“Everyone just kept going up”, Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain found a clear road to victory during the final lap of Gen 7’s maiden trip to Talladega Superspeedway. The watermelon farmer from Alva Florida is your GEICO 500 winner.
A Tamed Beast
The first set of sixty laps was pretty organized. Gen 7 cars took to two files and things turned into a Toyota vs Chevy battle. On one side you had Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch side by side with Daniel Suarez and the older of the Busch brothers, Kurt.
It was the Mexican driver who took the early lead after managing to block the number 18. First pitstops came by lap 36 and the race broke loose after that. To begin with, Cody Ware spun entering pit road. Suarez seemed to have a good pitstops but got stuck down in the middle of the pack with no lane to push him to the front.
Chaos did not strike until the reminder eight laps. Daniel Hemric’s 16 car lost all power with a good 15 cars behind him. He went up the racetrack and collected Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher.
Bubba Wallace won the stage under a caution and proved that the first two segments of racing are nothing but a question of survival.
The Bubba Bump
The second stage saw defending champion Kyle Larson go to the front of the pack followed by Wallace and a great run by Erik Jones. For the most part, the race did not change much. Organized, fast, and with cars that behaved well in the draft thanks to the new diffusers.
That changed on lap 90 as Michael Jordan’s 23 car went a little too far into Joey Logano’s rear and a slide pushed him into the wall. On its way down the Penzoil car found nothing but a bunch of other machines, that had nowhere to go, and slammed right into the yellow Mustang.
Among those wiped out by the crash were Ty Dillon, Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse, and rookie Harrison Burton. When all debris was cleared, there were 24 laps to go.
Hendrick Motorsports took control of almost the entire top five for the final ten laps of the stage as William Byron, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman followed each other like a Swiss train. The entire team worked like a single unit, no late passes or charges, they crossed the finish line one after the other. Byron was the stage two winner.
The Big One and the Watermelon
The start of the final stage saw a battle between Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney. That was until Wallace and the number 12 went past the Interstate Batteries Camry and took the lead for themselves. Early on it seemed like a single-lane race as the drivers on the inside had no place racing with those next on the double yellow line.
There were 50 laps to go and everyone seemed focused on just keeping their cars intact to fight during the last ten laps. Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch made contact out of the pits. Bell spun out but, for the misfortunes of the leaders, which had not pitted yet, there was no yellow flag for it.
When those final laps came around, Larson, Jones, and Ross Chastain were in it to win it. Nonetheless, this was Talladega and anything could happen during the final laps. Furthermore, “The Big One” hadn’t shown up, yet.
The Big One did show up on a wild finish. It was Kyle Larson who tried for a last-lap pass to get ahead of Erik Jones. In doing so he made contact with Kurt Busch and took him out only to leave the win in the hands of Ross Chastain who steered clear of all the chaos to get the win.
Chastain got to crack another watermelon for his second win of the year in a fairytale season.
What’s Next for NASCAR?
NASCAR will make the short trip East to Dover Motor Speedway for the DuraMAX Drydene 400.
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