Ford won the last seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races at Talladega Superspeedway heading into Sunday’s Geico 500, at least in part, because of teamwork across the manufacturer’s teams. Chevrolet took a page out of the Ford playbook, and after a meeting between Chevy executives and its teams and drivers at the track on Saturday in which those execs told the Chevrolet teams to work together, Chase Elliott took the checkered flag in Sunday’s race.
“That was huge. We just had a plan and executed really well,” Elliott said. “Obviously, it could have gone both ways, but fortunately, everybody stayed together and stayed the course and had some help on that last lap with the caution. I just appreciate all the support. This is unbelievable. This is special. This is close to home for me. It feels a little bit like a home race.”
The win was the first of the season for not only Elliott, but Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. It also was the first win for someone other than a Joe Gibbs Racing or Team Penske driver, 10 races into the 2019 season.
"What a day. Just a huge thanks to all of our partners, my team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet,” Elliott said “There was obviously a lot of teamwork done today. Big thanks to Mountain Dew and Little Caesar’s and NAPA and all our partners that make this happen. But you guys [fans] are really what makes it happen. Thank you.”
Hendrick Motorsports swept the top-two, with Bowman pushing his teammate to the lead for an eventual win and taking second for himself with four laps remaining in the 188-lap race.
“Yeah, there was no plan coming off turn four, but unfortunately, we didn’t get there before the caution came out,” Bowman said. “Big props to Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They brought great race cars here. We had a great Nationwide Chevy from the time we unloaded. We showed a lot of speed. We all stuck to our plans and executed really well. Props to everybody back at home at Hendrick Motorsports and the fab shop and the engine shop and everybody that makes this deal possible.”
Chevrolet swept the top-three of the finishing order and claimed four spots inside the top-five, with Ryan Preece in third and rookie Daniel Hemric in fifth. Ford driver Joey Logano was fourth.
“At the end, the 1 [Kurt Busch] had a big run, and I felt like I had to block that,” Logano said. "When I blocked that, I can’t block both and the 9 [Elliott] got underneath me. If I chose the bottom and block the 9, I had the 88 [Bowman] there, and they were going to go by me as soon as they formed a run. I was not in a very good spot. Once I got on the outside, I thought that would be a better spot to be than the bottom, but the teammates there didn’t race each other to the end, which is good on their part, because it made sure one of their cars won. If they had gotten side by side, I think I could have made something happen, but they were selfless toward each other. I really think, even if it was green all the way to the end, it would have looked exactly the same. There were no runs built and no momentum going. It is a tough spot to be in. You think you are in a good spot, and anytime you can take the front row on a final restart you will take it, especially here at Talladega, but it is tough when the numbers are stacked against you a little bit. The team did a good job though and our Mustang was really fast, and that is what we have to be proud of.”
The race ended under the sixth caution of the race as a result of a multi-car crash involving David Ragan, William Byron, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Kyle Larson on the final lap. Larson’s car flipped several times, and Byron’s car got airborne but remained upright.
The final-lap crash was the third multi-car crash of the race. The first one came on lap 11 and involved Darrell Wallace Jr., Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell for the first caution of the race.
“I am not really sure what happened,” McDowell said. “I didn’t see a lot of it. Looked like the 43 was being real aggressive and making stupid moves at the beginning of the race. The Love’s Travel Stops Mustang was really fast, and that is pretty early in the race to be making dumb moves like that.”
The second multi-car wreck came with seven laps remaining and involved Matt DiBenedetto, Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley, who was making his Cup Series debut. Truex was the only Toyota driver to lead more than five laps in the race, running up front for 11.
In all, the yellow flag waved six times. Aside from the two cautions that divided the race into its three stages, the other caution came for debris on lap 132.
Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. each experienced a single-car crash, but neither brought out the caution.
Elliott led a race-high 44 laps, and Chevrolet drivers won both of the 55-lap stages that made up the first 110 laps of the race with Ty Dillon winning the first and Elliott the second. But Ford was dominant early.
The Team Penske trio of Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney claimed the top-three in the running order early. Then, Aric Almirola took the lead soon after the first restart and led 27 laps before a pit-road speeding penalty during a green-flag pit stop with about eight laps remaining in the opening stage.
After pit stops during the first caution, about a quarter of the race field pitted under green in the final 10 laps of the first stage, while the rest stretched their fuel milage past the end of the stage. Most of the Chevrolet teams were among those who wanted until stage end.
The HMS duo of Elliott and Bowman were up front early in stage two, but by lap 68 Keselowski was up front, and his teammates, along with fellow-Ford driver Almirola and Toyota’s Kyle Busch, were among the top-five.
Elliott retook the lead with 16 laps to go in the stage and led 21 laps, total, in the stage en route to the second-stage win.
Elliott and Bowman were still up front early in the final 68-lap stage of the race, but Fords were still a presence up front, especially the Penske teammates. Team Penske was one-two-three at another point in the final stage before the final cycle of green-flag pit stops got underway with 33 laps to go.
Keselowski was spun backwards on pit road during the cycle. Meanwhile, Logano continued up front. He was the race leader for the final restart of the race, but Elliott, with a push from his teammate, Bowman, moved into the lead with four laps remaining.
Kurt Busch finished sixth and Ryan Newman was seventh, Part-time driver Brendan Gaughan finished eighth. Almirola was ninth, and Kyle Busch was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in 10th.
“We restarted outside front row and I thought the 1 [Kurt Busch] behind me would want to race for the win and not just fall in line behind Fords and in front of Chevrolets and he would go with us a little bit, there,” Kyle Busch said. "Team order prevailed, I guess. That kind of sucked. We weren’t able to have the run. As soon as he bailed off from behind me, and then, two others behind me got double-wide, and then, it just sucked me six rows back. I had to try to recover after that, and all I could get was whatever I got.”
