Penske Racing’s Joey Logano took the lead with under 50 laps to go in the Alabama 500 at Talladega and never looked back. Logano crossed the finish line in first and sealed a spot for the next Round of 8 on Sunday. Underdog Brian Scott, followed Joey Logano in second after a few attempts to take the lead on the race’s last two re-starts.
As a result, two of the Chase favorites were snuffed-out of the NASCAR Chase field at Talladega Super Speedway. Instead, Joey Logano earned a critical victory for Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was awarded the tiebreaker to get the final spot in the next round of the playoffs.
“It was fun racing there at the end. I was really confused. I didn’t know what lane to pick coming to the last restart, but I knew Kevin had a lot of experience in these situations and is great at speedway racing, so he did a good job of pushing me out. Then I had to defend the top lane with Brian Scott, so a couple of Fords out front here at Talladega is pretty cool.” said Logano.
Following Joey Logano, Brian Scott and Denny Hamlin in the top five were Kurt Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Racing’s Kyle Larson, Stewart/Hass Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.
Joey Logano did not need to win to advance to the next round, but the victory assured the aggressive driver he still will be racing for a championship. Unfortunately, his teammate Brad Keselowski was eliminated when his engine over-heated and blew on Lap 146.
Martin Truex Jr. suffered the same fate as Brad Keselowski earlier on in the event. The #78 Furniture Row Toyota lost it’s engine on Lap 43. Truex Jr. was tailing race leader Brad Keselowski for most of the day and even found himself in front on a couple of occasions. Nevertheless, the power-house competitor finished dead last and will not be moving on to the next Round of 8.
Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski entered the Alabama 500 tied for the lead in most Sprint Cup wins this year with four. Adding insult to injury, Truex Jr. had led more laps than any other driver this year. In fact, Truex Jr. even won two of the first three Chase races, appearing to set himself up for his first NASCAR championship.
“Just developed a vibration and started to lose a little bit of power,” said Truex Jr. “Originally I thought it could have been a tire because it was shaking worse and worse and worse until it was time to pit. I slowed down to hit pit road and felt the vibration still there and knew it was the engine.”
The Alabama 500 really came down to Joe Gibbs racer Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon. Both drivers were jockeying for the last and final spot into the Round of 8. Denny Hamlin guided his #11 Fed Ex Toyota to a third place result and Dillon finished the race in ninth. Amazingly, the two competitors ended the round tied in points, but Hamlin advanced on a tiebreaker because of his result.
“We’re on house money at this point,” said Hamlin, who likely would have needed to win Sunday if not for the engine failures to Keselowski and Truex.
Also eliminated Sunday was rookie phenom Chase Elliott. the prodigal son made several attempts in the closing moments to improve his position and give himself a chance to win his way in. Nevertheless, it wasn’t in the cards for Elliott on Sunday and he found himself finishing the Alabama 500 in 12th.
The final results for the Alabama 500 at Talladega Super Speedway:
1. (16) Joey Logano, Ford, 192 laps, 0 rating, 44 points.
2. (25) Brian Scott, Ford, 192, 0, 39.
3. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 192, 0, 39.
4. (7) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 37.
5. (6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 192, 0, 37.
6. (24) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 35.
7. (22) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 34.
8. (26) Aric Almirola, Ford, 192, 0, 33.
9. (9) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 33.
10. (32) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 31.
11. (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 192, 0, 31.
12. (4) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 30.
13. (10) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 28.
14. (20) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 27.
15. (5) Greg Biffle, Ford, 192, 0, 27.
16. (34) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 25.
17. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 192, 0, 24.
18. (36) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 23.
19. (23) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 22.
20. (30) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 21.
21. (31) Landon Cassill, Ford, 192, 0, 20.
22. (33) Chris Buescher, Ford, 192, 0, 19.
23. (17) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 18.
24. (40) David Ragan, Toyota, 192, 0, 17.
25. (29) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 16.
26. (18) Ryan Reed, Ford, 192, 0, 0.
27. (35) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 192, 0, 14.
28. (3) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 192, 0, 14.
29. (13) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 192, 0, 13.
30. (14) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 192, 0, 12.
31. (38) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 192, 0, 10.
32. (21) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 10.
33. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 192, 0, 9.
34. (39) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, 192, 0, 7.
35. (27) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 191, 0, 6.
36. (19) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 191, 0, 0.
37. (12) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 179, 0, 4.
38. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, engine, 144, 0, 5.
39. (28) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, accident, 113, 0, 2.
40. (1) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, engine, 41, 0, 2.
Race Statistics:
Average Speed of Race Winner: 159.907 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 11 minutes, 38 seconds.
Margin of Victory: seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 25 laps.
Lead Changes: 31 among 14 drivers.
