Ty Dillon sneaks away with opening Talladega stage win

Ty Dillon conserved enough fuel to win the opening 55-lap stage of the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Polesitter Austin Dillon found himself a sitting duck as a train of Team Penske Fords led by Brad Keselowski railroaded him at the front.

Keselowski held the lead for the opening seven laps before teammate Joey Logano nipped him at the line on lap eight. Keselowski fell back as Ryan Blaney battled Logano for the top spot with Logano clearing him on lap 10.

Chaos broke out behind him as Bubba Wallace lost control of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet when he made contact with Blaney coming out of the tri-oval. Wallace spun into traffic which collected Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell, Matt Tifft, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer.

The Roush Fenway Fords of Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. along with Jimmie Johnson also received minor damage.

That brought the field down pit road and Logano kept the lead with a fuel-only stop ahead of Daniel Suarez, Blaney, Aric Almirola and Erik Jones.

Alex Bowman missed his stall and pitted again along with Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch after they receiver speeding penalties. The resulting shuffle moved Logano to the lead on the restart.

Almirola grabbed the lead at the line and led the next 14 laps as Logano dropped as low as 14th before retaking the lead on Lap 31.

The pair of Ford Mustangs swapped the lead the next few laps before Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson motored forward on Lap 35 with a push from teammate Kurt Busch. Almirola retook the lead a lap later as the Ganassi pair wobbled on the high side.

Almirola led until Lap 47 when he relinquished the lead to Truex, Jr when he made a fuel-only stop along with the Penske Fords. He slid his tires on pit road and incurred himself a speeding penalty which dropped him off the lead lap.

Meanwhile, Ty Dillon took the lead on Lap 50 as fuel concerns rose throughout the field which forced Truex, Jr. and a handful of drivers to drop back.

Dillon conserved enough to take his second stage win ahead of Bowman, older brother Austin, Elliott and Ryan Newman.

Also collecting stage points were William Byron, Stenhouse, Jr., Kyle Busch and Matt DiBenedetto.