Talladega Rundown

Tyler Reddick manages to steal a win at Talladega after a huge block from McDowell sparked the big one coming to the line. Reddick took advantage of Keselowski’s slowed momentum and catapulted himself to the lead, winning by two tenths of a second over the 6. 

How it Happened:
With fuel saving strategies similar to what we saw at Daytona, the field went three wide quickly and remained that way for nearly the entire race. This allowed for drivers like Chastain, McLeod, and Hemric who started near the back to take the lead at one point in this race.

The first “incident” of the race happened when BJ McLeod ran out of gas while leading causing him to brush against the wall and pit alone. There was no caution for this, but it sparked some concern and the next lap other drivers started pitting. After the pit stops were said and done, Chase Elliott was the one who inherited the lead, but the Ford’s strategy helped them stick with the Chevy pack which allowed for Cindric to narrowly beat Elliott to win stage 1.

From the stage 1 caution, Kyle Larson was given the free pass to get back on the lead lap from his penalty. Kyle Busch led the field to green, but Ryan Blaney was able to get by with help from Cindric and Harrison Burton.

Lap 102 was when the stage 2 pit stops started to cycle. Ultimately the two Ford groups had the most success as they were battling with each other for the stage win between Logano and Buescher. Logano would be the one that won the stage.

Lap 134 gave us our first caution as the field stacks up in front, Elliott gets into the back of Justin Haley, sending him spinning into Christopher Bell and collecting Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Zane Smith. This took Bell out of the race, the rest continued.

Almost all of the Toyotas pit together on Lap 152 giving them a sizable group to make speed with. However just a few laps later, they all stack up pushing each other which spins Erik Jones who collects Bubba Wallace. Trying to avoid this, John Hunter Nemechek spun down the track into Denny Hamlin which sent him into the wall. Jones, Wallace, and Hamlin were all taken to the garage after this, Nemechek continued to race.

After this caution, there was no need to save fuel so the entire field was going full speed two wide for the rest of the way. Largely during this time McDowell was managing both lines to stay in the lead. Entering turn 3 on the last lap, Keselowski gives McDowell a huge push to get them both out ahead of everyone. Keselowski used this space to force McDowell to block him high before shooting to the bottom lane where McDowell tried to block again, but the momentum shift caused him to spin out. Coming to the line as Keselowski was slowed down by McDowell going across his bumper, Reddick slipped by and took his first win of the season.

Behind them, a huge wreck was ensuing. Cars are sent spinning in every direction which culminated in Josh Berry and Corey Lajoie making contact against the wall sending both of them off the ground, grinding along the wall. Lajoie would go upside down under Berry before Berry eventually fell off and Lajoie skidded on his side against the wall, but still crossing the finish line.

Rating:

For the normal Talladega standards, this was a fairly clean race. There wasn’t a single incident in the first two stages besides a couple spins on and off pit road that didn’t bring out a caution. The field being three wide throughout the entirety of the race created drama and more competition. Although the three wide is manufactured by fuel saving, it does make the race better because of those things it brings. Overall the race was fun and exciting to watch, despite the terrible production from Fox. I would give it around a 65-70% rating, putting it right behind the Daytona 500 in terms of how good it was.