Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series - Full Race - GEICO 500

GW and Jeff in one ok, hello, can you hear me? Do you hear that? Perfect. I'm Frankie Silva, Regional Vice President of GEICO and we are very happy to return this year as the title sponsor of this spectacular event. Of our more than 39,000 associates nationwide we welcome you to the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. We have been fortunate to enjoy a great relationship with NASCAR and its fans for nearly two decades. He is a sponsor of the Germain Racing team and a supporter of the sport as an Overall, we have seen the good work NASCAR fans do off the track in their communities and share their enthusiasm for this great sport.

We are very proud to be a part of this special racing tradition here at Talladega. Today's

race

will be another day where anything is possible, so sit back and enjoy this incredible atmosphere and let's go racing. Thank you very much and look at that right there, one of the interesting scenes at Talladega and of course our thoughts and prayers are with Roger Haynes, the regular driver on that. Johnny Ray's iconic big truck, Rogers, who is currently battling cancer. Roger was there with you, we are thinking of you and of course that is for you. This is without a doubt one of the coolest scenes in Talladega.

This is another cool scene when the drivers get into their car. They put on their Ricky Stenhouse Jr. helmets. Aric Almirola and DW said that the drivers are actually calmer and their heart rates are not as high as people watching this

race

. How is it possible? I agree with you 100%. I know what he was doing when he was driving and before the race started. I always wish, okay, you just have to calm down, not like a lot of trucks we go on where you have to think I'm going to drive 500 miles here, but this place, if you started off calm, it seemed like it was a better day for you.

Yeah, I mean, I agree with DW one hundred percent. When you're in the car, you only see what's happening as a race in front of you and a line behind you. You have no idea what's happening everywhere else when you see this on TV. you can see everything that's going on and it's a lot more stressful to see how many turns you think these guys are going to use to figure out what we have, the unknown, well I think today is different what you're going to go into today and try to figure out what you have, not yet We've seen all 40 cars on the track in a group, so all these guys are going to test each other and find out what they have and learn all day every lap. one all the way and that's why you say you think some of the veterans who have gone through these changes will come out on top.

I agree I just think there is too much change going on and I think these guys will learn faster than the others we raced at Talladega one year this is the first one at our favorite race track now to start the engines let's go to the track to do precisely that racing fans it's time for the most famous words in motorsports here to give the order please welcome to Talladega Superspeedway President Grant Lynch on behalf of our great friends at Geico, the Stark Talladega drivers, the version of NASCAR, a Powerball, no other track has produced more lottery winners, it's 500 miles door to door, nose to tail, 200 mile an hour freight trains and it all comes down to Last One Out Martin Truex took hit the jackpot with his first short track win at Richmond, now hoping to get a superspeedway win on his ticket.

Team Penske drivers Keselowski and Logano, their numbers have gone up more here than anyone else in the race, but Denny Hamlin already made money in the first 2019 Super Speedway races and, although Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were here, it's been a while. It's been a while since they had a winner, but you never know when your number will appear, after all, if it's in it. I can win it, hey, this Talladega, baby, so I'll start with you talking about the closing rate, yeah, of course, one, two, okay, how much of this story do you want? ten ten these are the most successful drivers in the world who have conquered everything there is in motor sports, but today on this track they need something more, something they rarely depend on luck, incredible speeds, there is no space, sharp turns, Talladega doesn't care who you are, it wants to beat you, so it's not a bad thing to get lucky today.

Talladega Fox Sports welcomes Geico 500 to the world's fastest course in Talladega, Alabama, about a third of the way between Birmingham and Atlanta, a former Hill France Air Force pilot training base Jr. well built France

full

of success at Daytona wanted to expand the footprint of super speed racing, he got the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, to grant him this site and the track he built here he knew that to attract fans it had to be more bigger, wider and faster than Daytona and has surpassed everyone's dreams by joining me in NASCAR. Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon with a total of 10 wins combined here at Talladega, we're usually talking about the biggest one and we might do that later today, but the words on everyone's mouths throughout the end of the week have been closing rate, yes, I ran the 500 bus last night and I talked to the crew chiefs of the drivers, even the spotters, Mike, and they said that the closing speed is so great that you have such a big explosion of speed that you're worried they're going to hit the car in front of them and If that gets closer and I look in the mirror, I have my spotter giving me all this information.

I have two decisions I'm going to make: the closing rates are such and if I block it, I'm causing the big problem. but if I don't block it, maybe it will go to the back, so today will be big challenges for these drivers and observers. Larry, what do you have there, buddy? Darrell Waltrip asks about closing rate and thinks about it. this aerodynamic package, these drivers only had 150 minutes of practice on Friday and there's no doubt that the closing pace was huge, so we have an aerodynamic animation with what we call air molecules that will show you why the closing pace It's so good when you talk about 2018 to 2019 think about the air behind a car it's like the wake of a boat look at last year in the background it's not a very big wake the car that was approaching the lead car was in dirty air but look at 2019 that wake is much bigger and it puts that car behind that car in clean air and that's why the closure rate will be so good.

Closing rate may be the second big Dory story, I think it will be the main one you can stop, but can you pass? the question that will be answered here today the starting grid will scroll across the bottom of the screen two single car rounds qualifying the top 12 for the Bush poll well the strong were favorites at Daytona they won everything but the 500, let's find out Jeff if his favorite today well one of those favorites might be this guy, Brad Keselowski, this is Jeff, the guys at the Fox Sports booth, you got me, man, I'm doing pretty good, you know, we've never seen a package like this with so much resistance.

There is a big hole being drilled in the air and so much power. I'm just curious how you prepared for this race today. Good look, try to understand. I guess the reason is that cena will probably run a lot further down the track today. than we've been here for the last two years and we'll probably see the inside lane have a lot more strength, so I don't see anything to prepare for it, something like a good way to throw something different at you, so we'll try that. be ready for this, well thanks for talking to us good luck I'd have a good one Jeff thanks for picking me by the way I think we have a real excited fan ha ha now the Toyotas didn't rate well on Darrell.

Everyone is going to have to go back, they didn't show their speed at Daytona until it was time to win the race. Yeah, let's talk to Denny Hamlin and see if he can give us a little insight. Hello, Denny Hamlin, it's DW. here at the Fox Sports booth, man, you got me, Denny, it seemed like maybe you guys struggled a little here on Friday, the cars didn't seem to drive as well, they didn't qualify as well, it's 23, how do you feel? In today's race, you've got things figured out so you've worked hard on this whole product to make it work well and we did and hope

full

y you know the ratings are not indicative of how we read that it hasn't been in the Although in the past, I think you know it's all going to be situational, somehow I'll get to the checkered flag.

Okay buddy you won the Daytona 500 in similar conditions so good luck now each of the three competing manufacturers has their own agenda for this 500 and our three pit reporters have those stories Jamie little well Mike Chevrolet hasn't won a race since October of last year they want to finish that today and in doing so they must work together someone on the Austin team Dillon told me this morning that the way the Chevy teams have worked together this weekend, he hasn't Seeing as in 10 years the executives of the Chevrolet driver team owners, whatever, have been together to talk strategy and prevent the other manufacturers from winning, today they have 18 cars in the field, that's more than anyone else his plan keeps those Chevys together from start to finish Matt Yocum Jamie last fall Stewart-Haas racing worked the team's roadmap to perfection Three months ago, on the morning of the Daytona 500, the four drivers met with Edsel Ford to better define the rules of engagement, several four drivers told me this morning now with the Super Speedway rules here at Talladega, all of that is out the window, they know they have friends and Ford, but most likely is that they will have to be the Lone Ranger, Vince, well, there is no The question is that strength is in numbers and if you have enough numbers you can impact the strategy of those around you.

So how does that affect Toyotas? Only seven of them, less than half of the fleet of the other two manufacturers. Well, the Toyota team leaders told me today. which will really emphasize the need to work in unison not only on the racetrack, but also when entering and exiting pit road. They'll probably find some friends along the way if they really execute to perfection by the way All of Gibbs' cars go to the back due to unapproved adjustments that affect the airflow to the cabin so they start the race, at least the ones. Gibbs cars together Larry McReynolds yeah, okay, let's take a look at our race analysis, we'll go one hundred and eighty-eight laps 500 miles our stages will be fifty-five fifty-five and seventy-eight to the checkered flag street speed pit road 55 miles per hour there were 17 speeding penalties on pit road last year the 36 to 40 lap fuel window at the back of the field is going to be very busy there because Vince just mentioned the drivers Joe Gibbs who will be joined by Ryan Newman Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as well as Cody ware and Reed Sorenson and Micah, great story.

Brendan Gaughan is back in that 62 car, but Tyler Riddick qualified that yesterday because Brendan returned to Las Vegas for his son's First Communion. Very cool family first, Larry, that's that 4,000 foot straightaway. here at Talladega, which is one of the many interesting facts about the world's largest racetrack that Bill France built. Its construction cost six million dollars in 1969. 33-degree inclination in the curves, two degrees more than that of Daytona. Bill Elliott on the NASCAR all-time qualifying record here. I can see that car at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and a $50 million infield redevelopment project coming up and where those tents are, that's where the fans will be, right in the middle of the Series garage area. the Cup, what a beautiful day started sunny. but now it's really cloudy, ambient temp 76, track temp 105, as that new Forge Edge St with 330 horsepower turns toward pit road and remember the start/finish line is not in the middle of the test speeds at Daytona.

Down here towards turn one, you have a lot to think about between the middle of the tri-oval and the start/finish line, and Mike, you have to be willing to play well with others, you will have to work with others. teams, whether its manufacturer or not, and friends, let me tell you, my heart is beating, the flag is in the air, we are going to compete, guys, and please be kind to each other, we are going to be weaker than the best, of course, hot, you want, of course, hot, you want. That's clear, ha, if you want your half to go, you want everything clear, you can already see that that alliance is beginning to form.

Those Fords in the outside lane. All those Chevys lined up in the inside lane. Well, it was the top-of-the-line Chevy Ford that Austin Dillon chose. the interior and the Fords quickly formed up behind Aric Almirola, still picking up speed as they get to the test book and Mike, I think that jumps to the front as well, if I were the rest of the competition I'd be a little worried about that . Those greatnesses wanted the best working from one side to the other, whoeverLane has the

energy

, whoever Lane has the drive, that's the lane he goes into, you know, in football they always talk about watching tape and I have a feeling that a guy like Brad Keselowski, I bet he watched a lot of tape. that went back maybe even to the year 2000, when we had a roof rail on top of these cars and as much resistance or close to as much resistance to learn what I could about this race today and there, and you got to the net hit the nail on the head Jeff there is a lot to learn in these early stages of this race with this aero package what my car is going to do and how I am going to drive it Martin Truex way up on the high side bringing Stenhouse Suarez and DiBenedetto with him and remember that March 19th Rex jr . had to go back was one of those cars for an unimproved fit has made up a lot of ground and also his teammate there Erik Jones on the inside Carroll looked at the teams because of their cars which caused them to have To start at the rear, yeah they have a hose that's on the right side window that blows air I think probably at the drivers feet or over the driver and they were squeezing that hose shut so the air couldn't get into the car so it was a minor thing, but NASCAR didn't like that it wasn't allowed to make those adjustments after qualifying and after inspection, there are two Gibbs.

The cars make their way to the front, it's pretty obvious, here you have Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and a couple more that are back, back. I think they are playing a little different strategy. I think they know there could be a big one today and you could try to play it a little safe to get further back, they know they can save some fuel there too and when you have good cars with you as long as you keep the leading group in sight quite a bit near InTouch. You won't lose as much and you have someone to help you get there if necessary.

It was always nice to have three or four fast cars behind you if you were there alone. Steven comes absent on the outside and brings a fast train with him, well he has one of the best pushers and one of the most aggressive editors right behind him and Ricky Stenhouse jr. Joey Logano stepped up to block Do you make maps that are part of the hood? Now those things are flying everywhere. I talked to a group of guys. They actually increased the size of the bolts that hold those fins on because they saw it jumping. I think some of these teams are going to have a hard time keeping some body panels on these cars today and I'm not talking about Rex, yeah I know there's that turbulence around these cars, unbelievable in the middle.

Ryan Blaney trying to bring in Michael McDowell. Throughout those front row cars they have shown a lot of speed, their Fords are Blaney in 12 but Dowell in 34 and his new teammate this year Matt Tifft in 36 trying to make something happen, just remember Mike that when you're up high like we see the 22 cars rolling, you're running in a much bigger circle, so the bottom will get ahead of you. Wow, did you see right there and this is what I think you should be worried about? You saw Joey Logano move towards the block. On March 19, Rex junior made some contact because of that closing pace and Ricky Stenhouse jr. shot through the middle to take advantage of it Stenhouse with a run goes straight to Logano's bumper and you see how it shakes that's how it feels in the car that car this is not a smooth ride dan just closed the door on martin truex yes last time we say that Fitz Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified sixth that when I asked his crew chief, Brian Patty, if he was worried about giving up all that track position by having to go to the back for those unapproved adjustments, he said very simply, if you can't get back to the front and 55 laps, he's got bigger problems, I'm not worried at all and we see exactly why, but he lost his momentum here trying to hold off the tricks and look where he's going, yeah, and look, that's what I think these guys are going to do. learn in this first part of this. the race is how big the race will be that will come from behind and what do I need to block.

He moved up to block that 19 when he probably should have stayed back during the shot in that middle lane. We only thought about Truex, he was almost there. in front of the outside line almost reaches the front of the inside line and look where it is now. I mean the outside line just doesn't seem to go anywhere when that bottom stays hot and remember the closing rate is That means you have to make very quick decisions, it has to be instinctive or it has to be thought out but when it happens so quickly you don't have to think too much about yourself, you just go to Bubba Wallace, a Daytona 500 racer right behind Michael McDowell and now he's coming back to the top two by two and Mike, you have to trust, you have to be very confident. and that is difficult for a driver, you have to trust the observer when he tells you of course, get off, you have to get off properly. so you can't hesitate, you have to trust the guy behind you, you have to trust so many things around you to not get into trouble.

Austin Dillon in third started from the pole, he fell to seventh and first driver to win a pole for a Cup. race on his birthday since Jeff Bodean in North Wilkesboro 1986 OMG I was there, did you get cake? They were working on the triangle in those days, the boat on the triangle, I see a little bit of debris on the nose of the two cars. Brad Keselowski. I think it's out of the way so it doesn't affect the cooldown too much, so stay tuned when we saw Jeff yesterday. The cars in front were the ones that collected the trash.

They came to the trash and picked it up. They had a There were a lot of problems with that yesterday, yes, but look, Otto has something for Jamie. I spoke with Joey Logano this morning about what he needs from his spotter. TJ majors said he can't talk enough. I want him talking all the time and no. I want him to give me suggestions. I want him to be deliberate when he tells me something. I'm going to do it and after that move that he saw while he was leading this group, he reminded him of TJ. I need you to be deliberate in your calls, well no I don't think there's a better spotter up there.

You remember he was Dale's junior spotter for a long time. Ryan Blaney takes the lead. Penske has won six of the last nine here. The Geico 500 on Fox is sponsored by Geico's official partner of NASCAR and for credit. a bank, the official credit card of NASCAR, perfect for racing fans, warns at Talladega, a lot of damage to several cars. Bubba Wallace comes to the front immediately after the start/finish line. Drawing on 12 by Ryan Blaney, look to the right of your screen. and look what happens, well you see, it connects to the right rear bumper, Blaney and he tries to jump over it, but they were still connected and made contact.

Blaney was actually very lucky to turn out the way he did, but unfortunately he became Bubba. From the side Michael McDowell is collected and behind them Clint Bowyer Kevin Harvick and more you can see that flat hood that means you're in that air bag you can stay connected to that rear bumper of the car in front of you that I just moved Also, though it moved to the left and when you hit that car on the left side it's just right and that's also when it turned to the right, these cars when you turn to the right they load on that left rear and it just turned it to the side. on the right you'll see a lot of that, that's why these cars aren't as stable as they used to be with Daniel Suarez Z Wallace in the middle pushing Blaney just ahead of Hamlin's 11, Joey Logano looking back.

I mean, from that angle you almost think Ryan Blaney was trying to block that run, but he looked at me like we had no choice, he was just hanging on to the wheel, they drove off, Bubba jumped out, they just touched each other a little bit. or someone hooked the 14th Clint Boyer and that shot him directly at his teammate Kevin Harvick and caused a lot of damage to his car. They had high hopes for today. We're running in the top lane and we got stuck and now. that looks like part of McDowell's number 34 semi-attached car, Jimmie Johnson's car, TN cars picked up a piece of debris over there, look oh that's low, it's going to be debris whose splitter probably makes it not Matt Tifft, yours is intact below. quite a bit of his teammate, who has a little more front downforce and I think he would like, wow, that car went out and you know, let's go back to Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney, those two are best friends, I mean, these Boys hang out together.

They go on vacation together, but when they go out to the race track there are no friends, I mean, they have to go and race each other, they were better, well, Larry McReynolds, now NASCAR requires that there be a certain amount of parts on these cars and There's only so much you can replace what this team's options are, well the most important thing, Mike, is the clock that's fighting them, it's a clock with a six-minute damage repair clause and they have to go under six minutes. and return to minimum speed when we return. racing, but a lot of things like the rear bumper cover are mandatory, the deck lids are mandatory, something like that on the nose is not necessarily mandatory, but there's no way you'd want to race here at Talladega without the nose, but the interesting thing this time.

From this precaution, Mike remembers that my fuel window was approximately 36 to 40 turns. We are getting very close to the threshold of being able to pit now and make it to the end of stage one in 55 laps. Okay, Larry's pit road hasn't opened yet. During this first caution of the day, Denny Hamlin comes in and out with a nice repair on the right front of his car and I'm looking at this piece. I don't think it's a divider. I think it's actually the connecting tray. to the divider that goes under the radiator I don't know what it is but it's stuck it's big it's not a participation and now Matt Tifft was behind his partner McDowell's 34 let's see what happens once again here let's not forget the nose of that Camaro is a little pointy there and we've seen where some guys turn sideways, yeah that's Matt Tiff's car under the damage repair policy, looks like they'll be able to ship it out and then get it back up to minimum speed. he could make more repairs, Kevin Harvick, although he has some serious damage to his number four plaid flannel and there's the jungle guy you should be worried about, maybe he can help make the repairs there.

I'm told two things you never wear at Talladega are flannel. and times Oh, so take this tie Kevin Harvick actually stopped, yeah, he made a good offer. I heard that outside, really loud, and Kevin finished. Clint Boyer hit him really hard on the left side. I have to believe they are falling short. On time here, in this damaged vehicle policy, the pits are open. Erik Jones pits from third. He will stop a little earlier in his pit box so that he is not blocked by the 8, which will stop in front of him, Jones, with only gasoline.

Matt and looking at the fuel alone for several different cars in my area, in fact, Kyle Busch's 18, his game plan was for Larry Mac to move Jamie Joey Logano in the 22 fuel alone, but they looked at the notes, he said, the pace car spat. They stuck some debris in the nose, they look, it looks like it's okay, man, you're having a bad day when this safety car throws something else in, looking at Alex Bowman getting 11 spots, we'll check to see if he stopped in his pit stall, there's boyar . backing up the left side looked good, oh yeah, lots of damage to that car, first caution of the day, 14 laps into the Talladega bubble.

Wallis' Richard Petty Motorsports Chevy is dragged back to the garage area after causing a pileup on, say, lap 11. We, under this first yellow flag, speeding penalties coming out of the pits, we will chase Elliott Ryan Blaney Kyle Busch, everyone will go to the rear tire without control for Ryan Preece and Jeffrey Earnhardt, they will go to the rear, Alex Bowman did Mrs. The pity came on the next lap along with other cars that didn't stop the first time, so we passed Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez to restart on the front row and one of the other acquaintances in the pit chase Elliott suffered a small damage when falling. outside the cat right line 17 line with you in line with the 42 so all in line all in long wrist on 17 pushing you 17 pushing three wide edit for turn three some trick said outside didn't work so hot I'm gonna Drop her in the background, that looks a little better to me, well one thing is for sure after that incident, we just saw it.

Bubba Wallace Ryan Blaney, he hasn't stopped anyone from putting blocks together and trying to stop that momentum from behind. here's Brad Keselowski talking about pushing other cars pretty hard, uh, yeah sir, it seemed like Biddle went a little bit, but what's the top horn endorsement? They were able to get a little bit of push in the corner by covering that lane so I don't know if there's something to that or if it's just people pushing it in the middle and we're while we're talking about pushing a minute there's a big difference between the front bumpers Of these racing cars, the Ford Mustang has a very flat shape.

The Toyota front bumper even though it has these spots on the outer edges on theIt's pretty flat in the middle, but that Chevy Camaro has a distinctive character line that makes the nose very pointed. Aric Almirola in the back, here's Vince Bowen, a victim of that accident. It was Michael McDowell, the team had been very optimistic to start the day, what did you see? Mike, yes, not many of you know from the beginning that you have to be so aggressive and you know that, unfortunately, because of the journey of love, we stop, we were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

I didn't really see what happened, I just saw the 43 coming onto the track and that was it, so yeah, I'm just disappointed that we had such good speed and a great Super Speedway program and I'm really hopeful for today and I had to be . Starting so early is very disappointing, but you know it's out of control, it's part of super speed racing. Mike McDowell hopes to continue his top-five finish in the Daytona 500. Tyko passes on the right side, the outside line looks like a 22. The one from Chevrolet looks like the shimmy guys are trying to group up on the outside and get a little push near the front to see if that works for them.

It is a really good movie. I saw Joey Logano in the middle three and four. he was in the bottom lane and he shot into the middle lane and what that did was force the guys in that second lane to move into the third lane, but so far that third lane seems to still have the most momentum and organization of those cars in those Chevy Vince caught up with Bubba Wallace Bubba out of the spotlight recorded dropped the front bumper versus the front bumper of his Chevrolet versus the rear of the Did that have any significance in the incident or was it just too much? a lot of foam wasn't just the amount of runs we're getting, the force is all I was trying to do was just ruin the audience.

I didn't want to want until 12, it's the last one. The car went up a lot and had a great run on it when the 22 stopped, checked a little and went to go to the back where it was safe and I don't know if I crossed its bumper or whatever, but it made it move down and pushed me even lower than I wanted to go so I went back up just to stay off the platform and it just dumped so it's unfortunate but try not to recommend my friend Ryan and it cost us day and a few others, so I apologize but we should have been smashed a couple of apps for that, the 11th had a great run on us and let me in the middle so I appreciate that but we're fast.

I was just trying. I was just trying. ride and not wreck someone and reckless elf star Mike, two cars out of the race at the start. Now we've been talking about the front design of these cars trying to mirror their street counterparts and, on the right, look at that. Camaro got to a point just below the bow tie and I think that's going to be a factor in this race later because you're going to have to be very aggressive pushing in the later stages of this race. I mean, they didn't play much. and I don't know if it would have mattered if I had a Ford front bumper or a Toyota front bumper in that situation, no, but I think later in this race it's going to be a factor because you're going to have to be really aggressive and I think that's when some of These Chevy guys think they're at a bit of a disadvantage with that pointy nose that just slid over the rear bumper of the 12, I mean, it barely touched it, that's all it takes when we're running 200 miles an hour as proof that you can win this race from anywhere you start or restart.

Kyle Busch was one of those drivers who was arrested for speeding and there he is candy man to seventh place since the restart. We've got a little bit of a break here with these front semi-autos, Jeff says, in something that looks like this front group here mostly forward there by an aric Almirola on Brad Keselowski, they're opening a little gap between that second group back to Vince, another victim of that incident involving Bubba Wallace was Kevin Harvick, what did you see Kevin and what were you able to do? Back there and it looked pretty quiet so I decided to go back to the front and I drove back there, you know, pretty easy and then I don't really know what happened, they all crashed and I slowed down and someone hit me on the door and I hit the door. wall thanks Kevin Mike.

I made it that simple. I hit someone. I didn't hit the wall. Not much more to say. Well, he just saw it right there. Daniel Suárez's 41 achieved a great career. We talked about that closing rate. He got a great career. in Kyle Busch jumped out there and got Ryan Blaney and a couple others to come with them and made up a bunch of spots that they won, you know those four words are strong. I'm a roll as strong as Keselowski, strong Truex is hung, the third sin. forward strong Jones Toyota strong Chevrolet qualified on pole Austin Dillon but right now Ford has seven of the top ten positions Toyota the other three yes, the best Chevrolet right now is Larson on lap 12 of work 25 at Talladega, yes, right front tire, I have Hit a piece of debris or something and the right front tire fell off, the Geico 500 at Fox is sponsored by a great calm with a ring that is always at home. 27 complete laps.

Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski lead in Ford Mustang. Here is the data from today's strong performance track seven in a row. victories at Talladega four for Joey Logano who you are looking at owns three of them Brad Keselowski for Ricky Stenhouse and our race leader aric almirola the winner here last fall when he led only the last lap of this race he is their leader at this time always he liked it I always like to talk about the sum of all the parts, we look at Aric Amirola, a great driver, but it is a great team, and Keselowski is a great team, from the observer to the team leader, the driver and the car They drive, they have everything. instead Jimmie Johnson with a lot of damage on the right side while we were out, hit the wall in turn three, here's a look, he said debris flies there and the result Yes, the right front tire hit a piece of debris or something and the right front tire Mike, I know you're not going to believe this, but it was 17 years ago today that he got his first Auto Club win, 17 years ago, seven championships later and a Boston Marathon two weeks ago .

Johnson wanted right over Iran in just For three hours and all those wins he has, except 83 of them, I think he's had a tough time at these big race tracks lately, over the last few years, they haven't been kind to Mr. Johnson leading that outside lane whoa Joey Logano slides uphill Jamie Joey Logano in 22 gets a little frustrated with fellow Ford driver this was on his radio about Daniel Suarez's 41 I got a beep listen you gotta pick your fights I can't get mad or get angry every time something goes the way you wanted. It's too soon.

We have only run 30 laps. You can't get mad at someone now. There is a long way to go. Yes, but what that tells me is that. They had a meeting, they had a group with Ford and they talked about working together, so when one of those Fords is behind you, you expect him to work with you even though he's not necessarily a teammate and I saw that. This happened before where Suarez had some big runs and he felt like he needed to take that run to the outside lane and he kind of took Logano's 22 and a couple more, yeah, well I was right, you've been running.

I've been racing for a long time, there are no perfect scenarios, you lay it all out and you have a perfect plan, but it's difficult to execute when you enter the court with determination. Logano has his teammate Ryan Blaney right behind him. Matt might remember In the Daytona 500 two years ago, Blaney spent much of the race out front, leading Josh Williams. An observer told me don't expect the biggest challenge today to be trying to control the lane, you can't do that, you can't be the leader and control the lanes like you could in the past, we just saw the 42 there, just one, just They left a 12 car hanging out to dry and this is exactly what I talked about in our opening, is that if you don't block that, run this.

Here's the result: You can go all the way back, about ten miles an hour, slower than you go when you have that big wing catching all that air and Jeff, who was racing, was up there trying to fight for the lead, running second. and Watch him now and he won't attack you if you lose the draft. A single car driving around here is four seconds per lap slower than those cars on the legal terrain. Yeah, you just can't lose that lead or we're done. Let's see. You'll see what happened to Blaney coming down the back, here I blame you for the outside, look he's going after his teammate and you saw Larson, he knew he had Kurt Busch's Chevrolet behind him, he knew a piece if he went to Inside he was going to have someone to accompany him, it's just amazing how quickly you think something happened, your car, you'd swear the Enzi put him on top of you, well it's like they put a parachute on that 12 and in fact we pulled away three times to take the lead Kyle Larson trying to get his Chevrolet in front, that's pretty much what NASCAR did for this race, they extended the rear bumper a couple of inches, the rear wing now has nine inches tall plus a one inch stretcher lip at the top, it's like dragging a parachute because you know two teammates there, two 42 cars more than one and that one was fast in practice, so it wasn't surprising to see them up there and we see Logano charging back, I don't know if those.

The Chevys can push, but they have a lot of speed, you win by running up front. Kyle Larson, who has had a mistake-free race all year or a problem-free race, let's make no mistake, and Kurt Busch, who during the first five races at Chevrolet only finished in the top five. On number one, you know what I see, Mike, and it's been a while since I've seen this. You can be leading and be pushed off the line. You can back off like we saw Logano, but they have enough power and then a throttle. answer that you can go back to the front, you don't just get out and pass, you can go back to the front and that's the big difference with this year's engine configuration, 550 horsepower at Talladega, that's about a hundred more horsepower . stop to pass with more power than these drivers had last year, well it kind of broke up that outside lane with this inside lane that started working and I think they made a little bit of effort to get a great run and put Amaral in front. here's another look, you know, the nineteen in the back, bat for the two bomb cars, not boom-boom and there they go just that little boost and look what it does and how well those bumpers line up and you know what What I like about Truex, he learned his lesson, he got up with that out, he lost a bunch of points, he put the grip back down and he's in third place and you're not going to move him 35 full laps with Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski out front.

We had a caution flag with four cars out of the race, as a result it's here and available today at your local Chevy dealer. The all-new Silverado, the strongest, most advanced Silverado ever, is here and available today at your local Chevy dealer. the all new Silverado the strongest and most advanced Silverado of all time 16 laps left in stage one aric almirola ahead of Brad Keselowski Martin Truex David Ragan and Kyle Busch were not going to brake they were working on Matt Tiff's car that He's now out of the race You saw Sawzall trying to remove a large sheet from the front bumper cover.

It appears he got out of the car of Michael McDowell and his teammates. He goes straight into the front of Tift's car and that knocked them out of the race. Larry, what's up? There it is, well what it is and we'll use our Ford Performance cutaway car to show you exactly what's stuck in the front of that 36 car. Matt, if it came off Michael McDowell's 34 car, it's the radiator pan, it's an extension of the front splitter below. On the car, the yellow part is the front splitter, but this is the radiator pan here and it's huge, it's 37 inches wide and about 28 inches deep, and what that does together with that front splitter creates a ton of front downforce, but it's gigantic and that's what you saw stuck in the front of Matt Tiff's car and again we've seen the violence, the way the cars shake and the way they move and some of the air in there and that tray is so big it just sucked it up.

Right next to the car in that accident, well, the reason they need to have such big trays with that big rear wing, if you want the car to be balanced properly, you have to create more downforce front and rear. Chase Elliott, working with a group of Chevrolet's Mountain Dew and Little Caesars, are teaming up today to give away two liters of any Pepsi product when you purchase any pizza using the Little appCaesars. 14 to go to stage 1. Larry talked about the fuel window and fuel being a concern on two way radios here is Eric Jones' team, we can see Gentie catching up better, how about his partner team right ahead, Kyle borscht, man because of that speeding penalty?

Mike remembers that he returned to the pits to take the penalty that Jeff finished off, you were right Tony hurts from 3 his spotter told me this morning the races will be so fast the information he gives to Kyle depends on him, he can't hesitate when he does a move, what about the Ganassi cars that have returned? in 11th and 12th place, the leading Chevrolet is Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch Jimmie and Kurt Busch was telling the team about him when the green flag fell. I'm at 75% throttle above 20 to get to this stage, they told them I need you to back off a little more, don't push the 42 too hard and then they alerted them that the other Chevys are in the same boat so wait for reach the end and we see them now that they were up there.

They have been fighting for the lead for a while and now they are pedaling smoothly, that is, trying to reach the break. Yes, those teams in these pits can see live data and can see how much throttle they are using to calculate. that fuel consumption, let's check the forge how about Mike, the Penske team man, just before he was dropped, thrown out of that Highline Ryan Blaney told the team of him I can't save fuel at all. I'm completely open to Almirola Keselowski Ford being up front at Fort 11 for Stage 1 and Talladega, you'll see it all as we go.

Fox side by side, welcome back to the Geico 500 on Fox. Aric Almirola quickly enters the pits after leading 27 laps that he will have. take a drive-through penalty at 55 miles per hour on pit road while the rest of the field roars at 200, he'll do a lap, he'll definitely laugh, he got in well with Brad Keselowski, now Moreau loves the white car and me. I'm not sure how much these drivers had a chance to practice getting to pit road, but you can see right there that he's doing everything he can to avoid locking up those tires. Third speeding penalty of the season for Almirola.

All of the Penske cars stopped as did Almirola. On that lap we got Martin Truex, the leader, our most recent winner on the short track at Richmond, here comes Ty Dillon on the outside and his Chevrolet in second place, David Ragan, second generation driver from Unadilla, Georgia, has a win here , has a victory at Daytona. he's racing for Shriners Hospital and he's the last Bob Jenkins, front row race cars of three of them that started, he's the last one David has killed Goliath with a couple of times at super tracks like this and I'm not so I'm sure he had a teammate to help him do it. on Martin Truex on fuel trucks trying to back up a bit but is still pushing all the air out of the front of his Toyota into the bottom lane as Ty Dillon takes the lead and with a few laps left at this stage, I'm not sure.

How much fuel could you really save by going back there and trying to follow Ty Dillon, the younger of the two brothers? His older brother started from the pole. Ty came into this race with an 82 1-shot, but that didn't make him a bad player. I think he's a good choice and he won the Richmond stage a couple of weeks ago and got really excited. Remember that great view from our visor camera here aboard Alex Bowman, but we've talked about Truex from here in his situation. win so we can make a little game and if he wants, he jumped to fifth place on the outside fence, well on David Ragan, who is the first car on that inside line, he had previously been behind Martin Truex Jr on that inside line, they told Regan.

He has half a lap left and they need him to save by trying to get to the end with 38. Matt is worried about Kyle Busch's 18 fuel. Adam Stevens told him that he should go into fuel conservation mode because he has lost a lot drafting. help drilling that big hole, you're stuck at the end of this whole line trying to save fuel, you could hear, they do it so people at home say, well how are you going to save fuel if you're not running backwards, you're not speeding up . push it all the way you're going to burn less fuel if you're in it you can win this is justin haley this is his first start in the NASCAR Cup Series and he's in the top 10 right now and he might I'll be celebrating some more today because today It's his birthday, his 20th birthday and guess who has the fastest lap of the race, so for Justin Haley, how's that for tea opportunities?

I found it now aric almirola in addition to the speeding problem, a speeding problem has what Problematic Man and DW, what is your famous quote when it comes to racing? Don't exactly be discouraged. Aric Almirola told his team. I slipped two tires when entering the pits too hot. I just hope I can make it to the break three more laps, yeah. What happens to these tires when you go in like that and lock up one of those tires? He probably locked the left front tire, he didn't see the flat spot on the right front panel, that tire possibly caused a vibration and a blown tire, remember we saw he was trying to get to pit road and it looked like the tires were trying to lock and even trying to prevent him from doing so.

Hey guys, if you don't come to pit road now, you'll make it to the end. of the stage because now we have two left if the pit road will be closed, so everyone out there has made their bed, they have to race in this stage and wait until they open the pit road. Jamie Austin Dillon on the 3 is all about stage points, I just asked his crew chief if they are good on fuel, they are good but they also told him to be careful on the 88, they told his spotter if he starts to stumble, raise your hand, keep your eyes on the 88 in front of You're okay, Larry, as a crew chief.

Okay, you could make it to the end of the United States, but what happens when the warning comes out? Will you be worried about running out before you can get to the pits? Absolutely verify with 33 degrees of inclination. you might see a lot of them on the platform when this stage ends until they open pit road, all the right stage points on the line Kyle Busch in position to get the last of those, without Haley in 77, for ahead of Kyle Busch for the tenth push. back to 10 I love this is the battle of saving fuel to see who wants to win this stage Truex could be eliminated I think everyone could be there, everyone is running on fumes I mean it's going to be really close for these guys They were in the pit road on lap 14 and summit lap 15.

They have the first caution flag. They have that reservation. They have a slight reservation. They can change to it. I'm sure most of them are activated right now. You have a lap when most of the time they set it up with about three quarters of the lap, so they have it planned to win. That thing, you know, cuts out, you flip the switch to that second bomb, you think so, determined. I'm back on pit road, clicker Minh and others dropped in eighth due to an apparent loss of fuel pressure. There's no gas gauge on these cars, but here we come to the last lap of stage one and North Carolina's Ty Dillon, the Geico Chevy, is going to win.

Alex Bowman's Chevrolet stage one two three four with Austin Dillon and chasing Elliott his second stage pace this season looks like about nine cars pitting before pit road opened were so close to fuel they'd rather start in the longer queue then they run out of gas on the track, so now the safety car brings them in and pit lane will be open at the end of stage one. Ty Dillon leads three more Chevrolets to the green and white checkered flag to finish the first of three stages, yes. John also Austin a third and that's still a good job.

Here's Vince Alex Bowman coming to the pits in '88. He's a little hot and also needs ticket help with balance since the team chose not to do a chassis adjustment. There will be four tires and they will remove some tape from the front. Jamie, a sigh of relief for tonight. Dillon, did everything they could to win their second stage of the year. Now it's a four-tire stop. They surpassed the others. him in his brother in the 3 Austin Dillon a four tire stop his goal was to get some stage points and they did a good job with that too - 12 down and away - guys 50th anniversary of Talladega, we're in 1969 the Dillon The grandfather of the kid, Richard Childress, took his number three to the World's Fastest Speedway to race in the first Talladega Childress 500 Cup race, yes sir, where you say we mark our stage, we're there, ty Dillon, hey, ty , this is Jeff up the Fox.

Sports booth, you got me, man. I love talking to you at every stage victory. I know how excited you were in Bristol and hey, it's not easy because you know how hard it was. You were all trying to save fuel to make it to the end. from that stage and also trying to win it, yeah, you know, with our teams, all the partners were trying to work together, Billy, it was important that our Camaros were at the front, so I didn't get information about my fuel economy and it was very important know it. when I was able to go and when I was able we still didn't know for sure, but man, the boys did a good job, but I'm really proud that my boy is going with the team to win a second stage that is dominated by our team, so Se It's pretty much about that, I'm not talking about you guys, okay, man, well, maybe we'll talk to you guys a little more today.

The best thing, think that the plan that Matt mentioned, that is Matt Borland, his crew chief, the second stage victory of the season. the younger of the two Dillon brothers from welcoming North Carolina is at the helm, yes, the 20-19 FIFA Women's World Cup begins this June, all eyes will be on the United States national team as the defending champions They lead France in search of winning a historic fourth World Cup. games will be broadcast live on Fox and fs1 here at Talladega 59 full laps here are the fastest pit stops presented by Xfinity Chase Elliott one of those top four in stage one Ricky Stenhouse Alex Bowman Ryan Blaney William Byron were the fast five now we mentioned ten drivers stopped before pit lane opened so they wouldn't run out of Sunoco race fuel and here they are, they will have to go to the end of the longest line when lining up for the restart, there was another penalty that they applied to Martin Truex. for too many men on the wall by the NASCAR pit road umpire system ready for the second stage when the drivers approach the Geico restart zone anywhere within that area, the control car can step on the throttle and restart the race if you don't at the end of that green zone the man with the flag will restart is Chase Elliott and he's in it when you heard Ty Dillon when we talked to him on the radio talk about the Chevrolets working together is exactly what who was talking, that's teammate Chase Elliott Alex Bowman moves to the bottom right in front of him so they can connect, you've got William Byron back there, Austin Dillon's 3, Ty Bill Dillon's 13 on the outside , so look for those guys to try to line up those Chevys along with those Fords on the inside.

We had all the Fords out front for a good portion of the start but the Chevys struggled and found Irwin out front right now, we'll see how long that lasts silly, that's such a false sense of momentum you get. at Stenhouse he had it, he had a great race and when he tried to go around Alex Bowman he just stopped here come the Penske Fords inside Ryan Blaney Joey Logano Stenhouse is going to go with them and then Stenhouse's teammate Ryan Newman, yeah, you got to Kozloski there too along with the 22 car and you saw Chase Elliott going from the bottom lane to the top lane.

He knew the line was moving up with William's buyer and his teammate allowing Alex Bowman to circle the bottom lane and move right in front of his teammate chasing Elliott to take the lead. I think by now you have an idea of ​​what your car will and won't do. hang in there, rate how much space you need I think you're getting a little more comfortable with what you have Chevy on the outside Ford on the inside where are the Toyotas? Kyle Busch in tenth place is the first of them, he is in the outside lane six.

The cars return now during the stage that ends the yellow flag. Aric Almirola got the free pass. He was eligible for it since he had already served his previous penalty, so he is back on the lead lap and has come from behind to 14th place. I know Mike. You never want to make a mistake on the field, you want to have clean stops and all that stuff, but here youyou get away with it a little bit more because you can get back to the front very easily. Larry Mac, yeah, let's make our trust in Duracell driving, that's right. aric almirola eight full-time season in the Cup Series in his second career at Stewart-Haas in 2018 Eric and his crew chief John and Class Meyer won the dirty playoff Talladega race made the playoffs and finished fifth in the final points standings now Eric spotter Joel Edmunds started helping Eric when he was at Richard Petty Motorsports in the 43 car and in early 2018 when Eric came to Stewart-Haas, Joel made the move with him.

I would say the success that Eric Johnny and Joel have had together at Stewart-Haas competing in their first forty-five races in that tin car, it's safe to say that Aric Almirola is driving with solid confidence in Duracell, absolutely Larry, he won here last fall, now what you're seeing is from the observers perched atop the tri-oval and if those cars look small it's because they're almost a mile away entering turn three from the point of view of the observers, you know who else likes this view that that guy who's in the lead right now has now 88 Alex this It's the first few laps, I think he's been leading this year and you know, I talked to him on pit road before for this race to begin.

I said, Hi, thanks for using that visor camera and he said, I hope you don't see anything in front of me right now. He's getting his wish well Jeff take us for a ride with Alex Bowman yeah so here you know when you're in front now it's a little different when you have your teammate behind you but watch the little guy movement of his head every time. The moment his head moves a little to the right is him looking in the mirror to see what's going on behind him, it's a second rail for me of course, at this moment he says it's a good time to take a breath because things are pretty calm. two of your teammates right behind you have the Chevys lined up, this is the place you want to be and the calm before the storm just holding a nice steering wheel there, you know, wide open, you hear the rpm's not changing much, he he's not getting what we're getting.

I talked about that close rate because he's a leader in this field right now. How much does it help that he has his two teammates directly in line behind him? Well, he makes you feel more comfortable. You know they won't do anything to ruin you. If he's a competitor, you're never sure you'll feel very safe with a teammate behind you, particularly someone like Chase Elliott, who's a pretty good guy and pretty conservative on the track. I know you had a lot of fun Friday night on the boulevard, but seeing these cars flying around Talladega makes me want to do one thing, oh yeah, we don't have a say, maybe we don't want to form a triangle to fill that outside line the night before Nathan with you so inside to be patient there or good shape now Oh 795 of you five back in the 41 everyone but give me a patient stay with brad keselowski brought aric almirola's Fords Joey Logano and David Ragan on the outside to the lead 68 full laps at Talladega and that number 10 of Almirola was the free pass car at the last caution now he's in the top three he pulled out the whip how about David Reagan while you enjoy the race on fox a great second screen experience the hot pass hang out on code FS Twitter Facebook YouTube or caffeine join Michael Waltrip Katelyn Fitzy and Regan Smith Joey Logano took the lead and here comes David Ragan on him and Brad Keselowski inside by Kyle Busch.

Unfortunately, David Ragan didn't have anyone with them on that move, so I don't know. how well it's going to work out, luckily he chose Kyle Busch. I don't think it was a good idea for David, but he has a great race car. I'll tell you that Reagan in '38, you know when you talk about guys that are good at these super tracks, look at Joey Logano in the 22 car races, he knows those races are coming and probably TJ Majors, his spotter told him he was watching for the mirror, go down and block that lane. Kyle Busch had all that momentum speed and once you get that momentum you just ride it as much as you can and that's why he actually has so much career. his teammate Brad Keselowski just follows him Logano will go on to lead lap 73 by about a meter over Keselowski's Reagan now this is what Joey was talking about before he took the lead now you saw it right there Oh in 10 car lengths from aric almirola was right on the rear bumper the two brad keselowskis who opened the door for Alex Bowman to get inside it and take him three friends well, there you find them Kyle Busch is the only Toyota among the front five, but it seems that he has found a friend with David Ragan, oh never mind, Reagan goes down blind, he was his friend, but not for long, that's right, he has the best pusher he can have right behind him, Ricky Stenhouse jr.

I'm going to push Kit Tom to take the lead right here, you better get behind that fast 20 car, well he'll get some help from Aric Almirola to see if they can get back up and that's how fast you go from 1st to 11th, but you can. goes from 15th or 11th to 1st pretty quick too, yeah that's what I've seen with this package, you go back but you can go back, how about that third car on the outside? Martin Truex Matt Mike, quick recovery for Truex's 19th. Remember he stopped early at the end of that stage before pit road opened because he had run out of fuel and then he had the problem while the car was being serviced, a team member went to get a tire, his hand hit the concrete and that was the penalty. his concern now about fuel he told Cole Pearn under that yellow flag.

I don't know how else he could have saved more. He was doing everything he could, so that could also be a concern for later in the race. I think it's kind of a mystery. and Larry, we had talked about this about the fuel consumption with this package, he's injured and what do you know about that? Learn well, I don't know, Darryl, as you look here, the window is open, we can see them start to come. on pit road, you can pit now and get to this state, so I would start keeping an eye out for some drivers possibly hitting pit road here in the next lap or two.

Well, I feel like someone was worrying me about hitting something other than the pits. road that is disgusting Busch going down that road immediately Ricky Stenhouse jr. all over the rear bumper trying to give him a big push to get to the head, look at this, now there's a gap between Kyle Busch's 18 in that outside lane, now here comes Ricky Stenhouse jr. you want to push that outside edge, but if that car moves and right there, I mean that was a great moment for Kyle Busch as Ricky Stenhouse jr. He got to that rear bumper, the cow Busch may be the only guy who was able to hold on to that car in those conditions because what he said was out of control really what that did for Kyle Busch sent him straight to the lead, but he also is getting. timed on both sides by the Fords, a Blaney on the inside, a Stenhouse on the outside and this is what we expected today, we saw this in practice, they had three wide, no one was happy to move forward at the moment, they are not worried for the fuel. mileage anything else they just want to get ahead I think this is who we were I think it took a few laps in the race for everyone to figure out what they had because this is so new and now they know what they have and they're getting a little more comfortable with that and much more aggressive.

Well, we've already had more lead changes today than we did in the entire 500 last fall. Well, yes, that's because Kurt Busch led almost every lap except the last one. Mike, this is so intense and we talked about this thing that Jeff and I have and I think you do too, this is mental, this is not physical, it's easy to drive these cars around this track mentally, even though it wears you down on Joey Logano at 22 years old. in which he was. At the next table at dinner last night I said what do you think he says?

I think you're going to see an entertaining race and you're going to see it all as we go Fox side by side Olive Branch Mississippi ricky stenhouse is the first of five Fords out front 81 laps into the Geico 500 at Talladega 26 full laps we're almost halfway through stage two I love Brian Patty Ricky Stenhouse junior crew chief he and they go together they are both going to do everything in their power to win this run whatever it takes in the Ricky Stenhouse whatever it takes, driver Patty he's a crew chief whatever it takes, when Stenhouse is also a guy, he's not content with being second, third, fourth or fifth, he wants to lead a lot of action on pit road about halfway through.

At this stage, Vince, Kyle Larson's 42, arrives on pit road. Larson has been dealing with a bit of a weak race car, there will only be gas, Matt, and there will only be fuel for the 24. William Byron, all the Chevrolets on pit road, culminating. Jamie Austin Dillon in 3 right now chasing Elliott good recovery short time there are no tires there for the three or 13 they can go off pit road all together we talk until the end of the day about how all the manufacturers each have their own own agendas and Chevrolet has just shown their hand 1 if it's a numbers race Mike, that was 11 Chevrolet just got together if they can keep those Chevrolets together, that's going to be very powerful.

I tell them I can't imagine they can't get the guys who have seen the benefits and the racist past of working together and I think you got it, you have to remember that when you go into these races with 27 laps left in stage 2, here you have a brief word from Duracell, this is a reliable brand, Ford is in front 4 of them before the number 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch, he also has the teammates of Erik Jones and Martin Truex, only two Chevrolets in the top 20 , rookie Justin Haley and Brendan Gaughan in the top 15 and then further back the cars that pitted and Mike remembers the identity, we dot, we don't have a restrictor plate here now we have a tapered spacer we don't have 400 horsepower we have 550 horsepower we don't have a three inch pole we have a nine inch folder everything in today's race is different than what we have I've never been here before that's why these crew chiefs and drivers have to make adjustments over the march so that we go from the leading group to the cars that stopped in the pits moments ago, that group of 10 or more Chevrolets that entered stayed on the lead lap with a Single fuel, stop Larry Tire, we are not a big concern here, yeah It really wasn't like that, Mike, but those Fords that aren't in the pits will have to come in around lap 90, which would be 20 by the end of a stage if they did.

We're going to do this full fuel run, but yeah, I would say just like you saw the Chevrolets that took on Mike with no tires, just fuel and then Mike. I think a lot of these guys thought we might see an accident today because of what we saw. practice and what are the unknowns of today's race. I think a lot of guys were expecting a lot more caution than what we've seen so far and I think you'll see it done, just like Larry McReynolds was talking about no, no, tires. fuel, but under those yellow flags, in those stages it ends, if they pit under a yellow flag, you will see that they put on four tires or at least two.

I think there are many elements of this race that are like any other race we've ever had. Mike was ever here, it's just all the factors that go into the cars and the difference in the car this time from what we've had here in the past, strategy, fuel positioning, I think they're all pretty much the same. which Denny Hamlin upon entering had damaged. since the accident on lap 11, ten cars leading at Talladega and counting the cars that have already stopped 26 cars on the lead lap in position to maybe win, the Geico 500 at Fox is sponsored by the official sponsor of Monster Energy of NASCAR 21 laps to go in stage 2 at Talladega up to 10 Chevrolets that stopped eight are still on the lead lap running about 15 seconds ahead of leaders Ricky Stenhouse in 17th, there is that group two of those Chevys that have gone one lap behind teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece couldn't pick up the draft of the other Chevys that came out of the pits, so they are in this group with the leaders that includes all the Fords and Toyotas that have not yet stopped in stage two.

That's what shows why Ricky Stenhouse. jr. I love these big race tracks, the highest performing Toyota in that group is 7th place Kyle Busch Matt Mike cunning and planning goes on throughout the race Kyle Busch a few moments ago he was a little frustrated right now working together in it, that's my favorite thing, yes, ten. four working on it, it seems that yes, if it stops coming from the Fords and one from the Toyotas, the leaders reach the pits. Kyle Busch takes the lead in this race, spins Brad Keselowski's 2 and also looks only gas. making sure the grill is clean, gas only andready Matt, has to be fuel only for Ryan Blaney on 12.

Lackey has it full still waiting, finally gone on 19 from Martin Treach jr. surrounds the brothers of the gulf 96, also finished Jamie Joey Logano in the 22 said the tires on the right side came loose a little is the call Mel Topham up with you Oh, also, the clubs call with clip Boyer, we have to back up to enter to his position as Jamie pointed out and also Daniel Suarez was very close to having a thick bottle cap there on pit road trying to get into his pits, Erik Jones' 20 has spent much of the day towards the front group. a chassis tune-up and gas for Erik Jones' 20's manage those Toyotas around the fuel hero just for his 18's a bush away Matt DiBenedetto finishes his gas, stops Stanton Barrett's 52 getting serviced and heads back into the fray, So things turn, hey like Am I the leader?

Check him out, and he might be behind the wheel too, buddy, rookie Ryan Preece from the Modified division, giving us a good ride with that Pro Tehran port cam. Here we go with Stenhouse on the outside of Kyle Busch. Aric Almirola. in the mix there with Martin Truex Church made a good move that could keep you, the can was under him and I knew I had to give him some space close here on pit road Daniel Suarez comes in whoa Ryan Newman comes out and here's the other one one when Joey Logano was done and Clint Boyer didn't know that guy very well, he really gave Logano a break there, what a one-on-one move by Clint Bowyer to avoid Joey Logano there, hey, you want to see this moment, okay , look at this chase.

Elliott, the nine he's getting, that big toe 17 Ricky Stenhouse tries to tighten up and put the block in pursuit of Elliott, but you know what that's called, taking him to the limit, he took him up there when he felt like he could and he had to do it. Let it pass if he had pulled out another hand to say it very differently. Chase Elliott, whose father holds the all-time NASCAR qualifying speed record set here, is now leading the Geico 500 with 16 laps remaining in stage two's 13-lap race. to go to stage two, let's go three open sponsored by John Deere, chase Elliott, your leader on the left, watching Joey Logano and Erik Jones fight for 10th place in the middle and your stage one winner, Ty Dillon , worked his way up to the sixth of a seven.

Chevrolet car train in front let's sing a song why don't you meet me in the middle if that enormous race that that outside lane created right there led by Aric Almirola's ten it seems like they were going five miles per hour faster than that Daniel's eight Henry in the inside lane then the cars pretty smoky my friend looks like he handled himself well he's running fast and you know what for me these guys up front right now those Chevrolets in the inside lane have seen this happen before I think they should start moving towards that outside lane and block those four words that are about to reach your outside.

What I told you a moment ago, Jamie, go ahead, I just wanted to add Chase's No. 9, Elliott, who leads, who I spoke to. Alan Gustafson, his crew chief this morning, said we had these meetings with the manufacturer about four of them this weekend. He said I've been a part of that before where Chevrolet wants us to meet and he said I'm very confident in what we're planning here today and bringing all the teams up, all 18 cars, so they're working to get to the front and, meanwhile the nine guys overcame a speeding penalty on pit road, a problem when he fell off the jack and is now leading this race with a good car, yes Jamie.

I think what's a little discouraging if I'm a Chevy guy is that the Ford guys seem to be able to get past them, they're all at the back in a single file working together and Here come Almirola and Joy Mangano Keselowski and they looked like be able to drive and take the lead. Well, they're going to pick me up. They'll have to get past me on the inside because I'm going to block that outside lane first. ever get there, they don't seem willing to move up, like they're a little broken here, 10 of our amirola broke away from some of those other strong ones and now he's following those Chevrolets, so we'll see what he can do. if you don't have that help, you're not going to get any help from Ty Dillon or Daniel Henrik in the 13 Chevy and the 8, the friend, the Stenhouse in his other Ford, the 17 blue car, they're already way behind in health the first one.

What you're going to want to try to do is shuffle that number 10 car off of that line. I know this because I'm T, that number 10 car, Elmer, oh he's a sneaky guy, now I'm telling you with the fast ten race car. laps remaining in stage two lap 101 completed Talladega chases Elliott to the front side by side nineteen cars in the leading draft at Talladega approximately the first does not form a single file and then continues as they jockey for position approaching the end of the stage two in six laps Hendrick Motorsports up front one two three Jimmy Johnson ran over a piece of debris early cut a right front tire hit the wall still running but ten laps down and maybe something I haven't seen today and thought I wouldn't actually draft in tandem still.

I thought we'd see some guys hook up and push each other, but I'm not sure the cars are handling well enough to do that. Could you answer me after about three turns? We know there is a warning. I see the bumps and that seemed to work pretty well but I haven't seen two cars just hook up and take off and pass everyone and I, gray, just don't think they're driving well enough to be if they will if it's for the win. in the one lap shoot, so here comes the Fords on the outside, Ryan Blaney, trying to get a little side shot to get something going like these Fords.

Try to inhale the Camaros that are leading this race, Matt Mike, we told you at the beginning of the show, the Fords try to work together if they can, but sometimes you're going to have to be the Lone Ranger. Blaney has lost his teammates. at one point he said frustration and said quote, I can't take care of my teammates anymore, he's out at the moment, well, if we go back to the last four or five years, Toyota was the most organized at Daytona, they won the Las Daytona 500 and Ford Camp said: Hey guys, let's take a look at this.

They started working together, suddenly they started setting the standard and then Chevrolet took a look at it. They said, guys, we have to figure this out and right now. We're doing better because they've got them all lined up at the bottom, but no, do you think it's a little ironic that Ryan Blaney says he can take care of the story? He is the youngest of the three drivers. Well, we mentioned Jimmie Johnson. out of the race due to the accident on lap 11 Bubba Wallace Kevin Harvick Matt Tifft Michael and much later in the race still with the camber damaged from that accident Denny Hamlin also went to the garage Johnson ten laps down Clint Boyer was in that he is six laps behind Stanton Barrett Cody, where Parker Kligerman also several laps behind, but we still have 26 cars on the lead lap, yes, those 12 cars are to blame, although keep working with him and go down that door, try to be a little side, he shoots back, he had Almirola behind him, he pushed him a little bit, they could get there, you can almost hear Dillon, he had to let off the gas a little bit right there and that's when Ryan Blaney really lunged at him , I think driving when you're on. that bottom lane like this on those side jockey cars on the outside can definitely take away from your handling, remember Jeff, they just came and fueled you up, put tires on, video there are two laps left in stage 2 so the pit lane is officially closed who contacted there Ricky Stenhouse just took a hit was that Kurt Busch on the inside I think Stenhouse got loose a little there it seems like some of those sports are a little bit free on the outside.

I've seen that happen up to 42 Larson. I saw him go off the turn these cars are about to spin if something happened to Ty Dillon too and that broke the momentum a little bit and maybe some of these cars have to roll out. Almirola is Tenth in number 10 trying to get the last point of the stage just ahead of Logano. There's Almirola, who has led the most laps today. 27 Don't tell Erik, but in the last 18 races at Talladega, the driver led the most laps all three times he did. He doesn't have to be one of them, listen, he knows how to lead a lap, yes, the most important one.

I think one thing these guys are happy about is saying cleverly because they need tires, it's not over yet, they're chasing Elliott trying to become fourth. Chevy driver who will win a stage in 2019, Ty Dillon, now has two Kyle Larson, a look at this huge weapon, it comes from Blaine, wait, wait, Kurt Busch came out, got help from his brother Kyle Busch and everything that lane really started to form and moving forward the starter has the green and white chips in hand stage two comes to an end right now chase Elliott coming to the flag leading Alex Bowman and William Byron Hendrick One, two, three Chevy that was pretty intense, the observer was excited, no, it was a brave guess, Ted.

Allen Chase Elliott takes his first stage win of the season The Geico 500 on Fox is sponsored by the Ford Fan Hall. Are you the biggest NASCAR fan? Visit ford.com slash

nascar

from Novartis and Geico, official partner of NASCAR. Two stages complete 77 laps. To go, there's his second chase of the stage winner, Elliott taking his first stage win of the season and fourth for Chevrolet this fall. Fox becomes the new home of WWE's live Smackdown network. Catch all the action every Friday night starting October 4th only on Fox. Re on Smackdown Live royalty-free would be a good title for what we're about to see in stage three, I definitely think so, I want I mean, it seems like its intensity at the end of these stages and as we get closer to the end of this. the race is only going to accelerate let's take a look at how the Coca-Cola family of drivers is doing here at the end of stage two ending with seven Chevrolet is in the top eight Austin Dillon currently fifth Kyle Larson in that group Joey Logano Ryan Newman Daniel Suarez on the lead lap in 24th place Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace in the garage yes, I know, I know we are in a rest period now, but it has to be very encouraging for the guys at Hendrick Motorsports, I mean, have three cars. one, two, three run as good as they are now, that's pretty encouraging for those guys, yeah, I think he chased Elliott too.

What's encouraging is that the last time he did two stages, he won the race at Watkins Glen, he will drink his around turn four at caution speed and the green light is on at the end of pit road, let's go with the Ball State University alumnus of the year Vince Welch, well, what a Billy, thank you. Mike Alex Bowman, coming to pit road, celebrated his 26th birthday. Thursday he hopes to celebrate the first victory of his career a little later today he really likes the car entering the pits from second place a little Titan four tires and gas man in Blaney's car a little tight a slight concern about the air pressure change in William Baier's 24 Baier is missing the hood pin in the left front corner, but the biggest concern was the fuel pressure that was increasing going down the homestretch, he had to flip the switch.

Jamie Jeff Elliott in the 9, you see the damage there on the left front, the car has been good. balance but that seems excited, they got their first stage win of the year here's their Sunoco race outside the pits Elliott and Bowman as they came in and Kyle Larson Kyle Busch and polesitter Austin Dillon style the two winners of our Been on a chase this Is Jeff in the cabin? You got me right buddy, you had to overcome some stuff in pit lane, but your pit crew did an amazing job of getting you out first and your Chevy teammates, you guys have been working really well together, what?

Will it be necessary to keep that number 9 car in front to get this victory? Yeah guys, let me do a good job today, I'm just trying to be smart. I think it will change a little as the day goes on, I'm sure it won't. what we saw right there I don't think we did it right man I appreciate it have a good time I appreciate you guys NASCAR's most popular driver takes the stage to win 75 remaining laps on the fastest soccer track in the world They say defense. win championships we'll see if that's true here today here don't be afraid to tell me what you're thinking you know just as you know it same page I'm here doing this for everyone for new or as loose money so who's right oh my god yeah you're watching NASCAR on Fox preparing for the green flag and stage three, watch Daniel Suarez, our favorite NASCAR race segment on fs1, Monday throughThursday night, is it radioactive today, are we radioactive with Daniel?

In football they say defense wins championships, we'll see if that's true here today. I'll be afraid to tell me what you're thinking, you know, so we move on to Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez to restart in the front row. The repetition of the flag is correct. There is no help here. Know how to make a big inside out shock or Absalon. Let's listen to something from Daniel Suárez. On the day as we prepare for stage 3, they will take the green flag with 72 laps to go. Its double row. out of turn number 4 Larry Mac tells us he's just about to make this a one stop race, if things go well here they come to the Geico restart zone, a good crowd at Talladega Sun comes back and chases to Elliott, he will step on the gas and Put us under the green for stage three, please drive, don't rush.

Out of the bottom lane, they're going to leave the middle lane hanging as four or maybe five cars are going to break free when, again, Mike, they were so Chevrolet cars. I've been watching what these other guys have been doing on these super tracks, even on the restarts, finding these gaps and holes to line up, yeah, I was a great restart, my goodness, Kyle Busch just made a move, oh my goodness , that was another great Kyle Busch moment great job driving that car keeping it going and I really didn't even lose much on that counter control in those quick hands of Kyle Busch is all that was saved because I was out of control Keselowski was still pushing while They passed the start/finish line.

Look at it and see if you can get to the left rear bumper, which is one of the things that can really loosen up these race cars. I think that's what it really was. Keselowski did a pretty good job of slowing down. the momentum slowed before reaching the rear bumper 18 just wants to give the guy a little push it's still enough to deform the 18 car a little so that's different than you and me who won't meet Stenhouse in the blue 17 falls to the I half don't see, I love those shots, I mean, I know it seems crazy, but that's what it feels like in the race car, yeah, that camera is mounted firmly, that's how rigid and suspended these cars are, that's right How to Unfirm the mounted rear bumpers.

I think that might be a slight exaggeration, but it's still a pretty bumpy ride. These are race cars, they are not street cars. The Masetto line is not built for comfort, built for speed. We saw that moment at 18 years old of Kyle Busch having that. moment and he knew that those Fords were not going to be friendly to him, they took him out, look at this, now he's gone all the way back. Can you go back and catch your breath? Even Kyle Busch has to do that back there with Jeffrey. Earnhardt who got the bye at the end of the second stage and could have the last Chastain, could go back there and save some fuel, maybe not a bad idea, there are a lot of things, this is the stage of the race, Jeff , as you know.

He continues to think about getting to the end and many of these drivers can notice that this is also when a lot of intensity increases, we are running out of left, we have 69 laps left, now start positioning yourself thinking about what I am going to do. what to do when we get to the end of this race, catch up to Ty Dillon, our stage 1 winner, Jamie, well, at the end of that last race, he was saying how loose he was when they came in and took the Tigers out of the part rear left. he had a slow leak, went down to 3 pounds pressure and put on new tires, brought it back to Mike and did a big chock adjustment to help them handle that excuse.

Cowboys, a long pass, maybe he didn't decide to save gas on the Well, he got a big push from Matt DiBenedetto and Matt has the fastest lap of this race with his family Levine running 95 and gave Kyle a big push to pass to those in cars and look, what do they have in common? He has two. other Toyotas around her in four she lost her Toyota teammate Denny Hamlin so if they can get Erik Jones' 20 together that will be four Toyotas they want to work with yeah that Mike Mike Wheeler that I work there. with the cow on those guys, but Denny Hamlin, so he had a good relationship and might be willing to help Kyle get back to the front.

The problem with the front is that it's all Chevrolet on the inside, those first six cars on the inside. The lane back to Austin Dillon's red number 3 are all Camaros and we saw earlier in the day when on the 10th, I think it's a 10 car, See Aric Almirola was leading that outside lane and was able to drive to the end next to those Chevrolets and take. the leader, but right now the outside lane led by Blaney can't make up much ground yet. I think Kyle Larson is having a great career here, his green Camaro is the third, the fifth guy and it's interesting because this is a team where there is bad luck.

They have had it this season. I joked with crew chief Chad Johnson before the race about whether it might be something where most people have bad luck. Maybe this is where it can change. He said we will accept anything. we can get and right now they've had a really good race car. Kyle says it's a little different depending on who runs around him and where, but otherwise there's no change to that last stop they like where he says the recommendation. I've seen car 42. in shape a couple of times but nothing serious, how can you not have good luck with the four leaf clover in your car chase?

Elliott has led since the end of stage 2. There are 66 laps left. The Geico 500 at Fox is sponsored by Geico. official partner of NASCAR sixty-two laps to go at Talladega, that second group continues to make its way to the front as you can see in our aerial coverage provided by Goodyear as their battles earn their name Goodyear the official tire of NASCAR battle pretty interesting Mike that it's all Chevy is down, all Fords up, outside of car 12, we'll get it, it's almost to the car that William bought, car 24, and it looked like it was stopping there and backing up a little bit, but it was up and back. up and back, now in past races at Talladega we are used to seeing the leading group of cars right around the wall on the outside Jamie McMurray, you were at this race last year, what is it like? this looks different, well I want I mean, it's almost the opposite, like the guys are running around the yellow line and every time the outside lane gains a little momentum, about five or six rows back in that lane they go three wide and lose all their momentum and You have to start over.

The Chevys have done a great job, although in the last stage, when those guys made their green flag pit stop, they went into the short pits, came out single file and were able to finish in the top three, so they are doing a good job. I work now, but I can't wait to see what happens when we get to the end and all those guys are still watching, listen. Hey, Jamie, are you surprised how committed those Chevys are? bot lane whenever we see those sports line up and build momentum in the outside lane, you know, normally someone would jump out and try to block that momentum, but those guys seem to be really committed to being lined up in the bot lane, yeah, but I think as you get closer to the end you will be in the bottom lane, but it has worked up to this point.

I've seen a couple guys want to get out and then get back in line, but it's working for them right now. and we'll have to wait and see what happens when we get to the end. You know something, I think maybe it affects us on the lower line. The High Line is the air ducts at the front of the car, there are two large black holes underneath. under the headlight doors, you're pulling air out of the car and these big rear spoilers, if you're outside, there's a lot of air coming out of that car, right at the bottom hitting the front of your car and slowing you down, that could have an effect on that outside line, well that's the wisdom of 12 wins at Talladega between the three of you, watching this play out, so we've got five Chevys up front, then Erik Jones Toyota, Ryan Blaney is Ford on the outside and Kyle Busch well he's not in the picture right now Matt Mike over the years you've seen maybe a couple of drivers with different manufacturers come together on their cars just aerodynamically, they worked better together for some reason but that's not the case for Kyle Busch. in fact, he made the observation to his spotter Tony Hertz from third for some reason, when the two Keselowski carves came up to his bumper, it really slowed him down and Herschel responded that he saw the same thing when Keselowski was hiding under Logano's 22nd some people they play better with others some players play better with others yes well someone who wasn't playing well shuffled the 3 car pole winner Austin Dillon to the back he was lined up with all those Chevrolets in front and something happened. where he got stuck in the middle and reached the back.

Jamie, well, Austin had some damage earlier and they put some Barre Vaughn on the trunk lid, the back of that race car. Richard Childress, his grandfather is looking through binoculars and said he saw it. something black flies out of the back of the car they don't know if it's Barrett's link but Austin said the feel of the car has changed he doesn't know if it's bad or if it's a tire going down so it came out of the draft and they fell at the end, they fell from 6th to 25th coming to the line with 57 laps remaining chasing Elliott and his friends at Chevrolet still out front, the Geico 500 at Fox is sponsored by NASCAR's official sponsor Monster Energy and by credit one Bank, the Official NASCAR credit, perfect for racing fans. 56 laps left.

We are under caution for debris in Talladega. Pit road will open, so we're looking at a two-stop race to get to lap 188 and checkered flag five. Chevrolet is ahead, then Erik Jones Toyota Ryan Blaney is Ford Henrik Kozlowski Buescher are the top 10. 28 cars are on the lead lap and Reed Sorenson will get the bye and return to the lead lap after this caution pit lane adjusts to Alex Bowman's 88. going down and today has been a very good day for this 88 team, no mistakes here, they asked Alex to stop in the area so he can have a clean entry and for Kyle Larson's 42 they ever made a change in the cars from the first stop of the day only four tires and gas again here Matt, a problem with the number 12 car on the way out, hit his tire, they recovered it.

Car 24, Byron, his service is complete, but they will have to stop in the pits. around lap 170 to 171 Jamie chased him the remaining nine laps 38 so far the car has been pretty quiet on the radio a stop on four tires and he's out there's a race out of the pits Erik Jones gains five places as Fox Sports started Gary Lang was an integral part of the look and feel of Fox Sports' attitude. He tragically passed away last week and we want to play a piece to show you the genius of Gary Lang. This is from Fox Sports at Talladega 2001, really traveling, preparing for the restart with 53 laps to go at least one more pit stop at Talladega now here's today's credit one of the banks to keep in mind well Mike, It's no secret that those Hendrick Chevrolets aren't off to a stellar start, but here today those Chevrolet teams are working better, better than any other Chase Elliott finished third here a year ago.

Watch him go, maybe it will give him that first win at Talladega. Yes, Jeff Ford has won seven straight races here. I know the Chevrolet camp, they've been flexing those muscles, but it's all said and done. and that's it Brad Keselowski will give his eighth consecutive race oh don't look, he says: I said, uh, 20 to join the gunnels, you won three of the last seven races here, you're going to have to be aggressive and you're going to have to guard some people. My boys are good at it. I think they are all wrong. DW. I'm going with Ryan Blaney's 12.

He has recruited faster than most young drivers. He finished second 502 years ago. He says that he just doesn't believe it's his fault. He's so good up front, but like crew chief Jerry Bull says, I think you're too hard on yourself. Aric Almirola has two wins at NASCAR's highest level, both at the sport's biggest tracks, he has led 27 laps today, he just needs to lead one more. like last fall, on the last lap or you can put all the car numbers in a bucket and just reach in and pull one out because here we go, we'll restart with 52 laps left and 29 cars on the lead lap Erik Jones Toyota Ryan Blaney Ford up front, here we go, you know, we don't want to overlook that Jones kid either because you know he had a great finish at Daytona and he's a pretty good superspeedway racer in his own right.

I love a different strategy here, some teams took two. tires some teams didn't use tires some used four what would have been your preference at this stage of the race Jeff I like every time you go under yellow I want four tires on green I don't want tires yes Tire Darrell you have to have four tires That way you canmaneuver, you can move, you have grip, give me four tires, man, yeah, because in these restarts we've seen how wild and crazy it makes us. He goes three-way with this teammate. I'm not sure it was well planned.

I think someone sent Keselowski the message from what Blaney said earlier about his teammates that he's going to hurt to punch those guys. Look how quickly the group caught up to them in the middle and outside lanes for the wides, that didn't work out well. DiBenedetto in '95 no, no help, it was a bad move by Blaine dia and it really hurt him. Keselowski alati ladies able to back off here and pick up Ricky Stenhouse jr. that will help him maybe get all of Keselowski's guys back a long time ago, yeah, Blaney was traveling there and for some reason Keselowski had a great run and decided to try to go to the outside, three wide to his teammate House, for Of course, here. come on that's what I said before about these four it's a little demoralizing because when they get a man running they can go buy a lot of cars now from that situation here's a radio for Ryan Blaney Steam let's see how you handle that kind of feeling like there's a The little Alabama Slama comes here and there's something wrong that doesn't feel right when we talk about that intensity that increases, the frustration can increase so far, the drivers in the top three have won three of the last four races of the Super Speedway, all except this year's.

The Daytona 500 won by Denny Hamlin, who is in the garage, and Mike again, we talked about this, it's not terribly physical here, but it's terribly mental, it just wears your head out, it starts to hurt and making those quick decisions is hard to do when you get to the end. the race yeah, ten of our aric Almirola was dragged around there somehow he's stuck in the middle and Kyle Busch changed lanes and held on to his teammate Erik Jones the 20th in the connection 18 is the Penske Ford against the Gibbs Toyota and right with it is That Ricky Stenhouse's 17 Roush-fenway Ford fits well and came from behind.

Remember that you started from the back and have had the same problem all day. The cars were simply too loose and didn't hit that sweet spot with balance. However, but you see Stenhouse going out there trying to make a run, this is a critically important race for them, they started the day outside of the playoff picture, they feel like these super sprint races are their chances to win and if they're going to achieve it. the playoffs had to capitalize and they knew that coming here today and Mike, this is what I'm saying, this is why I want four tires when it gets so crazy on these restarts here three and four wide, you want a car that has a little more grip under you to be able to maneuver and go from the top lane to the bottom lane now that Forbes wanted nothing to do with Kyle Busch, they blocked him and pushed him back to the temporary position, but when I look at Ricky Stenhouse here above, he doesn't like this car, it doesn't handle very well, but he's leading a race.

Benedetto made his way to the front group. Jamie and he is one of those '95 drivers who didn't use tires at the last stop. You talked to him before he got in the car after his race at Daytona you might remember he led a handful of laps it boosted his confidence unfortunately he crashed he said today he feels like it's his best chance to win he's in a good place that's for sure now What about Paul Menard? who felt very late in the draft lead about 30 laps ago, here's Menard for the Wood Brothers in second place, Mike, and that's where he finished 11 years ago here at Talladega, they made a lot of adjustments on that race car, three significant changes, remember the Wood Brothers, they're chasing their 100th win.

Menard would love to be that guy to do it and how many races did you say we've been here at Talladega? Mike, this is the 100. Well, Chris Butchers is trying to make something happen up here too. in this package Wow, two for two and neither lane seems to have an advantage, Bobby Labonte, these seem like desperate hours here to give me a countdown like 50 40 30 20 15 5 to go because when it was increasing like this I want to know how many laps are left because when it goes through 2 and 3 you just want to be able to control yourself and figure out where I win and where I need to make a move, well Bobby, you know that's what I find, so I intercept.

Don't think, look, this poor guy will hide behind right away. I'm just wondering if these guys aren't exactly sure when to go and it seems like they're taking advantage of every race they can get you now. You know what I'm saying Bobby, this is a tough part of the race, you have two and three sides here and everyone is fighting for a bad position trying to get to that place where they feel they have the best chance to win. A little more time was time to do all this, but sure well, I think those four guys who want to line up together saw what the shitty guys did when they were lined up so those four guys would come back to the front and keep everyone at bay.

They have, the three Penske cars and the Wood Brothers 21 that is operated in the Penske stores. Those four are all together and Roush Fenway's Ricky Stenhouse is with them, so there are five Fords inside, like we saw five Chevrolets. Before, yeah, I think that's what they were fighting for, Mike was getting to land 45 laps to go, forty-two laps to go, the fans are always excited here at Talladega and this weekend Monster Energy brought out their best gear to hit the pavement and take to the skies before the race how many fans are you right below us mike there are some people down there i don't know why they bought a seat because they haven't said it yet on it one of the most famous names in Talladega long ago Earnhardt Kalin Art earned his last Cup win here in the fall of 2000.

He and Kenny Wallace recruited together to front Dale Jr. the Pied Piper around Talladega and look at that canine car with black eyes that is Jeffrey Earnhardt keeping the family name proud by running in the top 15, yeah, you don't get it. He did a very good job yesterday in the Xfinity race, I have a good day today. Hey, we're Earnhardt country, you can bet those fans would go crazy if he won this race, they'll go crazy if he just gets up there and mixes it up a little like he's doing now and what a show these fans are getting.

Right now, this race is really awesome for me. There's a look at Jeffrey, who is Carrie Earnhardt's son. Dale had three children, Carrie Kelly Dale jr. and we want to send our condolences to the Earnhardt family for the loss of Dale Jr. and Kelly's mother, Brenda Jackson, the daughter of Robert Gees, who died this week. Yes, Martin walks around trying to achieve it. It's not just his first short track win, he's trying to get his first win at the Speedway today. Mike, the car is a little tight, but you're lucky. she's got a little bit of Earnhardt history, those two today is his 57th race at Super Speedway, he has never won one if If he did it today, he would be the first driver of each to go to the first short track, the first Super Speedway wins consecutively.

Vince well, that driver right behind him in 38 is David Ragan, who won here in both Xfinity and Cup. Reagan is now losing a couple of spots, but it was an awesome race today, but the control of that car he's stepped back a little bit and said he's very nervous and it's not a good position to be in and this kind of reason, wow, it can get really crowded on the number curve. two, oh man, the two on the 20, the two and the 12, I think it was due to the problem here, Mike on the side, I don't know how you saved him and his teammates, but as we see that intensity is increasing , they're starting to get tighter and tighter, pushing harder and harder and those tires are starting to get pretty hot and become a factor there are the two cars behind the 22 22, was what saved that thing that really had, you know, the two They just hooked him. on the right side of that bumper, but I think my jump and we're sitting, guys we're talking about closing rate, when you get a run, you can really make a move, so everything that happened makes a turn and now look that. it happened at 20 lovely oh boy you see this little space here where there's nothing that's the eye of the storm she's starting to reflect yeah with all this going on I'd be very surprised if this turns green to the final.

You know what this reminds me of about Mike, but which one is the shark and which one is the captive. Someone's going to take a bi off the back of one of these boats in a minute. I know he does this type of race, he does it, I mean, he does I'm a nervous wreck, I wonder what will happen and will he win, you know what's going to happen. I know you have your career at a 95. You saw the closing rate right there in '95. DiBenedetto had a great career when he got to the bottom of the 20th. and then once you got there he just stopped, it seemed like Mike and Jeff today it seemed like it was more during the test that he went down into turn one like you can really get a big run in turn four and then it really takes a lot of acceleration into turn one, the Vice Titans with 35 laps left and five Fords with money lead Brad Keselowski turned around as he entered pit road, all the Chevys came in a lap ago, these are all the Fords and most of the Toyotas and someone came in.

On the back of the tooth, he could be going in the wrong direction because of the way he headed there. He turned around, but he was in the box so he could make the stops, but right there it's still under green with 33 laps to go, so our David Ragan was halfway into Erik Jones' box, it gets really crazy here just trying to brake two cars that you can see moving, that means they are braking trying not to lock the tires and oh they just jumped out and fell behind. of the car, put them right in the box, how amazing is that Joie Chitwood man, dangerous angels right there, you wanted the right sides, only raised because they asked you to be able to do that, now David Ragan and Erik Jones say you're in my pocket a bit. so get lost, yeah, you can see David Ragan just overtook him in the pits, that was chaotic.

I'm telling you the new leader, the watermelon man, Ross Chastain, now you think he's an unlikely choice because he's been in 25th 26th place for most of this. raced in the Daytona 500 Ross Chastain on this team finished in the top 10 and at the end of last year he thought he was in the bird seat, had a run in with Chip Ganassi and thought it was going to be a real break for he. See him up front today, now remember when this last green flag and stop stint happened with this sequence, all those Chevrolets lined up for the words and the Toyotas mixed up this is where the real action will be right, who can take the lead and drink? controls this race right now Joey Logano has it, so we'll mention that Ross Chastain is the only lead lap driver who hasn't made that pit stop yet.

I don't think I've been able to say that anyone has a better car than anyone else. otherwise, you know, like we just saw with the 22 Logano car, he gets out front, looks pretty good and here comes Stenhouse and then here comes Kyle Busch, it seemed like you got those runs and that's what makes the difference . Kyle Busch seems to have the best car for changing lanes. Oh, Stenhouse seems to have the best stopping, passing and pushing car, and obviously one car that's missing from this group, the number two car, Brad Keselowski, with that incident on pit road, he spun that car back. a little further back, yeah, he's going to need some help and Jeff, like we said before, if you lose the draft and you have to run around here alone, you'll be about four seconds slower than the rest of the draft and about 200 miles per hour maybe. maybe you can find some help.

He's almost half a lap behind. I didn't realize he had wasted so much time. He and they know how to get back. There are 30 laps to go in the Geico 500. 28 laps. to go, let's look at today's race recap sponsored by Geico, lap 11, Bubba Wallace jumps in the back or Ryan Blaney comes off the apron right at Michael McDowell, which also took Kevin Harvick and Matt Tifft out of the race along with those two and, finally, Denny. Hamlin was on the road all due to damage on lap 11 Jimmie Johnson ran over a piece of debris caught a tire hit the wall he is currently 10 laps down ty Dillon his stage 1 winner came close on pit road Almirola there with Suarez and Joey Logano takes off ahead of Clint Bowyer's chase Elliott won stage 2 and then Brad Keselowski blocks him entering pit road, lands in the box so they can complete the service and is sent back, but He is about a second and a half behind the rather, he is about a second and a half of a lap slower than the group in front of him, sowaiting for a caution flag.

We still have 27 cars on the lead lap and Ross Chastain, who has a strategy opposite to everyone who stopped on the lap. 154 and 55 is his race leader, yes he said he will go behind now in the leading group here, anomer Logano just entered turn 1 so he has a big lead at this point, now he will have to stop, he is out of sequence but continues to come out and with that a quick word from Duracell, this is a reliable brand so Ross Chastain is certainly a long shot but if he gets a warning things could go his way and keep him in the mix like we said at the beginning of the day if you're in it you can win it Larry yeah remember everyone pitted on lap 133 on that last yellow flag so Ross Chastain looks like what they're going to do they're going to go that far as they can, so I would say somewhere. about 18 20 maybe 22 laps to go, that's when he'll be in the pits and Jeff had asked me a question during the commercial break and I think this is good information to share from all the drivers who pitted under green, the only pilots who did it. two tires Kyle Busch Ryan Blaney Paul Menard and Martin Trix jr. so out of all those drivers, four of them used two tires, everyone else felt alone.

I'm sure it could come into play when we get to the finish line. I've seen it a couple of times at the end of some of these stages where the guys I think they barely held on, remember a lot of those guys used four tires that didn't use tires this time they used four tires under that yellow flag right now Kyle Busch is our top performing Toyota in 4th place behind XP DiBenedetto and Erik Jones and Jeffrey Earnhardt is on the lead lap and Mike has one thing: now at this point in the race you know what you have, you know what your car is capable of doing, so now you're just thinking about the position I want to be in. a race in this at the end of the day because Jeff and I don't pay for this, you want to be in front, you're not going to be the leader or you want to be second or third and Ross Chastain will give up the lead and take his number 15 to pit road to Pat Ricin and the team that will take Ricky Stenhouse back to first place.

Rickie's last winning season and a half ago at Daytona's other two and a half mile plus superspeedway, yeah, there was a moment about a year and a half ago, two years ago, that No. 17 car was the car to beat. when he arrived at Daytona and Talladega. Jimmie Fennec and that Roush Fenway team, they like the Wood Brothers, they have a habit of building really fast super speed teams and your Suarez. fifth, a little soda machine battle here between Suarez and Chase Elliott, if Chase wins the race tonight you can get 10 free boneless wings when you buy ten on Monday or free fried pickles if Chase finishes this race in the top ten , TRUE?

I know you're behaving pretty well right now. I have that shape on the inside lane and that shape on the outside lane. There's not a lot of lateral drafting, there's not a lot of impact drafting, they seem to be settling in here with 22 rounds to go and I just think You're just getting your act together You're starting to think Okay, what about we're going to have to be? How am I going to block if they chase me? How am I going to win this race? That's what you're thinking right. There's an additional factor here and it's the one our pit reporters talked about right before we went green.

Each of the three participating manufacturers, Ford Chevrolet and Toyota, had stern discussions with their team saying that if you're going to push someone to win, do it. sure he's driving the same brand you're fine just that 22 car that's something he did alone he drove around the leader and got in to do it he drove up to 17 and took the lead yeah he just got a good push from back. He gained a lot of momentum when a.m. he was able to pass Ricky Stenhouse's 17th, but as we've seen from Stenhouse, I don't know, he must have missed the Ford meeting or something because it seems like he didn't want to and was content to ride. secondly, it doesn't matter who is in front of him, look at that black number one right in the middle of everything Kurt Busch, he is the only Chevrolet in the top five right now, he has another Camaro chasing Elliott right behind him, he has a one year contract. deal with Chip Ganassi Racing Daniel Suarez great move by Daniel Suarez to open three and get second place.

I really think it was the best move was for Logano's 22, he created that situation right there, we're not a good situation if it's Marc's 19 junior tricks trapped in that outside lane right now, he has help that comes in handy, it made for Matt DiBenedetto, but the 95 returned to the middle lane and stopped behind Almirola and what I see Logano doing now is he is blocking. he sees what in Witt's

energy

, which Lane has the most drive, which has the most energy and that's where he tries to go, oh, this move, the problem, escape, actually, the boss that would cost the wise guy , swore he had gotten up and Suárez was doing everything he could to stay away. gently, yes, I knew that if he pushed it right through the test, that's one of the most noticeable mistakes on this track that probably would have caused him to spin.

Joey Logano comes our front row starting hero, he's in the middle of it all, he's watching this great race. that will come from the Wars of '41. He's being pushed by that car of '18. There he is and outside Truex comes to the house of '17 with a boot, a push, oh man, this just started. He doesn't know what happens if Torrance can't. He decides which path to take, well I think I still can't create a man, maybe who doesn't want to lead right now, that's my opinion. Jeff, he's being a loyal soldier for now working legato, you'll see it all. side by side watching the Geico 500 on Fox with fifteen laps to go Joey Logano in front Matt DiBenedetto with him now Kyle Busch is allowed to lead Toyota side by side then Suárez Almirola and Blaney in four is Kurt Busch is the first Chevrolet on his number one Joey Logano, sixth place, talks about leading here at the end of the race and what you have to do is be in front for someone that you know you can control the field a little bit, get the field where you want them to be.

For this type of background, we're trying to sing a final note or trying to get them to run backwards. You can control that as a leader and it's also the safest place to be when there's 15 to go and you're sitting 10 or 15. You're thinking, man, I'm in a bad situation, they're going to collide at some point, you've got to be able to get to the front really early. in the race and just holding that track position is Logano, his green and white Mustang. on the outside against Kyle Busch, his Toyota on the inside, spotter TJ Majors, has help from teammate Ryan Blaney and Stenhouse, and I'll give Joey a lot of credit at Mtj Majors because I didn't think, man, he's getting his money, he's earning his own. money today, but I really didn't think anyone could control these lanes at this closing rate today as well as Joey Logano has done so far and you have to give a lot of credit to all that information that TJ Majors is providing.

Suárez comes from the outside, he has a streak. Logano has won three of the last seven races here, he should be pretty good. Suárez and DiBenedetto arrived next to Paul Menard and then they stalled a little with Suárez, remember that he was in the top three or four and it seemed that a move had been made and they dragged him with the shovel towards the outside lane, a little more back, but I think it has a racing car aspect that could be recovered. Up there, oh we have brothers here that are going next to Kurt Busch, that will take their brother Kyle to three-way, well that's their training that I could tell Kurt about a while ago, so it's revenge and Kurt now has the help of the number nine and 88.

Chevrolet chases Elliott and Alex Bowman and unfortunately you saw there that Aric Almirola's 10 had no help when he went to the I was stuck in that outside lane and swerved towards Suarez, so Larry Mack 12 laps to go, Mike in eighth. In races since the Daytona 500 we've only had 18 late-stage cautions, but you know what this is. Talladega and in the last 10 spring races at Talladega, the average final caution lap was 181. , with seven laps to go and seven times it has happened in the last ten laps, 14 total overtime finishes at Talladega of all time. Did you sign Ryan Blaney trying to keep? that car straight ahead like Mark Church Jr.

I was giving him a push, Blaney, it took him forever to get the thing under control, but I never saw anyone except Rick with that car out of control. Well, the spotters saw the Truex go off turn 2, so they moved Logano and Blaney. to the outside to block worked well for Logano, for Blaney not so much, but for me, when we talk about cautions coming in with seven to go, that's what's going to come from someone blocking that big run and there's just going to be a lot of contact with the guy as well. rear bumper what is this other light pink one is a big shot lighting right here big shot big shot right here gets the car 12 it deforms so much I don't know how he saved that car look how it keeps moving and I know it at home, look at me, look how the question, trust me, that was important, oh, I was just looking through the windshield from that other angle and you could see his hands, he has white gloves and they were going to the left, this is Ryan.

Blaney's back to 11th, but here he comes and who he's up against, 19th, now he's up against Martin's bumper, but look how this works, they keep returning the favors, just look at it, you look through the windshield, these torques when we have an opportunity. If you see those gloves moving, that guy's busy over there, dude nine, this is what they pay you for, then you come to Talladega these last ten laps, this is where you make your money, now you know how much those first one hundred and 78 laps cost. don't pay anything and that guy sitting in second is already off to a great start this season with some wins, he hasn't done very well at super speed tracks especially here at Talladega but he has one win since 2008 well you got two . guys here, the 20th, 22nd and 18th you got wins the guy in third place is desperate, he knows this is an opportunity and he doesn't want to let it slip away Kurt Busch auto sainte-marie yes, he had been in second place here I think it does one year in this race our pole winner Austin Dillon was in the top ten again, top five against Ford, a Toyota against Chevrolet.

I think that right now you are sitting, everything is that you are putting everything in position Kyle Busch, he knows well what he wants to do. The manufacturer that is best aligned at this moment is Chevy, they have three cars in a line, one, nine in the 88 positions three four five I think it's going to take a little bit longer than that, but as you saw right there, Kyle Busch's 18, if he's able to get to the rear bumper of Logano's 22 and push it like that, that means he'll be able to be right next to him in sometime. and look at him guys this is Joey Logano look at him he's looking behind me seven to go right there you know what I call that and sit on the hot stove and pee in ice water baby I tell you Colonel Chris Butcher and him . is tagged by DiBenedetto Truex in it and so is rookie Justin Haley's 77 right on cue right on cue 19 of trucks getting caught up in this Larry that trend was nobody's friend.

There were seven to go, he caught fire in the 95th minute and Benedetto had a great day just racing. Alright, all day, it was good to see him come out. Chris Butcher took a hard hit and there's Haley. Hey, his rookie career was ruined. It's a tough way to finish with seven laps to go. It's good to see Chris Beuscher come out of harm's way riding these cars. Sorry, it's one of the security workers talking to him. He has lowered the window net and that is a sign to the security team that he is okay. Boy, he sure was a ringer.

Really sure he turned around. he's in a hurry and here's Chris coming out of the prosperous Texas driver okay but that car took a brutal hit and Martin Truitt is a heavy Wampus coming onto pit road yeah after getting stuck in that one so coming out of turn number two, the butcher is third. On the outside, I think Amirola's number 10 car makes a good run behind Chris Buescher, almost tries to make three wides right there, butcher makes a little contact right there and just turns the 37, the go-to guy. Truex had nowhere to go. I'm very happy to see that the 37 car stayed on the ground when the 95 hit it, yeah, big hit by Haley in the 77.

Wow, here's another look and we'll see Almirola in the 10 and Chris Buescher in this 37, like this that Amarula thought about opening three. That door was closed and I could see the contents, but I know I'm talking about the way the car turned so abruptly. You know the content was in that. Wow, look at this amazing. I saw Corey Lajoie, he just threads the needle and passes. You are with Daniel Suárez. Wow, what an impact that is. I mean, think about that, 3,400 pounds of metal flying through the air like it's a little toy. 200 miles there. Martin Truex trying to avoid it andget to the front, that's absolutely the best Elliott could have asked for in that chase.

I think he's going to take one more lap to organize that outside lane. You can't do it, I just don't see it. happens with nine cars on the driver so he hits the wall but they took the white flag sponsored by a credit bank under Stenhouse green without caution he's trying to swing here they come to chase Elliott Alex Bowman Ryan Preece Logano on the outside and Byron is around. Crash caution is out of the question. Lehman was hit inside the wall by the severely damaged 42 Larson Kyle Larson Jeffrey Earnhardt and William Byron Man on the last lap, that was really scary seeing that 42 floating in the air as it hit the inside.

Well, these three Chevy Dark drivers did the neat job together and with the checkered flag chase Elliott has returned Elliott's name to Victory Lane at Talladega Chevy one two three four we need it, they did it so bad that Kyle Larson is out and that's good. to see his difficult season continue, Chase Elliott's fourth win in his last 25 races and he is the sixth rhymer to win in 2019 and the first Chevrolet to reach Victory Lane this year, what a tough fall for Kyle Larson and that It was after. A really hard hit with the front nose into the inside wall just won't stop David Ragan, who had a great run getting into the support vehicle after coming out and there's William Byron with serious damage to his Camaro, so at the time of La cautious chase Elliott is one car back of teammate Alex Bowman and rookie Ryan Preece and rookie Daniel Hamrick Chevrolet front four with Joey Logano fifth for Ford and Kyle Busch ninth for Toyota moving down a little further toward the 62nd car Brendan Gaughan finished 10th great race for part-time driver, Martin Time Cup driver Lajoie, 11th, Corey Lajoie, Jeffrey Earnhardt, sliding into the inside barrier, it was a pretty tough hit there, as we learned at the end of the day, Chevrolet met with all team owners and crew chiefs yesterday and said they would work. together message alert message they deliver a well laid out plan and I bet you'll see them do that a lot more the rest of the year at least plate these big super tracks today's win by Chase Elliott was powered by Sunoco Sunoco is powering wins all season long Gustafson crew chief with a big smile on his face knows how hard it is to win these races haha ​​there is a smoke show and I know this is Ernhardt country but today could be Elliott country how to do it today.

I tell you. He has led many laps, won the race, well we are just over a hundred miles west of Atlanta so this is our heart and Elliott's country. His father was a fan favorite and a winner in the here and now, so is Chase Elliott. Here's Jamie Little. Chase Elliott you heard it on the radio how important this victory was for this team for Chevrolet for Chase Elliott Chevrolet waited since last October for his last victory and they did it in an exciting way. I'll wait for Chase to take off his helmet Chase the Phantom I sat for a long time, thank you, what a day, a huge thank you to all of our partners, my team Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, obviously, a lot, a lot of team work done today.

Big thanks to Mountain Dew, Little Caesars Napa, all of our partners. to make this happen, but you guys really want it to happen. Thanks, Shea talked to you and his handkerchief this morning and talked about the Chevrolet meeting and Alan Gustafson said something was different this time, let's make it work. How important it was that today was huge. You know, we just had a plan and we executed it very well. Obviously we could have gone both ways, but luckily everyone stuck together and stayed the course and had some help on that last lap with a yellow flag. but I just appreciate all the support, Rance is amazing as they as stunt guys are close to home for me so it feels a bit like a home race, thanks everyone, they chase Elliott the Georgia guy, wins at Talladega, guys are in the top four, so great execution of sticking to the plan, yeah, there was no plan coming out of turn four, but unfortunately we didn't get there before the yellow flag came out, so that just big props to Chevrolet and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports brought great race cars here, we had a great Chevy at the national level from the moment we unloaded and showed a lot of speed, we all stuck to our plans and executed very well so congratulations to everyone at home at HMS and then to the fabulous engine shop and everyone who makes this deal possible so if caution didn't come out you were going to try to make a move yeah I'm not going to let him win right?

I tried, you know, I knew I could get to his side panel. He was pretty sure he could get to his quarter panel across the tri-oval and who knows who will get to the line first at that point. I thought I could do it but it depends on the car behind you where it goes and it would have been fun to try but happy for the chase and the nation. I love Axalta and everyone who allows us to continue doing this. I'm glad I could change the season. It's been a tough start to the year and these guys deserve much better results than they've had so coming home in second is not a win but it's going in the right direction, great booster indeed Mike thanks .

Matt William Byron drove that damaged car to the start/finish line and we saw him get out and make it to the ambulance under his own power, always good news. Well let's show you what happened on the last lap as Chase Elliott tears the place up on the way to Victory Lane, so this coming from a turn into the backstretch, oh yeah, you could see it looks like the 38 Go up the race track. makes contact with the 24 Byron and that sends Jeffrey Earnhardt and Kyle Larson look at the air guy under the right rear on the 42 Wow hard contact with that right front thank you sorry left front I would say the barrier was there thank God so, but look at this thing once it starts spinning it looks like a feather it just doesn't stop it looks like Ragan's 38 only I don't know if it comes loose or something, you know obviously the car wasn't on the track sitting there He got on the track and was very lucky right there.

William Byron didn't turn upside down when he saw the car lift off the ground and then sit back down, but that wasn't the case with Larson's 42, which is a fellow-traveler chase. Elliott will celebrate. at the world's fastest speedway, after a wild finish to the Geico 500, there is overhead coverage of Victory Lane provided by Goodyear, those who live up to their names make one for themselves Goodyear, the official tire of NASCAR, chases one, so you get 10 free boneless wings when you buy ten on Monday at Hooters, remember with Hooters, when the chase wins, you win and we verified with NASCAR that all the drivers involved in that last lap accident got out of their cars and they're okay, hey, chase, you did a lap, dude, that was awesome.

Good job, congratulations, huh? How does it feel to get out of the car that you've won a few races in before, but win in front of a cheering crowd like that? It had to feel amazing and you could have held off Bowman if he had. gone all the way, yeah no I was, it was one of the coolest things ever. I mean, this crowd was absolutely crazy, I'm just glad I could get Mountain Dew, Little Caesars, and Chevrolet. A lot of Chevrolet teamwork went on today. Hendrick's power was incredible and Napa Kelley. Blue Book Valene and hooters, all the people that make this deal work, but it was a really crazy day, well executed on behalf of the Chevrolet team and proud of that effort and yeah, that last lap was going to get crazy, I don't know . exactly what Alex had up his sleeve.

I know it came with something, but yeah, we'll take it and it was an amazing feeling and the crowd was intense, so we're proud to have done it. Congratulations, good job, friend, yes, friend. Congratulations, I appreciate it. and you know what that means in Dawsonville Georgia means the siren is going off in the pool hall in Dawsonville like he used to do with his dad I think he was going to Franklin I think he was going to Doss we'll play a little pool tonight it should be a big party , so let's go back to the last thing.

Actually, I wanted to go now. This is after they took the white flag. Here you just saw David Ragan. He just got on the track. He lost some control. car maybe what the front got into whose identification of Byron's 24 started this whole mess and sent Larson's 42 made Wallen throw just a wicked Sidewinder roll, it's amazing that Kyle is now with Vince Welch and there Kyle chats a bit with Ricky Stenhouse from the moment Byron punched you on the side of the door until you came to stop what was going on in your mind, Kyle, well, initially I thought he was going to hit the inside wall pretty hard and ​​then just before I got to it I felt it lift up and I was just waiting for it to settle and then it started falling and it was probably the longest spin I've ever had so I haven't seen a repeat of that but I didn't know if would it ever stop.

I knew I was flipping and I was just hoping I didn't get any closer to the catch fence so yeah it was a little scary but luckily I'm okay so thanks to you guys you know the fabulous shop at Chip Nasser Racing for building race cars sure, it was like I said, it was scary, so I'm thankful I'm okay, you know, hats off to chasing it, it was a good day for Chevy, we all got together to plan to work together and you, a Chevy won. most of the stages and the race so it was really cool, you thought I could have a chance to win there but it didn't work out as soon as you left the restart zone we were in a bad situation so then I was behind and When you're like this and everyone is four or five open, you know something crazy is going to happen, so in the middle, but I had a good time.

Today I just wish we had been on the right side for once this year. I'm glad you're okay Mike, it's good to know that William Byron, David Ragan, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Kyle Ricky Stenhouse are all okay, here are your qualifying race winners in yellow and chasing Elliott on that list assured in the playoffs practically Kevin Harvick had a tough day today Kurt Busch was in it Ryan Blaney tagging the group and like aric almirola there are always some surprises coming out of Daytona and Talladega here's one of today's best Matt, an impressive day by the rider modified that backed up that top 10 finish at the Daytona 500 with a top three, your first time here at Talladega, you know, it was amazing.

I've only been here one other time and that was an for Chevy in that restart, being able to line up and push each other and not really give any of the other manufacturers a chance to overtake us. Great day for Kroger, great day for ktg and hopefully we can use this momentum to move forward and what is the Kroger slogan they are delivering. The products you certainly made today, good job Ryan Preece, finishing third and you know what I like, manufacturing, manufacturing manufactured products. I thought that was some very interesting action all day, Mike. I love the races I saw here.

I'm glad those drivers are safe. In the end, the Dawsonville pool hall is also interesting and exciting, yes, this is Talladega.