Elliott Survives Talladega Chaos to Win the GEICO 500

Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports

TALLADEGA, AL – RIS – Talladega Superspeedway lived up to its reputation in
Sunday’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race.  It was chaos everywhere for most of the day and the race ended under caution with Chase Elliott winning with  an assist from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman in front of raucous and appreciate crowd in Alabama, who rose to their feet to give the Georgia native a huge ovation.

"I just appreciate all the support; it's unbelievable," Elliott said after climbing out of his No. 9 Chevrolet. "This is a special one. This is close to home for me, so it feels like a home race."

It was Elliott’s fourth career win and his first at a super speedway.  His victory broke a string of seven straight wins at the track for Ford.  For the first time in ages, the top four finishers were in Chevrolets, but that was no barometer of how tight the racing was on this day.

"A lot of teamwork done today. It was huge," Elliott said. "We just had a plan and executed really well. Fortunately, everybody stayed together and stayed the course, and we had some help on the last lap with that caution."

Tough there were other crashes including one on Lap 10 that eliminated one of the favorites, Kevin Harvick, the last caution was the decider.  It was on the final lap.  First, Erik Jones spun toward the infield on the final lap, but the race remained green as his No. 20 Toyota was safely out of the way of the incoming pack. But one lap later, the “big one” broke out when David Ragan's No. 38 Ford made contact with the No. 24 Chevrolet of William Byron near the outside wall, coming off Turn 2.

Byron's car spun back toward the track, sending the No. 42 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson and the No. 81 Toyota of Jeffrey Earnhardt sailing across the track into the SAFER barrier along the inside wall. Larson's car got airborne just before it slammed into the wall and then barrel-rolled down the backstretch as NASCAR displayed the caution flag, giving race leader Elliott the win.

"Well, initially I just thought I was going to hit the inside wall pretty hard," said Larson after he was checked and released from the infield care center. "And then right before I got to it, I felt it lift and was just hoping it would set down. Then it just started tumbling. That was probably the longest flip I've ever had. I just didn't know if it would ever stop. It was a little bit scary, but thankfully, I'm all right."

Then after Jones’ mishap, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. crashed into the outside wall as the white flag started to wave.  That brought out a caution and that is how the race ended.  William Bowman, Ryan Preece, and Daniel Hemrick finished in positions 2-4.  Joey Logano, who won this race one year ago, finished fifth, followed by Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, 2018 Talladega playoff race winner Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Brendan Gaughan.

Ty Dillon won the first stage, mainly because all the leaders pitted for fuel.  Elliott did the same in the second stage as cars scrambled to the pits for fuel.  In both stages, a number of Fords and Toyotas were leading. I could hear the siren at the Dawsonville Pool Room.  Well, almost.

Unofficial Results: 50th Annual GEICO 500 - April 28, 2019 - Talladega Superspeedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 
11, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Mountain Dew/Little Caesar's Chevrolet, 188, 4, 4, 45, 6, 1, 57, Running
2) 9, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 188, 2, 1, 7, , 2, 53, Running
3) 30, Ryan Preece #, No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 8, Joey Logano, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 188, , 9, 37, , 9, 35, Running
5) 5, Daniel Hemric #, No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 188, , , , , 8, 35, Running
6) 14, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 188, , , , , 6, 36, Running
7) 24, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Acorns Ford, 188, 6, , , , , 35, Running
8) 29, * Brendan Gaughan(i), No. 62 BeardOilDstrbtng/SthPntHtl&Casino Chevrolet, 188, , 3, 5, , , 0, Running
9) 2, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 188, , 3, 27, , , 28, Running
10) 22, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota, 188, 9, 3, 4, , 10, 30, Running
11) 36, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Schuler Systems Ford, 188, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 16, Daniel Suarez, No. 41 Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla Ford, 188, 5, , , , , 31, Running
13) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Snap On Ford, 188, , 2, 10, , , 24, Running
14) 1, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Chevrolet, 188, 3, , , , 5, 37, Running
15) 7, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford, 188, , 3, 4, , 4, 29, Running
16) 17, Paul Menard, No. 21 Quick Land Tire & Auto Center Ford, 188, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 13, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 188, 1, 1, 7, 1, , 30, Running
18) 37, * Reed Sorenson, No. 27 Low-T Centers Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 27, Erik Jones, No. 20 STANLEY Toyota, 188, , 1, 4, , , 18, Running
20) 20, Martin Truex Jr, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 188, , 2, 11, , , 17, Running
21) 25, William Byron, No. 24 Hertz Chevrolet, 188, 7, , , , 3, 28, Running
22) 33, * Jeffrey Earnhardt(i), No. 81 Xtreme Concepts Toyota, 187, , , , , , 0, Accident
23) 15, David Ragan, No. 38 Shriners Hospital for Children Ford, 187, , , , , , 14, Accident
24) 10, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 187, , 1, 1, , 7, 17, Accident
25) 6, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 187, 8, 3, 16, , , 15, Accident
26) 34, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15  Chevrolet, 187, , 1, 9, , , 0, Running
27) 35, * Parker Kligerman(i), No. 96 TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota, 186, , , , , , 0, Running
28) 40, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 JACOB Companies Ford, 184, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 3, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Toco Warranty Ford, 182, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 31, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Tide Pods Chevrolet, 181, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 26, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 95 Procore Toyota, 181, 10, 1, 1, , , 7, Accident
32) 38, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet, 180, , , , , , 0, Accident
33) 21, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 178, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 32, Landon Cassill(i), No. 00 Home Town Lenders Chevrolet, 154, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 39, Stanton Barrett, No. 52 HUSKI CHOCOLATE Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 2, Suspension
36) 23, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 80, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 18, Matt Tifft #, No. 36 Surface Suncreen/Tunity Ford, 11, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 19, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer Flannel Ford, 11, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 28, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet, 10, , , , , , 1, Accident
40) 12, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 10, , , , , , 1, Accident 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 59 Secs.
2.66 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length: 188 Laps - 500.08 Miles
Average Speed: 161.331 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 13, 88, 3, 9, 41, 6, 24, 17, 18, 95
Stage 2 Top 10: 9, 88, 24, 12, 3, 1, 42, 8, 22, 18

Race Comments: Chase Elliott won the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, his fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 6, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 51 (unapproved adjustments) and No. 62 (driver change).

Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps; Laps: 12-16 (No. 43, 11, 34, 4, 14, 36 Incident Turn 1 [None]); 57-60 (Stage 1 conclusion [10]); 112-116 (Stage 2 conclusion [81]); 133-136 (Debris on backstretch [27]); 183-184 (No. 10, 19, 37, 77, 95 Incident backstretch [Red flag 8:47] [38]); 188-188 (No. 17, 24, 42, 38, 81 Incident backstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 37 among 15 drivers; A. Dillon 0; B. Keselowski 1-7; J. Logano 8; R. Blaney 9; J. Logano 10-13; *. Gaughan(i) 14; J. Logano 15-16; A. Almirola 17-30; J. Logano 31-32; A. Almirola 33; K. Larson 34; A. Almirola 35-46; M. Truex Jr 47-49; T. Dillon 50-56; C. Elliott 57-60; A. Bowman 61-67; B. Keselowski 68-70; J. Logano 71-73; R. Blaney 74-75; K. Busch 76; R. Blaney 77; R. Stenhouse Jr 78-90; K. Busch 91-92; R. Stenhouse Jr 93; C. Elliott 94-112; *. Gaughan(i) 113-114; C. Elliott 115-132; *. Gaughan(i) 133-134; E. Jones 135-138; J. Logano 139-143; M. Truex Jr 144-151; J. Logano 152-154; M. DiBenedetto 155; R. Chastain(i) 156-164; R. Stenhouse Jr 165-166; J. Logano 167-173; K. Busch 174; J. Logano 175-184; C. Elliott 185-188.
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award:  Paul Menard, No. 21 
Busch Pole Award:  Austin Dillon, No. 3 192.544 mph
Fastest Lap:  Daniel Hemric, No. 8 
Moog Go the Extra Mile:  Aric Almirola, No. 10 crew chief John Klausmeier, -66.2321 seconds
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Ryan Preece, No. 47

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 4, Posted 8:40 PM, 04.28.2019