By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Chase Briscoe is one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR and his pole win make him one of the favorites for the YellaWood 500. Seven drivers are within 54 points of Kyle Larson and Briscoe halved his 110 point deficit as Larson leads Christopher Bell by only five points. With Larson and Hamlin not elite drafting track artists, we may very well have a big shakeup going into Martinsville and Larson fighting to earn his third NASCAR driver championship. NASCAR has flipped the stage with S1 being 98 of 188 laps.
Stage 1 (Laps1-98)
Briscoe leads the field to the green flag but does not even lead a lap as Austin Hill takes it away. It is the theme of the stage as drivers treat P1 as a hot potato. Surprise leaders are always a mainstay with Cody Ware leading nine laps and Ryan Preece also running in P1. With the shorter spoiler making more machines unstable, Ryan Blaney said it plays into the hands of the veteran drivers. Bell scrapes the wall and has light damage with the exception of a tire rub. But check this out. The three RFK cars now lead by over 22 seconds.
Flipping a flipped Stage has Buescher, Keselowski and the leader Preece up by 41 seconds. Buescher goes around Preece for the lead. The three RFK cars now lead by over 22 seconds. Daniel Suarez (C) (inside lane) and Michael McDowell (middle lane) lead the rest of the field in fourth.reece goes by. Ford puts six of the cars in the top-ten. A caution free S1 make this a way different Talladega run. Larson takes advantage of lapped traffic to finish fourth, grabbing four stage points.
Stage 2 (Laps 99-133)
After Buescher leads the final 44 laps of S1, Logano takes the lead and Ford Racing has taken the cue. As thisabbreviated S2 moves along, the lame duck Keselowski runs out Front and Ford has placed 5 of the top eight. Bubba Wallace leads a pack of cars on the outside using the draft to go three-wide. Unlike S1, 19 cars are within 1 second of the lead.
Then, a big one. Wallace gets into Blaney taking out Logano. Kyle Larson dives in front of Chris Buescher and gets alongside Joey Logano in Turn 2. On the backstretch, Ryan Blaney gets a bump from Bubba Wallace battling just behind the lead, triggering a multi-car accident. Cars involved: Ross Chastain, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, and Gray Gaulding.Twelve cars with 11 laps to go. Seven in the Chase. The biggest beneficiary is Kyle Larson, who takes the race lead. A photofinish gives Logano the S2 win by .0867.
Final Stage (Laps 134-Finish)
After pit cycling, Buescher, and Erik Jones are on the front row and trade the lead ontheopeninglap. Four-wide action. Erik Jonesisthe surprise inS3. An even bigger surprise is Larson and Denny Hamlin running up front. With poorrecords at drafting tracks, Larson is clocking up laps beginning late in S2.
With 15 to go, Stenhouse Jr. , Logano,and Hocevar are1-2-3. Larson has faded to 21st and Denny Hamlin, with a damaged car from the wreckin S2 is third with ten to go.
Then, the second big one.
Todd Gilliland gets a big run in Turns one and two and clears for the lead. The middle lane fades on the backstretch with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dropping to near seventh. In the trioval, Joey Logano gets bumped by Carson Hocevar triggering a multi-car accident in which Joey Logano flips upside down. Cars involved include Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Riley Herbst, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Connor Zilisch, and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Todd Gilliland, Larson, and Austin Hill are 1-2-3. Logano went upside down. Riley Herbst went headon into the inside wall. Race officials go red flag until the car carsuses can be picked up.
Checkered Flag
The wildest final lap ofthe season begins with Rocky Stenhouse Jr. pressuring Larson fromthe outside and and Hill taking Larson’s air and the #5 sinks to the end of the top ten.Laron regroups and goes around multiple cars and wins by ,0401 over William Byron. Larson led Chevy Racing who placed 9out of the top 11 drivers stacked at the finish line. Larson leads 23 laps.
They Said It…
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT WAS YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT HAPPENED? “We were just racing hard three-wide and protecting and probably didn’t make a very good move.” HOW DO YOU MOVE FORWARD THESE NEXT TWO RACES? “It hurts us a lot, so we’ll have to see what we can do next week.” WHAT ABOUT THE MOVE LOGANO MADE? “It wasn’t his fault. We were both trying to protect it. Both of us didn’t time it very good and unfortunately wrecked folks. I feel like I had a hand in kind of being aggressive there, but it’s a shame guys got tore up.” Blaney finishes 36 out of 40.
Playoff Implications
Coming into Talladega, 7 drivers were within 54 points of Larson. Now, Hamlin is in second place,73 points behind Larson. In the words of DandyDon of Monday Night Football lore said: “Turn out the Lights…theparty’s O-ver.
Tale of the Tape
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Roy J. Akers covers motorsports including NASCAR, NHRA, Indy Car and more and is the host of High Banked Fury, the Zoom/podcast.Motorsports newsmakers, media of the sport with expert analyst guests, stories, and opinions are found on the podcast and http://www.skyviewsports.net. Subscribe to all of it today!
