By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
The Jack’s Link 500 is always a wildcard and last year’s winner (Austin Cindric) is no guarantee to be anywhere near the lead. With the wrecks, fuel mileage and splitting the stages, it’s wide open. Heck, Chad Finchum could be leading. Finchum started this race last and leads by lap ten. With no qualifying due to inclement weather, Tyler Reddick takes the pole.
Time for Reddick to lead us to the green flag.
First Stage (Laps 1-98)
Reddick’s run leading the race evaporates as seven drivers lead in the first 18 laps with Finchum leading eight of them. Toyota’s continue to take spots 1-4 with Hamlin in the lead. The field has mostly gotten single file as the majority of the field gets closer to running near full throttle. Toyota drivers start the pit cycle on lap 40 with Hamlin leading the charge and he is busted for speeding. Ryan Preece is your new leader and the top six on lap 44 are Ford drivers. Chevy Racing drivers pit on lap 45. Ford’s complete the pit cycle on lap 47. Pole sitter Reddick is once again the leader. He pits and Ty Gibbs is in front on lap 63 with McDowell-Austin Dillon 2-3.
Hamlin is trying to keep from getting lapped and leader Gibbs pits on lap 67 and Dillon is your leader. With no cautions occuring in S1, green flag stops rule. Bell takes over and becomes the 9th different leader. The Fords are attempting to run the Stage with only one green-flag stop. Drivers are running single file throughout the field. The leaderboard on lap 90 has Preece-Buescher-Logano-Keselowski, and Blaney 1-5 and all are Ford’s. Preece wins S1 and Ford takes the top seven spots. There is no caution in the Stage and there are 18 lead changes among nine drivers.
Second Stage (99-154)
Six dead laps (98-104)
Drivers cycle through the pits and Ross Chastain leads the field to green with Bubba Wallace, and Cole Custer 2-3. Logano takes the lead with Chastain in tow. Wallace joins the party. Not for long. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain shuffle Joey Logano back to seventh in the trioval as the field stacks up four wide. Then, the turn three big one.
A major multi-car crash erupts as Bubba Wallace gets bumped in front of the field and spins on the backstretch. The incident involves numerous drivers including Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, William Byron, Jesse Love, Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Joey Gase, Tyler Reddick, Cody Ware, Ty Gibbs, Chad Finchum, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Connor Zilisch, and Shane Van Gisbergen. Twenty-five machines are involved and 20 cars are on the lead lap.
Seven dead laps are run, and Bell leads the field on the lap 121 restart. Lap 124 brings another wreck with Gibbs cutting a tire and he collects Michael McDowell. The race restarts on lap 129. Chastain and Bell trade the lead and Chastain wins S2.
Final Stage (143 to finish)
Chris Buescher leads the field to green on lap 150. Carson Hocevar goes side-by-side with Buescher. They trade the lead down the stretch. A debris for caution when Reddick hit the turn one wall did not send the leaders to the pits. The green flag has Buescher and Hocevar SxS. Alex Bowman, and Erik Jones are 3-4. Buescher goes out front with 19 to go. Machines are 2×2 throughout the field. Thirty-two cars are running with 21 are on the lead lap. The #17 and #77 are trading the lead by inches every lap. Jones slides into the infield and a caution is called after several frantic seconds. Stenhouse Jr. got to Hocevar and Hocevar triggered Jones, ending the day of the #43.
Hocevar and Buescher once again are SxS with three to go. Chevy’s are pushing Hocevar to a fender lead. Buescher by a 1/4 lead on the final lap. A wreck behind the leader, Hocevar gives him his first career victory.
Checkered Flag
Carson Hocevar’s first career victory was a side-by-side effort with Buescher making the first move, but the 77 had the bottom line. Hocevar had a push by Bowman, and Buescher lost his push. Hocevar produced his 4th top ten of the season and third top five, including his win.
Carson, since you’ve come to the Cup Series, you’ve done things your own way. Going to start with this victory celebration. Kind of your own way right here.
CARSON HOCEVAR: “Yeah, I feel like every time I’ve ever see the crowd, really got to hear ’em, I’ve had this thought up for a while. I’ve messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. I don’t care if it took 20 minutes or whatever, I was going to figure it out how to do it. It took me a while.
I’m so thankful. This is the biggest dream I’ve ever thought of. Thank you, everybody. I couldn’t have done it in any better way.
Hopefully my grandpa’s watching. My grandma died last year, so I’m so thankful that I can give my grandpa a trophy now. Wish my parents were here. All thanks to Jeff Dickerson. Heat waves. Everybody is here. Unbelievable. I’m just so thankful, thank you.”
They Said It…
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Xfinity Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing – Finishing Position: 34th
Can you take us through what happened?
“Got wrecked there, unfortunately. Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars. Got to debrief, got to be better. Just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage – nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate, it is a place we come to with a lot of confidence, and it is what it is. We will put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “They just started wrecking above me. You’re kind of seeing it happen and hope they stay up there and you’re able to get by it. The wreck started moving down the hill and there we were. It’s just unfortunate. That’s Talladega. You start pushing and shoving. We got to the point where we could start racing and not have to save fuel and we’ve proven with this car we can’t race each other without wrecking. We got maybe 10 or 12 laps of racing in before we wrecked. That’s about as far as I think we’ve ever gone.”
HOW DID YOU LIKE THE STRATEGY ELEMENT THAT GOT YOU TO THE FRONT IN STAGE 1? “I enjoyed it. I mean, it’s a crew chief’s game at that point and you’re just trying to do what they tell you to do. It was interesting, I think. I don’t know what it was from the fan’s perspective, but from inside the car it was interesting seeing how it all played out. The team did a good job getting our Mustang able to get some stage points there, which that’s the only positive of today. We probably got seven points on the day or whatever that is gonna be, so it’s not real good.”
Tale of the Tape
Seven cautions for 29 laps produced 51 lead changes. Twenty drivers were on the lead lap.
Fantasy Team
My ‘B’ team is running this week except William Byron. I took Austin Dillon out and put Logano in. It did not matter. The big one took out Byron, Wallace, Logano, and Keselowski. Gilliland and Cindric were left and the team takes a tumble. Bet you a lot of managers would like a mulligan.
Roy J. Akers covers NASCAR for High Banked Fury and www.skyviewsports.net
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