By: Phillip Prichard, MSA / Photos: MSA Staff
Talladega is a track known for expecting the unexpected. The Camping World 500 lived up to this expectation. In front of 100,000+ fans, in perhaps the most important restart of the season, Logano crossed the start/finish line as the green flag fell on Lap 196, 8 laps past the advertised distance. Almost immediately afterward, a multi-car wreck occurred, prompting NASCAR to throw a caution flag that immediately froze the field and ended the race. Joey Logano was declared the winner of the race, just a few feet ahead of Dale. Jr. The win gave Logano a full sweep of the Contender Round of the Chase by winning all three races – Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega. This was Logano’s 6th win of the season and the 14th win of his Sprint cup career.
There was one GWC attempt to restart the race after a late caution on Lap 184 when Jamie McMurray’s engine expired. However, the field failed to reach the start/finish line prior to yet another caution resulting from contact between Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson. NASCAR ruled it was not an official GWC attempt and that the race had not resumed. That prompted another GWC, which followed almost immediately by a race-ending caution that involved at least a dozen cars, the only big wreck of the race.
The multicar crash appeared to start when Kevin Harvick, whose No. 4 Chevrolet seemed to be struggling with engine problems, hit the No. 6 Ford of Trevor Bayne. Several drivers accused Harvick of intentionally wrecking Bayne.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a race-high 61 laps and finished second, but his valiant effort did not move him into the third round of the Chase. It seemed to be a day when Team 88 beat themselves. On three occasions, Dale Jr. locked up the front tires coming into the pits causes a tire change in each incident. On another pit stop, the front tire changer crossed the wall too early, resulting in the 88 receiving a pass thorough penalty. Jr. Nation expressed their displeasure with finish at the track, on Facebook and Twitter.
The race went caution free for the first 131 laps, the longest green flag stretch to start a race this season. There were 30 lead changes among 18 drivers and 3 cautions for 18 yellow flag laps. The average speed was 167.311mph.
The third through tenth finishers were: #24-Gordon, #2-Keselowski, #19-Edwards, #27-Menard, #78-Truex, Jr, #15-Bowyer, #17-Stenhouse, Jr., and #41-Busch.
#11-Hamlin, #31-Newman, #88-Earnhardt, Jr., and #20-Kenseth were eliminated from the Chase.
Racers who had a bad day were: Denny Hamlin was hampered by a loose exit hatch above him, causing him to fall two laps off the pace and to be eliminated from the Chase. Jamie McMurray was running strong until his engine expired on Lap 184. Ryan Blaney and Justin Allgaier both suffered early exits due to engine problems. Matt Kenseth finished 26th, being involved in the last-lap multi-car wreck, eliminating him from the Chase.
The next Sprint Cup race at Talladega Super Speedway will be the GEICO 500 on May 1, 2016. Talladega is most known for its steep banking (33 degrees) and the unique location of the start/finish line – located just past the exit to pit road. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval track with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4 km) tri-oval. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Check out www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/ for more info.
