Elliott soars to Talladega win

Chase Elliott brought the Elliott name back to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway following a late surge past Joey Logano.

The win is the first for the Elliott family at the 2.66-mile superspeedway since Chase’s father Bill won in 1987 and 1985.

The 23-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia began the race’s final 75 lap stage in the lead fresh off his win in stage 2.

He paced the field for the next 18 circuits with Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon trailing. The order shuffled behind the leader and by lap 128 William Byron and Kurt Busch had worked up to fourth and fifth place.

Debris on the backstretch brought out the yellow flag on Lap 131 and brought the lead lap cars down pit road. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones won the race off pit road to take the point for the first time.

Jones couldn’t hold off Joey Logano on the restart as a push from Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. moved him back to the lead on Lap 139.

Jones’ JGR teammate Martin Truex, Jr. then rose to the fore on Lap 144 with drafting help from David Ragan. The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion led the next eight circuits before Logano wrestled it back on Lap 152 just ahead of the final round of pitstops.

The Chevrolet brigade opened the pit sequence on Lap 155 and the Ford squad followed suit a lap later. The Ford stops were much more eventful as Brad Keselowski spun into his pit stall and his crew serviced his car while it faced the wrong direction.

Ross Chastain was on an alternate strategy and led nine laps as the battle raged on between Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, Kyle Busch and Logano for what would be the top spot.

Stenhouse picked up the point on Lap 165 with Logano and Busch ready to pounce. Logano got around Stenhouse on Lap 167 and busily kept Busch at bay for the next seven laps.

Busch briefly dispatched him on Lap 174 but Logano regained the lead the next lap.

The action was halted on Lap 182 as Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto, Truex Jr and Justin Haley crashed heavily on the backstretch.

The engines refired after a brief red flag and Logano brought the field to the restart on Lap 184. Kurt Busch shoved Logano forward heading into Turn 1 which then allowed Hendrick Motorsports teammates Elliott and Alex Bowman to get a run.

Logano put a block on Busch heading into three as Elliott screamed past with Bowman and rookie Ryan Preece pushing.

Elliott made his No. 9 Mountain Dew/Little Caesar’s  Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 very wide holding off Bowman as Stenhouse, Jr crashed coming to the line.

NASCAR didn’t throw the caution for Stenhouse but a violent crash on the backstretch between Kyle Larson, Jeffery Earnhardt, David Ragan and William Byron did. Initial contact with Ragan and Byron sent Larson and Earnhardt careening toward the inside backstretch wall.

Air got underneath Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet and sent the car flipping several yards down the backstretch. Nonetheless, the drivers walked away unhurt.

Elliott noted that the comradery in the Chevrolet camp was the key to his win.

“We just had a plan and executed really well,” said Elliott, who led 44 laps today. “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.”

Bowman completed a 1-2 for Hendrick Motorsports as Preece rounded out the top three. Both drivers claimed their career best finishes.

Rookie Daniel Hemric also logged a career best finish in fourth as Logano fell back to fifth.

Kurt Busch scored his seventh top ten of the year by finishing sixth as Ryan Newman claimed his third straight top ten finish in seventh.

Part-timer Brendan Gaughan finished eighth followed by Aric Almirola in ninth and points leader Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten.