Talladega Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today we are going to recap the action from Talladega. Aric Almirola won his 2nd career Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Formula One had an off weekend but they will be back in Spain next weekend at the Circuit De Barcelona Catalunya. One of my favorite tracks on the F1 schedule. Now onto the Cup race.

The GEICO 500 ran on Sunday with Ricky Stenhouse Jr earning his 2nd career pole. His first came at Atlanta in 2013. Fan favorite Dale Jr started alongside. The first and second stages consisted of 55 laps, with the final stage making up the final 78 laps. The race was 188 laps. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The first caution came out early in stage 1 with Kyle Larson getting a bump from teammate Jamie McMurray on the backstretch, which resulted in Larson hitting the wall and cutting a tire on lap 17. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Brad Keselowski took home stage 1 after running up front for the entire stage. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The next caution occurred in stage 2 with 29 to go when Reed Sorenson cut a tire going into turn 1. The right front came apart and took Sorenson out of contention due to the damage. Photo courtesy of Google images and NASCAR.

Denny Hamlin took stage 2 to the house. He ran up front also during the stage. Hamlin was the winner of the 2014 spring race at Talladega. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The action would heat up in stage 3 with Ryan Blaney spinning head on to the outside backstretch wall. Blaney was spun after being squeezed between a lap car and with contact from behind from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Blaney was out of the race. Photo courtesy of Google images and NASCAR.

The big one occurred in stage 3 after AJ Allmendinger got into the back of Chase Elliott in turn 2 and spun Elliott around, causing the crash. A total of 16 cars were involved with Allmendinger flipping over on his roof. Several drivers went airborne and had wild rides. All drivers involved were ok. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Landon Cassil would not make the finish as his engine failed on the restart with 16 to go after the caution for the big one. Dale Jr also had a loose wheel and had to pit. Cassil wouldn't make it back around to the pits, causing a caution. Dale Jr would receive the free pass and be back on the lead lap. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The final caution occurred with 3 laps to go as Ryan Newman was spun into the inside wall, hitting it on the driver side. Newman spun after Clint Bowyer and Chris Buescher got together. Newman was out of the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The finish was great, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr picked up his first career Monster Energy Cup Series win. It also ended a long drought for Roush Fenway Racing as well. Stenhouse held off a hard charging Kyle Busch for the victory. Photo courtesy of Google images. Well that's it for today. Next week, NASCAR heads to the Midwest to Kansas Speedway. See ya then. Goodnight everyone.