Watermelon Man Chastain Wins in Wild Finish at Talladega
Trackhouse Racing went back to victory lane at Talladega.
There was another last lap pass to win the race at Talladega but this one was different. Ross Chastain found himself sitting in 3rd place coming to the finish line, but when Kyle Larson tried to make a pass on the leader Erik Jones, he was not yet clear of Kurt Busch, opening the door for Chastain.
When the dust settled from the carnage at the finish line, it was the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet that came out on top. It is the second career victory for Chastain, having just earned his first win last month at Circuit of the Americas. The Watermelon Man had a 0.105-second margin of victory over second-place finisher Austin Dillon.
“I’m always the one going to the top too early and making the mistake and there at the end, with like eight to go, I was like, I’m not going up there again. I did that a couple times today,” Chastain said. “I was like, I’ll just drive the bottom. I’m not going to lose the race for us. They just kept going up and moving out of the way!”
"Are you kidding me? I’ve wrecked myself so many times and gotten into it with guys," Chastain said. "Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was ambitious. I had no idea what to expect other than I knew I had my group from last year. Sponsors are believing in us. We started the year with a lot of races open. We’re almost full now, and it’s because of the vision of Justin Marks."
Kyle Busch, who stole his first win of the season last weekend at Bristol, grabbed a 3rd place finish today while Larson ended up in 4th. Martin Truex Jr, who is now winless in 69 career superspeedway races, rounded out the top five.
Jones led 25 laps on Sunday and was leading coming to the finish line, but Larson's move prompted him to go high and block, which allowed several drivers to get beneath him. He managed a 6th place finish but was understandably disappointed with the result.
“That last lap, right? I’ve been close here so many times,” Jones said after the race. “I felt pretty good, but that top line was getting momentum. Looking back, I wish I’d stayed on the bottom. I tried to defend Larson. It is what it is, just trying to win the race. I’m happy to run up front and lead laps. I just would really love to get that No. 43 to victory lane and thought today might be the day. Just couldn’t quite close it out."
Larson made the move, but soon realized it was probably the wrong one to make. "I felt like I did a pretty near-perfect job for me at a superspeedway until the last lap there," he said. "I should have faked going high and gone back low. I had that run there. Just that little inexperience there, probably."
Larson’s teammate Chase Elliott had a solid day after starting near the back of the field and ended up finishing 7th. Michael McDowell recorded an 8th place finish for Front Row Motorsports while Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top ten. Ryan Blaney, Justin Haley, Aric Almirola, Corey LaJoie, and William Byron completed the top 15 finishers.
Kurt Busch was ready to pounce at the finish line but the contact with Larson sent him hard into the outside wall, triggering the big crash that left many drivers with subpar results. He and teammate Bubba Wallace finished 16th and 17th after racing at the front of the field for most of the afternoon. Their team owner Denny Hamlin was right behind them in 18th after running out of fuel just two laps from the finish.
One of the biggest disappointments today was the finishing position of pole sitter Christopher Bell. After a decent day on the track, Bell's day was ruined on the final pit stop. As he was exiting pit lane, he was run into by teammate Kyle Busch. The contact sent Bell into a spin, and while he was able to continue, his 22nd finishing position was not representative of his pace.
Brad Keselowski finished behind Bell in 23rd, but that was due mostly to his own mistakes. The co-owner and driver of the No. 6 Ford Mustang was penalized for speeding on pit road twice during the race. Tyler Reddick's day ended early in the race with engine trouble. Other drivers finishing near the back of the field were caught up in race incidents.
Just before the end of Stage 1, Daniel Hemric's engine let go in the middle of Turn 4 which caused him to spin in front of Dillon, then collecting Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher. Wallace, who won here last year, took the Stage 1 victory under caution.
The biggest crash of the race came after a restart with 31 laps remaining in Stage 2 when Wallace got into the back of Joey Logano, which sent him into the outside wall, then back into the rest of the field. That accident collected Ty Dillon, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Byron ended up winning Stage 2 as Hendrick cars finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th.
“Barely touched him,” Wallace said over the radio. “It stinks. Just Talladega, I don’t know,” Logano said of the incident. “Some people love it, can’t say that I do.” The good news for Logano and drivers with that same opinion is that the next superspeedway race doesn't come until August 27 when the series heads back to Daytona.
The schedule moves from one unique race track to another next weekend, as teams and drivers head to Dover Motor Speedway. Coverage of Sunday's DuraMAX Drydene 400 begins at 3 PM ET on FS1.
