Talladega Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's pit stop. Today, I recap the weekends action from Talladega. And boy action is the best word to sum it up. It was a wreckfest for sure. Also to note, NBC's own Parker Kligerman won the Truck Series race on Saturday afternoon. The Xfinity Series and Formula One had an off weekend. The next race for the Xfinity Series will be this Saturday at Kansas. Formula One will be back in the USA for their race in Austin, Texas for the US Grand Prix on Sunday. Now onto the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Alabama 500 ran on Sunday afternoon with the fan favorite Dale Jr earning his first Talladega pole. Teammate Chase Elliott accompanied Dale Jr on the front row. The first and second stages consisted of 55 laps, with the final stage making up the final 75 laps. The race was 188 laps, 500 miles long. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first incident of many throughout the day occurred in Stage 1 with 30 to go in the stage Strategy came into play as drivers worked together with others with the same manufacturer. The Fords pitted first, but when the Chevy's went to pit, Jamie McMurray was tagged by Erik Jones trying to make it onto pit road. Jefferey Earnhardt was also involved in the crash. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Paul Menard had an early incident late in stage 1. Menard cut a tire and hit the wall off turn 4 with 5 to go in stage 1. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Brad Keselowski took home the first stage win. Keselowski was certainly showing his strength early in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Another playoff driver that had issues during the day was 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson's troubles started early in stage 2. Johnson was hit from behind from Ty Dillon trying to get onto pit road. The incident was similar to the one Jamie McMurray was involved in earlier in the race. The incident occurred in stage 2 with 44 to go in the stage. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

The action continued to heat up in stage 2, as Trevor Bayne also suffered a cut tire in turn 3. Bayne hit the outside wall and would continue on. Also during the caution, a crew member serving Ryan Blaney's car, was struck by Joey Gase. Gase was trying to enter his pit. No one was hurt and the crew member was ok. The incident occurred with 26 to go in the stage.  Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Playoff contender Ryan Blaney won the second stage. Blaney has ran well so far for his first playoff appearance. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first big crash happened on the restart to begin the final stage. Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, and Aric Almirola got together in the back of the pack, which caused a multiple car crash. No one was injured. Apologies for not having a photo. I was unable to find one. The incident occurred on the restart with 33 to go in the race. 

The luck didn't end for Joey Gase. His day was ended however, as he was turned into the backstretch wall by DJ Kennington. Its sad to see the Dr. Pepper car crash, cause I love Dr. Pepper. Anyways, Gase was not injured but was out of the race. The incident occurred with 24 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first big crash of the day involved multiple playoff drivers, including Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr to name a few. The crash occurred with 17 to go in the race, when Truex Jr was hooked by David Ragan going into turn 3. Again, no one was injured in the accident. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

It didn't take long for the next crash to occur, as Ryan Blaney would spin going into turn 3, after contact from Joey Logano. Logano was squeezed by Trevor Bayne into Blaney, which caused the crash. The incident occurred with 11 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Just when you thought the crashing would stop, especially when there was as few of the cars left, think again. And once again, the crash occurred in turn 3, when rookie Daniel Suarez came down on Chase Elliott after Elliott tried to pass Suarez. The incident occurred with 6 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

At the end of it all, only a couple of cars made it to the finish. Brad Keselowski was able to pass Ryan Newman on the final lap to take the win and advance himself into the next round of the playoffs. Aric Almirola also spun into the outside wall across the start finish line at the checkered flag. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Here are the playoff standings after Talladega. Keselowski advances with his win to the round of 8. The bottom four as of Talladega are Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Jamie McMurray. As stated before, 13th-16th have already been eliminated. After Kansas this weekend, four more drivers will be eliminated, cutting the playoff field down to 8. Who will advance? Tune in next week to find out. Photo courtesy of Fox Sports.