The NASCAR Cup Series hit Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. As usual, the race wasn’t short on excitement. With plenty of lead changes, movements, and, of course, wrecks to go around. It was a NASCAR fan’s ultimate expectation of the longest track in the series.
I gave you a preview earlier this week of who I thought would perform on maybe the most interesting track around and what to look for. So, we’ll recap this race, and then take a look at how those five drivers panned out. Much like last week, let’s go stage by stage, and deliver the highlights from the GEICO 500!
STAGE ONE
The start of this race had the #11 Denny Hamlin taking the lead. #10 Aric Almirola, rookie #54 Ty Gibbs, #14 Chase Briscoe, and #12 Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five. It also included a set of pre-race penalties being served to #2 Austin Cindric, #36 Todd Gilliland, and #16 A.J. Allmendinger for unapproved adjustments to their respective cars.
Michael McDowell spins on Lap 2 and is amazingly the only person involved. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/epX8XIHt8N
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 23, 2023
It wouldn’t take long for the first yellow flag to drop, as #34 Michael McDowell went spinning into the wall on the second lap. The cause of the crash was his right rear tire going flat, and a toe link possibly damaged. Thankfully, no other cars were involved. At the restart, Almirola, #22 Joey Logano, Briscoe, #17 Chris Buescher, and #20 Christopher Bell led the charge as the top five.
Oh no, @TylerReddick! pic.twitter.com/NrcF6UE6FY
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 23, 2023
Drivers would go another 34 laps uninterrupted before #45 Tyler Reddick would come down to pit road spinning on a green flag pit stop. No caution would come of it. And there’d be clean racing for another nine laps until more trouble on pit road would come. Briscoe would come in spinning himself as his right front tire would lock up, and his car would be immobile. Bringing out the yellow flag.
It happens again at pit entrance!
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 23, 2023
This time, it's @ChaseBriscoe_14! pic.twitter.com/bQhbexmqAU
The top five at this juncture featured a handful of new drivers in #43 Erik Jones, #37 Ricky Stenhouse Jr, #77 Ty Dillon, #31 Justin Haley, and #7 Corey Lajoie. After the pit stops following the yellow, the finale of stage one would be set with Hendrik Motorsports leading the way. #9 Chase Elliott taking command, #48 Alex Bowman following, and #1 Ross Chastain breaking up #23 William Byron and #5 Kyle Larson from their teammates. After a tight race to the finish, Elliott would take his first stage win of the season. And the order from second to fifth remained the same.
STAGE 2
At the top of the second stage, a lot of the original leaders found their way up front. Hamlin led the charge with #4 Kevin Harvick, Chastain, and #19 Martin Truex Jr rounding out the lead. This stage would be caution-free, and just good hard racing throughout. Starting at lap 104 were the green flag pit stops. A group of Chevys came down first. Then a mix of Toyotas and Chevys came the following lap. And then the final group of Fords, plus Ty Dillon came last at lap 105. Logano would suffer a huge hit with a speeding penalty, and the end of stage two would come swiftly. Almirola would edge out Elliott for the first-place finish in this stage. They were followed by Harvick, #21 Harrison Burton, and #23 Bubba Wallace who had led a good number of laps to this point.
STAGE THREE
This is where things start to get messy at Talladega Superspeedway. The start of stage three matched the finish of stage two, and at lap 141 the first of several cautions this stage would see came out. Burton would get sent into the field by #42 Noah Gragson on an incidental bump. Gilliland, #62 Austin Hill, and #3 Austin Dillon would be involved in the crash.
Blame the bump. Radio from Harrison Burton and Noah Gragson after that incident: pic.twitter.com/vcUzsAQ66O
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
Blaney at this point had the lead, followed by Wallace, Gragson, Almirola, and Truex. And at the restart six laps later Hamlin would take over Gragson’s spot. Inserting himself at fourth between Wallace and Truex.
Joey Logano goes around after a push from Corey LaJoie! https://t.co/yCAuItsDsn pic.twitter.com/UwMJz3CjSf
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
The next yellow flag would fly with five laps to go as Logano, who was making ground from his speeding penalty in stage two, was sent into the wall after contact with Lajoie. Stenhouse would suffer damage and set up an overtime finish with Blaney leading the charge. Almirola, Gragson, Harvick, and Chastain rounded out the leaders.
THE FINISH
There’d be two more crashes before this race saw a finish, with racers running low on fuel and getting desperate for a win. The first collision comes when Chastain takes a shot from Larson as he’s moving into the middle lane, which sent Gragson into the wall.
Contact from Ross Chastain sends Noah Gragson around! pic.twitter.com/Z9UvFZYWqQ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
Larson would get sent into the field from this collision, but violently come back up into the track and torpedo into the unsuspecting #41 Ryan Preece. Both drivers came out of the wreck okay. But it was a scary collision that thankfully affected nobody else.
KYLE BUSCH WINS AT TALLADEGA AS CARS CRASH BEHIND HIM. The race ends under caution after Bubba Wallace goes around following contact from Ryan Blaney. https://t.co/Y7rYJKb3rS pic.twitter.com/zQ5bDxeQAg
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 23, 2023
At the restart, there was a new challenger inside the top 5; #8 Kyle Busch. He lined up behind Wallace who had been racing hard all day and was a near victim of several collisions in this race. As the racers restarted, Gibbs ran out of gas and had to leave the hornets’ nest at the top. As the group raced past the white flag, Blaney would send Bubba Wallace into the field, which would cause an accordion of collisions. But the white flag was waved, and Busch edged out Blaney for the win at Talladega Superspeedway. Buescher, Briscoe, and #6 Brad Keselowski snuck his way into the top five.
DRIVER SPOTLIGHT: #12 Ryan Blaney
As most expected, the #12 car was an absolute force at Talladega Superspeedway. He ran hard, led 46 laps, and generally ran in the top five most of the day. If it hadn’t been for the Wallace collision, Busch probably wouldn’t have beaten him out. It’s unfortunate he didn’t take away at least a stage win, never mind coming in second for the spot in victory lane, but he ran hard back-to-back weeks. He’ll be in victory lane soon enough. Blaney has had some tough runs this season, but his fortune should turn around at some point. This was a great showing for him.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Per usual, I gave you all five drivers to look out for this race. So, let’s revisit and see who made me look smart, and who let me down here at Talladega Superspeedway.
#6 Brad Keselowski scraped out a solid top-five performance after some early struggles. It wasn’t his best showing for most of the race, hovering in the late teens to early 20s throughout. But when you finish inside the top five, I’d call that a solid prediction. He let me down last week but made up for it this time.
#9 Chase Elliott
Elliott almost made history at Talladega this weekend. Had he not been jumped by Aric Almirola in stage two, he would’ve been the first driver ever to sweep stages one and two at this race track. But either way, he truly returned to form in this go-round, despite finishing just outside the top 10 at P12. Nothing to be ashamed of here. Elliott is back and will be in the mix for some wins from here on out.
#22 Joey Logano
Logano was looking great for a while there. Running hard inside the top 10 all of stage one, but at the top of stage two he got caught speeding on pit road and he just couldn’t recover. To make matters worse, he was involved in a late collision and finished 30th. I won’t call him a dud. But it was definitely disappointing.
#23 Bubba Wallace
Wallace was excellent today. I know the boomers on Facebook are going to take a crap all over him for crashing late and gifting the win to Busch, but he ran a great race. He probably would’ve won the thing if not for that crash. A 28th-place finish doesn’t tell the story of just how good Wallace was today at Talladega Superspeedway. I can’t wait for him to get the job done soon, after having such a tough season so far. He’ll get his eventually, just watch.
#48 Alex Bowman
Bowman worked his way to a second-place finish in the first stage, and that was the highlight of his day. The superspeedways have been hard to navigate for him and he finished at 14th by the end of it. These races aren’t easy and certainly aren’t his forte. But next weekend he’ll have Dover International Speedway on the docket. A track in which he’s racked up a win and five top-five finishes in a dozen races. Hendrick Motorsports will be well-represented next weekend for sure. But the first win of the season for the #48 has yet to arrive.
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