NASCAR Playoff Recap – Round Of 12, Race 2

NASCAR Playoff Recap - Round Of 12, Race 2

Justin Byers and Noah Ritter

Talladega, AL — JRM Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson was announced on Thursday to be in the no. 48 this week in replace of Alex Bowman (P), who will miss because of concussion protocol. William Byron was also hit with a 25-point penalty for crashing Denny Hamlin last week. His team has elected to appeal and his appeal will be held this Thursday. The no. 20 of Christopher Bell (P) was able to grab the pole during Saturday’s qualifying session. The no. 5 of Kyle Larson (P) to his outside in 2nd. Our first caution will come out on lap 8 when the 42 of Ty Dillon loses a right side window. The no. 1 of Ross Chastain (P) would win the race off pit road and restart in the lead. The no. 43 would take the lead on lap 14. Our first crash would come on lap 24 when the no. 21 of Harrison Burton gets bumped in the wrong spot by the no. 47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., causing many cars to get involved. Nos. 2, 22, 23, 31, 48, and 62 are also involved. The no. 18 of Kyle Busch will lead the field to green on lap 30. The lead will switch between drivers throughout the next couple of laps until our 2nd caution caused by the no. 7 of Corey LaJoie when his right front tire cut down, sending him into the wall. Denny Hamlin (P) will lead the field to green on lap 50. On lap 61, the 12 of Ryan Blaney (P) will pull to Denny Hamlin’s (P) outside coming to the line and win stage 1 by 0.009 seconds. Nos. 19, 3, and 62 stay out with all the other drivers pitting. The no. 5 of Kyle Larson (P) and no. 1 of Ross Chastain (P) will take two tires and everyone else will just get fuel. The no. 77 of Landon Cassill was too fast on pit road so he will restart in the back of the field. On the next lap nos. 19, 3, and 62 will pit. On lap 66, Kyle Larson (P) will lead on the inside with Erik Jones on his outside and Jones will take the lead. On the next lap, the no. 12 of Ryan Blaney (P), will take the lead. Three laps later, Denny Hamlin (P) drops out of the pack and will go to the back of the field. On lap 72 the no. 12 of Ryan Blaney (P) went up the track as he was trying to slide up in front of the no. 6. The no. 10 of Aric Almirola and the no. 38 of Todd Gilliland will battle for the lead, but the no. 38 will fall back to 7th as Erik Jones takes the lead. On lap 98 Nos. 6, 17, 12, 2, and 14 all pit for fuel only. The next lap after that all the Toyota’s will pit but the no. 20 of Christopher Bell (P) will spin as he locks up the tires and speeds as he slides into the pits almost hitting the inside wall. In the next few laps, all the Chevy’s would pit in groups and the no. 8 of Tyler Reddick would take the lead. On lap 111 Kyle Larson (P) would take the lead and Tyler Reddick will battle with him. With one lap to go in the stage, Tyler Reddick gets pushed out of the way in turn 3 as he runs out of fuel with Kyle Larson (P) in the lead but Chase Elliot (P) will pass him and win stage 2. The 9 of Chase Eliott will lead the field to green to start stage 3. The no. 43 of Eric Jones will restart in 2nd. The no. 45 of Bubba Wallace was able to take the lead on lap 128. On lap 161, green flag pit stops start and 2 cars will be caught speeding on pit road. Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski will be taking the 2nd trip down pit road. On lap 163, the no. 5 of Kyle Larson nearly wrecks but is able to save it. Our next caution will come on lap 183 when the no. 16 of Daniel Hemric stalls leaving pit road. The no. 43 of Eric Jones will lead the field to green with only 2 laps to go in the race. On the last lap, the no. 9 of Chase Elliott (P) gets a nice push off of turn 4 and is able to win the race by 0.046 seconds over the 12 car. The race would have 57 different lead changes among 17 drivers, 0 red flags, and 6 cautions for 25 laps. The average speed of the race would be 153.569 miles per hour and the race would take 3 hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds to be completed. Chase Elliott will advance himself into the next round with his win at Talladega. The current point standings are listed below:

  1. Chase Elliott – ADV

  2. Ryan Blaney – 3,101

  3. Ross Chastain – 3,097

  4. Denny Hamlin – 3,090

  5. Joey Logano – 3,087

  6. Daniel Suarez – 3,081

  7. Chase Briscoe – 3,069

  8. Austin Cindric – 3,069

—————-Cutoff—————

  1. William Byron – 3,058

  2. Kyle Larson – 3,057

  3. Christopher Bell – 3,036

  4. Alex Bowman – 3,015

The field will head to Charlotte, NC next week for the Charlotte ROVAL™. The race will be broadcasted on NBC and will start at 2:00 PM EST.