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That Talladega Finish Was Crazy!

Kenny Wallace
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Kenny Wallace discusses Tyler Reddick's win in a crazy race at Talladega!

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Crazy finish puts fresh face in Victory Lane at Talladega | Extended Highlights | NASCAR Cup Series

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Relive the 2024 GEICO 500 from Talladega Superspeedway that saw several big incidents on track and a wild near miss by Chase Elliott capped off with a thrilling finish and cars wrecking across the line.

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The Red dick drives through big trouble to win at Talladega
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emailBy Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service | April 21, 2024 8:08 PM ET

Tyler Reddick prevailed in a typically-frantic Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway run to the checkered flag Sunday in the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race, narrowly avoiding a multi-car crash in the closing 400 yards – coming from third place out of Turn 4, to earn the win by a slight 0.208s when race leader Michael McDowell crashed trying to block competitors approaching the finish line; McDowell’s move slowing the bottom line and allowing Reddick in the high lane to motor through to his first victory of the year and sixth of his career.

So pumped to claim this win, the 28-year old Californian climbed the grandstand fence, pumping his fist to the screaming, adoring crowd while one of his 23XI Racing team owners, NBA legend Michael Jordan celebrated on pit lane, taking Reddick’s young son Beau in his arms and grinning from ear-to-ear. This was the first time Jordan had been at track when his team won a race.




“Man, it’s incredible,’’ said Reddick, who led 13 laps on the afternoon. “Everyone on this No. 45 Toyota Camry worked really hard today. Didn’t really work out in that third stage for us, but we were able to fight and defend our track position.

“Was that crazy guys?’’ he yelled toward the cheering grandstands. “A lot of chaos. That’s Talladega for you.’’

“I just have to give a lot of credit to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex, it was just us Toyotas left and they pushed me with everything they had. Without Martin and Ty and those pushes we don’t win this race.’’

The final few laps pitted a low line of Fords – the manufacturer trying to earn its first win of 2024 – and a high line led by the Toyotas. McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner anticipated a huge run from the cars behind, but conceded later that he was just a little late making the block.

The contact when he pulled down to Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Brad Keselowski sent McDowell’s car off track. Keselowski was still able to recover and finish second – his second straight runner-up finish this season. Afterward, McDowell apologized to Keselowski for essentially costing the former series champion a win with the move.

“We did a good job keeping those Mustang Dark Horses up front,’’ said McDowell, who led a race best 36 laps. “He [Keselowski] did everything right. He pushed me. I was able to get in front of him the first time but when I came back down I barely wasn’t clear. I’ll have to watch the replay. I hate it. I hate it we didn’t make it to the finish line. We had such a fast mustang today. … just came up short and took a lot of guys out and I apologize.’’

The race ending was in stark contrast to the early portion of the event. For the first time since NASCAR instituted “stage racing” in 2017 there were no caution periods through the opening two stages (other than the scheduled stage breaks).

McDowell won the pole position and as promised all weekend, was set to race strategically not forcing his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford to the front all day but instead when it needed to be there. There was a lot of hope that Ford would secure its first win of the year Sunday and two of the Mustangs – driven by Austin Cindric (Stage 1) and Joey Logano (Stage 2) – swept the stage victories early in the race.

But as is so often the case, a late race restart — with 27 laps remaining — set the tone for the finish with McDowell leading the bottom line and Fords stacked up behind him. Reddick led the high line with Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. behind him. McDowell and Reddick exchanged the lead 10 times in that final 27-lap stretch to the trophy – indicative of a day when there were 23 race leaders and 73 lead changes, including New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen’s first NASCAR Cup Series laps out front on an oval (three laps).

It was an exhaustive and exhilarating afternoon depending on what side of the finishing order you came out on. All the drivers – including several collected in the multi-car race ending crash – confirmed they were okay.

“Well, [team co-owner] Denny [Hamlin] keeps saying I’m bad luck,’’ Jordan said, ”And today we proved him wrong.

“The whole team did a good job,’’ he continued. “I’m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody always tells me when we win we have a good celebration but this is the first time I’ve been here [for a win].

“As you know this is NBA playoffs right now and to me, this is like an NBA playoff game. I am so ecstatic for the fans who support the sport itself. You know we’ve been working hard trying to get ourselves to compete against all the top guys in this sport, and we’ve done a heckuva job just to be where we are and for us to win and win a big race like this it means so much to me and effort the team has put in.

“I’m all in. It replaces a lot of competitiveness I had in basketball, but this is even worse because I have no control. If I was playing basketball, I’d have total control, but I have no control and live vicariously through the drivers and crew chiefs. I’m very happy for 23XI – 110 percent.’’

Hamlin, who finished 37th after being collected in a crash, smiled upon hearing Jordan’s elation and Beau Reddicks’ cool celebration with the legend.

“Beau has no idea of the significance of that moment,” Hamlin said.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Noah Gragson finished a career best third, followed by JTG Daugherty’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman.

Anthony Alfredo, who led four laps, finished a career best sixth place for Beard Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was seventh, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland, Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley and the Wood Brothers’ Harrison Burton.

Despite a 20th place finish Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings by 16 points over Truex, who was 11th Sunday.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Truex is the defending race winner.

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LaJoie's day at Talladega ends with 'pretty wild ride'

David Rosenblum/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | April 22, 2024 11:12 AM ET

Corey LaJoie finished Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway by sliding under the checkered flag on the driver’s side of his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

LaJoie was collected in the multi-car crash in the tri-oval on the final lap of the GEICO 500. It started at the front of the field when leader Michael McDowell was turned by Brad Keselowski, who he was trying to block for the win. But the contact sent McDowell’s No. 34 Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the track in front of the pack.

The No. 7 car of LaJoie was in the middle of the pack when contact from Ryan Preece pushed him toward the outside wall and into Josh Berry. When sandwiched between the two Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, LaJoie’s car was pushed onto its side and rode the wall across the finish line.

“I’m good,” LaJoie said after being released from the infield care center. “That was the first flip of my career in a big car. So, 10 out of 10, don’t recommend it. It was a pretty wild ride.

“(I) just never could quite get in the right spot at the right time there at the end, and then you just know you’re just waiting to pile them up. Good thing I gave the belts a good old tug with about three (laps) to go, so I didn’t bounce around too much.”

The crash ended for LaJoie when his car fell from its side onto its roof, with the momentum putting it back on all four wheels. LaJoie finished 18th.

“The all four (wheels) hit was pretty big,” he said. “I’m glad I slid past the start/finish line, though, so I didn’t have to run past it like I was Carl Edwards (in 2009). So, at least I made it past the start/finish line.”

LaJoie didn’t see much of what started the crash. However, on the final lap, he expected something to happen and was along for the ride.

“I just saw smoke, and you’re committed to the fuel,” Lajoie said. “And somebody gets into you, and you just smash into somebody else and hit the wall and just hope that there’s no catch fence in front of you or you’re not the one upside down. But today, I was the one upside down.”

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McDowell 'heartbroken' after crashing out from Talladega lead

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | April 21, 2024 8:38 PM ET

Michael McDowell was “heartbroken” leaving Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway empty-handed after leading the field off Turn 4 on the final lap.

McDowell spun and crashed in the tri-oval off the front bumper of Brad Keselowski coming to the checkered flag. After blocking Keselowski’s run to the outside off Turn 4, the Front Row Motorsports driver went for the second block when the No. 6 dove back to the left toward the yellow line. It was a little too late, and Keselowski got into the back of McDowell, which triggered a multi-car wreck after McDowell spun across the track in front of the field.

Tyler Reddick missed the spinning No. 38 and passed the No. 6 for the race win. Keselowski finished second. McDowell’s damaged car, with its front end torn off, came to rest in the grass yards from the finish line, and he was credited with finishing 31st.

“Just heartbroken, man,” McDowell said. “I pull down a little bit sooner and we win the race. But that’s racing and it’s tough to get to victory lane, and we were close. We’ll be motivated by it. I’m a student of the game; I’m going to go back and watch and study and learn and figure out what I could have done differently and better, and work with my spotter and try to figure it out.

“But I’m super disappointed. I hate that other people that got caught up in my mess. I’m proud of our effort, our speed and our race team. We’ll see what happens.”

McDowell thought he was going to be clear when pulling down in front of Keselowski, and in the moment didn’t think it was a late block. It was not an “all or nothing” moment for him coming to the checkered flag, and he had no intention of starting a wreck. Keselowski “barely” made contact to send McDowell spinning.

“I hate it because we had a good chance of getting a Dark Horse Mustang in victory lane; we definitely had the speed,” McDowell said. “But on the flip side of that, it’s the last lap at Talladega and you’re going for a win, and so I’ll learn from it, go back and watch it, and see what I could have done differently and better. But Brad’s a tough guy to beat here. He knows what to do on the last lap; he’s won [six] times here, and he did everything right.

“He drug off me, drug back and I drug back to him to try to make sure he didn’t have too big of a run, and then he got connected there with [Gragson] and just surged right before I pulled down. You’re dealing with inches the whole time, and I miscalculated. I apologize to Brad and everybody that was behind that got collected in that. It’s unfortunate. We had such a fast Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang. I’m proud of everybody at Front Row. We had so much speed, having both cars up there and controlling the race. We needed a win, and we were going for it.”

McDowell started from the pole in the GEICO 500 and led a race-high 36 laps.

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'Freight train' made Talladega pileup unavoidable - Keselowski

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | April 21, 2024 8:11 PM ET

Brad Keselowski had the momentum he needed coming to the finish at Talladega Superspeedway but contact with Michael McDowell took the victory from both drivers.

“I was looking high on Michael and he did a good job blocking,” Keselowski said after finishing second in the GEICO 500. “I turned back down and got a good push from Noah [Gragson], and Michael came back down to block that, and by then we were kind of a freight train coming and Newton’s Cradled into the No. 34 car and [it was] just too much of a hit for him to be able to save.

“So it’s unfortunate — I thought we had a really strong day; it looked like we were going to get a Ford 1-2-3 and it didn’t work out. I’m glad to get a good finish but really want the win.”

Keselowski had pushed McDowell clear into the race lead down the backstretch on the final lap. It was a three-driver breakaway, with McDowell leading Keselowski and Noah Gragson through Turns 3 and 4. Off the final corner, Keselowski moved high and McDowell followed.

It was a quick succession of events from there as Keselowski took his momentum to the bottom, which McDowell followed. McDowell ended up going across Keselowski’s nose and turned to the outside lane, collecting multiple drivers through the tri-oval.

After the No. 38 spun and was out of contention, Keselowski briefly had his No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse out front. However, Tyler Reddick’s full head of steam — and Keselowski losing his push as Gragson looked low – propelled the 23XI Racing driver to a charge outside of the No. 6.

“I don’t know that anybody did anything wrong,” Keselowski said of the finish. “I just still hate that Michael didn’t get the solid day that he deserved, and we didn’t get the win. But that’s how it goes.”

It’s been 108 races since Keselowski last went to victory lane — the spring race at Talladega in 2021 with Team Penske. Sunday was his second straight runner-up finish and the fourth time he’s finished second since joining RFK Racing.

And Ford, which had three drivers leading the field on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway, remains winless through 10 races.

“We ran up front and we were in position to [win],” Keselowski said of scoring for the manufacturer, “So [that] was good.”

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Kyle Busch, Hailie Deegan and Fans All Upset After Talladega

So who cares about what Hallie Degan thinks anyway?

Fords working against each other, you bastards!
That is not a direct Hallie Degan quote...

Good news is Toyota guys worked together and won, bad news is that half the Toyota field had crashed out by then.....

Oh yeah...Michael Jordan showed up....since his car won it...

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Kyle Busch is known for voicing his frustration. Hailie Deegan not so much. This weekend at Talladega both drivers were not happy with their respective races and didn't sugarcoat what they thought about it. …

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Cup Drivers Sound Off on Deegan V. Herbst | Next Gen Numbers Thru 82 Races | NASCAR Makes Big Move

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Hailie Deegan was not happy with Riley Herbst after Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Talladega, believing that her fellow Ford driver had done her dirty on the final lap. A couple of Cup Series drivers offer their opinions on the subject.