Almirola Wins at Talladega in a Battle of Stewart Haas Fords

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TALLADEGA, AL – RIS – Stewart Haas’s four Fords dominated the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup 1000Bulbs 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, but only two finished the race because the other two ran out of fuel.  Aric Almirola took the lead when a dominant Kurt Busch slowed because of fuel and held off Clint Bowyer for the win in overtime.  The final two laps were exciting and determined several drivers’ fate for the championship.

As Busch approached the final turn, his car sputtered and Almirola drove by him.  Kevin Harvick ran out of fuel earlier, eliminating two of the dominant cars, but the two left, Almirola and Clint Bowyer, finished 1-2.

“That is so awesome! I’ve been so close so many times this year and this Smithfield team, everybody believing in me, Tony Stewart, Gene Haas, thank you for giving me a shot,” Almirola said.

Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.  For of the five were in Fords.

“That was a great day for Stewart-Haas,” Bowyer said. “So happy and proud to be in those cars on a day like today…What a weekend on their behalf, that was the easiest Talladega of my life and it was because of the rockets they brought to race.”

After his disappointment in Charlotte’s ROVAL race and at Dover the next weekend, Almirola celebrated

“I’ve been so close so many times this year,” Almirola said after the race. “Four or five times this year I feel like we had a shot to win and haven’t been able to seal the deal. I love racing at Talladega, I came with a mindset of ‘we’re going to go race.’

It was a very frustrating day for Busch, who led 108 laps, most by anyone by over 40 laps, and Busch blamed his shortage of fuel on NASCAR.

“I did everything I could,” Busch said. “Gotta thank Doug Yates for the Ford power, it was a different Talladega for me…There were two human element calls at the end, I don’t know why we ran an extra lap under yellow and I don’t know why an ambulance wasn’t dispatched.”

The extra lap of caution at the end might have given him enough fuel to finish the race, but a crash by Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott on the last lap backstretch was deemed by the sanctioning body to be safe enough to finish.

Almirola and Elliott are assured of getting to the field of eight via their wins in this round.  With only one race left in this round, four will have to be eliminated. 

 Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman are the bottom four in the standings, and Kansas now becomes very important to them.

Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL - 2.66 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 193 Laps - 513.38 Miles

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 4 10 Aric Almirola (P) Smithfield Bacon for Life Ford 193 4 4 54 Running 1 1 5
2 2 14 Clint Bowyer (P) Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford 193 2 2 53 Running
3 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. SunnyD Ford 193 34 Running
4 10 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 193 8 5 42 Running
5 20 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 193 5 9 40 Running
6 23 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 193 31 Running 1 1
7 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet 193 30 Running
8 15 20 Erik Jones Craftsman Toyota 193 29 Running
9 30 21 Paul Menard Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 193 28 Running
10 25 95 Regan Smith Procore Chevrolet 193 27 Running
11 34 42 Kyle Larson (P) Credit One Bank Chevrolet 193 26 Running
12 28 62 * Brendan Gaughan(i) Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Hotel & Casino 193 0 Running 1 1
13 24 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Rehydrate Ford 193 24 Running
14 1 41 Kurt Busch (P) Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford 193 1 3 41 Running 3 108 1
15 29 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 193 10 23 Running
16 13 19 Daniel Suarez Stanley Toyota 193 21 Running
17 21 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol e15 Chevrolet 193 8 23 Running
18 37 00 Joey Gase(i) PFK Foundation Chevrolet 193 0 Running
19 17 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Medallion Bank/Petty's Garage Chevrolet 193 18 Running
20 8 24 William Byron # Hertz Chevrolet 193 17 Running 1 5
21 26 37 Chris Buescher Bush's Chili Beans Chevrolet 193 16 Running
22 38 99 * Landon Cassill(i) StarCom Fiber Chevrolet 193 0 Running
23 11 78 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota 193 14 Running
24 36 15 Ross Chastain(i) Xchange of America/Solomon Plumbing Chevrolet 193 0 Running 1 1
25 22 31 Ryan Newman Liberty National Chevrolet 193 12 Running
26 9 18 Kyle Busch (P) M&M's Toyota 193 7 15 Running 1 1
27 18 2 Brad Keselowski (P) Miller Lite Ford 193 10 11 Running 2 21
28 3 4 Kevin Harvick (P) Jimmy John's Ford 193 3 1 27 Running 2 46 1
29 19 12 Ryan Blaney (P) REV Ford 193 6 6 18 Running 1 6
30 27 32 Matt DiBenedetto Dude Wipes Ford 192 7 Running 2 2
31 5 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Nightvision Lamps Chevrolet 192 7 10 Running
32 40 72 Corey LaJoie Winn Dixie Chevrolet 191 5 Running
33 7 88 Alex Bowman (P) Nationwide Chevrolet 191 9 6 Running
34 33 7 * DJ Kennington(i) Wilride Transport Ltd Chevrolet 190 0 Running
35 31 1 Jamie McMurray Winter Park Construction/Arctic Cat Chevrolet 186 2 Running
36 32 23 JJ Yeley(i) Steakhouse Elite Ford 185 0 Accident
37 35 96 * Jeffrey Earnhardt Xtreme Concepts/iK9 Toyota 185 1 Running
38 39 51 Cody Ware Jacob Companies Chevrolet 185 1 Running
39 16 38 David Ragan 1000Bulbs.com Ford 173 1 Running
40 14 34 Michael McDowell Speedco/Rotella Ford 155 1 Running
Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 20 Mins, 24 Secs. Average Speed: 153.707 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.105 Seconds
41,14,4,10,22,12,9,11,88,13
4,14,41,10,11,12,18,3,22,2

Failed to Qualify: (1) 97 David Starr(i).
Caution Flags: 8 for 32 laps: Laps: 12-14 (#96 Spin Frontstretch [None]); 57-60 (End of Stage 1 [72]); 63-66 (#48 Incident Frontstretch [99]); 105-107 (#42 Incident Backstretch [21]); 112-115 (End of Stage 2 [42]); 137-141 (#1 Incident Frontstretch [17]); 161-164 (Debris on Frontstretch [48]); 187-191 (#24, 88, 23, 20, 9 Incident Turn 4 [31]).
Lead Changes: 15 among 11 drivers: Kurt Busch (P) 1-11; A. Allmendinger 12; Kurt Busch (P) 13-56; M. DiBenedetto 57; R. Blaney (P) 58-63; R. Chastain(i) 64; K. Harvick (P) 65-68; Kyle Busch (P) 69; K. Harvick (P) 70-111; B. Keselowski (P) 112-121; W. Byron # 122-126; B. Keselowski (P) 127-137; M. DiBenedetto 138; B. Gaughan(i) 139; Kurt Busch (P) 140-192; A. Almirola (P) 193;
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award : Ricky Stenhouse Jr, #17 Busch Pole Award : Kurt Busch, #41 195.804 mph
Fastest Lap : Jamie McMurray, #1 Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Roush-Yates Engines, #14
Moog Go the Extra Mile : AJ Allmendinger, #47 crew chief Trent Owens, 0.133 seconds Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Bubba Wallace, #43
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Oct. 21, 2018 - Kansas Speedway