Chastain Picks Up Win in Wild Talladega Finish

 Ross Chastain won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second victory of the season.

Chastain ran up front over the final run, and was third coming out of the final corner. The lead cars of Erik Jones and Kyle Larson made contact entering the trioval, and Chastain was able to get clear of everyone else as the field began wrecking behind him.

Chastain won for the second time in the past five weeks, and said he was excited to get off to such a good start with his new team Trackhouse Racing.

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“Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was ambitious,” Chastain said. “I had no idea what to expect other than that I had my group from last year. I’ve wrecked myself so many times.”

Chastain said he was committed to run the bottom on the final laps and didn’t want to take himself out of contention.

“I’m always the one going to the top too early and making the mistake,” Chastain said. “There at the end…I’m not going up there again, I did that a couple times today. They just kept moving out of the way.”

Jones finished sixth on Sunday after making contact with Larson on the final lap while defending the lead.

Jones said he didn’t realize the bottom lane had so much momentum coming to the checkered flag.

“They kind of doubled up behind us, and that top lane was getting some momentum,” Jones said.  “Looking back, I wish I would have stayed on the bottom and let [Chastain] push me. I didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed.”

“You can only see so much going on from the seat; you’re trying to make the best decision you can in the last 1500 feet.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ross Chastain

2. Austin Dillon

3. Kyle Busch

4. Kyle Larson

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Erik Jones

7. Chase Elliott

8. Michael McDowell

9. Alex Bowman

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Justin Haley

13. Aric Almirola

14. Corey LaJoie

15. William Byron

16. Kurt Busch

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Landon Cassill

20. Noah Gragson

21. Austin Cindric

22. Christopher Bell

23. Brad Keselowski

24. David Ragan

25. JJ Yeley

26. BJ McLeod

27. Todd Gilliland

28. Cody Ware

29. Cole Custer

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

31. Daniel Suarez

32. Joey Logano

33. Ty Dillon

34. Harrison Burton

35. Greg Biffle

36. Daniel Hemric

37. Chase Briscoe

38. Chris Buescher

39. Tyler Reddick

 

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Keselowski Wins at Talladega

Brad Keselowski won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first victory of 2021.

Keselowski ran up front for most of the day, but he didn’t get to the lead until the very final lap.  Matt DiBenedetto attempted to block a run from the high line, which opened up the bottom for Keselowski to come through.

Keselowski held off William Byron and Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell at the line, and Keselowski said he knew a strong run was coming when the field came off of Turn 4.

“I saw it coming,” Keselowski said.  “Everybody’s just racing hard and pushing hard.  That’s Talladega.”

James Gilbert/Getty Images

The victory was Keselowski’s sixth at Talladega, which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Keselowski said he never expected to tie two legends of the sport at one of the hardest racetracks on the schedule.

“We’ve been so close here, it just didn’t seem to want to come together the past couple years,” Keselowski said.  “I’ve been on kind of a four-year drought.  I’d have never believed I’d tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.; those guys are really legends.”

Keselowski was involved in an accident at the end of Stage 1 that saw his teammate Joey Logano go airborne.  Keselowski said his team was able to repair the damage to keep him in the race.

“We had an accident there early, and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running,” Keselowski said.  “Really proud of my team.”

“What an awesome day.  The whole race we had a couple chances to take the lead, but I just kept thinking to keep the car in one piece for the end.”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. William Byron

3. Michael McDowell

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Matt DiBenedetto

6. Kaz Grala

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Austin Dillon

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Cole Custer

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Anthony Alfredo

13. Ryan Newman

14. Ryan Preece

15. Aric Almirola

16. Ross Chastain

17. Christopher Bell

18. Kyle Busch

19. Bubba Wallace

20. Harrison Burton

21. Chris Buescher

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Chase Elliott

25. BJ McLeod

26. JJ Yeley

27. Erik Jones

28. Cody Ware

29. Timmy Hill

30. Justin Haley

31. Martin Truex Jr.

32. Denny Hamlin

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34. Joey Gase

35. Kurt Busch

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Quin Houff

38. Alex Bowman

39. Joey Logano

40. Kyle Larson

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Hamlin Stuns with Talladega Victory in Photo Finish

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the YellaWood 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon, beating Matt DiBenedetto to the line in a photo-finish.

Hamlin ran in the back for most of the race to conserve his car for the finish, and he was able to race his way to the front over three overtime finishes.  Hamlin made the pass for the lead as the field entered the trioval, and he was able to beat DiBenedetto to the line by .023 seconds for his seventh victory of the season.

Hamlin said the surprise victory made up for some tough losses throughout the year.

“We just played the strategy…to ride in the back until we were locked in, but things just worked out,” Hamlin said.  “Really excited about this win, unexpected for sure.”

Hamlin got around William Byron and alongside DiBenedetto with a controversial pass below the yellow line in turns 3 and 4.  NASCAR has a rule at superspeedways that no passes below the yellow line are allowed unless the driver is forced there by another driver.

After NASCAR ruled Hamlin was forced down by Chris Buescher, Hamlin said he did what he could to avoid an accident.

“They were crashing in front of us,” Hamlin said.  “Obviously I got forced down like [DiBenedetto] and others did.”

DiBenedetto made a block on William Byron in the middle of turns 3 and 4 that sent Byron’s 24 below the yellow line, and NASCAR ruled against DiBenedetto; his second-place finish turned into a 21st following the ruling.

DiBenedetto said he was doing all he could to hold off the field to try to pick up his first career victory.

“It was actually tough to see, my windshield was filthy from all the Speedy Dry,” DiBenedetto said.  “I was having trouble seeing the block; I was blocking every lane.”

Hamlin took away DiBenedetto’s chance at a victory last year at Bristol, and DiBenedetto said it was a bout of unwanted déjà vu this year at Talladega.

“The emotions…I feel like it’s the same story,” DiBenedetto said.  “Just heartbreak; my wife and I have had a stressful week again.”

“Denny did a great job.  Denny deserves all the support in the world; he’s an incredible racer.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Erik Jones

3. Ty Dillon

4. William Byron

5. Ryan Newman

6. Chris Buescher

7. Tyler Reddick

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Brennan Poole

10. Ryan Preece

11. Justin Haley

12. Austin Dillon

13. Quin Houff

14. Alex Bowman

15. Timmy Hill

16. Matt Kenseth

17. Joey Gase

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Cody Ware

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Matt DiBenedetto

22. Chase Elliott

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Ryan Blaney

26. Joey Logano

27. Kyle Busch

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Jimmie Johnson

30. James Davison

31. Cole Custer

32. Kurt Busch

33. Clint Bowyer

34. Daniel Suarez

35. Brendan Gaughan

36. Michael McDowell

37. Aric Almirola

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

39. Christopher Bell

Photos courtesy Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

Blaney Wins at Talladega as NASCAR World Rallies Around Wallace

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Ryan Blaney won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon.

Blaney won after he and his Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski dominated most of the race. 

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The Penske trio quickly worked their way to the front on Monday, after the race was postponed due to rain on Sunday.  After a late caution forced the drivers to worry about fuel-mileage, Blaney hung in the back of the pack until the closing laps.

Blaney said he needed to make his move with 12 laps to go.

“We came back in and topped off, and we were just riding around until maybe 12 to go,” Blaney said.  “I was waiting for Kevin [Harvick] to kind of go, but he had to save more than I did, so we just kind of had to get going.”

A caution with three laps to go forced the race into overtime, and Blaney was able to hold off the rest of the leaders.

Coming to the checkered flag, Blaney made contact with Erik Jones, causing a wreck as the field crossed the line.  Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. raced side-by-side across the line, and Blaney was able to hold him off in a photo finish.

Blaney said he was excited to get his first win of the season.

“Just trying to block the best we could,” Blaney said.  “Just kind of trying to beat and bang to the line; just edged it out.  It’s been a really cool year so far.”

The race began with the NASCAR world supporting Bubba Wallace.  On Sunday, a noose was found hanging in the garage stall of Wallace’s team, and NASCAR immediately launched an investigation.

Wallace, the only African American driver in the Cup Series, has been outspoken over the past few weeks as protests have erupted across the country, and has even played a part in NASCAR banning the Confederate flag from tracks.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

After news of the noose was announced last night, the drivers in the garage decided to support Wallace.  Before the race, the entire garage pushed Wallace’s 43 car to the front of the field, where they surrounded him during the pre-race prayer and national anthem.

Wallace, standing in front of fans wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts in the stands, said the 14th-place finish was like a win after everything that’s happened.

“This is probably the most badass moment right here,” Wallace said.  “We had a good race going today…I know I should have won that damn race.  All in all, we won today.”

“The pre-race deal was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life, from all the supporters from drivers to crew members to everybody here.”

Wallace ended with a message to the person who tried to intimidate his team.

“The sport is changing.  The deal that happened yesterday…sorry I’m not wearing my mask, but I wanted to show whoever it was that you’re not going to take away my smile; I’m going to keep on going.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

3. Aric Almirola

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Erik Jones

6. Chris Buescher

7. Alex Bowman

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Kurt Busch

10. Kevin Harvick

11. William Byron

12. Ty Dillon

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Ryan Preece

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Joey Logano

18. Michael McDowell

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Tyler Reddick

21. Brendan Gaughan

22. Cole Custer

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Ryan Newman

25. Clint Bowyer

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Quin Houff

28. Daniel Suarez

29. Christopher Bell

30. Gray Gaulding

31. BJ McLeod

32. Kyle Busch

33. Timmy Hill

34. Garrett Smithley

35. Brennan Poole

36. JJ Yeley

37. Joey Gase

38. Chase Elliott

39. Austin Dillon

40. Matt Kenseth

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Blaney Wins Wild Talladega Race

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Ryan Blaney won the 1000Bulbs.com 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon to lock himself into the next round of the Playoffs.

The first stage of the race was run on Sunday, but rain postponed the rest of the race until Monday afternoon.  After a calm first half of the race, the second brought chaos that shuffled the running order.

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Numerous big wrecks took out many of the front runners, and it set up for a two-lap sprint to the finish.  Blaney lined up first, and he quickly cleared Aric Almirola to take control on the restart.  He held onto the lead until the final turn, when Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin pushed their way to the front.

Blaney and Newman made contact in the trioval, and Blaney was able to beat Newman to the finish line by .007 seconds.

Blaney said he couldn’t block Newman’s run if he wanted a chance at the victory.

“There was no blocking the 6 [of Newman] and the 11 [of Hamlin], they were coming so fast,” Blaney said.  “I figured I’d give up the bottom and they were just going to leave me in the middle.”

Blaney said the push from Almirola was able to give him enough momentum to get past Newman at the end.

“I can’t thank Almirola enough for helping me out there at the end; he was a great pusher all day,” Blaney said.  “[Newman] kind of pushed me below the yellow line…I definitely wasn’t going to go below the line before we made contact.”

Newman said he didn’t want to think of all the things he could have done to gain the .007 seconds that stood between him and the victory.

“I could have pinched him some more, I probably could have took the air,” Newman said.  “I saw the guys spinning in the back and I was hoping there’d be a yellow but there wasn’t.”

“We overcame a lot of obstacles, had cars flying on top of us and all that stuff; just proud of the team.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Ryan Newman

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Aric Almirola

5. Michael McDowell

6. Austin Dillon

7. Corey LaJoie

8. Chase Elliott

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Ty Dillon

11. Joey Logano

12. Ross Chastain

13. Matt Tifft

14. Landon Cassill

15. Parker Kligerman

16. Paul Menard

17. Kevin Harvick

18. Ryan Preece

19. Kyle Busch

20. Chris Buescher

21. Daniel Hemric

22. Reed Sorenson

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Brad Keselowski

26. Martin Truex Jr.

27. Brendan Gaughan

28. Kurt Busch

29. David Ragan

30. Matt DiBenedetto

31. Blake Jones

32. Daniel Suarez

33. William Byron

34. Erik Jones

35. Austin Theriault

36. Joey Gase

37. Alex Bowman

38. Jimmie Johnson

39. Kyle Larson

40. Spencer Boyd

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Elliott Wins at Talladega with Help from Teammates

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his fourth career victory.

Elliott ran up front for most of the race, and he was able to work his way around Joey Logano for the lead following a late restart with four laps remaining.  Elliott was in the lead when a caution for a wreck in the back of the pack ended the race.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Elliott said the victory was a testament to the teamwork all the Chevrolet drivers had throughout the race.

“We just had a plan and executed it really well,” Elliott said.  “Obviously could have gone both ways, but fortunately everyone stayed together there and stayed the course.”

Before the race, all the Chevrolet drivers were sat down and told to work together, much like the Ford and Toyota drivers have done to success in past races at Daytona and Talladega.  The drivers formulated a game plan that was successfully implemented, as Chevrolet drivers from Hendrick Motorsports, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Richard Childress Racing ran up front for most of the day.

Elliott said he was appreciative of the teamwork that helped him get to victory lane.

“Just a huge thanks to…Chevrolet,” Elliott said.  “Obviously a lot of teamwork done today.”

Alex Bowman was running second behind his teammate when the caution came out, but said he would have made a move to try and get around Elliott had the race gone green to the end.

“There was no plan coming off turn 4, but unfortunately we didn’t get there before the caution came out,” Bowman said.  “I was pretty confident I could get to his quarter-panel through the trioval, and who knows who’s going to get to the line first at that point.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Alex Bowman

3. Ryan Preece

4. Joey Logano

5. Daniel Hemric

6. Kurt Busch

7. Ryan Newman

8. Brendan Gaughan

9. Aric Almirola

10. Kyle Busch

11. Corey LaJoie

12. Daniel Suarez

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Austin Dillon

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Paul Menard

17. Ty Dillon

18. Reed Sorenson

19. Erik Jones

20. Martin Truex Jr.

21. William Byron

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt

23. David Ragan

24. Kyle Larson

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. Ross Chastain

27. Parker Kligerman

28. Cody Ware

29. Clint Bowyer

30. Chris Buescher

31. Matt DiBenedetto

32. Justin Haley

33. Jimmie Johnson

34. Landon Cassill

35. Stanton Barrett

36. Denny Hamlin

37. Matt Tifft

38. Kevin Harvick

39. Bubba Wallace

40. Michael McDowell

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Logano Returns to Victory Lane with Talladega Win

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Joey Logano won the Geico 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon.

Logano led a race-high 70 laps, and led a group of Ford drivers who dominated most of the race.  Fords made up six of the top seven spots, and Logano said his victory was due to the Ford drivers working together.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“Ford teamwork is what did it today,” Logano said.  “Not only with the Team Penske Fords, but all the Fords out there.”

Logano won on Sunday for the first time in a year.  Following his victory last year in Richmond, Logano’s car was found to be illegal by NASCAR and the win could not be used to get into the playoffs.  A string of bad luck followed and Logano missed the playoffs.  With his win on Sunday, Logano punched his ticket to this year’s playoffs. 

Logano said it was a weight off his shoulder to return to victory lane.

“Man, it feels so good to be back in victory lane,” Logano said.  “It feels so good, we don’t have to worry about the playoffs thing; we’re in.”

Kurt Busch was running second in the closing laps, but after getting separated from his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick, his plan to challenge for the victory fell apart.

Busch said he should have done something different in the closing laps to try and pick up the victory.

“I didn’t quite make the right move and it’s a shame,” Busch said.  “It was one of the best Fords I’ve ever had.”

“My plan was to roll with Kevin until the last lap and then slingshot by him on the outside.  Everyone’s just running side-by-side trying to get everything they can…and it didn’t quite materialize.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kurt Busch

3. Chase Elliott

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

6. David Ragan

7. Aric Almirola

8. Alex Bowman

9. Ryan Newman

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Chris Buescher

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. Kyle Busch

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Ty Dillon

16. Darrell Wallace Jr.

17. Kasey Kahne

18. Ryan Blaney

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. DJ Kennington

21. Cole Whitt

22. Brendan Gaughan

23. Timothy Peters

24. Gray Gaulding

25. Ross Chastain

26. Martin Truex Jr.

27. Joey Gase

28. Jamie McMurray

29. William Byron

30. Paul Menard

31. Clint Bowyer

32. Michael McDowell

33. Brad Keselowski

34. AJ Allmendinger

35. Austin Dillon

36. Timmy Hill

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Trevor Bayne

39. Erik Jones

40. Kyle Larson

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Keselowski Survives Wild Talladega Finish

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Brad Keselowski won the Alabama 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon in his 300th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

Keselowski had to survive a wild finish, one that saw three major accidents collect most of the field in the final 17 laps.  With the field cut to about only 10 cars, Keselowski was able to pass Ryan Newman on the final lap to pick up his fifth victory at Talladega.

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Keselowski said he was excited to survive and move on to the next round of the Playoffs.

“What a special day…I survived,” Keselowski said.  “We haven’t been as good as we’ve needed to be on the [1.5 mile tracks], so we knew we had to come to Talladega and get it done.”

Keselowski said a late block on his teammate Joey Logano helped propel him past Newman on the final lap.

“I just had to make all the right moves…right at the end I put the block on my teammate…and it was just enough to get the momentum to win at the start/finish line,” Keselowski said.  “You’ve got to have a little bit of luck to win these races…we got through some big wrecks there.”

“To be able to win and get to the next round of the Playoffs and not have to deal with any of that…this is one we really needed.”

Newman finished second, but said he was disappointed he couldn’t close out a victory while leading late in the race.

“When there’s only that many cars left running, you want to be the guy…I’m really disappointed we didn’t win,” Newman said.  “I don’t think there was a car out there that didn’t have any damage.”

“We’ll take it for what it’s worth and we’ll keep digging.  Wish we were still in the Playoffs, but we’re not.  We’ll keep moving our way up if we can.”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Ryan Newman

3. Trevor Bayne

4. Joey Logano

5. Aric Almirola

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Gray Gaulding

10. David Ragan

11. Ty Dillon

12. Paul Menard

13. Kyle Larson

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Chase Elliott

17. Chris Buescher

18. Ryan Blaney

19. Brandan Gaughan

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Danica Patrick

22. AJ Allmendinger

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Jimmie Johnson

25. Kurt Busch

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

27. Kyle Busch

28. Landon Cassill

29. Austin Dillon

30. Michael McDowell

31. Matt DiBenedetto

32. Joey Gase

33. DJ Kennington

34. Cole Whitt

35. Clint Bowyer

36. Erik Jones

37. Jamie McMurray

38. Jeffrey Earnhardt

39. Mark Thompson

40. Justin Marks

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images