Brad Keselowski only needed to lead one lap to win Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. In an overtime scramble against his Ford allies, he beat Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and William Byron to score his sixth victory at the track.
Denny Hamlin would have started on the pole alongside Joey Logano had he and nearly all of his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates and Toyota allies not been ordered to the back for unapproved adjustments; Kyle Busch was the lone Toyota driver to not suffer the fate. Alex Bowman, who won last week, inherited the pole as a result of the penalties. Cody Ware (multiple inspection failures) and B.J. McLeod (unapproved adjustments) were also sent back.
Stage #1
Bowman quickly settled behind Hendrick Motorsports team-mate William Byron, though their fellow Hendrick colleague Kyle Larson was not as fortunate as his engine blew up after three laps; the failure occurred as his team neglected to remove a piece of metal from the radiator that had been added while transporting the car. As Logano led the first ten laps, the Toyotas began their ascent through the grid which culminated in Bubba Wallace leading laps against Kevin Harvick.
By the lap 25 competition caution, Busch was the leader. More Toyota mishaps took place on pit road when Martin Truex Jr. was penalised for speeding and Cup newcomer Harrison Burton left his pit box with his gas can still attached. Ryan Preece also suffered a penalty for having a crewman over the wall too soon. Hamlin retook the lead for the restart and continued to hold the spot after Joey Gase spun on lap 38 to produce another yellow.
The Ford contingent roared to life on lap 49 when Ryan Blaney pulled into the lead with Team Penske brethren Joey Logano and others pushing on the outside. Penske ally Matt DiBenedetto took the lead on lap 51 and led before Preece joined the picture. The two battled for the spot before DiBenedetto cleared him with five laps remaining in the stage.
On the final lap, Hamlin was clipped by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and turned into Logano’s rear. Logano went airbourne as the pack entered turn three and flipped onto his roof, tapping Wallace’s right-front nose, before landing on his wheels. Chase Briscoe attempted to dodge Logano and turned Keselowski in the process.
Although Logano was unharmed in the wreck, he voiced his concerns with superspeedway racing after being released from the infield care center.
“It’s a product of this racing,” Logano told Fox. “On one hand, I’m so proud to drive a Cup car that is safe that I can go through a crash like that and get out and speak about it. On one hand, I’m mad about being in a crash, the other hand, I’m just happy I’m alive.
“But on the other hand, when are we gonna stop? This is dangerous doing what we’re doing. I’ve got a roll bar on my head. That’s not okay. I’m one hit away from the same situation that Ryan Newman just went through (in the 2020 Daytona 500). I don’t feel like that’s unacceptable. A lot of this is this big spoiler and these big runs and this pushing and all that. It’s no one’s fault.
“It’s a product of this racing. We have to fix this because someone already got hurt and we’re still doing it, and that’s not real smart. But at the same time, I’m appreciative of driving a car that’s as safe and appreciate what Team Penske’s done for the safety of these cars as well that I can live to talk about it and go again. I got lucky I didn’t get hit.”
Amid the chaos, DiBenedetto scored his first career stage victory. Blaney, Chase Elliott, Hamlin, Byron, Chris Buescher, Bowman, Christopher Bell, Harvick, and Michael McDowell closed out the top ten.
Stage #2
Elliott and Hamlin beat the field off pit road and comprised the front row as the second stage began on lap 67. As Elliott filed behind Hamlin to work with him, DiBenedetto entered the picture with a push from Byron. Hamlin took the lead on lap 73.
Green-flag stops began on lap 84 with the Chevrolets, during which Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez received speeding penalties. With his peers pitting, Elliott lost the draft and went a lap down.
The Fords made their stops on lap 90, followed by the Toyotas shortly after. Harvick, Buescher, and Hamlin suffered penalties for speeding on their stops; when Hamlin served his pass-through, he sped and was penalised yet again. Hamlin would spend the rest of the stage fighting to return to the lead lap.
With the other manufacturers pitting, the Chevrolets led by Preece occupied the top spots. Byron took the lead on lap 101 and led until the caution came out on lap 103 for fluid on the track courtesy of Kurt Busch.
Byron and DiBenedetto took the green on lap 110. Kyle Busch and Wallace moved to the front before the former was sent into the tri-oval after contact with DiBenedetto on an attempted block, though both drivers avoided wrecking. DiBenedetto fell back and Wallace took the lead.
As Wallace continued to lead, Hamlin—who was already in the free pass position—attempted to pass him to return to the lead lap. When the leaders were in the tri-oval and preparing to take the white flag, Truex was blocked by Hamlin and Keselowski, causing Hamlin to hook Truex and send both into the outside wall. Hendrick drivers Byron and Bowman also wrecked and collected their team-mate Elliott.
After yet another final-lap wreck, Wallace scored his and 23XI Racing‘s first stage win. Keselowski, McDowell, Busch, Preece, Blaney, Buescher, Stenhouse, Bell, and Burton also finished in the top ten. As Burton is racing for the Xfinity Series championship, he did not earn stage points.
Stage #3
Despite Hamlin’s efforts, his involvement in the last-lap wreck meant he did not receive the free pass. Bowman retired from the race after failing to repair the car in time.
Blaney and Aric Almirola comprised the front row as the final stage commenced on lap 127. Almirola and his Ford partners joined Blaney on the outside while Wallace led the Toyotas opposite them. Much of the field subsequently organised single file along thte outside groove.
Almirola took the lead on lap 132 to help Blaney remove debris (a piece of Bear Bond) from his grille. It was Almirola’s first laps led of the season after a horrendous start to the year in which he finally notched his first top ten last Sunday.
Ross Chastain, receiving help from Chip Ganassi Racing partner Kurt Busch (who was six laps down after rejoining the race), took the lead on lap 148. Six laps later, Chastain and the Chevrolet drivers hit pit road, during which Stenhouse spun and hit the insdie wall with no caution coming out. The Fords followed suit, during which Newman suffered the Hamlin Special of a speeding infraction and speeding again while serving said penalty.
After Bell briefly led, Chastain re-assumed the lead on lap 162. Jones passed him for the spot on lap 170. A lap later, Quin Houff blew a right-front tyre and hit the outside wall on the backstretch. The top ten elected to stay out, while Preece was penalised again for having a crew member over the wall too early.
The restart came with twelve laps to go with the top two of Jones and DiBenedetto; Jones and Chastain led the inside while DiBenedetto stuck with Truex on the outside. Jones was shuffled back as the Ford-dominated outside propelled ahead with DiBenedetto leading Blaney.
Blaney continued to push DiBenedetto as the laps ticked down, while Byron and Jones tried their own charge on the inside. With four laps to go, Truex’s tyre came off in the tri-oval to produce a caution and overtime.
Overtime
DiBenedetto and Blaney held the front as overtime began. Burton restarted in the top ten but was shuffled back after jumping to the outside.
Pushed by Keselowski, DiBenedetto pulled ahead along the inside to take the white flag before committing to the outside. DiBenedetto’s action gave Keselowski open space to catch him and pull ahead with McDowell supporting him. Behind the pack, Daniel Suárez was hit and went down the apron.
On the backstretch, Tyler Reddick tried a move on Blaney but failed, which cut off the latter’s draft with DiBenedetto. In the other lane, McDowell and Harvick pushed Keselowski ahead. As the field exited turn four, Kaz Grala hit Jones and sent him into the outside; Chastain spun and slammed the inside wall. McDowell and Byron caught up to Keselowski but neither driver could beat him to the finish.
It is Keselowski’s sixth victory at Talladega, which ties him with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the second most in track history behind Dale Earnhardt Sr.‘s ten. The win marks a “sweep” of races for Keselowski at the superspeedway in both the real and virtual worlds. He won the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race on Wednesday, also an event that saw him lead only the final few laps.
“The whole race, I had a couple opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, keep your car in one piece.’ We’ve been so close here and it just didn’t seem to want to come together here the last few years and I’ve been on kind of a four-year drought here, but it’s nice to get number six,” Keselowski said.
“I would have never dreamed I’d tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. here. That’s something. Those guys are really legends. I’m just really proud of my team. We had an accident there early and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running. My crew chief Jeremy Bullins had a lot of confidence; I told him, ‘I want to come in and put four tyres on this thing,’ and he said, ‘Yup, go ahead.’ That really helped a bunch at the end.”
Byron settled for second while McDowell finished third. It is the latter’s fourth top ten of the year, which ties his all-time best from the previous season, and his career-high second top five. McDowell said after the race that it “has been a great year. To get a top-five and to be running in the top-10 and have a win says a lot for this (Front Row Motorsports) team and (owner) Bob Jenkins for giving me the opportunity.”
DiBenedetto falls short of winning at Talladega for the second straight time as he finished fifth.
“I think as I get older, my perspective on a lot of things gets better, so the way I look at it is, ‘Yeah, it’s disappointing to come close so many times, not just today because this is Talladega and a lot of things happen that’s crazy, but to come close… a lot of my career has consisted of a lot of that and some heartbreaks and it’s tough,'” he commented.
“The way that I look at it is I focus on what’s in my control and focus on the positives. I’m driving fast cars. We’re in position to win and I know that if we keep doing that, like I said, our day will definitely come and pertaining to this race specifically, I’ll drive myself crazy if I just look back at it, replay exactly what happened and will never let myself live it down. We did the best job we can. Circumstances are crazy, especially with how big the runs are and all that, so it’s nothing to beat ourselves up over. We had a stage win and a good day, and I know that although my career has consisted of a lot of heartbreaks our day will come, so I don’t look at it in a negative way.”
Grala finished sixth for his second career top ten at the Cup level and the best finish for Kaulig Racing, who won the previous day’s Xfinity race. Other finishers of note include Cole Custer getting his first top ten of the season in tenth, Briscoe finishing a career-best eleventh, Anthony Alfredo securing his first Cup top twenty in twelfth, and Burton ending his Cup début in twentieth.
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 2 | 4 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 3 | 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 4 | 16 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 5 | 13 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 6 | 38 | 16 | Kaz Grala | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 7 | 20 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 8 | 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 9 | 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 10 | 27 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 11 | 25 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 12 | 30 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 13 | 28 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 14 | 29 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 15 | 14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 16 | 18 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 17 | 6 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 191 | Running |
| 18 | 9 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 191 | Running |
| 19 | 24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 191 | Running |
| 20 | 39 | 96 | Harrison Burton* | Gaunt Brothers Racing | Toyota | 191 | Running |
| 21 | 21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 22 | 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 23 | 19 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 24 | 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 25 | 31 | 78 | B.J. McLeod | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 191 | Running |
| 26 | 37 | 15 | J.J. Yeley | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
| 27 | 22 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 190 | Accident |
| 28 | 33 | 51 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 190 | Running |
| 29 | 40 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 190 | Running |
| 30 | 34 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 190 | Running |
| 31 | 3 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 189 | Running |
| 32 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 188 | Running |
| 33 | 17 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 186 | Running |
| 34 | 35 | 28 | Joey Gase* | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 186 | Running |
| 35 | 15 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 185 | Running |
| 36 | 36 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 180 | Running |
| 37 | 32 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 168 | Accident |
| 38 | 5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 123 | DVP |
| 39 | 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 59 | Accident |
| 40 | 12 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 | Engine |
* – Ineligible for Cup/Xfinity/Truck points
