Loop Data Box Score

YellaWood 500

Sunday, October 1st, 2023

Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln, AL

  • 17 Chevrolet
  • 15 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Sunday, October 1st, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Ryan Blaney wins YellaWood 500 thriller at Talladega to advance in NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs

Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford crossed the finish line about a foot ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick to claim victory in a thrilling final 10-lap push to the YellaWood 500 checkered flag at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Sunday.

With the crucial Playoff win – Blaney’s third on the famed 2.66-mile high-banks – the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford punched his ticket to the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after being points away from elimination at the Talladega green flag three hours earlier.

Blaney led eight laps on the day but was out front the final two laps to secure the win by a slight .012-second – about the length of a tire – over former series champion, Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the season. It’s the 29-year old Blaney’s second trophy of the season and ninth of his career.

“I don’t really know, pretty wild last restart, let alone last couple laps,’’ said a smiling Blaney, who admitted he wasn’t sure if he won until his spotter confirmed. “Kinda lost momentum, then getting it back, got clear to the bottom to kind get to the front row and drag race it out with Kevin [Harvick]. It’s so cool to win here three times at Talladega.

“I won it by more than I had the last couple years,’’ Blaney conceded with a laugh. “You just don’t know. You have to drag race to the line and hope you get help. William [Byron] gave me a pretty good shove on the bottom.’’

“This is such a special place to win at so I cannot wait to go to Victory Lane,’’ he said.

Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford failed post-race inspection, resulting in a disqualification. As a result, he was moved to last place in the running order. Playoff drivers Byron, who drives the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished second and third. Spire Motorsports’ Corey Lajoie was fourth – his third career Top-5 finish – just ahead of a multi-car accident just before the finish line. 

Blaney’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley, Harvick’s teammate Ryan Preece and Front Row Racing’s Riley Herbst – making only his fourth career NASCAR Cup Series start – rounded out the Top-10.

It was a typical action-packed ‘Dega day with 70 lead changes among 24 drivers. Blaney’s teammate Joey Logano led the most laps (24) but finished 25th.

Seven drivers led double-digit laps, but only one of those – Byron – was a Playoff driver.

Hamlin’s fourth place final effort was especially impressive considering he was issued a pit road penalty mid-race and had to recover from being a lap down. 

“Not how we drew it up, but a dub (W) is a dub (W) and that was a dub (W) in our book,’’ Hamlin said. “As close as it gets to it. Made a statement bringing me a car fast enough for us to win. And obviously when I had to go there, I could, and just made the right moves at the right time and a Top-5 is a long way from where we were with about 15 laps to go.’’

Blaney joins last week’s Texas winner Byron with victories in this three-race Playoff round to earn a position in the next eight-driver round. Hamlin’s rally – after running outside the Top-20 for much of the middle of the race – keeps his position atop the Playoff standings (50 points) among those 12 drivers still Playoff eligible.

JGR’s Christopher Bell, who finished 15th, remains fourth in the championship standings. Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Chris Buescher, who finished 20th at Talladega, is ranked fifth. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, who finished 16th Sunday, holds a 17-point edge on the eight-driver cut-off line tied with regular season champion Martin Truex Jr., who finished 19th at Talladega.

Brad Keselowski, one of two Playoff drivers to suffer a DNF on Sunday, still holds a slim two-point edge on Tyler Reddick for that eighth and final transfer position going into next week’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL, which will determine which eight drivers advance to the penultimate three-race round to set the Championship Four field.

23XI Racing’s Reddick, who finished 17th, is in ninth place – a mere two-points back. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain who was involved in an early-race accident and suffered his first DNF of the Playoffs dropped below the cutoff line for the first time this round and is now 10th place, nine points back. 

Chastain is tied in points with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, a former Talladega race winner who finished a frustrating 24th on Sunday. His team co-owner, NBA superstar Michael Jordan met up with Wallace on pit road after the race offering a handshake, pat on the back and some encouraging words.

Two-time series champion Kyle Busch still finds himself in a catch-up role, essentially needing a walk-off victory next week at the ROVAL road course through Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 26th and now sits 26 points behind eighth place Keselowski.

Keselowski’s position in the standings – thanks in part to his sixth stage win (stage 2) of the season – is remarkable considering his tough luck day at Talladega. He was among the eight cars collected in Talladega’s “Big One” with 25 laps remaining that brought out a nearly 10-minute red flag for clean-up.

Chastain was the first NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver to suffer a major Talladega woe – caught up in an incident involving Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 59 racing toward the Lap 60 Stage 1 break. Busch made contact with Stenhouse’s Chevy, which was slowing on track after running out of gas. As Busch swerved to avoid crashing, his No. 8 Chevy caught the corner of Chastain’s No. 1 Chevy. It sent Chastain hard into the wall and then directly to the garage, his first DNF of the Playoffs.

“It’s just the way it goes, nothing personal with it, I don’t take any of this personally here,’’ said Chastain, who finished runner-up in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. “Could have stayed bottom a few laps earlier probably, just had a couple cars laying in my lap and I went for the gap. Will study it and be better next time.

“Lefts and rights and living my dream,’’ he said of the crucial ROVAL race next weekend, “so whatever our team brings next week we’ll put our best foot forward as long as I’m getting to drive these rocket ships that Trackhouse [Racing] brings me, I’m living my dream and we’ll keep fighting.’’

  • Drivers Entered: 38
  • Laps Scheduled: 188
  • Margin of Victory: 0.012 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 7 Minutes 25 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 160.097
  • Cautions: 4 for 19 laps
  • Lead Changes: 70
  • Green Flag Passes: 19,946 (118.0 passes per green flag lap)

  • Talladega Superspeedway
  • YellaWood 500
  • Race Winner: Ryan Blaney
  • Age: 29
  • Team : No. 12 - Menards/Pennzoil Ford
  • Owner: Roger Penske
  • Crew Chief: Jonathan Hassler
  • Ryan Blaney won the YellaWood 500, his ninth victory in 301 Cup Series races.
  • This is his second victory and 14th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 19 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 36 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • William Byron (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 12 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Ty Gibbs (35th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • William Byron leads the point standings by 28 points over Denny Hamlin.
The NASCAR Garage 56 car during the Rolex 24
Daytona Beach, Florida - January 29, 2023 : The NASCAR Garage 56 car is seen on display during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
James GilbertGetty Images
YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway : Loop Data Box Score results
DRIVER ST MID CLO FIN HI LOW ARP PL DIF GFP GFxP PD QPS % QPS FST % T15 LED % LED LAPS DR TOT PTS
Ryan Blaney 10 20 3 1 1 29 8.7 9 582 579 3 364 62.54 1 81.9 8 4.3 188 104.30 50
Kevin Harvick 11 8 4 2 1 31 11.7 9 569 557 12 345 60.63 3 71.8 11 5.9 188 93.80 38
William Byron 8 33 7 3 1 33 8.5 5 511 499 12 355 69.47 3 87.2 12 6.4 188 104.00 52
Denny Hamlin 12 17 20 4 1 34 24.8 8 416 416 0 108 25.96 3 16.5 3 1.6 188 61.30 33
Corey Lajoie 36 18 9 5 3 37 19.0 31 597 561 36 225 37.69 7 48.9 0 0.0 188 80.00 32
Austin Cindric 7 6 30 6 1 35 16.7 1 406 414 -8 282 69.46 1 57.5 15 8.0 188 91.60 36
Justin Haley 30 32 21 7 1 38 19.5 23 506 503 3 191 37.75 5 39.9 1 0.5 188 72.50 34
Chase Elliott 23 14 8 8 1 38 11.6 15 623 618 5 316 50.72 2 71.8 8 4.3 188 88.70 42
Ryan Preece 19 11 18 9 1 34 15.9 10 597 589 8 282 47.24 6 54.3 8 4.3 188 83.60 29
Riley Herbst 6 1 6 10 1 38 18.9 -4 599 591 8 208 34.72 6 41.0 10 5.3 188 67.70 0
Daniel Suarez 28 30 13 11 2 38 18.9 17 592 566 26 259 43.75 4 48.4 0 0.0 188 71.40 31
Chandler Smith 34 31 12 12 2 37 22.6 22 642 654 -12 119 18.54 5 28.2 0 0.0 188 50.20 0
Todd Gilliland 17 5 16 13 1 37 19.5 4 656 646 10 142 21.65 6 22.9 0 0.0 188 77.80 24
Chase Briscoe 3 27 26 14 2 35 20.4 -11 601 600 1 205 34.11 10 32.5 0 0.0 188 76.00 26
Christopher Bell 15 19 19 15 1 34 22.0 0 631 607 24 90 14.26 9 16.5 2 1.1 188 66.00 22
Kyle Larson 4 16 5 16 1 33 8.3 -12 592 605 -13 413 69.76 1 86.7 1 0.5 188 93.90 33
Tyler Reddick 13 2 17 17 1 33 16.3 -4 601 617 -16 217 36.11 2 45.2 2 1.1 188 78.60 21
Aric Almirola 1 10 2 18 1 37 11.2 -17 584 609 -25 394 67.47 3 78.2 7 3.7 188 79.50 19
Martin Truex Jr 16 21 22 19 1 33 18.7 -3 615 625 -10 174 28.29 1 30.9 0 0.0 188 72.30 18
Chris Buescher 24 28 25 20 1 38 21.8 4 613 621 -8 167 27.24 9 20.7 3 1.6 188 65.90 17
AJ Allmendinger 31 29 28 21 3 38 27.2 10 553 550 3 28 5.06 3 5.3 0 0.0 188 42.00 16
Michael McDowell 18 3 24 22 1 38 20.5 -4 672 672 0 118 17.56 7 18.1 5 2.7 188 69.90 15
Ricky Stenhouse Jr 35 9 15 23 1 38 14.0 12 683 662 21 336 49.19 8 60.1 14 7.5 188 83.10 14
Bubba Wallace 9 4 14 24 1 33 16.8 -15 675 677 -2 264 39.11 6 41.0 3 1.6 188 71.90 13
Joey Logano 2 24 11 25 1 32 10.2 -23 464 494 -30 228 49.14 0 72.9 48 25.5 188 85.30 22
Kyle Busch 25 23 10 26 1 35 14.8 -1 573 581 -8 241 42.06 3 55.9 2 1.1 188 71.30 11
Erik Jones 26 7 23 27 1 38 18.7 -1 588 602 -14 224 38.10 4 38.3 4 2.1 188 59.20 10
Ty Dillon 33 13 27 28 1 36 19.3 5 584 574 10 218 37.33 3 36.7 2 1.1 188 69.00 11
Alex Bowman 20 12 1 29 1 38 13.6 -9 615 631 -16 298 48.46 5 66.5 13 6.9 188 68.00 14
BJ McLeod 37 35 31 30 12 38 34.3 7 165 164 1 0 0.00 7 0.0 0 0.0 187 31.10 0
Brennan Poole 29 36 32 31 26 38 35.6 -2 88 96 -8 0 0.00 3 0.0 0 0.0 186 29.00 0
Harrison Burton 21 25 29 32 3 38 24.3 -11 520 555 -35 18 3.46 7 6.9 0 0.0 175 43.40 5
Brad Keselowski 5 26 33 33 1 35 16.8 -28 473 490 -17 211 44.61 4 46.3 5 3.1 161 81.10 14
Austin Dillon 14 15 34 34 1 35 19.1 -20 462 458 4 157 33.98 1 36.7 1 0.6 161 73.90 10
Ty Gibbs 22 22 35 35 2 35 22.5 -13 555 564 -9 73 13.15 5 20.7 0 0.0 161 64.10 2
Carson Hocevar 38 34 36 36 3 38 30.5 2 323 329 -6 31 9.60 10 3.7 0 0.0 161 51.30 0
JJ Yeley 27 37 37 37 12 38 34.6 -10 202 221 -19 3 1.49 0 1.1 0 0.0 83 25.70 0
Ross Chastain 32 38 38 38 1 37 33.2 -6 218 199 19 50 22.94 1 9.0 0 0.0 59 31.80 1