Brandon Brown and Jordan Anderson challenged for the lead alongside Brandon Jones. 

    Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution returned when Harrison Burton got sideways entering Turn 3 and turned back across the track and into the Turn 3 outside wall, where he collected Nemechek, Moffitt, Herbst, Josh Williams, Alex Labbe, Jason White and Jeb Burton, who bumper cover got clipped off. At the time of caution, NASCAR ruled that Brown was the leader ahead of Brandon Jones and Allgaier.

    Following the cleanup, the field continued to run behind the pace car and under caution as darkness began to overshadow the track. With darkness looming and beginning to cover the superspeedway, NASCAR then decided to declare the race official six laps shy of the finish. The decision handed the victory to Brandon Brown, who crossed the finish line under cautious pace with the lead.

    With his victory, Brown became the 169th different competitor to win in the Xfinity Series. He also became the fifth first-time Xfinity winner of 2021 and the sixth to do so at Talladega.

    While celebrating on the frontstretch amid a chorus of cheers from the crowd, Brown dedicated the win to his family operated organization, Brandonbilt Motorsports.

    “Oh my God!” Brown, who celebrated on the frontstretch, exclaimed. “This is a dream come true! Wow, Talladega, winner in NASCAR! Oh my God! Dad, we did it! Let’s go! This is everything we hoped and dreamed for. Everything I’ve wanted to do was to take the trophy home for mom and dad. Oh my God. Thank you so much. Thank you to all our partners. It’s just such an unbelievable moment. We saw our moment and we seized it. I’m just so proud of Brandonbilt Motorsports, so proud of everybody on our team, here and at home. Everybody that’s worked on our team since the beginning. We did it, we did it, we did it.”

    Brandon Jones was the highest-finishing Playoff competitor in second place while Justin Allgaier ended up in third place.

    “First off, let me just say how grateful I am to have Menards on our Supra,” Jones said. “It’s a big day for us. You look at the whole day and all the scenarios that happened. I think that’s probably the best option without us winning, to have [Brown] win. Good for him. Also, I think that it obviously doesn’t affect the point too bad for us. [I] Had some solid moments there. Don’t know how we missed the Big One there in [Turns] 3 and 4 early on in the day. Lot of positives, but we’re close. It’s tough to swallow.”

    “It’s disappointing to get that close and not being able to race for [the win],” Allgaier said. “Congrats to Brandon. Those guys worked really, really hard. It’s cool to see a first-time winner. Obviously, they did what they needed to do there at the end. Really proud of my team. The BRANDT Professional Agricultural Camaro was really good. We did what we needed to do. We come out of here with a good points gap. We didn’t lock our way into the next round, but we can go to the [Charlotte] Roval next week, have some fun and hopefully, go for it. “

    Daniel Hemric ended up in fourth for his 11th top-five result of the season while Jordan Anderson emerged with his first top-five result in the Xfinity Series by finishing fifth.

    Haley, teammate Jeb Burton, Cindric, Berry and Joe Graf Jr. completed the top 10 on the track.

    Cindric’s eighth-place result was enough for him to clinch his spot in the Playoff’s Round of 8 based on points as he continues his pursuit to defend his series title. Meanwhile, names like Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements are below the top-eight cutline entering next weekend’s Playoff elimination event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

    There were 33 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 21 laps.

    Results.

    1. Brandon Brown, eight laps led

    2. Brandon Jones, 12 laps led

    3. Justin Allgaier, seven laps led

    4. Daniel Hemric

    5. Jordan Anderson

    6. Justin Haley

    7. Jeb Burton, seven laps led

    8. Austin Cindric, 10 laps led

    9. Josh Berry, three laps led

    10. Joe Graf Jr., one lap led

    11. Ryan Sieg

    12. Jade Buford

    13. Blaine Perkins, two laps led, Stage 2 winner

    14. Josh Williams

    15. Joey Gase

    16. JJ Yeley

    17. Santino Ferrucci

    18. Tommy Joe Martins

    19. Garrett Smithley

    20. Kyle Weatherman

    21. Alex Labbe

    22. John Hunter Nemechek, eight laps led, Stage 1 winner

    23. Matt Mills, one lap down

    24. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    25. Harrison Burton -OUT, Accident, two laps led

    26. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    27. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    28. Jason White – OUT, Accident

    29. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    30. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    31. Myatt Snider – OUT, Accident

    32. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    33. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

    34. CJ McLaaughlin – OUT, Accident

    35. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident, four laps led

    36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Drifeshaft, two laps led

    37. Landon Cassill – OUT, Engine

    38. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

    39. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    40. David Starr – OUT, Engine

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. Austin Cindric – Advanced
    2. Justin Allgaier, +55
    3. Daniel Hemric, +41
    4. AJ Allmendinger, +33 
    5. Justin Haley, +24
    6. Brandon Jones, +21
    7. Noah Gragson, +18
    8. Harrison Burton, +8
    9. Jeb Burton, -8
    10. Myatt Snider, -24
    11. Riley Herbst, -32
    12. Jeremy Clements, -48

    The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course venue, where the Round of 8 field will also be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 9, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Tate Fogleman scores first career win in wild overtime finish at Talladega

    Tate Fogleman scores first career win in wild overtime finish at Talladega

    It took one overtime and one wild last lap for Tate Fogleman as he collided with John Hunter Nemechek coming to the finish line to capture his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory.

    “I had never finished a superspeedway race before,” Fogleman said. “Before, we had tried laying back and have a second draft going on behind the main pack that obviously didn’t work out in the past.

    “We weren’t really sure what our game plan was going in. We were going to try and stay toward the front, take the positions we were given and just work our way up.

    “The biggest thing was avoiding wrecks. Once we got through that first big wreck, we knew we had a shot at it. A few laps after that, we got through another wreck and we finally had a little bit of luck on our side. There at the end, we lined up third on the inside and knew that was our shot (at the victory). My truck had damage from both the wrecks, but I got a good push out back and that’s really what got me to the front. Ended up sliding across the finish line and be able to get the win.”

    Talladega Superspeedway served as the second race of the Round of 6 Saturday afternoon, with Ben Rhodes on the pole. Stages of 20/20/94 laps originally made up the event before an overtime finish pushed the lap length to Lap 99.

    The first two stages were relatively calm and stayed green, with the exception of one caution on Lap 29 for the No. 28 of Bryan Dauzat who crashed on the backstretch off Turn 2. In Stage 1, the victory went to Ben Rhodes as the Kentucky native dominated the first stage with help from teammate Matt Crafton.

    The second stage only had one caution and Sheldon Creed grabbed the stage victory after Nemechek originally made the pass for the lead on Lap 38, but was shuffled out of the top spot as Creed went on by to take the stage win.

    Three cautions slowed the final stage with multiple crashes. The first big one occurred on Lap 57 when Gilliland got a big push from the No. 23 of Chase Purdy which then caused Gilliland to turn into Austin Hill and set off a multiple-vehicle crash. Several drivers were involved, most notably, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Tanner Gray.

    After the first one big one, the field went single file for a brief period until Grant Enfinger went high off Turn 4 and got turned by Creed. Enfinger got hit from behind in an incident that saw Friesen, Hocevar, Deegan and Greenfield taking hard hits.

    The final yellow was on Lap 93. Purdy had a big run and tried coming down on Gilliland, but was too close to his bumper and Purdy spun in the tri-oval causing an overtime restart.

    As the field came back around for the checkered flag, Nemechek made a move on the leaders to get out in front, but it was Fogleman who made another move, spinning Nemechek and taking the win while wrecking with second-place finisher Tyler Hill.

    It was Hill’s career-best finish and his first top-five in 23 Camping World Truck Series starts.

    There were 23 lead changes among 18 different leaders and six cautions for 29 laps with one red flag lasting nine minutes and 41 seconds. Fogleman led one lap en route to victory.

    Playoff Standings following Round of 2 of 3 in Round of 6:

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, +34
    2. Ben Rhodes, +34
    3. Matt Crafton, +27
    4. Sheldon Creed, +4
      Below the cut line
    5. Stewart Friesen, -4
    6. Chandler Smith, -33
    7. Carson Hocevar, -36
    8. Zane Smith, -39

    Official Results following the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Talladega Superspeedway:

    1. Tate Fogleman, led one lap
    2. Tyler Hill
    3. Todd Gilliland, led 39 laps
    4. John Hunter Nemechek, led 11 laps
    5. Ryan Truex
    6. Cory Roper
    7. Spencer Boyd
    8. Danny Bohn
    9. Chase Purdy, led four laps
    10. Keith McGee, led one lap
    11. Jordan Anderson
    12. Sheldon Creed, won Stage 2, led six laps
    13. Ben Rhodes, won Stage 1, led 20 laps
    14. Matt Crafton, led four laps
    15. Bret Holmes, led 11 laps
    16. Codie Rohrbaugh, OUT, Accident
    17. Norm Benning, 1 lap down
    18. Willie Allen, 5 laps down
    19. Chandler Smith, 7 laps down
    20. Derek Kraus, 9 laps down
    21. Grant Enfinger, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    22. Stewart Friesen, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    23. Clay Greenfield, OUT, Accident
    24. Hailie Deegan, OUT, Accident
    25. Carson Hocevar, OUT, Accident
    26. Dylan Lupton, OUT, Accident
    27. Jason White, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    28. Tyler Ankrum, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    29. Austin Wayne Self, OUT, Electrical
    30. Johnny Sauter, OUT, Accident
    31. Jennifer Jo Cobb, OUT, Accident
    32. Austin Hill, OUT, Accident
    33. Zane Smith, OUT, Accident
    34. Tanner Gray, OUT, Accident
    35. Drew Dollar, OUT, Accident
    36. Kris Wright, OUT, Accident
    37. Parker Kligerman, OUT, Accident
    38. Lawless Alan, OUT, Accident
    39. Bryan Dauzat, OUT, Accident
    40. Jack Wood, OUT, Engine

    Up Next: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take a couple of weeks off before heading to Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 30 at 1 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

  • Zipadelli to serve as Harvick’s crew chief at Talladega

    Zipadelli to serve as Harvick’s crew chief at Talladega

    Greg Zipadelli is slated to serve as an interim crew chief for Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series Playoff event at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Zipadelli, a two-time Cup championship-winning crew chief with 34 career victories, serves as competition director for Stewart-Haas Racing. He will be filling in for Rodney Childers, who will not be participating this weekend at Talladega after Harvick’s car was found with two lug nuts not secured following last weekend’s Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In addition to serving his one-race suspension, Childers is anticipated to be fined $20,000 from NASCAR.

    With Zipadelli serving as Harvick’s crew chief, veteran Tony Gibson will be serving as competition director for all SHR operations this weekend.

    Talladega will mark Zipadelli’s first time serving as an interim crew chief this season. The previous season, he served as an interim crew chief for six NASCAR national touring series events (four with Chase Briscoe in the Xfinity Series and two with Clint Bowyer in the Cup Series). During the six-race schedule, Zipadelli guided Briscoe and the No. 98 SHR Ford Mustang team to three victories (Homestead-Miami Speedway and Pocono Raceway in June along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in July).

    Currently, Harvick, who finished ninth in the previous Cup event at Las Vegas, is ranked in 10th place in the Cup Playoff standings and is seven points below the top-eight cutline. While he has yet to record his first victory of this season, he has achieved eight top-five results and 20 top-10 results as he is nearing 750 Cup career starts.

    The upcoming Cup Playoff event at Talladega is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 3, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin was penalized twice for speeding on pit lane, and later suffered damage in a late crash. He finished 32nd, three laps down.

    “I got caught speeding while serving the penalty for my first speeding infraction,” Hamlin said. “NASCAR officials told me, ‘Better luck next time.’

    “Bubba Wallace will be the center of a Netflix series that chronicles his season with newly-formed 23XI Racing. If you’d like to know more, do a Google search for ‘NASCAR streaming’ and kindly ignore the results that explain how drivers relieve themselves in their cars.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski survived at Talladega and used a last-lap pass to win the Geico 500, his sixth Talladega triumph.

    “Roger Penske met with his Penske Racing drivers earlier this week,” Keselowski said, “and he told us that a replay of our last lap crash at Daytona in February would be unacceptable. His words really stuck with me. You could say the words of the man who built the Penske trucking empire really ‘moved’ me.”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex suffered damage when a Brad Keselowski block sent Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin into the wall and into the path of Truex. Truex eventually finished 31st, two laps down.

    “It was good to see fans in the Talladega infield,” Truex said, “and it’s also good to see them partying hard and consuming alcohol at a rate that would make a liver blush. You could say they’re ‘BAC.’”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano crashed out at Talladega with a lap to go in Stage 1. Logano finished 39th.

    “My No. 22 Ford went airborne after I made contact with Denny Hamlin,” Logano said. “As Denny’s primary sponsor is FedEx, that’s called getting ‘air mailed.’

    “Congratulations to my teammate Brad Keselowski for his win, and congratulations to Jeb Burton for winning the Xfinity race on Saturday. That was his first Xfinity win. Jeb is the son of Jeff Burton, and the nephew of ‘Wadd Button.’”

    5. William Byron: Byron survived a late Stage 2 accident that collected three Hendrick Motorsports cars and rebounded to take the runner-up finish at Talladega.

    “Talladega is always a battle of attrition,” Byron said. “It’s all about survival and making educated decisions that are beneficial despite all the chaos going on around you. And on that note, it’s a good time to reiterate that NASCAR will not mandate that drivers get the COVID vaccination. It makes sense, because there’s no way NASCAR will inspect their drivers as strictly as they do their cars.”

    6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 12 laps and finished fourth in the Geico 500.

    “My No. 4 Ford advertised a product called ‘Dog Brew By Busch,’” Harvick said. “Just to be clear, this product does not contain alcohol. That means dogs won’t get drunk when they drink it, and humans will be very drunk when they inevitably drink it.”

    7. Christopher Bell: Bell finished 17th at Talladega.

    “Hip-hop duo Tag Team served as the race’s grand marshals,” Bell said. “They’re famous for the song ‘Whoomp! (There It Is).’ I think it was awesome that NASCAR tabbed Tag Team to give the ‘Start Your Engines’ command. It was a bold selection. Could it have been bolder? Only if NASCAR had chosen Tag Team to deliver the convocation.”

    8. Ryan Blaney: Blaney was a factor on the final lap at Talladega and finished ninth as Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski took the win.

    “If you’re leading the next-to-last lap at Talladega,” Blaney said, “you’re what we call a ‘sitting duck.’ To quote Matt DiBenedetto, who led that penultimate lap, ‘Quack.’”

    9. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished 24th at Talladega.

    “I’m very disappointed,” Chase Elliott said. “For finishing 24th, for sure, but mostly for finishing 18 spots behind a driver named Kaz Grala, who may or may not be an Israeli self-defense discipline.”

    10. Kyle Larson: Larson blew an engine only seven laps in at Talladega and finished last.

    “My car overheated almost immediately,” Larson said, “so I completed only three laps. That’s totally unacceptable. And I was pissed. As I was pulling my No. 5 Chevrolet into the garage, I thought, ‘The car and I both are ‘coming in hot.’”

  • Keselowski prevails in overtime for sixth victory at Talladega

    Keselowski prevails in overtime for sixth victory at Talladega

    Brad Keselowski rallied from being involved in an accident following the first stage involving his teammate Joey Logano to add his name as a NASCAR Cup Series winner in 2021 after overtaking Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap before holding off Michael McDowell and William Byron to win the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 25.

    Keselowski’s first victory of the season, which occurred in his 423rd career start, came with a bonus as he became the third competitor in the Cup Series history to win at Talladega six times.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Cup event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Cup race. Denny Hamlin, the regular-season points leader, was scheduled to start on pole position, but he dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Richmond Raceway, started on the front row.

    Along with Hamlin, teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell along with Bubba Wallace, B.J. McLeod and Harrison Burton, making his Cup Series debut with Gaunt Brothers Racing, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Cody Ware also started at the rear of the field due to his car failing pre-race inspection twice.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Logano moved from the bottom lane to the outside lane and in front of William Byron to retain the lead. Byron, however, drew himself alongside Logano as he led the first lap by a narrow margin as the field fanned out to two lanes in a pack.

    While Logano and Byron battled for the lead in front of a bevy of cars in a pack, Kyle Larson pitted after reporting temperature and engine issues to his No. 5 Chevrolet. Despite trying to continue while multiple laps down, the engine issues on Larson’s car was enough to terminate his run early.

    By the fifth lap and with the lead group running in a single-file line, Logano was leading followed by teammate Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and rookie Chase Briscoe. Cole Custer and Chris Buescher were in sixth and seventh followed by Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain.

    By the 10th lap, Logano remained out in front of a three-wide pack battling for positions at the front.

    Two laps later, Wallace moved his No. 23 Door Dash Toyota Camry to the lead followed by Kevin Harvick. Another three laps later, though, Harvick moved to the outside lane and received a push from Brad Keselowski to lead a lap for himself. 

    Entering Turn 1, Harvick moved in front of Wallace for the lead followed by Keselowski while Wallace remained as the first car leading the inside lane. By then, names like Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick and teammate Austin Dillon were in the top 10 along with Kyle Busch, Logano, Kurt Busch and Christopher Bell.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Kyle Busch, who took over the top spot on Lap 22, was the leader followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Logano, Chase Elliott and others.

    Under the competition caution, most of the leaders pitted and Hamlin exited in first followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Bell, Byron and Kurt Busch. During the pit stops, Harrison Burton was assessed a pit road penalty for removing the gas can out of his pit stall. Truex was also penalized for speeding on pit road along with Ryan Preece due to a crew member jumping over the wall too soon.

    Back on the track, a handful of competitors that include rookie Chase Briscoe, Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman, rookie Anthony Alfredo, Justin Haley, B.J. McLeod, Timmy Hill and J.J. Yeley remained on the track. They all, though, pitted prior to the restart.

    When the race restarted on Lap 30, Hamlin retained the lead over teammate Kyle Busch while the field quickly fanned out to three lanes.

    By Lap 35 and with the field still fanned out to three lanes, Hamlin remained in the lead on the outside lane followed by Keselowski while Kyle Busch mounted a challenge in the inside lane with drafting help from Byron. Wallace, meanwhile, was in the middle lane in front of Elliott, but shuffled out of the lead draft after challenging for the top spot earlier.

    The caution returned on Lap 39 due to Joey Gase spinning in Turn 4. Under caution, some like Harvick, Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Matt DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.

    When the field restarted on Lap 43, the No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry piloted by Hamlin retained the lead followed by Blaney and the pack.

    By Lap 50, Blaney was leading followed by teammate Logano, Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto and Harvick while Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Byron, Preece and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10. A lap later, though, DiBenedetto stormed to the lead. Another two laps later, Preece moved his No. 37 Chevrolet to the lead. 

    With the laps in the first stage dwindling, a majority of competitors within the lead pack started to establish their run for the top spot held by DiBenedetto. Entering the backstretch and on the final lap of the first stage, however, contact from Stenhouse turned Hamlin into third-place Logano, which sent Logano’s No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang sideways and airborne after being hit by Stenhouse as Logano flipped over and spun in a circle on his roof before flipping back on all four wheels and coming to rest below the apron near Turn 3. Logano emerged uninjured following his accident, though his race concluded after leading 10 laps. In the midst of Logano’s wild ride, teammate Keselowski, Wallace and Stenhouse sustained damage.

    The caution for the wreck concluded the first stage of the race, with DiBenedetto scored as the leader and calming his maiden stage victory in the Cup Series followed by Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin and Byron. Buescher, Bowman, McDowell, Harvick and Bell were running in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the leaders pitted while some like Ryan Newman, Suarez, Kaz Grala, Quin Houff, Yeley, Justin Haley, McLeod and Timmy Hill remained on the track. They all, though, pitted prior to the restart.

    The second stage started on Lap 66 with Chase Elliott and Hamlin on the front row. When the field returned to the tri-oval and the start/finish line, Hamlin was back in the lead.

    By Lap 75 and with the field fanning out to three lanes in a tight pack for the lead, Hamlin was scored as the leader followed by DiBenedetto, Byron, Preece and Chastain while Harvick, Truex, Kurt Busch, Elliott and Bell were in the top 10.

    Nearly 10 laps later, a majority of Chevrolet competitors pitted under green. During the process, Suarez and Chastain were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 90, Hamlin was still out in front followed by DiBenedetto, Truex, Bell and Custer while Blaney, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Buescher were in the top 10. With the field spread out around the superspeedway, names like Elliott, Chastain and Suarez were pinned a lap behind the leaders.

    A few laps later, a majority of the Ford competitors pitted under green. Not long after, the Toyota competitors pitted. Following the stops, Harvick and Buescher were nabbed with pit road speeding penalties. Hamlin, who overshot his pit stall during his stop, was also penalized for speeding on pit road. While serving his penalty, things went from bad to worse for Hamlin, who was busted with another pit road speeding penalty.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 94, Preece emerged as the leader followed by Chevrolet competitors Byron, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones.

    By Lap 100, Preece continued to lead followed by Byron, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto and Keselowski while Custer, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Bell were in the top 10. Hamlin, following his pair of pit road speeding penalties, was mired back in 36th place and scored a lap behind the leaders. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned due to fluid on the track that came from Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE with smoke steaming out from Busch’s car. While nursing his car back to pit road, a fire broke out underneath Busch’s car and the 2004 Cup champion took his car to the garage to address an oil cooler issue.

    Under caution, some like Bowman, Truex, Blaney, Reddick, Harvick, Buescher and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track. During the pit stops, Harvick was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the wall too soon.

    When the race restarted on Lap 109, Byron and DiBenedetto battled dead even for the lead, though Byron retained the top spot.

    Prior to Lap 112, DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch made contact while battling for the lead exiting Turn 3, where DiBenedetto was trying to block Kyle Busch. Though both competitors dipped below the apron and lost the lead, both prevented their cars from spinning. At the front, Bubba Wallace returned to the lead.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Wallace continued to lead followed by Keselowski, McDowell, Byron and Blaney as the field continued to battle in two lanes.

    With two laps remaining in the stage, however, a multi-car wreck erupted entering the tri-oval when a bump from teammate Truex sent Hamlin, who was a lap down, bouncing off the outside wall and a chain reaction ensued behind with Truex, Bowman, Elliott and Byron wrecking on the frontstretch. 

    The wreck was enough to end the second stage under caution as Bubba Wallace claimed his first stage victory in the Cup circuit. Keselowski charged his way to second place followed by McDowell, Kyle Busch, Preece, Blaney, Buescher, Stenhouse Bell and Harrison Burton.

    Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders returned to pit road except for Newman, Grala, Yeley, McLeod and Custer. The first competitor to exit pit road in first was Blaney followed by Almirola, Wallace, McDowell, Kyle Busch and Keselowski. Shortly after, Newman, Grala, Yeley, McLeod and Custer pitted.

    Prior to the restart, a majority of competitors returned to pit road to top off on fuel for the final stage.

    With 62 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Blaney received a push from his friend Wallace to retain the top spot over Almirola and McDowell. With Wallace remaining on the inside lane, he was shuffled out of the battle for the lead due to a lack of competitors running on his lane. Meanwhile, Blaney retained the top spot on the outside line and with a bevy of cars behind him.

    Shortly after, Blaney reported debris on his front grille despite leading the race. With Almirola moving his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang to the lead on Lap 131, Blaney was able to tuck behind Almirola’s car and remove the debris from his car.

    With 50 laps remaining, Almirola continued to lead followed by Blaney, McDowell, Keselowski, Chris Buescher, DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Preece, Briscoe and Erik Jones, all of whom were among several competitors running in a single-file lane on the outside lane led by Blaney. Bubba Wallace was in 12th behind Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch was in 14th in front of teammate Bell, Harvick was in 21st followed by Newman and Truex, Elliott was in 25th and Byron was in 27th in front of Harrison Burton. Hamlin was in 34th, two laps behind, while Kurt Busch was in 36th, six laps behind.

    Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Ross Chastain muscled his No. 42 Caregility Chevrolet into the lead with drafting help from teammate Kurt Busch, who was multiple laps behind. Kyle Busch moved into second place followed by teammate Bell while Almirola was shuffled back in fourth place despite leading the outside lane ahead of Blaney and McDowell.

    With 35 laps remaining, the top-30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. At the front, Chastain continued to lead followed by Kyle Busch and teammate Bell while Harvick mounted a challenge for the top spot on the outside lane.

    Not long after, a wave of competitors led by Chastain reduced their speed on the bottom lane to pit under green. During the process, Stenhouse spun following a bump from Quin Houff and made light contact with the inside wall near the pit road entrance. Despite the incident, the race remained under green. Following the pit stops, Newman was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Back on the track and with 30 laps remaining, the top-10 positions were filled by Ford competitors led by Harvick. A lap later, another wave of competitors led by Harvick pitted under green. During this process, Newman was penalized a second time for speeding on pit road again.

    With the field cycling through following the pit stops, Christopher Bell emerged as the leader followed by Chastain, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones. Harvick was shuffled back to sixth place followed by teammate Almirola, McDowell, Keselowski and Briscoe. With 26 laps remaining, though, Chastain reassumed the lead while Bell was shuffled back into fifth place.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the top-18 competitors were separated by a second, with Chastain still leading followed by Kyle Busch and Erik Jones, who moved up to the outside lane in front of McDowell as he challenged for second place and more. 

    With 18 laps remaining, Erik Jones muscled his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE into the lead followed by DiBenedetto, Bubba Wallace, Chastain and Keselowski while Kyle Busch was in sixth.

    A lap later, the caution flew due to a single-car incident in Turn 2 involving Quin Houff, an incident that occurred in front of the leaders as the leaders took evasive action to avoid the incident.

    Under caution, some like Jones, DiBenedetto, Custer, Truex, Wallace, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Blaney and Kaz Grala remained on the track while others pitted for fuel to make it to the finish. By then, 27 of the 40-car field were scored on the lead lap.

    With 12 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Jones retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Chastain and Wallace, but DiBenedetto fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Truex. When the field returned to the start/finish line, DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang for the iconic Wood Brothers Racing team emerged with the lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, DiBenedetto was leading followed by Truex, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, Harvick and Jones. Shortly after, Penske drivers Blaney and Keselowski lined up behind DiBenedetto.

    Behind, Truex, who was running towards the front in the final laps, fell out of the lead pack and pitted due to a flat tire.

    With five laps remaining, DiBenedetto continued to lead followed by Blaney, Keselowski, Harvick and McDowell. Meanwhile, Byron started to mount a challenge on the inside lane with drafting help from Jones, Kyle Busch and Chastain.

    Two laps later and with the field starting to fan out with competitors establishing their run to the front, the caution returned due to a tire carcass spotted on the frontstretch, which came off of Truex’s car after he lost another tire.

    Under caution, some like Kyle Busch and Wallace pitted while the rest led by DiBenedetto remained on the track.

    With the race sent into overtime, the race restarted with DiBenedetto and Blaney on the front row. At the start, DiBenedetto retained the lead through Turns 1 and 2. Through the backstretch, however, Harvick drafted Blaney to the front, but DiBenedetto retained the lead through Turn 3 and the tri-oval as he started the final lap of the race.

    With the field bunched up and fanned out to two lanes entering Turns 1 and 2, Keselowski drew his No. 2 MoneyLion Ford Mustang alongside DiBenedetto and received a push from McDowell and Harvick to take the lead while DiBenedetto had no drafting help on the outside lane.

    Through Turn 3, Keselowski continued to lead followed by McDowell and Harvick while DiBenedetto was split in a three-wide battle with Erik Jones and Byron as the field fanned out to three lanes.

    Entering the tri-oval, Jones spun following contact with Kaz Grala and made contact with the outside wall as the field scattered to avoid him. With Chastain also spinning coming to the start/finish line, McDowell made a move to the outside of Keselowski, but it was not enough as Keselowski managed to fend off McDowell and a hard-charging Byron to cross the finish line with the lead and the victory, having led only the final lap of the race.

    With his first victory of the 2021 season and the 35th of his Cup career, Keselowski tied Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for the second-most victories at Talladega (six). In addition, he became the third Team Penske competitor and the ninth different competitor to record a win through the first 10 Cup races of this season.

    “Man, what an awesome day today to bring the MoneyLion Ford Mustang into Victory Lane,” Keselowski said. “The whole race I had a couple opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, keep your car in one piece.’ We’ve been so close here and it just didn’t seem to want to come together here the last few years and I’ve been on kind of a four-year drought here, but it’s nice to get number six. I would have never dreamed I’d tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. here. That’s something. Those guys are really legends. I’m just really proud of my team. We had an accident there early and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running…That’s pretty cool.”

    Behind Keselowski, William Byron edged Michael McDowell by 0.001 seconds to claim the runner-up spot. The third-place finish marked McDowell’s second consecutive top-five result on a superspeedway venue, which also comes after he won this year’s Daytona 500.

    “I felt like it was pretty close,” McDowell said. “I am just so thankful to everybody at this Front Row Motorsports team. We have fast superspeedway cars. This Ford Mustang was fast. It has been a great season for us. I really felt like I was in a good spot again working with Brad and drug back off of him coming off of Turn 4. I thought I would have the run, but just didn’t suck him down enough. It was a great run and I am glad there is another Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. I am thankful to all our partners. It has been a great year. To get a top-five and to be running in the top-10 and have a win says a lot for this team and [team owner] Bob Jenkins for giving me the opportunity.”

    Harvick finished fourth followed by Matt DiBenedetto, who led 28 laps and was in position to claim his first Cup career victory. While he did not leave Talladega as a winner, DiBenedetto was still smiling as he recorded his first top-five result of the season.

    “It’s tough, but it’s just all so circumstantial,” DiBenedetto said. “We talked about it a lot before the race and it’s tough. Our day will come. I’m just lucky to drive this thing and have the support from everybody. The fans, they are so awesome. Driving for the Wood Brothers is really a dream come true. Gosh, it’s hard to come so close to so many of these things. The Fords are so fast. They believe in me, the whole Ford camp. They do an excellent job. The Mustangs are great…Our day will come. We’ll get there. I just appreciate the support from everybody.

    Kaz Grala recorded an impressive sixth-place result in his third Cup career start while Reddick, teammate Austin Dillon, Blaney and Custer finished in the top 10.

    Rookies Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo finished 11th and 12th, Chastain finished 16th after pounding the inside wall head-on while sliding across the finish line, Wallace finished 19th behind JGR’s Bell and Kyle Busch and Harrison Burton finished 20th in his Cup debut. Erik Jones settled in 27th following his wreck on the final lap.

    There were 35 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. 

    Despite his issues at Talladega, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 87 points over teammate Truex, 93 over Logano, 95 over Byron and 100 over Blaney.

    Results.

    1. Brad Keselowski, one lap led

    2. William Byron, 12 laps led

    3. Michael McDowell

    4. Kevin Harvick, 12 laps led

    5. Matt DiBenedetto, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    6. Kaz Grala

    7. Tyler Reddick

    8. Austin Dillon

    9. Ryan Blaney, 11 laps led

    10. Cole Custer

    11. Chase Briscoe, one lap led

    12. Anthony Alfredo

    13. Ryan Newman, two laps led

    14. Ryan Preece, nine laps led

    15. Aric Almirola, 16 laps led

    16. Ross Chastain, 12 laps led

    17. Christopher Bell, two laps led

    18. Kyle Busch, six laps led

    19. Bubba Wallace, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    20. Harrison Burton

    21. Chris Buescher

    22. Corey LaJoie

    23. Daniel Suarez

    24. Chase Elliott, three laps led

    25. B.J. McLeod

    26. J.J. Yeley

    27. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, seven laps led

    28. Cody Ware, one lap down

    29. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    30. Justin Haley, one lap down

    31. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down 

    32. Denny Hamlin, three laps down, 43 laps led

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps down

    34. Joey Gase, five laps down

    35. Kurt Busch, six laps down

    36. Josh Bilicki, 11 laps down

    37. Quin Houff – OUT, Accident

    38. Alex Bowman – OUT, Dvp

    39. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led

    40. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine

    Next on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a trip to the midwest at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, May 2, with the event to occur at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Jeb Burton snatches first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega

    Jeb Burton snatches first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega

    Jeb Burton rose to the top as he claimed victory at Talladega while rain flooded the 2.66-mile track. It would be his first win in his Xfinity Series career.

    “We ran up front all day, definitely wasn’t a fluke,” Burton stated.

    “The guys did a great job with our No. 10 LS Tractor car. We led a lot of laps and it was a blast to drive.”

    Jeb Burton had led 21 laps in the event to get his first series win. It marks the second win for Kaulig Racing this season.

    Stage 1: Laps 1-25

    Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric led the field down for the green flag. Hemric would get a shove from Noah Gragson to launch out ahead, but Cindric would fight back toward the inside as Hemric would lead the opening lap.

    Though the primary goal was to contend for the win, it also was a race for others drivers racing in the Dash 4 Cash. Josh Berry, Brandon Jones, Hemric, and Gragson were the contenders all trying to gather that bonus.

    As the laps progressed throughout the first stage, a majority of the field would migrate to the outside line of the track.

    With nine laps to go in the stage, Gragson would try and pounce for the lead. With help from the other Chevys, they would be side by side with Hemric for several laps.

    Cindric would make an aggressive move to the bottom underneath Hemric on the frontstretch, swiftly passing the No. 18 with six laps to go in the stage. Cindric’s No. 22 would put multiple blocks on Hemric and Gragson as he would try and maintain the lead.

    As four laps remained in the stage, Harrison Burton would start to surge upwards toward the pack, as his No. 20 would surge through the middle line past teammate Hemric. The Offerpad Toyota would file back behind Cindric as Gragson led.

    Haley took the lead away from Gragson on the last lap of the stage, while teammate AJ Allmendinger would have a scary moment off of Turn 2 as he saved his Chevy. Haley’s No. 11 would take the stage win over Jeb Burton. Gragson, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Allmendinger, Hemric, Jones, Brandon Brown, and Justin Allgaier would round out the top 10 to take stage points.

    During the stage break, Burton won the race off pit road, with a two-tire stop. Many would follow suit, while some would take four tires. One of the main people that took four was Gragson.

    Stage 2: Laps 29-50

    Jeb Burton would lead coming to the restart with teammate Haley on his outside. The Kaulig cars would move toward the top while Myatt Snider would try and make it three-wide. However, Snider’s No. 2 would lose several spots as he would be left out to dry.

    Cindric would take over the race lead over Jeb Burton. The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers would follow right behind the No. 22.

    Jeb Burton would ignite the inside line as he would challenge for the lead with nine laps to go in the second stage. Ty Dillon would make it a three-wide battle for the lead as both lines would try and swarm Cindric.

    Haley made a move to the outside of Cindric, and with help from teammate Jeb Burton, it would put the No. 11 dead even with Cindric as they would be side by side for the lead. Jeb Burton would be stuck on the middle line, as teammate Allmendinger would pass by on the high side.

    The trio of Kaulig cars would try and make a move on Cindric, but the defending champion would place several successful blocks. It would give way for the JR Motorsports cars of Gragson and Allgaier to pounce.

    Gragson had a run on the high side off of Turn 2 and transfer it throughout the backstretch. He and Cindric would go at it, with Gragson claiming the Stage 2 win. Teammate Allgaier would be in the second spot, with Cindric, Jones, and Dillon rounding out the Top 5. Snider, Hemric, Brett Moffitt, Michael Annett and Brown rounded out the Top 10.

    On the stage break, Gragson won the race off of pit road, with a two-tire stop. Many would also go with the two-tire strategy as they prepped themselves for the final stage.

    Final Stage: Laps 56-113

    Gragson and Snider would lead the field for the final stage. Snider would have momentum on the outside and would clear Gragson and hold off Jones for the lead.

    On Lap 58, Cindric would make a pass to the inside of Snider in Turn 3, and the No. 22 would rocket to the front. As Cindric went to the top, the main pack would follow in suit.

    With 45 laps to go, pit stops would begin. Berry, Cindric, and many others would bring their cars down pit road for a fuel-only stop. A lap later the rest of the leaders would come down pit road. Jeffery Earnhardt would spin coming in, but no caution would fly.

    There was trouble on the race track as Berry would bring out the third caution. The No. 8 would lose a right rear tire in the middle of Turn 3, sending the No. 8 for a spin.

    Harrison Burton, as a result of pit stops, would cycle as the race leader over Cindric as he led the field to the restart with 35 laps to go. Cindric would try and side draft the No. 20, but with the help of Jeb Burton it would put Harrison Burton ahead of the No. 22.

    Jeb Burton’s No. 10 would challenge Harrison Burton with 32 to go, and would easily take over the top spot with assistance from teammate Allmendinger. Snider would shuffle up to third, but with a hound of hungry cars behind the TaxSlayer Chevy.

    A really close call would occur when Jeb Burton would place a late block on Snider. The two of them would hold onto it, but would cost Snider a load of momentum.

    The yellow flew as Annett got hit by Joe Graf off Turn 2, sending the No. 1 into the path of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Jones and Dillon. Dillon’s No. 54 would slide up into the path of Jones, sending the Toyotas into the outside wall. There would be a secondary wreck behind them as Caesar Bacarella and Joey Gase would spin around.

    Jeb Burton would lead with 24 to go, but weather delayed the restart, and eventually, the red flag would be waved as rain pelted the track. From there NASCAR would announce Jeb Burton as the race winner. Gragson would win the Dash 4 Cash, giving them a monetary bonus for the No. 9.

    There were 23 lead changes among 12 different drivers and four cautions throughout the event.

    The Xfinity Series heads to Darlington on Saturday, May 8 at 1 PM ET with coverage from FOX Sports 1 and MRN.

    Results:

    1. Jeb Burton – Led 21 laps
    2. Austin Cindric – Led 24 laps
    3. AJ Allmendinger
    4. Riley Herbst
    5. Ryan Sieg – Led one lap
    6. Noah Gragson – Stage 2 Winner, led eight laps
    7. Brandon Brown – Led one lap
    8. Justin Haley – Stage 1 Winner, led two laps
    9. Myatt Snider – Led three laps
    10. Harrison Burton – Led six laps
    11. Tommy Joe Martins
    12. Daniel Hemric – Led 18 laps
    13. Timmy Hill
    14. Jeremy Clements
    15. Colin Garrett
    16. David Starr
    17. Brett Moffitt
    18. Jade Buford
    19. Colby Howard – Led three laps
    20. Landon Cassill
    21. Alex Labbe
    22. Jeffrey Earnhardt
    23. Kyle Weatherman
    24. Natalie Decker
    25. Matt Mills
    26. Jesse Little
    27. Josh Williams
    28. Mason Massey
    29. Justin Allgaier
    30. Ryan Vargas – Led three laps
    31. Josh Berry
    32. Michael Annett – two laps down
    33. Joe Graf Jr. – two laps down
    34. Gray Gaulding – three laps down
    35. Ty Dillon – three laps down
    36. Joey Gase – five laps down
    37. Brandon Jones – six laps down, OUT, Accident
    38. Caesar Bacarella – six laps down, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
    39. Jason White – 39 laps down, led one lap, OUT, Suspension
    40. Bayley Currey – 56 laps down, OUT, Overheating

  • Weekend schedule for Talladega

    Weekend schedule for Talladega

    The NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the ARCA Menards Series travel to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. The Camping World Truck Series has a week off from competition but returns May 1 at Kansas Speedway.

    Team Penske has been dominant at Talladega scoring seven victories in the last 11 races at the 2.66-mile track. Brad Keselowski leads all active drivers with five victories (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017). Joey Logano has won three times (2015, 2016, 2018) and Ryan Blaney has two wins, in 2019 and 2020.

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin leads the series standings and is still looking for his first win of the year. He is the most recent Talladega winner, in October 2020, and also won in 2014. He has eight top-fives (five consecutive) in nine races this season and it’s only a matter of time before he breaks through to victory lane.

    The Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash continues this week at Talladega. Noah Gragson, who won the first $100,000 bonus at Martinsville, is eligible, along with Josh Berry, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones.

    There will be no practice or qualifying sessions for the Cup and Xfinity Series due to COVID-19 protocols established by NASCAR.

    The starting lineups will be determined by the following metrics formula:
    • 25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
    • 35 percent: Team owner points ranking
    • 15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

    All times are Eastern.

    Saturday, April 24

    1 p.m.: Arca Menards Series General Tire 200 (76 Laps, 202.16 Miles)
    FS1/MRN

    4 p.m.: Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300
    Distance: 300.58 miles (113 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 25),
    Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 113)
    FS1/MRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Pole: Austin Cindric

    Sunday, April 25

    2 p.m.: Cup Series GEICO 500
    Distance: 500 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
    Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 188)
    FOX/MRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Pole: Denny Hamlin

    Talladega Superspeedway Data

    Season Race #: 10 of 36 (04-25-21)
    Track Size: 2.66-miles
    Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 33 degrees
    Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 33 degrees
    Banking/Frontstretch: 16.5 degrees
    Banking/Backstretch: 2 degrees
    Frontstretch Length:  4,300 feet
    Backstretch Length:  4,000 feet
    Race Length: 188 laps / 500 miles
    Stage 1 & 2 Length: 60 laps (each)
    Final Stage Length: 68 laps

    Talladega Superspeedway Qualifying Information:

    Track qualifying record: Bill Elliott, Ford, 212.809 mph (44.998 seconds) on April 30, 1987.
    2020 pole winner: Martin Truex Jr. – Qualifying was not held, the starting lineups were set by random draw due to the pandemic.

    • Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch lead all active NCS drivers in starts with 40 each.
    • Chase Elliott leads all active drivers in the NCS in average starting position at 5.8 in 10 starts.
    • Kevin Harvick and Elliott lead all active drivers in poles two each, followed by Austin Dillon (1), Kurt Busch (1), Martin Truex Jr. (1), and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1).
    • The youngest pole winner is Chase Elliott (May 1, 2016 – 20 years, 5 months, 3 days).

    Talladega Superspeedway Race Information:

    Track race record: Mark Martin, Ford, 188.354 mph, (02:39:18) on May 10, 1997.
    2020 race winner: Ryan Blaney, Ford, 146.933 mph, (03:27:28) on June 22, 2020.

    • Brad Keselowski leads all active NCS drivers in wins with five victories (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017).
    • Brad Keselowski (2009) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2017) won their first NCS race at Talladega.
    • Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins by an organization with 13 victories among seven different drivers.
    • Nine different manufacturers have won in the NCS at Talladega with Chevrolet (41) leading, followed by Ford (30), Mercury (7), Buick (6), Oldsmobile (6), Dodge (4), Toyota (4), Plymouth (3), and Pontiac (2).
    • Chevrolet also leads in consecutive wins with 13 straight victories among five drivers from April 25, 1999 to May 1, 2005.
    • Kurt Busch leads all active drivers in top 10s at Talladega with 21.
    • Joey Logano leads all active drivers in laps led with 397 laps in 24 starts.

    Top 12 Driver Ratings at Talladega
    Joey Logano – 91.7
    Chase Elliott – 90.7
    Ryan Blaney – 90.6
    Kurt Busch – 90.0
    Brad Keselowski – 89.9
    Denny Hamlin – 83.6
    William Byron – 83.4
    Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 82.2
    Cole Custer – 81.7
    Kyle Busch – 81.1
    Kevin Harvick – 80.1
    Tyler Reddick – 79.9

    Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2020 races (32 total) among active drivers at Talladega Superspeedway.

  • NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings – Talladega II

    NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings – Talladega II

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series was in town this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway for the final race in the Round of 12. 

    Justin Haley walked away with his third straight superspeedway victory, leading just two laps once the dust settled. By securing the victory, Haley also picked up an additional five playoff points to his credit to carry over to the next round. 

    While Haley found success again at the superspeedways, Michael Annett was hit with a disqualification by having the car too low on the left-front. Annett originally finished third in the running order but was credited with a last-place finish instead. He is now is in a must-win situation heading into the Charlotte Roval this Saturday. 

    Next, we’ll take a look at how other Xfinity Series drivers did this past weekend for a rare second race at Talladega Superspeedway. 

    1. Chase Briscoe – Despite getting in the wall late in the going while leading, Briscoe was class of the field and had control of the whole race. The Indiana native won both stages and led 73 laps, before ultimately finishing a disappointing 19th after slightly scraping the wall.

      Previous Week Ranking – First
    2. Noah Gragson – Gragson finished third in the running order, continuing his superspeedway dominance. There were some hairy moments including getting Briscoe sideways at one point off Turn 4 and nearly causing a wreck. Thankfully for Gragson, he continued on and earned his 13th top five of the year.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth

    3. Austin Cindric – Like Briscoe, Cindric had a great race going before he ended up wrecked entering pit road. Cindric was on task for a top-five after finishing second in both stages to his Ford Performance teammate Briscoe. Unfortunately, due to the accident, the Team Penske driver was relegated to a 34th place finish in the running order.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second
    4. Ross Chastain – It was a hard-fought sixth-place outing after what could have been a dismal day. The Kaulig driver was involved in an incident of his own making when he got turned around coming to a Lap 47 restart. Despite the incident, Chastain continued his rally toward the front and earned his 24th top 10 of the year, good enough to move on to the next round of the playoffs.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
    5. Justin Haley – It was a picture-perfect day for Justin Haley who was one of the few that came out unscathed from all the accidents that took place Saturday afternoon. Haley finished fourth in both stages before gaining the third Xfinity Series victory of his career.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked 

    Fell Out 

    1. Justin Allgaier – Engine troubles plagued Allgaier to a 34th place outing after finishing Top 10 in both stages early.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third

    Harrison Burton – It was a disappointing 23rd place for Burton after some crash damage to his No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota. The North Carolina native now finds himself outside looking in as the series moves on to the next round.

    Previous Week Ranking – Fourth

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin won at Talladega in a wild finish, the result not determined until the third overtime. Hamlin officially qualified for the next round of the playoffs.

    “And I got boo’ed for my effort by many of the 15,000 fans in attendance,” Hamlin said. “You’d think masks would have muffled that, but it is Alabama, so apparently not.

    “Michael Jordan is in NASCAR. I assume this means there will be an ‘Aero Jordan’ product line out soon.”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 20th in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega.

    “I’m not sure what ‘YellaWood’ is,” Harvick said. “I hear it’s treated with something; I’m guessing it’s penicillin.”

    3. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fifth at Talladega and was the only playoff driver other than Denny Hamlin to crack the top 10.

    “Chad Knaus is leaving the pit box to become Hendrick Motorsports Vice President Of Competition,” Elliott said. “‘VP Of Competition’ is probably code for ‘Finder Of Ways To Cheat Without Getting Caught.’ But if they gave Chad that job title, it would look very suspicious.”

    4. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 18th in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega.

    “The race was pure chaos from the start,” Keselowski said. “We had a caution before one lap was completed. And from there, the attrition was constant, and that includes the race’s flag man, who suffered a torn rotator cuff.”

    5. Kurt Busch: Busch was ousted at Talladega in a Lap 110 crash in which his car went airborne. He finished 32nd.

    “Luckily,” Busch said, “I stuck the landing.

    “Even though I was in it, I didn’t have to worry about the ‘Big One’ at Talladega, because the Monster Energy Chevy was the ‘Big 1’ last week at Las Vegas.”

    6. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 23rd at Talladega.

    “You always have to expect the unexpected at Talladega,” Truex said. “Like, for example, it was not expected that you’d have to switch channels from NBC to NBC Sports Network to see the conclusion of the race. The notion that this helped ratings is ‘remote.’”

    7. Joey Logano: Logano finished 26th at Talladega, as Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott were the only playoff drivers in the top 10.

    “This race took over four hours to complete,” Logano said, “and the margin of victory was a mere .086 seconds. And that’s the long and short of it.”

    8. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished 14th at Talladega and is seventh in the points standings.

    “The 2021 NASCAR schedule is out,” Bowman said, “and there’s a race at Bristol on dirt. It’s the first Cup race on dirt since 1970. So fans, get your tickets now, else you’ll be left out of the dust.”

    9. Aric Almirola: Almirola was knocked out of the race while leading in a wreck with three laps to go in Stage 1. He finished 37th and will need a win at Charlotte to advance.

    “I guess I’m putting all my eggs in one basket,” Almirola said. “And when I get to Charlotte, I’m gonna throw all the eggs in that basket at Alex Bowman for wrecking me.”

    10. Kyle Busch: Busch’s rough day at Talladega involved several wrecks, blown tires, and various damages to his No. 18 Toyota. He completed 188 laps before his day was mercifully ended.

    “My day at Talladega,” Busch said, “not to mention my year in general, has me thinking ‘early retirement.”

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega

    Talladega Superspeedway was the third race in the Round of 10 for the Truck Series Playoffs Saturday afternoon in Talladega, Alabama. 

    While there were 10 drivers vying for eight playoff spots for the Round of 8, 28 other Truck Series drivers were also trying to make a name for themselves, knowing that it’s one of the few races for the year where they also have a shot at winning with the draft playing as an equalizer. 

    You could say Raphael Lessard was somewhat of an “upset winner” but Lessard has had his moments this year. He shined at the Daytona Road Course where he finished third and led three laps. Other notable finishes for Lessard include a seventh at Michigan the week prior to the Road Course and sixth at Gateway. The Canadian broke through at Talladega after Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers formed a plan after Stage 2 to ride around in the back of the field and wait for their moment. Unfortunately for Eckes who crashed on the last lap, the team’s plan somewhat came to fruition with Lessard getting the win and his teammate Chandler Smith finishing third in the running. 

    With Kyle Busch Motorsports somewhat enjoying their Talladega success, we’ll take a look at other stories you might have missed from the Chevrolet Silverado 250. 

    1. Two Crew Chiefs Ejected – Quite possibly one of the most newsworthy stories prior to the race getting underway, two Truck Series crew chiefs were ejected for violating vent holes in the prerace inspection. Those crew chiefs were Trip Bruce for the No. 52 of Stewart Friesen and Doug George for the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh. Both crew chiefs were fined and replaced by personnel within the race team.

    2. Trevor Bayne Close To Victory – Had the caution not come out for the crash occurring behind the race leaders, we most likely would have been talking about a different race winner which could have been Trevor Bayne. Bayne was close to victory but missed out by .006 seconds to Lessard once the caution had flown. However, if the Niece Motorsports driver had won the race, the victory would have been Bayne’s first since 2013 in the Xfinity Series at Iowa, the site of his last NASCAR career victory. The second-place finish was Bayne’s best since the Chicago Xfinity Series race back in 2014. Nonetheless, Bayne also had news of his own, as he will pilot the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevy for the remainder of the 2020 Truck Series season.
    3. Rohrbaugh and Anderson Continue Superspeedway Success – It seems as though we keep seeing the names of Jordan Anderson and Codie Rohrbaugh at the end of the superspeedway races this season. That continued on Saturday afternoon when Rohrbaugh scored a fifth-place finish, his second top-five of his career, while Anderson finished sixth, his second Top 10 finish of the year. Both Rohrbaugh and Anderson finished second and third, respectively, earlier this year at the season opener at Daytona.
    4. Other Drivers Have Career Best Day At Talladega – With the focus on the Truck Series playoff drivers, there were numerous other Truck Series regulars who enjoyed their best finish of the season to date. Chandler Smith placed third, his best finish of the year, while Clay Greenfield finished 14th in the running order where his former best was 21st at Darlington. Norm Benning earned a 22nd place in his outing and Josh Reaume matched a 23rd place finish.