Kyle Busch was in the right place at the right time to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
With the white flag in the air in double overtime, Busch was a sitting duck in the lead when Bubba Wallace was pushed to the point by Ryan Blaney. But as Blaney tried to make a move for the lead, Wallace threw a block, with the two making contact. That sent Wallace spinning into the outside wall, triggering a race ending final caution.
Meanwhile, Busch made his way around the incident to reclaim the lead as the caution flag flew, while several other cars were caught up in the crash behind him, including Martin Truex, Jr., Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, and others.
Busch then nursed his car around to the flagstand on fumes to score his second win of the season.
“Sometimes you got to be lucky,” said Busch. “Some of these races come down to that. You got to take ’em when they come your way.”
How low was he on fuel? Busch said his car ran out coming to celebrate at the finish line.
“It shut off right here when I was trying to do a burnout. Maybe it’s out,” Busch said, smiling. “I went left instead of going right. Fuel pickup is on the right. Maybe it ran it out. I’ll see. We were sweating it being close.”
It marks the 62nd career victory for Busch, and the second of his career at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, and his second race of 2023 since taking over the No. 8 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing.
Busch made the gamble to stay on the track before the final restart when crew chief Randall Burnett called him to pit road for fuel.
“I thought back to California, Fontana, earlier this year where we have a win,” Busch said. “I am like, we got to gamble. You’re up here, got to take the track position when you have it, give it what you can on the restarts, see what happens. Lo and behold, it worked out. Knock on wood for this one.”
In a race that ran largely clean and green, the typical carnage seen at Talladega reared its head in the final laps as the field raced side-by-side.
With Blaney leading Aric Almirola and Noah Gragson with five laps to go in regulation, Joey Logano spun off the front bumper of Corey LaJoie when a move by Larson to move high was slowed by a side-draft from another car. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Harrison Burton, Daniel Suarez, and J.J. Yeley were also involved in the melee, which sent the race into its first overtime period.
Blaney held the point on the restart, with Gragson getting a run on the outside as the field thundered into turn 1. But Gragson’s car got loose and slid up as Chastain and Larson pushed from behind. Chastain tried to shoot the gap, but the hole closed quickly when Gragson slid down. That led to contact between their cars, sending Gragson spinning into the outside wall.
Behind him, Larson slowed to avoid the problem, only to be tagged from behind by another car, sending him spinning to the inside. Larson’s car then ricocheted back across the track where it was hit at speed in the right side by Ryan Preece. No one was injured, but Gragson, Larson, and Preece were eliminated from the race.
That set up the final overtime restart, with several of the leaders low on fuel as they came to the restart. Blaney has the lead, with Ty Gibbs behind him. As they came up to speed, the fuel tank in Gibbs’ car ran dry, leaving Blaney without pushing help on the inside.
Restarting on the outside line, Busch powered to the lead, with Wallace giving chase. On the final lap, Blaney found Wallace’s back bumper, and shoved him past Busch and into the lead. The two made contact moments later, with the ensuing caution ending the race and handing the win to Busch.
“The seas kind of parted there when they went up the racetrack,” said Busch. “They were trying to push draft. These cars are just not stable enough to do that. I seen the 23 (Wallace) just turn a little bit sideways. I was like, ‘Get out of the way, just miss it.’ Tried to see if I was ahead of the 12 (Blaney) by the time it was called.”
After spending 47 laps at the front of the pack on the day, the most of any driver, a frustrated Blaney had to settle for a second place finish.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just you get big runs, take ’em when you can,” said Blaney, who has now gone 56 races since his last points paying win. “I’m glad everyone’s okay, but in my mind you kind of triple move like that, triple block, you can’t block three times. I don’t know. Runs are so big.
“As a leader, with Bubba, trying to block, which is the right thing to do. But I think a lot of those, I mean, I got to go somewhere. I hate that cars got torn up, I hate for us being so close to the win. I’m not blaming anybody. Just hard racing at the end of this thing. Unfortunate cars got tore up and we missed out on another win.”
Wallace, who led six times for 35 laps on the day, was credited with a 28th place finish.
Chris Buescher finished in third, with Chase Briscoe – who rebounded from a spin on pit road on lap 41 that resulted in the second caution flag of the day – finished in fourth, with Keselowski in fifth.
Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top 10.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott led the race for 18 laps, winning the first segment of the event, finished in 12th at the end of the day.
NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
GEICO 500 – April 23, 2023
1. (17) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 196.
2. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 196.
3. (10) Chris Buescher, Ford, 196.
4. (4) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 196.
5. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 196.
6. (24) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 196.
7. (18) William Byron, Chevrolet, 196.
8. (6) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 196.
9. (22) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 196.
10. (28) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 196.
11. (38) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 196.
12. (29) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 196.
13. (13) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 196.
14. (27) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 196.
15. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 196.
16. (33) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 196.
17. (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 196.
18. (26) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 196.
19. (37) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 196.
20. (2) Aric Almirola, Ford, 196.
21. (11) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 196.
22. (23) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 196.
23. (31) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 196.
24. (34) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 196.
25. (36) Riley Herbst(i), Ford, 196.
26. (15) Austin Cindric, Ford, 196.
27. (7) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 196.
28. (12) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 195.
29. (19) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 195.
30. (8) Joey Logano, Ford, 195.
31. (3) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, Fuel, 194.
32. (30) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, Accident, 189.
33. (9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 189.
34. (16) Ryan Preece, Ford, Accident, 189.
35. (21) Michael McDowell, Ford, 189.
36. (25) Harrison Burton, Ford, Accident, 183.
37. (35) Zane Smith(i), Ford, Accident, 141.
38. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 141.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 146.575 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 33 Mins, 25 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 8 for 34 laps.
Lead Changes: 57 among 21 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Almirola 1-6;C. Briscoe 7;B. Wallace 8-30;D. Suarez 31-34;K. Busch 35;R. Chastain 36-38;R. Preece 39-40;E. Jones 41-43;C. Elliott 44-47;A. Bowman 48-52;C. Elliott 53-55;A. Bowman 56;C. Elliott 57;A. Bowman 58-59;C. Elliott 60-62;B. McLeod 63;D. Hamlin 64-70;K. Harvick 71-76;J. Logano 77;M. Truex Jr. 78-82;J. Logano 83;M. Truex Jr. 84;J. Logano 85;M. Truex Jr. 86-97;B. Wallace 98-99;K. Harvick 100-104;B. Keselowski 105-106;C. Elliott 107;M. Truex Jr. 108;C. Elliott 109;B. Wallace 110-114;C. Elliott 115-119;A. Almirola 120-122;W. Byron 123;A. Almirola 124-125;B. Wallace 126;H. Burton 127-130;R. Blaney 131;H. Burton 132-137;R. Blaney 138-140;H. Burton 141;R. Blaney 142-143;D. Suarez 144;R. Blaney 145-146;B. Wallace 147-149;R. Blaney 150-154;T. Gibbs # 155-156;R. Blaney 157-168;T. Gibbs # 169;R. Blaney 170-179;T. Gibbs # 180;R. Blaney 181-188;N. Gragson # 189;R. Blaney 190-193;K. Busch 194;B. Wallace 195;K. Busch 196.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Ryan Blaney 9 times for 47 laps; Bubba Wallace 6 times for 35 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 4 times for 19 laps; Chase Elliott 7 times for 18 laps; Harrison Burton 3 times for 11 laps; Aric Almirola 3 times for 11 laps; Kevin Harvick 2 times for 11 laps; Alex Bowman 3 times for 8 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 7 laps; Daniel Suarez 2 times for 5 laps; Ty Gibbs # 3 times for 4 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 3 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 3 laps; Joey Logano 3 times for 3 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 3 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 2 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 2 laps; BJ McLeod 1 time for 1 lap; Noah Gragson # 1 time for 1 lap; William Byron 1 time for 1 lap; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,48,1,24,5,2,42,22,41,99
Stage #2 Top Ten: 10,9,4,23,21,19,41,11,47,42
Playoff Standings: 1. Kyle Larson – 295 (2 Wins); 2. Kyle Busch – 290 (2 Wins); 3. William Byron – 245 (2 Wins); 4. Christopher Bell – 331 (1 Win); 5. Tyler Reddick – 289 (1 Win); 6. Joey Logano – 268 (1 Win); 7. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 246 (1 Win); 8. Ross Chastain – 320; 9. Kevin Harvick – 311; 10. Martin Truex, Jr. – 281; 11. Ryan Blaney – 276; 12. Denny Hamlin – 272; 13. Alex Bowman – 269; 14. Brad Keselowski – 267; 15. Chase Briscoe – 243; 16. Chris Buescher – 240.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
