Brad Keselowski led the final 17 laps and avoided damage to his auto to win a crash-filled Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. “We just got to look at what we are doing on our adjustments and try not to do that”. Bill Elliott won the pole in 1986 with a lap at 212.229 miles per hour.
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McMurray finished fourth and Chase Elliott fifth. “This has always been a special place to him and certainly great to be here and have the opportunity in Sprint Cup”.
Austin Dillon, who finished third, called the day both “wild” and “fun” – and he has been on both sides of that in restrictor-plate races, including his scary airborne crash into the Daytona catch fence last July. He’s back in the same auto he drove at Daytona, and he credited his No. 24 team and the Hendrick engine department for giving him such a good vehicle. That fifteen stops they fix the damage never panicked and that’s something we struggled with this year campaigning insult stuff goes wrong. “Our superspeedway cars have been fast and we are expecting the same thing this week at Talladega”.
But as she talked about it, she seemed a little resigned to the fact that this was just the nature of restrictor-plate racing.
“This [track] is one where it’s in your face challenging to if you make a mistake, it’s going to be a really, really big wreck”, Keselowski said.
If that’s his last go around with Amelia, it was anything but boring. If I would have pushed the No. 18 (Busch), he might have beaten the No. 2 (Keselowski), I don’t know. If people are cheering for crashes, man, its not a good thing..
Rosberg has won all four of this season’s races – seven in a row including victories from last season – and has a hefty 43-point lead over Hamilton in the title race.
“There’s a lot of history here with Dale and RCR”, Dillon said. “We got clipped in the right rear and as soon as it turned it went up on its lid”. He saved it, but then kept going and came back onto the track. Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun and collected teammate Kasey Kahne to bring out the first caution on lap 50.
Brad Keselowski holds up the Geico 500 trophy after winning the NASCAR Talladega auto race at Tallad … All four of his wins – 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016 – had some sort of dramatic element to them, perhaps none moreso before today than his first in 2009 that will be remembered for Carl Edwards cutting across his nose at the finish and ending up in the fence.
A lot of drivers were ready to go home after Sunday’s race. However, he does race every now and then and on Sunday, Waltrip had a couple moments where he was in the lead at Talladega on the track.
Patrick was in the infield medical center an unusually long time.
Dillon believes he has a shot to win the race, which would count toward Stewart’s victory total. “It was fairly simple at that point in time, I thought”. (He told them it usually comes in the first three laps). “We will see how it goes”.
And that causes some drivers, like Busch and Dillon, consternation.
“I hate it”, Kyle Busch said. But the day got worse shortly after Earnhardt’s return to the track. Busch wasn’t sure that strategy will work at Talladega.
“Hey, I’m a capitalist”, he said. “I’ve had the unfortunate scenario of hitting the inside wall at a superspeedway a few times now, and they’re all bad”.
Some drivers have been critical of France skipping the meetings, so his presence was welcome.
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As if that wasn’t enough – and for the morbidly insatiable appetite of those entertained by the volume and viciousness of wrecks, it never is – the coda came at the finish with Kevin Harvick’s race vehicle skidding on its side along the wall in front of thousands of fans holding their breath.
