(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography
By Aaron Bearden

After each NASCAR Cup Series race, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway.

NASCAR Cup Series 

Who Won? 

Alex Bowman. A sneaky late surge to the front on a short run netted Bowman his first win in the No. 48 and a berth in the 2021 playoffs.

Top Stories

A place among legends

Brad Keselowski’s win on Sunday was a big one for his season, all-but locking him into the playoffs and helping him rise to sixth in the championship standings.

But this win felt more special because of the names he joined in the Talladega Superspeedway record books.

Keselowski’s late surge to the lead in the GEICO 500 netted him his sixth-career win at the 2.66-mile Alabama oval, placing him alongside his former car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. and four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon for second on the all-time wins list. He now sits four wins away from Dale Earnhardt’s record 10 victories at the facility.

Talladega has always been a special track for Keselowski. It’s the place where a rising prospect from Michigan exploded onto the scene with an improbable win for James Finch in 2009, getting the better of contact with Carl Edwards in the trioval and leading his only lap of the day to claim a shock victory over Earnhardt Jr.

Less than a year later he was competing full-time in Cup for Team Penske. Three years afterward he won his first title. Five years later a fall Talladega win kept his playoff hopes afloat.

Keselowski’s gone on to win 35 times in total at the Cup level, making Championship 4 appearances and welcoming a pair of daughters along the way. Talladega has remained a good place for him along the way, proving an opportunity to snag a win twice each year.

He led just one lap again on Sunday, this time switching roles from 2009 and proving to be the upset spoiler as he snuck by Matt DiBenedetto on the inside lane heading into Turn 1.

The late surge to victory left him coming to terms with the historical mark he’d hit in the track’s record book.

“I never thought I’d even have that chance,” Keselowski said of tying Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon. “It’s tremendous to me. I grew up loving the sport, still love the sport. We fight sometimes, like husband and wife, but I still love the sport. I love the challenge every day of getting up, trying to find excellence, reinventing yourself as the rules change, people change around you.

“It’s hard. It’s a hard sport. Any success you have means the world. So I think to have my name on any list that has Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega, that’s a pretty big deal. I’m super happy and super proud to be there with them.”

He still has a long way to go to reach Earnhardt’s 10-win mark, but Keselowski could take the first step this fall if he can score a seventh win and sit alone behind the seven-time champ in second on Talladega’s Cup wins list.

 

A flip, a skid and a call for safety improvements

Joey Logano emerged from his No. 22 Ford frustrated at the safety risk he was exposed to.

Thankfully that was the only anguish he showed – and he was healthy and free to express it.

“I guess I don’t know exactly what to think,” Logano said to FOX after being released from the infield care center. “It is a product of this racing.

“On one hand, I am so proud to drive a Cup car that is safe, and that I can go through a crash like that and get out and speak about it. On one hand, I am mad about being in the crash and on the other, I am happy to be alive.”

Logano was running inside of the top-10 during Sunday’s GEICO 500 when contact between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Denny Hamlin sent Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota up into the left-rear quarter panel of Logano’s car, pushing him into a spin heading toward Turn 3.

The field all rushed to avoid Logano, but Stenhouse collided with his spinning car, sending it airborne before it landed on its roof right in the middle of the racing groove.

For a few brief seconds, Logano’s car skidded along the racing surface facing oncoming traffic, leaving him at risk to whatever damage would come of head-on contact. Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 made slight contact with the rear of Logano’s Ford, but everyone else thankfully avoided him as the car flipped back over and slid to a halt in the infield grass.

Logano was unhurt, but he was justifiably upset. The 2018 Cup champion understood the risk he was exposed to, echoing a harrowing crash endured by Ryan Newman in the 2020 Daytona 500 where he was hit head on by Corey LaJoie.

“I got a roll bar in my head,” Logano said. “That is not OK. I am one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through. I just don’t feel like that is acceptable. … A lot of it is the big spoiler and the big runs and all the pushing.”

The battle of risk versus reward is nothing new for NASCAR at the drafting tracks. The sanctioning body is constantly tweaking the package at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega in an effort to provide the close-quarters pack racing fans covet while keeping cars from taking off during crashes.

Recent years have provided some of the biggest safety tests to date. The modern era has seen a tapered spacer used in place of a restrictor plate due to the lesser horsepower of the current rules package, with the resulting package leaving the field packed tightly together at speeds often over 200 mph with runs that come on so strongly they’re nearly impossible to control or block by the leading car.

The racing has often been applauded, but the dangers of the package were made apparent when Newman was extricated from his car and hospitalized for two days after his crash at Daytona.

NASCAR made changes at the time, decreasing the holes in the tapered spacer to lower horsepower and eliminating aeroducts among other changes in an effort to limit some of the high-risk speeds and scenarios. But Logano’s crash showed that the safety risk is still present, leaving he and others calling for additional change moving forward.

“No doubt we got to find a way to keep cars on the ground,” Keselowski said during his post-race press conference. “I don’t care what the rules package is. We start there. Can’t have cars leaving the ground.

“We’re pretty good drivers, but none of that stuff works when we’re in the air.”

NASCAR is currently investigating Logano’s crash – a typical procedure when such incidents occur. But even if the sanctioning body makes changes, they won’t have to worry about the current setup for much longer. With the Next Gen car on the horizon in 2022 and a slightly-altered style of racing likely to come from it, there are only two races remaining with the current generation and apparent risk at Daytona and Talladega.

 

Another close call

Matt DiBenedetto lost another opportunity to score his first NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday at Talladega, but he made big waves in his greater mission of making the playoffs for a second-straight year.

The Wood Brothers Racing driver was one of the key contenders in the GEICO 500, claiming the opening stage and running up front for the majority of the race’s duration. He held the lead early in NASCAR overtime at race’s end, but lost out when he elected to hold the top lane and block a run from Ryan Blaney heading into Turn 1 on the final lap.

Pseudo-teammate Brad Keselowski of Team Penske got a run under DiBenedetto on the bottom lane as he ran up high. The pair seemed poised to run neck-and-neck, but the outside lane’s momentum was stifled by numerous dives for position over the race’s final 30 seconds.

Keselowski went on to win the race, holding off Michael McDowell and William Byron in a final run to the start-finish line. DiBenedetto crossed the line moments later in fifth; a good result, but one that proved bittersweet with how well he’d ran.

It was the latest in a string of heartbreakers for DiBenedetto, starting with a runner-up run in the 2019 Bristol Night Race and continuing through a defeat by a few feet – both at the stripe and in review of a potential penalty afterward – at Talladega last fall. Despite that, DiBenedetto expressed optimism in his team’s future chances following the conclusion of the race.

“Our day will definitely come, and pertaining to this race specifically, I’ll drive myself crazy if I just look back at it, replay exactly what happened and will never let myself live it down,” he said. “We did the best job we (could). Circumstances are crazy, especially with how big the runs are and all that, so it’s nothing to beat ourselves up over.

“We had a stage win and a good day, and I know that although my career has consisted of a lot of heartbreaks, our day will come. So I don’t look at (Sunday’s finish) in a negative way.”

Disappointment aside, DiBenedetto’s run was good for his playoff hopes moving forward.

The Californian had a disastrous start to the season. Results of 33rd, 37th and 28th in the opening three races of 2021 left him mired back in 34th in the championship standings, 53 points below the cutline with a mountain to climb to be a postseason contender without a win.

He’d still like to score that victory and make points a nonfactor, but DiBenedetto has now risen to 17th. He sits just 12 points below the cutline with 16 races remaining in the regular season.

 

Kaz Grala does it again

Kaz Grala hasn’t had many opportunities to shine in recent months, but he sure is making the most of the few he gets.

Grala returned to the Cup Series for his third-career start on Sunday, joining Saturday Xfinity Series winners Kaulig Racing for a rare appearance at the sport’s top level.

The group entered the day quietly and kept out of trouble, avoiding the scattered crashes throughout the day to put Grala into contention heading into the race’s final run. He took advantage from there, rising into the top-10 and taking the checkered flag within sight of the leaders up front.

For a moment it appeared the 22-year-old had finished in fifth. He was later shifted back to sixth after a post-race review due to a late crash, but it was his best finish to date regardless.

“I tried to (make the most of the opportunity), and I feel like we did today,” Grala said afterward. “We had a really good Hyperice Chevy. Kaulig Racing did a great job today.

“I was just happy to get to pilot this thing,” he later continued. “It is few and far between when I do, but I try to make an impression on my few starts and [I] feel like today was a good step in the right direction.”

Sunday’s result kept a streak of memorable events for Grala rolling. While he’s had just three Cup starts, the Truck Series Daytona winner has stood out for different reasons each time.

Grala’s debut saw him score the first road course top-10 for the No. 3 Chevrolet since Dale Earnhardt was behind the wheel, finishing seventh on the Daytona road course in a fill in role for Austin Dillon while he sat out with COVID-19. The Bostonian finished just 28th in his first Daytona 500 for Kaulig Racing, but memorably sat in the car as a brake line caught fire on pit road.

Two months later Grala returned at Talladega and brought home another impressive top-10, issuing another reminder of his potential behind the wheel.

It’s all part of a plan to maximize his opportunities and try to secure long-term options. “Hopefully, it will be just another piece of the puzzle for me to get a full-time ride some time down the road,” he said after the race.

Time will tell if a full-time chance arises, but he’s at least making the most of his chance to impress the right people and earn one.

 

Notes

  • Cup rookie Anthony Alfredo scored his best finish to date in Alabama, coming home 12th after a strong day for Front Row Motorsports.
  • One spot ahead of Alfredo was fellow rookie Chase Briscoe in 11th – also a personal best.
  • Go yet another spot ahead and you’ll find Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Cole Custer. The sophomore’s 10th-place result was his best of a difficult 2021 season to date.
  • Ryan Preece wound up a distant 14th at race’s end. But along the way he led nine laps – the most he’s ever managed in a NASCAR Cup Series event.
  • After watching his cousin Jeb Burton win the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Harrison Burton made his Cup debut for Gaunt Brothers Racing at Talladega. He kept his car clean and was in the running late, coming home 20th after being shuffled out on the final restart.
  • There were no new race winners, but Sunday did provide a pair of first-time stage winners. Matt DiBenedetto and Bubba Wallace each picked up a stage win at the front of the field, giving themselves a potential playoff point if they can grind their way into the playoffs with a win or rise in the point standings.
  • Even an unpredictable Talladega trip couldn’t stop the top-10 machine that is William Byron. The Homestead-Miami Speedway winner is up to eight-straight finishes in the top 10 after his runner-up run at Talladega, which has him more than halfway to the 14 he totaled in all of 2020.
  • With five to go in regulation of Sunday’s race, Ryan Newman found himself trapped deep in the running order while running a lap down. But the late caution and overtime gave Newman an opportunity to salvage his day. He took the free pass and quickly rose from 27th to 13th over the final two-lap dash.
  • He didn’t get the end result that he wanted, but Erik Jones led his first seven laps for Richard Petty Motorsports at Talladega. The drafting ace was in the running before getting caught up in the last-lap crash.
  • Kyle Larson had a quick trip to Alabama, driving fewer miles than he does in most dirt starts after exiting with an engine issue just three laps into the race.

 

GEICO 500 Results

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. William Byron
  3. Michael McDowell
  4. Kevin Harvick
  5. Matt DiBenedetto
  6. Kaz Grala
  7. Tyler Reddick
  8. Austin Dillon
  9. Ryan Blaney
  10. Cole Custer
  11. Chase Briscoe
  12. Anthony Alfredo
  13. Ryan Newman
  14. Ryan Preece
  15. Aric Almirola
  16. Ross Chastain
  17. Christopher Bell
  18. Kyle Busch
  19. Bubba Wallace
  20. Harrison Burton
  21. Chris Buescher
  22. Corey LaJoie
  23. Daniel Suarez
  24. Chase Elliott
  25. B.J. McLeod
  26. J.J. Yeley
  27. Erik Jones
  28. Cody Ware
  29. Timmy Hill
  30. Justin Haley
  31. Martin Truex Jr.
  32. Denny Hamlin
  33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  34. Joey Gase
  35. Kurt Busch
  36. Josh Bilicki
  37. Quin Houff
  38. Alex Bowman
  39. Joey Logano
  40. Kyle Larson

Stage 1

  1. Matt DiBenedetto
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Chase Elliott
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. William Byron
  6. Chris Buescher
  7. Alex Bomwan
  8. Michael McDowell
  9. Kevin Harvick
  10. Christopher Bell

Stage 2

  1. Bubba Wallace
  2. Brad Keselowski
  3. Michael McDowell
  4. Kyle Busch
  5. Ryan Preece
  6. Ryan Blaney
  7. Chris Buescher
  8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  9. Christopher Bell
  10. Harrison Burton
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Aaron Bearden Beat Breakdown GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series Talladega Superspeedway