Tag: Talladega Superspeedway

Michael Self takes points lead following Talladega

Despite not getting the Daytona finish Michael Self wanted this year to start the season, he has been on a tear recently, winning at Five Flags and Salem Speedway.

Even though he won two races back-to-back, Self did not have the points lead coming into the race at Talladega Superspeedway. He was chasing down Travis Braden who was the points leader following the event at Salem. Self was hoping to change that and take over the lead after Talladega.

Self ran a smart race after qualifying fifth earlier in the day Friday and pacing practice.

He had a close call with last year’s runner up Joe Graf Jr, as Self got sideways on the frontstretch, but he held on to his car and kept from wrecking.

At the end of the 76 lapper, Self and the No. 25 Venturini team found themselves in fifth place but taking the overall points lead.

“Fifth place is definitely better than a 31st like Daytona was,” Self told FOX Sports 1. “My day almost flashed before my eyes coming off (Turn) 4 there on like Lap 6 or something. My god, I was mad. Didn’t want to do that, but a good day for the Sinclair Toyota. You come here to these places and can’t expect to win. You can have a good car, but hope things fall into place.

“Happy to come out with the points lead, so that’s pretty cool. Now we can focus on Nashville, where our short track program has been really strong the past couple of weeks, excited to get back to the fab with these 25 guys. You know it was fun. Thanks to General Tire for putting this race on and for the sport to give this series is always great products. They do a great job supporting the series. Menards all you guys, thanks to Sinclair for this and for the coverage and everyone who tuned in out there. Hope it was a good one to watch.”

April 26, 2019
Riley Herbst and Brandon Lynn round out top 3 ARCA finishers at Talladega

Riley Herbst didn’t have much luck in last season’s ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway after wrecking late in the race, but he turned things around this year, finishing second in Friday’s race.

However, if you think second is a good day for a driver, you would be wrong. They are always left wanting more and Herbst certainly could have won the race if given the right opportunity.

“Ah man, I don’t know,” Herbst told FOX Sports 1. “Second just sucks really really bad! But I can’t thank everyone at Monster Energy enough, Joe Gibbs Racing for providing me a really fast Toyota Camry.”

“I thought we had a run there at the end, but Todd’s (Gilliland) car was really fast. You know, all we could come home with was second.”

Despite the race being unusual for ARCA, Herbst is pleased with the result.

“Yeah you know, I was kind of happy with that too,” Herbst continued in his FOX Sports 1 interview. “This race is 76 laps long and you got to get to the end of the race, so I didn’t want everyone to wreck at the beginning and drag out 80 laps of caution or whatever. So I was happy we got to race for a little bit, but it sucks single file for the fans. All in all, second is a good day for the 18 in the points.”

For Brandon Lynn and Venturini Motorsports, they were looking for better after finishing seventh in last year’s race, especially considering the fact that the Venturinis’ have not won at Talladega.

It looked liked the feat could have got crossed off the list early on, as Lynn and the No. 20 team sat on the pole which gave Venturini Motorsports their fourth consecutive pole of the year.

Lynn ran up front for most of the day but never made too much noise. He had a shot at the end, however, but could not make anything happen.

After all was said and done, the Venturini crew still found themselves winless but came home third improving on last year’s finish.

“Yeah, I think we had a great car,” Lynn said to FOX Sports 1. “We were hoping to get a run there at the end, but it didn’t happen. You know, we ended up where we were at. We’ll take it. I can’t thank these Venturini guys enough for putting together such a great car this weekend. Hopefully, we can get some stuff together to run more races for the rest of the year.”

Despite finishing third, Lynn describes how tough it was to make a pass in the end.

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Lynn said. “You just got to feel it out and hopefully you keep the car close to you, and not let him get too far back. You want to get that run together on the cars in front of you. So, we did what we could and it just didn’t pan out in the end.”

April 26, 2019
Ty Majeski returns to Chad Bryant Racing with a fourth place finish

Breakout star Ty Majeski returned to the ARCA Menards Series Friday at Talladega Superspeedway for Chad Bryant Racing.

You’d have to go back to the 2017 season finale at Kansas Speedway to find Ty Majeski in the ARCA results, where he finished second for the now-defunct Cunningham Motorsports team.

However, Chad Bryant took over the reins of that team and it was just like old times for Majeski and the No. 22 crew.

Majeski didn’t miss a beat after a long break in the ARCA Menards Series. He started on the front row in second and ran a great race, staying out of trouble, and came home in the fourth spot.

It will be the first of six races for Majeski and the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing team, as their next race together is at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

“Yeah, it was a real solid day,” Majeski said to FOX Sports 1. “Everyone at Chad Bryant Racing brought me a solid Ford here this week and they worked their tails off this week, pulling a couple of all-nighters to get here. It was exciting to get them a good finish.

“We executed all day. The second to last restart didn’t go our way on the top lane. We didn’t get a push from behind and had to settle for fourth or fifth in line there. That’s where we stayed. The 18 (Riley Herbst) and the 4 (Todd Gilliland) were the two best cars and when the best two cars get out front, it’s hard to compete with them. All in all, a good solid day. We are running for the owner’s championship, so it was a good points day from that standpoint and we will get them at Charlotte.”

Even though Majeski had a great run, he wasn’t sure what he needed to have a shot at the win in the final laps.

“I don’t know,” Majeski said in his FOX Sports 1 interview. “Obviously it helps when you have a bigger pack. I think we only had six or seven cars in that pack, and that makes it tougher to formulate runs. Just need some help from behind to get us on the same page and it also makes it difficult where there’s four or five Toyota’s in the top five, and you’re the only Ford. You know when you’re going to make a move, you’re going to get hung out to dry. All in all, it was a good points day for us.”

April 26, 2019
Weekend Schedule for Talladega

After a week off for the Easter break, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series go back to the track as Talladega Superspeedway is the home for this weekend’s races. Here is how you can watch all of the action from Talladega.

All times are Eastern.

Friday, April 26th:
12:35-1:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live
1:35-2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NASCAR.com/Live
2:35-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NASCAR.com/Live
4:35-5:25 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series final practice, FS1

Saturday, April 27th:
10:10 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (SINGLE-VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS), FS1
1:00 p.m.: Xfinity Series MoneyLion 300 (STAGES 25/50/113 LAPS = 300.58 MILES),
TV: FS1 – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
4:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (SINGLE-VEHICLE/ TWO ROUNDS), FOX

Sunday, April 28th:
2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Geico 500 (Stages 55/110/188 LAPS = 500.08 Miles)
TV: FOX – Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

April 25, 2019
2019 ARCA Racing Preview -Talladega

The ARCA Racing Series continues its diverse and unique schedule this weekend at the historic Talladega Superspeedway for the annual running of the General Tire 200.

Last year’s race featured anything a race fan could ask for and your typical Talladega race. There were seven cautions for 38 laps and the race was ran under caution for 43.7 percent.

There were two big wrecks in the last few laps and the closest finish statistically in ARCA Series history with a computerized margin of victory of 0.00 at the finish line. The dead heat featured Zane Smith (now drives for JR Motorsports, part-time) who ended up winning the race with the ARCA officials having to use a photo to determine the winner.

On the other side of the outcome was Joe Graf Jr. who wound up a disappointing second. Despite the heartbreaking finish, Graf Jr. had to move on quickly.

“I moved past it and went on to the next race. Over the last twelve months, lots of things have changed. I am competing for a championship and at the time last year, I had no idea I was going to run the rest of the 2018 season. The finish at Talladega opened opportunities for me and I’m grateful.”

Even though Graf Jr. had a disappointing finish of second, he looks forward to heading back to Talladega and upping the finish one spot forward.

“I’m excited to get back to Talladega this weekend,” said Graf. “Obviously, everyone knows how close the finish was and I still think I won, but we can’t dwell on last year, there’s a race to be won on Friday afternoon and I want to win it.”

Graf Jr. will pilot the No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford Fusion Friday afternoon.

Other names to keep an eye on include Truck Series regular Gus Dean, who won the 2016 race a couple of years ago when, in another photo finish, he narrowly edged out Josh Williams for the win. The race was called short due to darkness and at the time, Dean was ahead of Williams and won the race.

To this day, Dean still remembers that finish and is excited to get back to Talladega.

“Very excited to come back to race in the ARCA Menard Series and especially at Talladega Superspeedway,” said Dean. “The victory in 2016 will be something I’ll never forget and is very important to me – but I’m ready to make new memories on Friday with Win-Tron Racing.”

One final competitor to keep an eye on is 2018 ARCA Daytona winner Michael Self. Despite his poor Daytona finish from this year, Self returns to Talladega in hopes of a win this weekend.

“Talladega was an up-and-down race for me last year, and fortunately ended positively overall, so maybe we can repeat that this year. I feel like I have the experience and knowledge to do well at Talladega, but there’s just so much that’s out of your hands at the superspeedways. I think we have to be smart the whole day, race around the right people and focus on staying clean and being in position to be up front at the end.”

Upset winner?

There have been many winners for this race. One that stands out the most could very well be Keith Segars winning his only ARCA race in 2002. Red Farmer in 1984 stands out and Kraig Kinser who won here in 2005 also stands out.

It will be an all day event for the ARCA Racing Series.

The only practice session kicks off Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET with group qualifying at 3:25 p.m. ET. Both events will be streamed live on Arcaracing.com.

The General Tire 200 is slated for 6:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

April 24, 2019
Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race At Talladega

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series resumed action this past weekend at the biggest track on NASCAR’s schedule, Talladega Superspeedway. It featured the 19th race of the season and the final race in the Round of 8.

Here are four takeaways from this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

1. Typical Dega – As expected, it was typical Dega fashion with aggressive driving and several incidents. The expected “big one” occurred on Lap 58 and saw Justin Haley accidentally clipping Justin Fontaine, which saw Fontaine go back up the track and the whole field was collected. Todd Gilliland was sent spinning with 12 to go after trying to make a pass for the lead. Grant Enfinger was accidentally spun after the restart with six to go. On the last lap, Noah Gragson was spun and was hit several times before resting on the backstretch. Several others were involved as well before NASCAR threw the caution to end the race. The race saw 22 lead changes and six cautions for 21 laps. It was a typical Dega race that ended in exciting fashion.

2. Six drivers move on to the Round of 6 – Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, Grant Enfinger, Justin Haley, and Matt Crafton all survived the Round of 8 and are moving on to the Round of 6 that begins at Martinsville. The Round of 6 will feature tracks such as Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix, and the penultimate race in Southern Florida, Homestead Miami. The championship points race is only going to get tighter from here on out.

3. GMS Racing 2019 Lineup Almost Set – During the media availabilities this past weekend, Maury Gallagher and team said Johnny Sauter is expected to return, along with the new additions of Sheldon Creed and Tyler Dippel who are expected to join the team.

4. Brett Moffitt Unknown For 2019 – You could say that Moffitt is having his best career season to date with four wins at tracks Atlanta, the thrilling finish at Iowa, Chicago and his last win at Michigan in a last-lap pass. Despite having sponsorship struggles throughout the season and the future looking bleak for the Hattori Racing team, they have been able to make every race and could be championship contenders should things go their way. However, we all know nothing is guaranteed in NASCAR and that is true with the four-time winner, Brett Moffitt. With his media availability on Friday, he claimed he was unsure what his plans were for next year and was uncertain where he would land.

October 16, 2018

Almirola rolls to a Victory following a last lap pass at Talladega

Aric Almirola won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 1000 Bulbs 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon securing his spot in the Round of 8. This is his second career Cup Series win.

“I felt like I kept giving it away and I was so disappointed for all these guys behind me because they’re awesome. They’re the best. I’m with the best team in the garage and I felt like I kept letting them down not winning a race. Today, the Good Lord was shining on us and we went to Victory Lane. We did it, finally,” said Almirola in victory lane.

Kurt Busch led the field to the start of the race backed up by his three Stewart-Haas Racing teammates. It only took three laps for someone to have a problem as David Ragan’s car lost power on Lap three.

There was a point in the race where the Stewart-Haas cars and the Hendrick Motorsports’ cars controlled the first eight spots. The first caution came out on Lap 11 due to a spin by Jeffrey Earnhardt. The leaders went down to pit road but there was no major change in position.

Paul Menard ran into problems on Lap 15 expressing to his crew that something had broken in his car. Luckily no contact was made with any other cars.

It was a seven-car breakaway until the Penske cars were able to reach the lead pack and make an impact on the lead. Kyle Busch got pushed off the lead pack as it seemed that his car was handling poorly. Brad Keselowski pitted after he reported that he had a vibration putting him a lap down. The vibration was caused by a left-rear loose wheel.

Kurt Busch won Stage 1 followed by his Stewart-Haas teammates.

Ryan Blaney gained five spots during the pit stops. That put him in the lead for the beginning of Stage 2. Chase Elliott went down pit road before everyone else causing him to restart at the rear of the field.

Jimmie Johnson spun out by himself hitting the wall on Lap 63 giving him damage on the left-front part of the car. This brought out a caution. The leaders pit during the caution and Kevin Harvick took the first spot from Ryan Blaney. Blaney had a bad stop and came out eighth. Most of the drivers took fuel only.

It was a good battle following the restart for the lead by Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Harvick was able to get the best help by his teammates.

Michael McDowell had an early exit to the race when he had a hub failure forcing him to the garage on Lap 81. Keselowski was able to fight back to the lead lap breaking into the top 10 near the end of Stage 2.

A playoff driver with a potential issue was Martin Truex Jr. He wasn’t running the best of races and was reporting that he was a hearing something in the rear-end of the car. More problems for playoff drivers came on Lap 103 when Kyle Larson blew a tire causing him to spin and giving him damage to the right-front fender. Most of the leaders stayed out during the caution.

Kevin Harvick continued to lead following the restart giving him the Stage 2 win. His three teammates backed him up in the running order.

Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Jamie McMurray and Bubba Wallace stayed out during the stage caution. Pit road penalties were given to Eric Jones, David Ragan and Jimmie Johnson.

Things started to heat up in the final stage with cars racing side by side and battling for positions. William Byron took the lead on Lap 123 from Keselowski.

On Lap 127 Keselowski was able to retake the lead after making a strong move on Byron. A caution came out on Lap 136 after Jamie McMurray spun in the tri-oval hitting the wall.

The leaders pit with Kurt Busch taking the lead. It was the four Stewart-Haas cars on the inside lane with the Penske cars on the outside lane. Busch was able to hold the lead following a 12 car breakaway on Lap 151.

A caution came out on Lap 160 after a tire was rolling in the infield grass. A lot of the cars further in the field elected to pit during the caution. Kurt Busch led the field on the restart with his teammates slowly getting lined up behind him. With 20 to go the Stewart-Haas cars controlled the first four spots.

It was Stewart-Haas Racing against the rest of the field. There was plenty of hard racing after the four-car breakaway but the field was not able to catch them.

On Lap 186, Alex Bowman, William Byron and JJ Yeley were involved in a crash at the back of the pack. This gave the field some life to contend for the win.

Overtime came into effect at the end and fuel became a problem for some drivers. Harvick and Blaney were forced to pit right before they went green which counted them out of contention for the win.

It was Kurt Busch with Aric Almirola side by side for the final restart with wrecks going on behind them. They stayed green going into the final turn when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a great run and pushed that energy to Almirola. When Busch ran out of fuel on the final lap, Almirola was clear and secured the victory.

Busch, who finished 14th, was disappointed but praised the competitiveness of the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“It was a very different Talladega for me. I really enjoyed leading the race, working with my teammates,” Busch said. “I’m really happy a Stewart-Haas car won, but the four of us, I’ve never seen so much synergy. We knew we were gonna have to race when we got to Kansas. It would have been nice to have the win. We’re here to win. That’s what Monster Energy wants. Thanks to them. That’s what Team Haas wants. Thanks to Gene, Tony Stewart, everybody. But there were two human element calls there at the end. I don’t know why we ran an extra lap under yellow and why there wasn’t the yellow for a dispatch of an ambulance.”

Clint Bowyer, who finished second, said “I was happy for Aric. He had that race won last week (at Dover), and it was me that brought out the caution. I feel like he got a little redemption there.

“Was happy that we finished second. I think it was second, second and second (in all three stages). As far as our day went, we needed to be a little bit better.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

With one race to go in the Round of 12, these are the four drivers in elimination positions going into Kansas next week: Brad Keselowski (-18), Ryan Blaney (-22), Kyle Larson (-26) and Alex Bowman (-68).

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the 50Th Annual 1000Bulbs.Com 500 – Sunday, October 14, 2018
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 193 Laps – 513.38 Miles

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	4	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield Bacon for Life	Ford
2	2	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	Cummins/Rush Truck Centers	Ford
3	12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD	Ford
4	10	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground	Toyota
5	20	22	Joey Logano (P)	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
6	23	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
7	6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
8	15	20	Erik Jones	Craftsman	Toyota
9	30	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Dutch Boy	Ford
10	25	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
11	34	42	Kyle Larson (P)	Credit One Bank	Chevrolet
12	28	62	* Brendan Gaughan(i)		FALSE
13	24	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
14	1	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Monster Energy/Haas Automation	Ford
15	29	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
16	13	19	Daniel Suarez	Stanley	Toyota
17	21	3	Austin Dillon	American Ethanol e15	Chevrolet
18	37	00	Joey Gase(i)	PFK Foundation	Chevrolet
19	17	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. #	Medallion Bank/Petty’s Garage	Chevrolet
20	8	24	William Byron #	Hertz	Chevrolet
21	26	37	Chris Buescher	Bush’s Chili Beans	Chevrolet
22	38	99	* Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
23	11	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY	Toyota
24	36	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Xchange of America/Solomon Plumbing	Chevrolet
25	22	31	Ryan Newman	Liberty National	Chevrolet
26	9	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
27	18	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Miller Lite	Ford
28	3	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Jimmy John’s	Ford
29	19	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	REV	Ford
30	27	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Dude Wipes	Ford
31	5	9	Chase Elliott (P)	NAPA Nightvision Lamps	Chevrolet
32	40	72	Corey LaJoie	Winn Dixie	Chevrolet
33	7	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Nationwide	Chevrolet
34	33	7	* DJ Kennington(i)	Wilride Transport Ltd	Chevrolet
35	31	1	Jamie McMurray	Winter Park Construction/Arctic Cat	Chevrolet
36	32	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Steakhouse Elite	Ford
37	35	96	* Jeffrey Earnhardt	Xtreme Concepts/iK9	Toyota
38	39	51	Cody Ware	Jacob Companies	Chevrolet
39	16	38	David Ragan	1000Bulbs.com	Ford
40	14	34	Michael McDowell	Speedco/Rotella	Ford

Follow on Twitter for updates: @BryanR_305

October 14, 2018

Todd Gilliland Finishes A Disappointing 20th After Strong Start

The father-son duo was in full force this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

It was David and Todd Gilliland who were both competing in the Kyle Busch Motorsports stable with David in the No. 51 and Todd in the No 4.

Todd started sixth and was strong early as he finished sixth in Stage 1, and was able to win the second stage after taking the lead on Lap 38.

It wasn’t until Lap 63 where we would see Todd take the top spot once more, working with his dad, David. Unfortunately, Todd was involved in an incident on Lap 84, after some hard racing and contact with race leader, Grant Enfinger. Gilliland spun all the way down to the inside wall, which saw his truck pound the wall and catch air.

After leading 13 laps and winning Stage 2, his day was done and he was relegated to a 20th place finish.

“I was just trying to get under the 98 (Grant Enfinger) while I could,” Gilliland said to MRN Radio. “I felt like this was a good situation. I could see him (Enfinger) coming up more and more. I got into him a little bit in the middle of Turns 3 and 4. He got really far off the bottom and I tried to fill the hole, and I was to his wheel, then he just came back down.”

“Just racing here, that’s what it’s all about, I guess,” Todd told MRN Radio.” “I was having a lot of fun up until then, as my truck was so fast. That was a lot of fun. Guess we’ll just rebound. Won a stage and everything, so just focus on Daytona next year, I guess. First time doing it, not too bad.

October 13, 2018
Timothy Peters Collects 11th Career Win In Last Lap Thriller At Talladega

The final race in the Round of 8 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took place Saturday afternoon in Talladega, Alabama and as always, it proved once again anything is possible and nothing is over until the checkered flag falls.

This was the case for Timothy Peters who earned his third win at Talladega Superspeedway after an incident with leader Noah Gragson on the last lap.

“We had a great run,” Peters told MRN Radio. “You know, at the end, it’s pretty much game on and everyone for themselves. We’re good with all of our teammates. I messed up on that initial start and let that 88 (Matt Crafton) hang me out, but we made up for it at the end. I hate it that the big one was started, but you know, I couldn’t see the replay very good a minute ago on TV. Block or whatever, you’re going for the win.”

“Without Mike Beam giving me that call, I wouldn’t even be here,” he told MRN Radio. So thank you to him, Maury Gallagher, Spencer Gallagher, the whole 25 team for working their butts off and I’m just glad to be a part of it. The plane ride home is going to be really nice. ”

David Gilliland and Spencer Gallagher set the front row in qualifying late Friday afternoon.

The first stage was 20 laps and it went green without any incidents. Playoff driver and Las Vegas winner, Grant Enfinger, took the checkered flag in the first stage. There were some issues on pit road, however, as David Gilliland was penalized for pitting outside the box and given a one lap penalty. The No. 16 of Brett Moffitt was penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

Stage 2 took place on lap 25-lap 40. Like the first stage, there were no incidents until Moffitt and Austin Hill had damage in the remaining laps. This time, David’s son, Todd Gilliland, won Stage 2.

The third and final stage began on Lap 45 with 48 to go and it saw several incidents all the way to the checkered flag. It started on Lap 48 when Tanner Thorson spun on the backstretch to bring out a caution.

Then the expected big one was seen with 35 to go. The No. 47 of Chris Fontaine was clipped by the No. 24 of Justin Haley, which saw Fontaine go back up the track and several others were involved including John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, Justin Fontaine, Bo LeMastus, Parker Kligerman, Matt Crafton, and Johnny Sauter. During the pit stops, Enfinger was penalized for removing equipment (a gas can).

After a red flag, the restart came with 31 laps to go. Austin Hill was penalized for passing Jennifer Jo Cobb underneath the yellow line. Enfinger took the lead with 22 to go. As laps were winding down, playoff hopeful, Moffitt had a flat right rear and had to make a pit stop.

With 12 to go, Todd Gilliland was spun and hit the inside wall after contact with Enfinger.

This saw the race resume with six to go. Gragson was out front trying to hold off the field for his first win since Kansas in May. However, too many trucks had good runs and there was aggressive pushing. On the last lap, Gragson was turned by eventual race winner Timothy Peters. Gragson’s truck got air and others started wrecking as well.

NASCAR had no choice but to throw the caution. Peters was in the right spot at the right time to take home his 11th career win, his third at Talladega.

It was his last race of the season in the No. 25 GMS Racing Chevy.

“Everyone was wanting to win, wanting to block,” Peters told MRN Radio. “I’m wanting to win too. This was my last go around of the three-race stint. At the end of the day, I was going for it.”

Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, Grant Enfinger, Justin Haley, and Matt Crafton all move on to the Round of 6 that begins at Martinsville Speedway Saturday, Oct. 27.

Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen were eliminated from competing for the championship.

October 13, 2018
Chevy MENCS at Talladega Two: Alex Bowman Press Conference Transcript

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES

1000BLUBS.COM 500

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed what the changes at Hendrick Motorsports will mean for the No. 88 team in 2019, what he has learned about the Playoffs his first time through the system and many other topics.

Full Transcript:

MANY PEOPLE HAVE TALKED THIS WEEK ABOUT YOUR PATIENCE INSIDE THE RACE CAR AND MAYBE YOU ARE A LITTLE BIT TOO PATIENT AT THESE PLATE TRACKS. HAVE YOU AND GREG (IVES, CREW CHIEF) HAD ANY CONVERSATIONS THIS WEEK ABOUT MAYBE INCREASING THE AGGRESSIVENESS ONCE THE GREEN FLAG FLIES HERE?

“We are going to have some talks here later today about it. I don’t know that I’m necessarily too patient. I saw a stat yesterday, we have led the fourth most laps of anybody this year on speedways and most of any of the Chevy’s. I was a little surprised by that, but we have had really fast cars all year. I guess I have been pretty conservative I guess as far as getting it to the end of the race. I still have to do that on Sunday because we have to be there at the end to win, but I don’t think stage points are going to help us make the transfer to the next round. I think a win is going to have to get it done. We have to do what it takes to make that happen.”

WITH BEING THE LAST HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAR ELIGIBLE TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS WITH CHASE (ELLIOTT) ALREADY IN, WHAT LEVEL OF HELP DO YOU EXPECT TO GET FROM YOUR TEAMMATES THIS WEEKEND?

“I don’t really know. Obviously, it’s a new situation for me. I have kind of been on the other side of it coming here in 2016 when the other cars weren’t locked in and I wasn’t in the Playoffs at all
obviously. You try to help out or cut them breaks when you can. But now being the only guy it’s definitely a different situation. I don’t know what will or won’t happen. It’s really tough to say. I’m appreciative of any help they give me and I will take what I can get, but I don’t know exactly what that is going to be. We have had situations where just the four of us have tried to work together before and we have never been able to make it work like some of the other manufacturers have. We have some work to do just to get all that ironed out, let alone trying to push one car to the front.”

YOUR ORGANIZATION MADE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK, DO THE CHANGES AFFECT YOU AT ALL IN TERMS OF THE WAY THINGS OPERATE?

“I would say a little bit in that Darian (Grubb) is moving to a different position and Kevin (Meendering) is coming on board. I know Kevin a little bit from when I was at JR Motorsports and just kind of working closer with him will be neat. The four of us work pretty closely together, the four teams do. Some new faces or a new face there, Chad (Knaus) moving over to a different car and all that. It will be a little different, but not really much different. It won’t affect the No. 88 team. All our people are going to stay the same and all that. I think it’s an interesting move for sure. I’m excited to see how it plays out. I’m excited for Jimmie (Johnson) and for William (Byron) and for Chad and everybody involved. It’s going to be pretty cool to watch.”

WITH THIS BEING YOUR FIRST PLAYOFFS WHAT HAS STOOD OUT? WHAT IS MAYBE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT AND WHAT WAS WHAT YOU THOUGHT?

“The thing that stood out to me was just going into the Roval the stress and the pressure of it. We weren’t in a great points position and I’m not a road racer by any means. It was one of the most stressful weekends of my career. Just a lot of pressure going into that. Fortunately, enough we were able to have a good solid couple of days there and not tear anything up and get a good finish. That was really surprising to me because I’m typically not one to let a lot of pressure get to me, but in that situation, it definitely did. Other than that, it is really just more races. We approach races the same way we have approached them all season long. I feel like we have been able to step our program up. We don’t have much to show for it unfortunately. We were really strong at Vegas and Richmond and didn’t get good finishes at either. We took a pretty bad day at Dover and had it turned around to end up being a good day and don’t have much to show for that either. I’m just proud of my team and how much I feel like we have been able to step up over the course of the year and how much stronger we have been able to get.”

THE FIRST HALF OF THE PLAYOFFS HAVE A WIDE VARIETY OF TRACKS. AFTER THIS WEEKEND THREE OF THE LAST FIVE RACES ARE 1.5-MILE TRACKS. HOW MIGHT THAT CHANGE THE COMPLEXION OF THE PLAYOFFS?

“It’s tough to say. Obviously, the big three have been pretty dominate on the 1.5-miles. I feel like we have done a ton of progress to our 1.5-mile program. We were a solid third place car in Vegas
this year which after the first Vegas race, I never thought we would go back there and be that strong. It was cool to be able to do that, but yeah, it will be interesting to see whose 1.5-mile program is where. Kansas is kind of an interesting place being a repave, Texas as well being a new configuration. So, they are kind of interesting 1.5-miles, not the normal ones but I’m looking forward to the next couple of races. I think if we can make the Round of 8 there are some really great race tracks for us, especially going to Martinsville and Phoenix, but we’ve got to get there first.”

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About Chevrolet

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October 13, 2018