Originally written for
CLNS Radio.
It looked like Carl Edwards would win the Aaron's
499 after he took the lead before a lengthy red flag for rain. But NASCAR was able to get the race restarted
to run the final 60 laps. Edwards found
himself in first on the final lap, but David Ragan was able to get around him
and, in what can simply be called a David vs. Goliath story, win the race for
his small team.
 |
| Jerry Markland/Getty Images |
Edwards started on the pole for the Aaron's 499
after qualifying on Saturday was rained out.
Edwards started on the bottom line, and the field fanned out 3-wide
behind him. Martin Truex Jr. led the
first lap, and Edwards quickly fell to eighth.
Edwards decided that his car needed to run on the top of the track, and
the bottom line continued to fall back.
On lap 6, Matt Kenseth was able to work his way
around Truex for the lead. On lap 20,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought his car down pit road after making contact with
Travis Kvapil on the racetrack. Kvapil
got into Earnhardt's left-rear, and Earnhardt had to come down after his
left-rear tire went flat.
On lap 22, the first caution of the day came out for
a blown engine by Trevor Bayne. The
field came down pit road, and Kenseth won the race off pit road. Under the caution, Denny Hamlin and Brian
Vickers made a driver change in the No. 11.
Hamlin started the race so that he could receive championship points,
but Vickers took over to allow Hamlin one more week of rest.
The race restarted on lap 28, and Kenseth was able
to get a jump on the field while Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne raced for
second. Kenseth got too far ahead of
second place, and Jeff Burton took the lead on lap 30. Kenseth was able to retake the lead after
getting a big push from Johnson on the next lap.
On lap 43, the big one hit in Turn 1. Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch switched lanes
coming out of the trioval. They made
contact, and Busch got into the back of Kahne, sending him into the wall and
back in front of the rest of the field.
The wreck collected Kahne, Busch, Ambrose, Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Jamie
McMurray, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann, Greg Biffle, Jeff
Burton, Casey Mears, David Stremme, and Scott Speed.
 |
| Jared Wickerman/Getty Images |
The leaders came down pit road, and Kenseth was able
to beat Johnson off pit road after taking only two tires.
The race restarted on lap 52, and Kenseth was able
to take the lead going into Turn 1. On
lap 57, Ryan Newman brought Brad Keselowski and Edwards to the front, and they
took the lead. Kenseth was able to work
his way around Keselowski and Edwards, and he and Johnson were once again the
leaders of the outside line.
Kenseth was able to work his way around Newman on
lap 59, and he raced side-by-side with Kurt Busch for the lead. Kenseth, with a push from Johnson, was able
to get around Busch for the lead. The
top 5 quickly got into a single-file line, and they ran like that until
green-flag pit stops on lap 89.
After stops had cycles around, Kenseth was once
again the leader, and the Top 14 cars were within a second of each other. On lap 116, the Fords that were running up
front got together on the high side and worked their way to the front. Johnson jumped up in front of the line, and
he was able to get around Kenseth for the lead with help from Ricky Stenhouse
Jr. On lap 120, Stenhouse took the lead
when Johnson was hung out on the low line, and was passed by everyone on the
high side.
The caution came out on lap 122 for rain at the
racetrack. Edwards jumped out of line
and pulled up alongside Stenhouse right as the caution came out. NASCAR went back to the last scoring loops,
and Edwards was ahead of Stenhouse when the caution came out, meaning Edwards
was the leader. Edwards brought the
field down pit road, and the red flag
came out to stop the race.
After a red flag of 3 hours and 36 minutes, the
track was finally dry enough for the drivers to race. The cars re-fired just before 7 p.m. EST, and
they were ready to go back racing.
Bobby Labonte, who didn't pit under the caution, led
the field back to the green flag on lap 130.
He was able to hang on to the lead to lead the first lap after the
caution. On lap 133, Kenseth, who had
lost the lead before the red flag, worked his way up through the pack to get to
second place. Kenseth was able to take
the lead on lap 134.
On lap 158, Edwards got out of line going down the
frontstretch, and he dropped to the back of the pack. That allowed the top line to reach the back
bumper of Kenseth, who had to start blocking both Johnson and Stenhouse to keep
the lead.
On lap 166, Kenseth brought a handful of cars down
pit road to make their final pit stops for fuel. Johnson was able to beat everyone off pit
road, and he was followed by Michael Waltrip.
Following pit stops, Stenhouse and Martin Truex Jr. were caught speeding
and had to serve a pass-through penalty.
After stops had cycled around, Johnson was the
leader, and he was followed by Waltrip and Kenseth. The caution came out on lap 173, after
Michael McDowell blew a right-front tire.
Johnson led the field back to the green flag on lap
178, and he got a big push from Kurt Busch to clear Kenseth for the lead. On lap 179, Kenseth started to get a big run
on the high side, but he didn't have enough to get around Johnson for the
lead.
On lap 180, Regan Smith got a huge run on the high
side thanks to a huge push from Dave Blaney, and he moved up to second. Blaney was able to get alongside Smith, but
Smith got a huge push from Kenseth to take the lead. On lap 182, Smith got stuck in the middle,
and Kenseth was able to take the lead.
While all of that was happening, a wreck erupted
near the front of the pack. Stenhouse
squeezed J.J. Yeley down the track, and it caused Yeley to spin down across the
track and into Busch. Busch flipped
upside down, and he landed on top of Ryan Newman. The wreck collected Yeley, Busch, Newman,
Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Clint Bowyer, Danica Patrick, Ambrose, and Jamie
McMurray.
After an extended cleanup, the race was set up for a
green-white-checkered finish. NASCAR
decided that because of the diminishing daylight at the track, there would only
be one try at a green-white-checkered finish.
Kenseth took the green flag with two laps to go, and
Johnson gave Kenseth a big push going into Turn 1. Going down the backstretch, Edwards got a
huge push from Aric Almirola, and he was able to get around Kenseth heading
into Turn 3. Johnson got underneath
Kenseth for second, but he was able to get around him to stay in second. Going into Turn 3, David Ragan was able to
get around Edwards for the lead with help from teammate David Gilliland. Edwards tried to fight back on the outside,
but he wasn't able to get alongside Ragan, who went on to win the race.
Here are the
unofficial results:
1. David Ragan
2. David Gilliland
3. Carl Edwards
4. Michael Waltrip
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Regan Smith
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Scott Speed
10. Aric Almirola
11. Jeff Gordon
12. David Stremme
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Marcos Ambrose
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Dave Blaney
17. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
18. Clint Bowyer
19. Josh Wise
20. Bobby Labonte
21. Michael McDowell
22. Landon Cassill
23. Jamie McMurray
24. Casey Mears
25. Juan Pablo Montoya
26. Paul Menard
27. Tony Stewart
28. Jeff Burton
29. Terry Labonte
30. Kurt Busch
31. J.J. Yeley
32. Ryan Newman
33. Danica Patrick
34. Denny Hamlin
35. Joey Logano
36. Greg Biffle
37. Kyle Busch
38. Travis Kvapil
39. Joe Nemechek
40. Kevin Harvick
41. David Reutimann
42. Kasey Kahne
43. Trevor Bayne
Matt Kenseth led 142 of 192 laps at Talladega
driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jimmie
Johnson ran up front most of the day driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Carl Edwards was the leader on the final lap
heading into Turn 3 driving for Roush-Fenway Racing. Those three drivers race for what are
arguably the three strongest and biggest race teams in the Sprint Cup
Series. But David Ragan and David
Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports were able to beat them all in an unlikely
victory in the Aaron's 499.
Next week, the Sprint Cup Series rolls into the
"Track Too Tough to Tame," Darlington Raceway. The Bojangels' Southern 500 can be seen next
Saturday at 6:45 p.m., only on FOX.
