Talladega Superspeedway

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off the field in overtime to claim the victory in a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – edging Brad Keselowski and William Byron by a mere .006-second in a thrilling three-wide finish.

That heart-stopping finish was indicative of the afternoon of competition at NASCAR’s biggest track (2.66-mile) – which once again lived up to its reputation and provided a thrilling Playoff race that has major implications for the championship contenders. 

A massive 27-car accident with five laps remaining brought out a red flag and stopped the race for nearly 10 minutes. The incident affected eight of the 12 Playoff cars in varying degrees. There is only one more race remaining in this round to settle which eight drivers advance to the next round of championship competition.

Stenhouse, the 36-year-old Mississippi native who is not Playoff-eligible, hoisted his fourth career trophy – all coming at superspeedway tracks – and first in 65 races. His No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet led 19 of the 195 laps, including the all-important last one after a side-to-battle with six-time Talladega winner Keselowski and this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron. 

This marks the third time in the five Playoff races that a non-Playoff driver has hoisted the race trophy.

“Felt really good, we had our Chevy teammates behind us and I was hoping Kyle [Busch] wouldn’t push the six [Keselowski] that hard, I knew the 24 was going to try to get to the line,’’ said Stenhouse, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in 2017.

“Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in and obviously we haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in ’23. It’s been an up and down season, a lot of hard work this season trying to find a little bit of speed but we knew this track is one of ours to come get it.’’

The finish was set-up after the vast incident that took out several front-running cars and affected all but four Playoff drivers. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – who essentially needed a victory to earn an automatic berth in the next Playoff round – was leading the race – having exchanged the top spot multiple time with Stenhouse in the closing 20 laps.

With five laps remaining, Cindric’s leading No. 2 Ford was hit from behind on the backstretch by Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford which triggered an accordion-style accident from three rows behind the leader. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford struck Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford that then pushed Keselowski’s car forward and into Cindric.

The aftermath collected 27 cars in all, completely sidelining Playoff drivers Cindric, who was credited with a 32nd place finish, his Penske teammate Logano (33rd), and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (30th).

“Obviously incredibly frustrated,’’ Cindric said. “Just really proud of my team and the full execution of the day. We got that stage win {second stage) and put ourselves at the front of that green flag pit cycle and had another shot [to win].

“I don’t feel like complaining right now, I’m too pissed off and it won’t do anything. But proud of the team. We’ve brought really fast race cars to every single race of the Playoffs and we’re going to have to bring another one next week and I need to go out and do my job.’’

His Penske teammate Logano, who was similarly frustrated, said there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.

“I don’t think we could have done anything much different,’’ the two-time series champion Logano said. “We had the bottom working fairly well and by the time we got off [turn] two, the push from the 21 [Burton] that transferred to the six (Keselowski) that transferred to the 2 [Cindric] just at a bad angle. And off he went.’’

Other Playoff drivers affected in the accident included, perennial Talladega race favorite Chase Elliott, who finished 29th after pitting for repairs following the accident.

Regular season champion Tyler Reddick was also in the accident and rallied to finish 20th. Alex Bowman, who was involved in two accidents on the day, finished 16th.

Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney ran among the leaders and scored points in both stages but was eliminated from competition mid-race in the day’s first multiple car accident, leaving him 39th of the 40 starters.

On the up-side, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished fourth tying his best ever Talladega finish – only his second top-five at the track in 20 races. Non-Playoff driver Erik Jones was fifth.

Another Playoff competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell was sixth, followed by Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Bell’s fellow Playoff driver and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in 10th.

With Byron’s finish, he becomes the first and only Playoff driver to secure a position in the next eight-race round. Bell is next in the standings, holding a 57-point advantage on the Playoff cutoff line, followed by Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Blaney, Reddick and Elliott.

Elliott is 13 points ahead of Logano going into next week’s road course race at the Charlotte ROVAL – the final race of this Playoff round which will set the next eight-driver round. Daniel Suarez, who rallied to a 26th place finish despite spending most of the race recovering from a pre-race penalty for equipment violations, is now 20 points behind Elliott for that final transfer position.

Cindric and Briscoe are 29 and 32 points back, respectively, essentially needing a victory at Charlotte.

The final race of this Playoff round is next Sunday, the Bank of America ROVAL400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. A.J. Allmendinger is the defending race winner.

Tyler Reddick prevailed in a typically-frantic Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway run to the checkered flag Sunday in the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race, narrowly avoiding a multi-car crash in the closing 400 yards – coming from third place out of Turn 4, to earn the win by a slight 0.208-second when race leader Michael McDowell crashed trying to block competitors approaching the finish line; McDowell’s move slowing the bottom line and allowing Reddick in the high lane to motor through to his first victory of the year and sixth of his career.

So pumped to claim this win, the 28-year old Californian climbed the grandstand fence, pumping his fist to the screaming, adoring crowd while one of his 23XI Racing team owners, NBA legend Michael Jordan celebrated on pit lane, taking Reddick’s young son Beau in his arms and grinning from ear-to-ear. This was the first time Jordan had been at track when his team won a race.

“Man, it’s incredible,’’ said Reddick, who led 13 laps on the afternoon. “Everyone on this 45 Toyota Camry worked really hard today. Didn’t really work out in that third stage for us, but we were able to fight and defend our track position.

“Was that crazy guys?’’ he yelled toward the cheering grandstands. “A lot of chaos. That’s Talladega for you.’’

“I just have to give a lot of credit to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex, it was just us Toyotas left and they pushed me with everything they had. Without Martin and Ty and those pushes we don’t win this race.’’

The final few laps pitted a low line of Fords – the manufacturer trying to earn its first win of 2024 – and a high line led by the Toyotas. McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner anticipated a huge run from the cars behind, but conceded later that he was just a little late making the block.

The contact when he pulled down to Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Brad Keselowski sent McDowell’s car off track. Keselowski was still able to recover and finish second – his second straight runner-up finish this season. Afterward, McDowell apologized to Keselowski for essentially costing the former series champion a win with the move.

“We did a good job keeping those Mustang Dark Horses up front,’’ said McDowell, who led a race best 36 laps. “He [Keselowski] did everything right. He pushed me. I was able to get in front of him the first time but when I came back down I barely wasn’t clear. I’ll have to watch the replay. I hate it. I hate it we didn’t make it to the finish line. We had such a fast mustang today. … just came up short and took a lot of guys out and I apologize.’’

The race ending was in stark contrast to the early portion of the event. For the first time since NASCAR instituted “stage racing” in 2017 there were no caution periods through the opening two stages (other than the scheduled stage breaks).

McDowell won the pole position and as promised all weekend, was set to race strategically not forcing his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford to the front all day but instead when it needed to be there. There was a lot of hope that Ford would secure its first win of the year Sunday and two of the Mustangs – driven by Austin Cindric (Stage 1) and Joey Logano (Stage 2) – swept the stage victories early in the race.

But as is so often the case, a late race restart – with 27 laps remaining – set the tone for the finish with McDowell leading the bottom line and Fords stacked up behind him. Reddick led the high line with Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. behind him. McDowell and Reddick exchanged the lead 10 times in that final 27-lap stretch to the trophy – indicative of a day when there were 23 race leaders and 73 lead changes, including New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen’s first NASCAR Cup Series laps out front on an oval (three laps).

It was an exhaustive and exhilarating afternoon depending on what side of the finishing order you came out on. All the drivers – including several collected in the multi-car race ending crash – confirmed they were okay.

“Well, [team co-owner] Denny [Hamlin] keeps saying I’m bad luck,’’ Jordan said, ”And today we proved him wrong.

“The whole team did a good job,’’ he continued. “I’m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody always tells me when we win we have a good celebration but this is the first time I’ve been here [for a win].

“As you know this is NBA playoffs right now and to me, this is like an NBA playoff game, I am so ecstatic for the fans who support the sport itself. You know we’ve been working hard trying to get ourselves to compete against all the top guys in this sport. And we’ve done a heckuva job just to be where we are and for us to win and win a big race like this it means so much to me and effort the team has put in.

“I’m all in. It replaces a lot of competitiveness I had in basketball, but this is even worse because I have no control. If I was playing basketball, I’d have total control, but I have no control and live vicariously through the drivers and crew chiefs. I’m very happy for 23 eleven – 110 percent.’’

Hamlin, who finished 37th after being collected in a crash, smiled upon hearing Jordan’s elation and Beau Reddicks’ cool celebration with the legend.

“Beau has no idea of the significance of that moment,” Hamlin said.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Noah Gragson finished a career best third, followed by JTG Daugherty’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman.

Anthony Alfredo, who led four laps, finished a career best sixth place for Beard Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was seventh, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland, Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley and the Wood Brothers’ Harrison Burton.

Despite a 20th place finish Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings by 16 points over Truex, who was 11th Sunday.

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 25^th.

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 15^th, remains fourth in the championship standings. Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Chris Buescher, who finished 20^th at Talladega, is ranked fifth. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, who finished 16^th Sunday, holds a 17-point edge on the eight-driver cut-off line tied with regular season champion Martin Truex Jr., who finished 19^th 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 17^th, 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 10^th place, nine points back. 

Chastain is tied in points with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, a former Talladega race winner who finished a frustrating 24^th 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 26^th 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.’’

Kyle Busch is a Las Vegas native after all, so he was "all in” to stay on track instead of pitting for fuel during a pair of overtimes restarts in the GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway Sunday afternoon. And he ended up, the big winner.

Busch's No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet had just enough gas to make it back to the checkered flag as a half dozen other lead pack cars around him were collected in a multi-car accident while maneuvering forward to challenge for the lead on the final overtime lap.

"We got to gamble," Busch, 37, said he told his crew while contemplating whether to pit for fuel or stay in the lead pack for the final overtime restart – noting afterward he probably wouldn't have been willing to be so daring if he hadn't already earned a victory this season at California's Auto Club Speedway. He didn't even do a celebratory burnout after the race, convinced his Chevrolet didn't have enough fuel at that point.

Busch and 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace exchanged the lead during the final two laps of the race but Wallace's No. 23 Toyota was tagged by Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford as those two vied for the lead just after the white flag flew, signaling one lap to go.

Wallace's Toyota turned sideways, hit the wall and triggered a chain-reaction accident that eliminated several other of the frontrunning cars while the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch was able to continue forward and take his second win of the season and 62nd of this career. It's Busch's second career win at Talladega – the first coming 15 years (and 55 wins) ago.

"Sometimes you've got to be lucky, you know," said a smiling Busch, who led only three laps in securing the RCR team its 13th Talladega victory. "Sometimes these races come down to that and you've got to take them when they come your way.

"The seas kind of parted there when they [Blaney and Wallace] went up the race track there. They were trying to push-draft and these cars are just not stable enough to do that. I saw the 23 (Bubba Wallace) turn a little bit sideways, and I was like, ‘just get out of the way.' "

Blaney, who led a race best 47 of the 196 laps, looked poised to snap a 55-race winless streak at Talladega before the last lap incident. He was still able to continue after the contact with Wallace, but finished runner-up despite leading the most laps on the afternoon.

"It's just you get big runs and you take them when you can," Blaney said, noting of the contact with Wallace, "I'm glad everyone's okay, but in my mind you can't make a triple move like that, a triple block. You can't block three times, I don't know, the runs are so big and as the leader Bubba's (Wallace) trying to block, which is the right thing to do. But I think he kinda moved three times. I got to go somewhere. I hate for cars to get torn up and I hate for us to be so close to the win.

"I'm not blaming anybody. It's just hard racing at the end of this thing and unfortunate that cars got torn up and we missed out on another win."

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver Chris Buescher finished third, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe and RFK owner-driver Brad Keslowski, who leads all current competitors with six career Talladega wins.

Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez and Front Row Motorsports' Todd Gilliland rounded out of the top 10.

It was by all accounts, the typical, hard-nosed, tight-quarter racing fans and drivers have come to expect at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday's race featured 57 lead changes – the most at Talladega since 2011 (72 lead changes).

It was a markedly different top of the final leaderboard based on the afternoon's efforts. SHR drivers Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick each led 11 laps and ran among the front pack for most of the day, but were collected in a multi-car accident on the first overtime period. They finished 20th and 21st, respectively.

Wallace, whose 35 laps out front in his No. 23 Toyota finished 28th after the last lap accident.

Also noteworthy, Chase Elliott finished 12th and led seven laps – the first laps he's led since returning to competition last week after missing six races recovering from a broken leg. Pole winner Denny Hamlin led seven laps on the day and finished 15th.

Ironically the race's earlier mishaps didn't happen from aggressive action on the race track but instead in slower miscues on pit road. Tyler Reddick spun his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota getting on pit road making his first stop of the race and only six laps later Briscoe spun his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford on pit road bringing out a yellow flag – only to recover and take that top five finish.

Wallace, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series win here at Talladega in 2021, led the most laps (23) in Stage 1. But it was Hendrick Motorsports' Elliott who ultimately drove forward to claim his first stage win of the season leading the final 11 laps.

There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers in Stage 2 – with Almirola moving out front in the final feet to the finish line get around Elliott and claim that stage win.

As for the two victories in the opening 10 races of Busch's tenure with Childress, the NASCAR Hall of Fame owner grinned.

"I think he's helping us build RCR back up to where we want it to be," Childress said, glancing with a smile at bottle of race-winning champagne he brought to the winner's press conference.

Always the unquestionable fan favorite at NASCAR's famed Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Georgia-native Chase Elliott made a last-lap pass to claim the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 victory Sunday afternoon - having to better one of his best friends, Ryan Blaney, to earn the first automatic bid into the next round of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

With a lap to go, Elliott pulled his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the bottom lane to the top lane and got a huge push from behind by Petty GMS Racing driver Erik Jones - the momentum enough to edge fellow Playoff competitor Blaney by a slight .046-second at the line and give him a chance to hoist his series-best fifth trophy of the season; 18th of his seven-year NASCAR Cup Series career.

"Moments like that, you have to really cherish and you guys are what makes this special to me," Elliott, 26, told the cheering fans. "So, thank you sincerely, I really appreciate it."

"It was a wild last couple laps. I wasn't super crazy about being on the bottom and fortunately I got just clear enough off of [Turn] 2 to slide up in front of Erik [Jones] and he gave me some great shoves, obviously a Team Chevy partner there. Just had a good enough run to get out front and then was able to stay far enough in front of Ryan [Blaney] at the line to get it done.

"These things are so so hard to win, you gotta enjoy them and just appreciate everyone's effort today."

Former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell was third, followed by two more Playoff drivers, Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin.

Chastain and Stewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola led the most laps on the day - each out front 36 laps - in an afternoon that featured the most lead changes of the season (57) set by 17 different drivers.

Although it was a typically dramatic superspeedway ending, the action was tame by Talladega standards. Only one of the six caution periods was for a multi-car accident. Two were scheduled "stage breaks" and the other two for single car incidents. The final caution -which set up the two-lap shootout ending - came for Daniel Hemric's stalled car on pit road.

That bunched up the field again and ultimately positioned Elliott (who restarted on the inside of the third row) to make his run forward. Blaney, who led 31 laps in the No. 12 Penske Racing Ford , had been trading the lead with Jones in the laps immediately before that final caution flag.

"I thought about it," Blaney said, of making a different move for the lead. "The second lane was kind of the strongest, definitely the second half of the race. And I thought about (throwing a block on Elliott) but when you go to the middle without a Ford or teammate behind you, the chances of getting split are so high.

"As much as I trust Chase, I don't trust him enough for him not to take me three-wide and leave me in the middle so I chose to stay down in front of (fellow Ford driver) Michael (McDowell). He was awesome at pushing me on the last restart and giving me great shots. Just a little bit too late.

"Maybe I could have faked the top and gone to the bottom there on the front stretch, but I don't know if I could have gotten there anyway, but overall, not a bad day. Just probably going to replay in my head five different things I could have done different."

It was a big boost for Elliott, who had a rough outing last week in the opening race of this Playoff round in Texas. Elliott crashed out and finished 32nd and came into Talladega ranked eighth - after earning the regular season championship and leading the standings for a season-best 23 weeks prior to Sunday.

The opening four 2022 Playoff races have been won by non-Playoff drivers - an unprecedented occurrence. So Elliott's advancement to the next round is the first "automatic" move by a Playoff-eligible driver.

Beyond Elliott, Blaney now leads the points standings - 32 points ahead of Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Austin Cindric in ninth place with the top eight drivers advancing to the Round of 8 next Playoff round.

Chastain is ranked third, followed by Hamlin and Penske Racing's Joey Logano, who finished 27th on Sunday. Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Hendrick Motorsports' driver Kyle Larson - who finished 18th at Talladega - is ranked sixth in the standings, followed by Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez and Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe in that final eighth place position.

Cindric is tied with Briscoe in points. William Byron (-11), Christopher Bell (-33) and Alex Bowman (-54) complete the current Playoff 12.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver Bowman did not race this week as he is recovering from concussion-like symptoms after an accident in Texas last week. Team owner Rick Hendrick said Bowman would be re-examined by doctors this week in hopes of getting clearance to return to competition.

The next race, the Bank of America ROVAL 400, is Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) - the final road course event of the season. Larson is the defending race winner. Blaney won the inaugural race at the Charlotte ROVAL and Elliott is a two-time winner there as well (2019 and 2020).

One lap. That’s all it took for Ross Chastain to drop a watermelon and raise a trophy in celebration. The 29-year old Floridian led only the last - typically frantic - lap in the GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Sunday to take his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Chastain was running third behind Erik Jones and Kyle Larson with one lap remaining. Larson pulled out of line to the outside poised to make a pass for the lead. But, Jones pulled in front of Larson to block the momentum while Chastain kept his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet steady below them maintaining pace ultimately pulling away to the win as the other two cars lost momentum battling each other.

“Holy cow, we didn’t do anything,’’ Chastain yelled on his team radio after taking the checkered flag by a mere .105-second. “We just stayed down there.’’

And it worked.

“I’m always the one going to the top too early and making the mistake and there at the end, with like eight to go I was like “I’m not going up there again, I did that a couple times today,’ said Chastain, who earned his first career series victory at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas on March 27.

“I was like, I’ll just drive the bottom, I’m not going to lose the race for us. They just kept going up and moving out of the way.”

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon crossed the line in second, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch while the Hendrick Motorsports driver Larson was able to finish fourth for his first top-5 finish in a restrictor plate race in 31 tries.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was fifth followed by Jones, who came less than one lap away from giving GMS Petty Motorsports and team owner Richard Petty its first win since 2014.

“Just the last lap, it’s typical here,’’ said a disappointed Jones, who finished sixth. “I’ve been close here so many times in this race and the fall race.’’

“Looking back,’’ he continued. “I wish I’d stayed in the bottom but didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed. Tried to defend the 5 (Larson), but was too far ahead already and obviously it opened the door for the 1 (Chastain).

He did take solace in the showing, however.

“Happy to run up front and lead laps, just would really love to get that 43 to victory lane and thought today might be the day,’’ Jones said. “We were fast all day long, had speed and especially being out front there at the end I know we had a shot, just couldn’t quite close it out.’’

Larson was equally as disappointed hoping to turn his best race performance at Talladega into a trophy.

“I felt like I did a pretty near perfect job for me at a superspeedway until the last lap there,’’ said Larson, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion. “I should have faked going high and gone back low. I had that run there.’

“Just that little inexperience there, probably,’’ he added.

Larson’s Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott, a former Talladega winner, finished seventh, followed by former DAYTONA 500 winner Michael McDowell, Hendrick’s Alex Bowman and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

The race ending capped off a typically dramatic day featuring 41 lead changes among 16 drivers. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron led a race best 38 of the 188 laps and won Stage 2, but finished 15th unable to make up ground after his final pit stop in the dicey closing laps.

Bubba Wallace, who won last fall at Talladega and led 15 laps on Sunday, won Stage 1 – his first stage win of the season – but as with Byron, lost positions in the final laps. He was involved in a wreck coming to the checkered flag and finished 17th in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota.

Elliott’s top-10 was good enough for him to extend the championship lead over 11th place finisher, Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney. He’s now 21 points up on the field heading to Dover (Del.) International Speedway next weekend where the NASCAR Cup Series will race Sunday in the DuraMAX Drydene 400 presented by ReLaDyne (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bowman is the defending race winner.

An opportune caution and a sudden rain shower helped make Bubba Wallace the second African-American driver ever to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Wallace held the lead in Monday's rain-delayed YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway when Ryan Preece turned into the outside wall off the bumper of Chris Buescher's Ford to cause the fifth caution of the event.

As the cars circled under the yellow, rain drenched the 2.66-mile race track. NASCAR brought the cars to pit road on Lap 118 of a scheduled 188. After another shower thwarted track-drying attempts, NASCAR called the race and declared Wallace the winner.

Wallace is the first black driver to win a race in NASCAR's premier series since Wendell Scott took the checkered flag at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963.

It was the first victory for 23XI Racing, a team that debuted this year with driver Denny Hamlin and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan as co-owners. Drivers outside the respective Playoffs won all three Talladega races in NASCAR's top three divisions this week. All were first-time winners.

Wallace's victory came at the same track where the sport came together to support him after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and after a noose—later found not to be directed at Wallace—was discovered in his garage stall.

"Man, I'm just so proud of everyone at 23XI," Wallace said. "New team coming in and getting a win late in the season. I know a lot of history was made today, I believe, which is really cool, but it's about our guys, about our team, about what was done.

"I appreciate Michael Jordan, I appreciate Denny for believing in me and giving me the opportunity… It's pretty fitting that it comes here at Talladega."

Wallace was choked up when asked about the historic significance of his achievement.

"I never think about those things, and when you say it like that, it obviously brings a lot of emotions, a lot of joy to my family, fans, friends… You've got to stay true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you and stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry.

"There've been plenty of times when I wanted to give up. You surround yourself with the right people, and moments like this that you appreciate."

Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano improved their chances of transferring into the Round of 8 in the Playoff with second- and third-place finishes. Kurt Busch was fourth, followed by Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.

The wreck that ultimately made a winner of Wallace severely damaged the Playoff hopes of William Byron, whose Chevrolet was collected by the spinning car of Preece. Byron was relegated to 36th in the finishing order and likely will need a victory in Sunday's Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte to advance to the Round of 8.

"He (Preece) was just coming down the track, and I was kind of trying to run a third lane," Byron said of the wreck. "Just part of Talladega. We'll go to the Roval, try to win that one and advance that way."

Byron was the last of three Hendrick Motorsports drivers to get swept up in an accident. Kyle Larson was the first. By the time the first sudden rain shower of the day darkened the asphalt in Turns 1 and 2 and forced a stoppage on Lap 74, Larson's fortunes already had taken a turn for the worse.

A strong push from Byron's Chevrolet turned Justin Allgaier's Camaro sideways as the cars thundered through the tri-oval on Lap 56. Allgaier shot up the track into Larson's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, severely damaging the front suspension and the sheet metal on the driver's side of the car.

Larson was able to make minimum speed after a restart on Lap 65. The caution for the five-car wreck that crippled Larson's car also encompassed the end of Stage 1, won by non-Playoff driver Chris Buescher.

On Lap 67, Larson shredded his right front tire, which was cocked at an angle toward the outside wall when he resumed racing. He lost three laps on pit road and fell to 39th in the running order as his crew made frantic repairs.

Attrition elevated Larson to 37th at the finish, but he lost the security he had as a six-time winner in the series this year. The regular-season champion leaves Talladega second in the standings but just 22 points above the current cutoff for the Round of 8.

A multicar chain-reaction wreck after the resumption of the action brought an early end to Alex Bowman's afternoon. On Lap 98, Chase Elliott pushed the Chevrolet of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the rear bumper of Bowman's Chevy, turning the No. 48 Camaro into the outside wall and out of the race.

"The 9 (Elliott) just shoved me one last time there, and it got the 48 loose," Stenhouse radioed to his team.

Bowman was fighting for the race lead when he was turned by the contact from Stenhouse's car.

"Yeah, just dumped over on the left rear and turned us around really bad," Bowman said. "Bummer for the Ally 48 team. We had a fast car; we were leading there. That's just superspeedway racing and the box that we're put in by these racetracks. You'll have that. Bummed to have torn up race car, but we'll move on and try to go win the Roval."

Kyle Busch was another victim of the Lap 98 wreck, but the two-time Cup champion remains nine points above the current cut line—tied with defending champion Chase Elliott—heading to the Round of 12 elimination race on Sunday at the Charlotte Roval.

Harvick is nine points below the cutoff, with Bell 28 points in arrears and Byron and Bowman 44 and 52 points on the outside, respectively.

Despite sustaining damage in an early wreck, and despite leading only one lap in Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski nailed down an opportunistic overtime victory in the 10th event of the NASCAR Cup Series season.

Surging to the front on the final lap, after fellow Ford driver Matt DiBenedetto abandoned the bottom lane and gave Keselowski a clear run to the front, Keselowski claimed his first victory of the season, the 35th of his career and his sixth at Talladega, tying Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for second-most all-time at the 2.66-mile track.

As the ninth different winner this season, Keselowski joined Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney on the 2021 victory list.

Keselowski said he thought "Merry Christmas!" to himself when the bottom lane opened up on the final lap.

"The whole race, I had a couple of opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, just keep your car in one piece till the end.' 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.

"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 (before pitting on Lap 173 of a scheduled 188), ‘I want to come in and put four tires on this thing,' and he said, ‘Yep, go ahead.' And that really helped a bunch at the end."

William Byron ran second, extending his streak of top-10 finishes to eight races. Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and DiBenedetto. Kaz Grala, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Cole Custer completed the top 10.

DiBenedetto held the lead at the white flag in overtime, which took the race three laps beyond its posted distance. But the driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford moved up the track - uncovering Keselowski behind him — to block a run by Blaney. Keselowski used a strong push from McDowell to charge to the lead.

"Our day will come," DiBenedetto said ruefully of the lost opportunity. "We'll get there… It's just so circumstantial—our day will come."

Joey Logano had a much shorter day on track than his winning Team Penske teammate. As the lead pack of cars approached the green/checkered flag to end the first 60-lap stage of the race, an aggressive push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. forced Denny Hamlin out of line. In the process, Hamlin hooked the left rear of Logano's car, which got airborne off the bumper of Stenhouse's Chevrolet, turned upside-down, landing on its roof and barrel-rolled before righting itself. Keselowski's car also sustained minor damage in the incident.

When Logano's car bounced on its roof, his head hit the roll bar.

"It's nobody's fault," Logano said after a mandatory visit to the infield care center. "Denny is trying to go and the 47 (Stenhouse) is trying to go. It's a product of this racing. We have to fix it, though… At the same time, I'm appreciative of driving a car that is this safe and what Team Penske has done for the safety of these cars so that I can live to talk about it and go again.

"I got lucky that I didn't get hit while I was in the air."

The end of the second stage also produced fireworks, and once again, Hamlin was at the center of the maelstrom. As the top lane accordioned behind Keselowski, who was running second at the time, Martin Truex Jr. tapped Hamlin from behind, turning the No. 11 Toyota into the wall.

Truex then spun sideways, sustaining damage. Behind him, Byron steered down the track to the avoid the wreck and collected Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott in a chain-reaction collision. Bowman couldn't get his car repaired in the requisite six minutes and fell out of the race in 38th place.

Series points leader Hamlin, who led a race-high 43 laps, finished 32nd, three laps down.

Elliott, the reigning series champion, was able to continue and finished 24th. Harrison Burton came home 20th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut.