Alex’s Motorsports Recap: NASCAR At Talladega

From Austin Hill’s last second win in the Xfinity Series to Austin Cindric’s first win for Penske this season, here is all you need to know about this past week’s races. 

First, we’ll talk about the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Ag Pro 300 where Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love and teammate Austin Hill started on the first row. The rest of the top 10 were Justin Allgaier, Joey Gase, Jeb Burton, Taylor Gray, Josh Williams, Daniel Dye, Ryan Ellis and Jeremy Clements. 

During the 112 lap, 300.5-mile race, there were 26 lead changes between 15 drivers and five cautions for 23 yellow flag laps. 

For the first 25 laps of the race, there were no wrecks or cautions, as Love went on to win stage one followed by Hill, Shelden Creed, Christian Eckes, Ryan Sieg, Williams, Nick Sanchez, Harrison Burton, Allgaier and J. Burton. In addition, Love also led all 25 laps of stage one. 

The next 25 laps were also wreck and caution free, but this time Hill won stage two with the remaining point getters being Love, Aric Almirola, Sanchez, Connor Zilisch, J. Burton, Allgaier, William Sawalich and H. Burton. 

The remainder of the race would not be wreck and caution free, as on lap 78 J. Burton turned Sammy Smith to bring out the first race-incident caution of the day. Also collected in the wreck were Greg Van Alst, R. Sieg and Parker Retzlaff. 

The second race-incident caution came out on lap 100 when Almirola tried to move to the outside line but was not clear of Katherine Legge, which caused a multi-car pileup involving Almirola, Legge, Brandon Jones and Jeffery Earnhardt. Jones would come in 28th after the wreck and would be only driver out of those four to finish the race. 

From then on, it would be smooth sailing until lap 112 when Love would get behind and tap the left bumper of Zilisch, causing him to lose control and hit the wall hard. That tap would end Zilisch’s day and brought out the caution to give Hill the win at Talladega. 

The remaining top 10 were J. Burton, Love, Allgaier, Matt DiBenedetto, Anthony Alfredo, Blaine Perkins, H. Burton, Creed and Dye. 

The next Xfinity Series race is the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway this Saturday, May 3 at 2 p.m. 

The other race this past weekend was the NASCAR Cup Series race, Jack Link’s 500 where Zane Smith and Kyle Busch started in the first row. The remaining top 10 were Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs. 

The 188 lap, 500-mile race had 67 lead changes between 23 drivers and four cautions for 22 yellow flag laps. 

The first race-incident caution came out during stage one on lap 43 with Busch turning into Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney while trying to enter the pit lane. Keselowski and Blaney would not continue after the wreck while Busch would finish 27^th at the checkered flag. 

The second race-incident caution came out while still in stage one on lap 52 with Denny Hamlin getting into the back of Christopher Bell, causing him to lose control and take out Buescher with him. That wreck ended up with Bell and Buescher not being able to continue the race. 

The final eight laps of stage one would come and go with no more incidents as Kyle Larson would take the 10 points followed by William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Hamlin, A.J. Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Riley Herbst and Ty Dillon. 

Stage two was a lot less eventful than stage one, as no wrecks or incidents took place. Wallace would end up taking the 10 points and would be followed by Larson, Cindric, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Todd Gilliland, Smith, Berry, Justin Haley and Allmendinger. 

The remainder of the race would also be uneventful, as the “big one” did not happen this race as Cindric took the checkered flag followed by Larson, Byron, Noah Gragson, Elliott, Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Wallace, Daniel Suarez and A. Dillon. 

The next NASCAR Cup Series Race is held at the Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. 

Some other races going on this weekend May 2-4 are the NASCAR Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 also at Texas Motor Speedway this Friday, May 2 at 8 p.m. EST, the IndyCar Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix this Sunday, May 4 at 1:30pm EST and the Formula One Miami Grand Prix this Sunday May 4 at 4 p.m. EST. 

Overall, it was a great weekend for a NASCAR double header, and this weekend should be even better as all five major racing series are taking place.