NASCAR Chase Race No. 6: Logano wins Hellman’s 500 at Talladega
By Ted Fleming
Denny Hamlin makes it to the next round after getting an eight place tiebreaker with Austin Dillon.
Joey Logano became the unlikely winner of the Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday to clinch a spot in the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Logano overcame one of the oddest equipment penalties seen in NASCAR when a jack hung up on a green flag pit stop and he dragged it around the track at near speed unable to shake it from his No. 22 Ford before he came to pit row to have it removed. He also had a windshield tearoff get hung up on his grill as the race was winding down and managed to find his way to the winner’s circle without the engine blowing up.
“I got nervous, but I can’t see the nose obviously,” he said about the debris. “It wasn’t that bad. It picked up maybe 20 degrees or so, but we had a good enough cushion to be able to pick up a little bit of garbage and be OK. Everything worked out as planned, I guess.”
When asked about holding off Brian Scott at the end, Logano said, “It’s never a layup here at Talladega. It’s always close. You never get a big lead. A good Shell/Pennzoil Ford. [Crew chief Todd Gordon] made some good adjustments during the race and found some speed in the car, so that was pretty neat to see some of that. We got that track position and just hung onto it. I was able to stay on the bottom and try to run the bottom and keep everyone in line, and that worked out really well.”
Because it was an elimination race, two drivers fell out of contention because of engine issues, another failing to get a much needed win to move on, and a tiebreaker being used for the eighth and final spot.
Martin Truex Jr., who had two wins in the first round of the Chase, was the first out and saw his championship hopes fade away when his engine let go at lap 41. He began the day seventh in the standings, but because this issue happened early in the race he was not able to maintain enough points to advance to the next round.
“Just developed a vibration and started to lose a little bit of power,” said Truex. “Originally I thought it could have been a tire because it was shaking worse and worse and worse until it was time to pit. I slowed down to hit pit road and felt the vibration still there and knew it was the engine. Definitely not the way we wanted today to go – it’s a tough way to go out, but proud of the effort and proud of all the guys.”
Brad Keselowski, who was attempting to be just the second driver to win three straight restrictor plate races joining Dale Earnhardt Sr., was next despite being a force early on leading 46 of the first 66 laps before falling back into the pack. He fought back to the top at lap 79 just before a second round of green flag pit stops. Keselowski would bounce back and forth with the top spot until his engine blew up with just 44 laps to go. He became the second Chase driver to see his title hopes end despite leading a race high 90 laps.
“I’m pretty confident I lost a rod or something in the lower end,” he said. “That’s just the way it goes. I’m not an engine guy, but the car was really strong and we definitely kept finding debris. I thought I got it cooled off and only got it slightly over, but I don’t know.”
Chase Elliott was in a must win situation and his 12th place finish did nothing to help him climb out of a huge hole and he missed the cut off by 28 points.
The one heartbreaker came at the end. Denny Hamlin nudged Kurt Busch for third place by about two feet and that was the difference between making it or not. He would be tied with Austin Dillon and he gets the tirbreaker because he had the best finish in the three races in the second round and he did it in spite of a speeding penalty in the first round of green flag pit stops. It was his ninth such penalty of the year.
If there was one driver who got lost in the Chase points shuffle it was Brian Scott, the driver of the No. 44 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. He would finish second and in 49 career Cup starts it was his first top-5. His best finish this year was a 12th at Fontana.
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PIT NOTES:
Reed Sorenson, who had the fastest time of all qualifiers in either round yesterday, started 12th only to have to bring his car into the garage and fell 13 laps off the pace before the first round of pit stops.
Michael Annett, in the No. 46 Chevy from HScott Motorsports, stayed out on the track during the second round of green flag stops and would get to lead six laps before relinquishing the top spot.
CAUTIONS:
Lap 41 – Martin Truex Jr. engine expires
Lap 113 – Mears, Earnhardt and Biffle tangle and wreck
Lap 144 – Brad Keselowski engine expires
Lap 149 – Debris on backstretch
Lap 182 – Kasey Kahne blows tire
Lap 186 – Alex Bowman spins into grass on infield
HELLMAN’S 500 AT TALLADEGA FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Joey Logano
2 – Brian Scott
3 – Denny Hamlin
4 – Kurt Busch
5 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
6 – Kyle Larson
7 – Kevin Harvick
8 – Aric Almirola
9 – Austin Dillon
10 – AJ Allmendinger
11 – Ryan Blaney
12 – Chase Elliott
13 – Paul Menard
14 – Ryan Newman
15 – Greg Biffle
16 – Michael McDowell
17 – Trevor Bayne
18 – Clint Boyer
19 – Jamie McMurray
20 – Danica Patrick
21 – Landon Cassill
22 – Chris Buescher
23 – Jimmie Johnson
24 – David Ragan
25 – Regan Smith
26 – Ryan Reed
27 – Matt DiBenedetto
28 – Matt Kenseth
29 – Carl Edwards
30 – Kyle Busch
31 – Bobby Labonte
32 – Tony Stewart
33 – Michael Annett
34 – Jeffrey Earnhardt
35 – Kasey Kahne
36 – Alex Bowman
37 – Reed Sorenson
38 – Brad Keselowski
39 – Casey Mears
40 – Martin Truex Jr.