Chase Elliott breaks Chevrolet drought with Talladega victory

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Chase Elliott seized the lead in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway during a four-lap shootout to the finish and took the checkered flag under caution after Kyle Larson barrel-rolled behind him. 

Elliott’s victory broke a Chevrolet drought in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series dating to last October at Kansas Speedway and broke a seven-race Ford stranglehold on the 2.66-mile track.

The first driver not from Team Penske or Joe Gibbs racing to win this season, Elliott crossed the stripe ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who scored his career-best finish but regretted he didn’t have the chance to make a move on Elliott on the last lap.

On a day when Chevrolet drivers faithfully executed a game plan to work together, Elliott scored his first win at Talladega and the fourth of his career. Elliott had taken the checkered flag in three of Chevrolet’s four 2018 wins, including the triumph at Kansas.

“What a day!” Elliott said. “A huge thanks to all my partners, my team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet—there was a lot of teamwork done today.

“We just had a plan, and we executed really well. Obviously, it could have gone either way, but fortunately everybody stayed together and stayed the course and we got a little help on the last lap with the caution.

“I appreciate all the support, man. This is special. This is close to home for me and sort of feels like a home race.”

Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Ryan Preece and Daniel Hemric ran third and fifth, respectively, as Chevrolets claimed four of the top five positions. Joey Logano was fourth in his Team Penske Ford. 

Kyle Busch was 10^th in the top-finishing Toyota, extending his streak of top 10s to start the season to 10 races.

After taking the white flag, Elliott held the lead over Bowman, when David Ragan over-corrected on the backstretch and turned William Byron’s Chevrolet across traffic. After contact from Byron’s car, Larson slid toward the inside wall beside Jeffrey Earnhardt’s Toyota, got airborne and began rolling. NASCAR called the sixth caution of the afternoon, and a half-lap later, Elliott crossed the finish line to seal the win.

“It was a really crazy day, well-executed day on the Chevrolet teams’ behalf,” Elliott said. “Proud of that effort. That last lap was going to get wild. I don’t know exactly what Alex had up the sleeve. I know he was coming with something.

“We’ll take it.  Unbelievable feeling. The crowd was intense. We’re proud to get it done for them.”

Bowman confessed to mixed feelings after his runner-up finish.

“I’m not just going to let him win, right?” Bowman asked rhetorically. “I’ve got to try. I knew I could get to his quarter panel. I was pretty confident I could get to his quarter panel through the tri-oval. Who knows who is going to get to the line first? At that point, I thought I could do it. Depends on the car behind you, where he goes.

“It would have been fun to try, but happy for Chase, Nationwide (Bowman’s sponsor), everybody that lets us keep doing this thing. I’m glad to kind of turn the season around. It’s been a rough start to the year. These guys deserve way better than the finishes they’ve had. To come home second, it’s not a win, but headed in the right direction.”

Logano had control of the race on Lap 182 of 188, when contact between the cars of Aric Almirola and Chris Buescher sent Buescher’s Chevrolet spinning on the backstretch. Matt DiBenedetto couldn’t avoid Buescher’s Chevy and lifted it off the pavement with enough force to rip the hood off DiBenedetto’s Toyota.

The cars of Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley were also damaged in the wreck. Haley was unable to continue and retired from his Cup debut in 32^nd place. Elliott, who led a race-high 44 laps, grabbed the lead from Logano after the restart on Lap 185.

The race just 10 laps old when a crash in Turn 1 eliminated a handful of cars expected to contend for the victory. Fighting for the second position, Bubba Wallace had a strong run on close friend Ryan Blaney, and the nose of Wallace’s Chevrolet rubbed across the rear bumper of Blaney’s Ford, getting both cars out of shape.

As Blaney righted his car and moved forward, Wallace steered his Chevy toward the apron and lost control, spinning across traffic near the front of the pack. Clint Bowyer’s Ford slid up the track into the Mustang of Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick, knocking Harvick’s car into the outside wall.

After futile attempts to repair the cars, Wallace and Harvick retired from the race, along with Michael McDowell and Matt Tifft. Denny Hamlin also sustained damage in the wreck and soon was three laps down and out of contention. After hitting the wall on Lap 83, Hamlin took his car to the garage.

“The No. 22 (Joey Logano) pulled up and he checked up a little bit,” Wallace said of the crash. “I went to go to the bottom, where I was safe. I don’t know if I crossed (Blaney’s) bumper or whatever. But it got him wiggled down and shoved me even farther down than I wanted to go.

“So I went back up just to stay off the apron and it just unloaded. It’s just unfortunate, but I tried not to wreck my buddy, Ryan, and it cost our day and some others’.” 

During the Lap 11 accident, debris from McDowell’s car slammed into the nose of Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet, and on Lap 25, the No. 48 Camaro of the seven-time champion clobbered the Turn 3 wall. Though Johnson got to pit road without causing a caution, his race was effectively over.  

Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Brendan Gaughan, Almirola and Kyle Busch completed the top 10.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – 50th Annual GEICO 500

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega, Alabama

Sunday, April 28, 2019

               1. (11)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 188.

               2. (9)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 188.

               3. (30)  Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 188.

               4. (8)  Joey Logano, Ford, 188.

               5. (5)  Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 188.

               6. (14)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 188.

               7. (24)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 188.

               8. (29)  Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 188.

               9. (2)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 188.

               10. (22)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 188.

               11. (36)  Corey LaJoie, Ford, 188.

               12. (16)  Daniel Suarez, Ford, 188.

               13. (4)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 188.

               14. (1)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 188.

               15. (7)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 188.

               16. (17)  Paul Menard, Ford, 188.

               17. (13)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 188.

               18. (37)  Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 188.

               19. (27)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 188.

               20. (20)  Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 188.

               21. (25)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 188.

               22. (33)  Jeffrey Earnhardt(i), Toyota, Accident, 187.

               23. (15)  David Ragan, Ford, Accident, 187.

               24. (10)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 187.

               25. (6)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, Accident, 187.

               26. (34)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 187.

               27. (35)  Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, 186.

               28. (40)  Cody Ware(i), Ford, 184.

               29. (3)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 182.

               30. (31)  Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 181.

               31. (26)  Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, Accident, 181.

               32. (38)  Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 180.

               33. (21)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 178.

               34. (32)  Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 154.

               35. (39)  Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, Suspension, 132.

               36. (23)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 80.

               37. (18)  Matt Tifft #, Ford, Accident, 11.

               38. (19)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, Accident, 11.

               39. (28)  Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, Accident, 10.

               40. (12)  Michael McDowell, Ford, Accident, 10.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  161.331 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags:  6 for 21 laps.

Lead Changes:  38 among 16 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Dillon 0;B. Keselowski 1-7;J. Logano 8;R. Blaney 9;J. Logano 10-13;*. Gaughan(i) 14;J. Logano 15-16;A. Almirola 17-30;J. Logano 31-32;A. Almirola 33;K. Larson 34;A. Almirola 35-46;M. Truex Jr 47-49;T. Dillon 50-56;C. Elliott 57-60;A. Bowman 61-67;B. Keselowski 68-70;J. Logano 71-73;R. Blaney 74-75;K. Busch 76;R. Blaney 77;R. Stenhouse Jr 78-90;K. Busch 91-92;R. Stenhouse Jr 93;C. Elliott 94-112;*. Gaughan(i) 113-114;C. Elliott 115-132;*. Gaughan(i) 133-134;E. Jones 135-138;J. Logano 139-143;M. Truex Jr 144-151;J. Logano 152-154;M. DiBenedetto 155;R. Chastain(i) 156-164;R. Stenhouse Jr 165-166;J. Logano 167-173;K. Busch 174;J. Logano 175-184;C. Elliott 185-188.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Elliott 4 times for 45 laps; Joey Logano 9 times for 37 laps; Aric Almirola 3 times for 27 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr 3 times for 16 laps; Martin Truex Jr 2 times for 11 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 10 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 1 time for 9 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 7 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 7 laps; * Brendan Gaughan(i) 3 times for 5 laps; Ryan Blaney 3 times for 4 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 4 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 4 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 1 lap; Matt DiBenedetto 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 13,88,3,9,41,6,24,17,18,95

Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,88,24,12,3,1,42,8,22,18