What happened?
After two late crashes forced double overtime in Sunday’s (April 23) race at Talladega Superspeedway, Ryan Blaney led the field to the green with two laps to go while everyone was running on fumes.
Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain had to pit for fuel before the final restart, while Ty Gibbs and Aric Almirola both ran dry on the penultimate lap while running in the top five.
With cars running out of gas left and right, the still-running cars had to scramble their way through the twists and turns of Talladega before roaring across the trioval to take the white flag.
Blaney had lost momentum after Gibbs ran out on the restart and that allowed Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch to enter the foray out front. Wallace took the white flag as the leader, but a hard-charging Blaney was soon on his back bumper heading into turn 1.
Wallace tried to block the No. 12 heading into the turn to preserve his spot as the leader, but a bump by Blaney ultimately sent Wallace down the racetrack and spinning in front of the pack in a crash that took out at least 10 cars.
Busch had cleared Wallace and Blaney before the contact, and he had just enough gas remaining to take the yellow and checkered flags for his 62nd career NASCAR Cup Series win, his second of the 2023 season and his first at Talladega since 2008.
But what really happened?
The 2023 GEICO 500 was the latest chapter in a story that has been seen far too often at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega in recent years: a clean, well-raced 95% followed by a destructive demolition derby in the final five.
Side-by-side racing and a textbook pass by Almirola to win stage two over Chase Elliott were the biggest highlights of the first 130 laps, and not a single car was out of the race until a lap 142 crash put Zane Smith and Austin Dillon behind the wall.
Twenty-one of the 38 drivers in the field took a turn out in front of the pack and with the laps winding down, it was Blaney who found himself out front. The laps continued to count down, and with five laps to go, the race looked to be a matter of whether someone would be able to run the No. 12 car down and cruise on by.
And then, to the surprise of absolutely no one, the finish became a game of restarts.
A bad bump by Corey LaJoie turned Joey Logano in front of the field with five to go, setting up the first overtime attempt.
Noah Gragson restarted on the outside of Blaney, but Gragson was quickly moved up high by Chastain and Kyle Larson heading into turn 1. Gragson tried to block, spinning off Chastain’s nose and into a head-on impact with the wall.
Larson then spun in front of the field and had a horrific T-bone collision with an oncoming Ryan Preece. The hit was fortunately on the passenger’s side and all three drivers were able to walk away.
The ensuing caution saw numerous drivers run out of gas and Busch then made all the right moves in the final two laps to emerge victorious at Talladega for the first time in 15 years.
Who stood out?
With a 55-race winless streak on his shoulders, Blaney looked like a man on a mission in the final 30 laps. He took control of the dominant inside line and was able to successfully fend off all challenges from Gibbs and the Toyotas lined up on the outside. And with as good of a car he had, Blaney was able to lead the pack while lifting off the throttle to save fuel.
Losing help on the inside line of the final restart proved to be a critical moment of the last two laps, as Blaney found himself out of the lead and playing catchup. He had made his way back up to the top three before the contact with Wallace on the final lap ended the race under caution. Despite an impressive day, Blaney had to settle for a second after leading a race-high 47 laps.
Until the final-lap crash, Wallace was also having a great day of his own. He led 35 laps, second-most of the race. It was also the second-most laps in a race that Wallace had led in his Cup career, only behind the 58 laps he led in his win at Kansas Speedway last season.
The former Talladega winner had a rocketship from the second the green flag dropped, but a win or top-five finish was not in the cards after the last-lap crash relegated him to 28th.
Elliott led 18 laps on the day and was just a fender away from becoming the first Cup driver to sweep the first two stages at Talladega. The No. 9 car was shuffled back late in the race, but Elliott survived the calamity to record a 12th-place finish in his second race back.
And while both their days started off with disastrous spins onto pit road during the first round of green-flag pit stops, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick were able to overcome damage and lost laps to end the race in fourth and 13th, respectively.
Who fell flat?
With 21 different leaders and a near-even mix of drivers out front, it’s difficult to say who fell flat; just about every driver either took a turn out front or ran high in the running order at some point.
Ford didn’t fall flat in its performance per se. It had to have been frustrating to see its cars finish second, third, fourth and fifth.
Ford now has just one win in the first 10 races to open the season, and this weekend saw another race go to the Bowties, who have had an absolute monopoly at the front of the Cup field this season. And with Blaney leading the most laps of any driver, this race was a missed opportunity for the Blue Ovals.
As for Michael McDowell, if he had a car that was capable of contending, he certainly wasn’t able to show it after a crash on the first lap.
McDowell was able to continue after the damage, but his car was crippled and running more than two seconds slower than the leaders for the entire race. He ultimately ended the day in 35th, seven laps down.
Better than last time?
Superspeedway racing with the Next Gen car has drawn a fair share of criticism, particularly with car’s difficulty to run three abreast. Thus, most races are often a matter of pushing the inside or outside lane in order to move further out front.
Instead, this race was a nice reprieve from the past frustrations. Three-wide racing was first seen in the second stage, and the field was able to run three-wide on two separate occasions in the final stage. The third line even got enough momentum to where Preece was able to take a brief turn with the leaders before dropping back.
The race saw 57 lead changes, which tied the total that Talladega had in October. The only Talladega race with more lead changes since the tandem-drafting era ended in 2012 was the Oct. 2020 Talladega race, which had 58.
But even with three-wide racing, 57 lead changes and 21 leaders, the race ended on a sour note, as yet another superspeedway race was decided by attrition, survival and being out front when the caution ended the race.
Paint scheme of the race
Between his win at Talladega last April and his immortalized wall ride at Martinsville Speedway in October, Chastain’s 2022 Moose Fraternity paint scheme quickly became one of his recognizable colors.
Moose returned to sponsor Chastain and the No. 1 car in select races for 2023 with a new look. And while it’s a tall order to replace a paint scheme that developed significant notoriety, the designers for Trackhouse Racing Team hit a home run.
The car features a sleek mix of red and black, while last year’s design was primarily red. In addition, the moose logo also has a more prominent display in comparison to last year. Trackhouse consistently produces some of the best-looking cars on the grid, and this design was no exception.
What’s next?
The Cup Series returns for its annual trip to the Monster Mile, better known as Dover Motor Speedway.
NASCAR has unveiled a new aerodynamic package for ovals a mile or shorter in the 2023 season. But due to the track’s high banking, Dover, despite being a mile in length, will use the same aero package that it had for 2022.
Hendrick Motorsports has dominated to the tune of four wins in the first 10 races of 2023 and has also been the team to beat ever since Dover went down to one race two years ago. Elliott scored his second win at Dover for the team in 2022, while Alex Bowman led the first ever 1-2-3-4 finish in team history for Hendrick at Dover in 2021.
With Dover being race No. 11 on the 2023 calendar and the final race in April, the Cup Series is just a few weeks away from the halfway point of the regular season.
The Wurth 400 will take place on Sunday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf