Second Cup win for Ross Chastain and the Trackhouse Racing team after thrilling last lap at Talladega Superspeedway – Larson and Jones the losers
At the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway as the second superspeedway race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season (after the Daytona 500), the entire final race segment (Stage 3) actually went green on Sunday. Nevertheless, the decision for the win was dramatic.
With three laps to go, Kyle Larson (Hendrick-Chevrolet) was leading. Erik Jones (Petty/GMS-Chevrolet) was in front at the start of the last lap. However, Ross Chastain (Trackhouse-Chevrolet) ultimately won after 188 laps.
The decisive manoeuvre took place at Turn 4 of the last lap. Larson tried to block an attack by Kurt Busch (23XI-Toyota) on the outside lane, but pulled up a tad too late. Busch turned into the wall, taking teammate Bubba Wallace with him in the process.
While Larson lost some momentum when he went alongside leader Jones on the outside, losing Jones momentum as well, Chastain took the lead on the inside. The Trackhouse driver had the most momentum and crossed the finish line the winner by a narrow margin. However, neither Jones nor Larson finished second.
WOW! @RossChastain gets to the lead late to win at @TALLADEGA! pic.twitter.com/Db5rGpN1Ti
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 24, 2022
For Chastain, it’s now just four weeks after his first Cup win (Austin) and his second. It is also the second win for the Trackhouse Racing team in the team’s fledgling history, which has only been written since 2021.
Christopher Bell (Gibbs-Toyota) started the race from pole thanks to Saturday’s qualifying best time. He shared the lead work in the first race segment (Stage 1) with Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse-Chevrolet), Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace (23XI-Toyota)
Stage 1: Bubba Wallace in front under yellow
56 of 60 laps went well in Stage 1. But on lap 57 there was the first yellow. Daniel Hemric (Kaulig-Chevrolet) had suddenly slowed on the inside lane. Austin Dillon (Childress-Chevrolet) had no choice but to drive up. The result was a crash that involved Chase Briscoe (Stewart/Haas-Ford) and Chris Buescher (RFK-Ford) in addition to Hemric.
@DanielHemric has trouble in the middle of the corner and @ChaseBriscoe_14 and @Chris_Buescher get collected. pic.twitter.com/rEY0uUuY5V
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 24, 2022
So the first race segment came to an end under yellow. The stage win went to Bubba Wallace, followed by Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. Meanwhile, the race was over for Hemric, Briscoe and Buescher as well as Tyler Reddick.
Reddick, who was narrowly beaten in the dirt track race in Bristol a week ago, had to park his Chevrolet Camaro early this time with engine problems. A short time later, Greg Biffle (NY Chevrolet) suffered the same fate.
Stage 2: William Byron leads Hendrick trio
The second race segment saw the only mass crash (Big One) of the day. It was triggered when Bubba Wallace hit Joey Logano (Penske-Ford) immediately after a restart. At that point, Logano was right on the tail of Erik Jones. He in turn had hit Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs-Toyota) because the latter had braked slightly.
As a result, Logano went off the track after contact from Wallace. Also involved were Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton (Wood-Ford), Todd Gilliland (Front Row Ford), Cole Custer (Stewart/Haas-Ford), Ty Dillon (Petty/GMS-Chevrolet), Ricky Stenhouse (JTG-Chevrolet) and also initial leader Daniel Suarez.
The No. 22 gets into the wall, and multiple cars are collected entering Turn 1. pic.twitter.com/GBLAo7VYap
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 24, 2022
At the end of Stage 2 (lap 120), three Hendrick teammates were out front. William Byron took the Stage win ahead of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. The fourth Hendrick driver – Alex Bowman – was just edged out by Martin Truex Jr. for the fifth position at the stage flag.
Ross Chastain wins thrilling final lap
In the final segment of racing, Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) initially led as single-file formation was run for long periods in the “calm before the storm”. With 30 laps to go, the race went to the final pit stop under green.
On the exit from pit lane, there was an unfortunate collision between Gibbs teammates Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell. The latter, who had started the race from pole, paid with a spin. But there was no yellow period. And there wasn’t to be any more.
Meanwhile, on the track, another Gibbs driver – Denny Hamlin – led the field in single-file formation into the final nearly 30 laps. Ten laps later, Kyle Larson took over, again putting a Hendrick driver at the front of the field.
While Hamlin had to pit again shortly before the end because he ran out of fuel, Larson fought for the victory until the last lap. After losing the lead to Erik Jones with three laps to go, Larson was second behind Jones and ahead of Ross Chastain at the start of the last lap.
This order held until the last corner. Then came the unfortunate manoeuvre by Larson that took away his own chance of winning and that ended in a late crash for the 23XI duo Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. Both were uninjured.
Behind Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon ultimately finished second in his second win, followed by Kyle Busch. Behind him, Kyle Larson was “only” fourth, followed by Martin Truex Jr. And Erik Jones? The Petty/GMS driver, who was still leading at the beginning of the last lap, was pushed through to sixth place in the chaos of the final metres.
The next race on the 2022 NASCAR Cup calendar will take place next Sunday (1 May) on the one-mile oval in Dover.
