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Race report

NASCAR Cup Talladega: Kyle Busch wins as Wallace wrecks from the lead

A multi-car accident on the final lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway triggered when Bubba Wallace attempted to block Ryan Blaney helped Kyle Busch to secure victory.

Watch: Overtime chaos leads to unexpected winner at Talladega

Wallace's 23XI Toyota led the way on the start of the final lap in second overtime, but Blaney was closing fast to challenge for the lead. 

Wallace moved high, then low to block and finally on the third attempt got hit by Blaney to trigger a multi-car wreck that ended the race under caution.

Busch, who had lined up third to start the second overtime, was ahead of Blaney when the caution was displayed and declared the winner. He led three times in the race for a total of three laps, including the last one.

The win is the second of the 2023 season for Busch, who claimed his first win for Richard Childress Racing at Fonatana earlier this year. His 62nd career victory was the first for Busch at Talladega since 2008.

“Sometimes you got to be lucky,” Busch said. “Some of these races come down to that.

"You got to take them when they come your way. The seas kind of parted there when they went up the race track.

"They were trying to push-draft. These cars are just not stable enough to do that.

“I saw (Wallace) just turn a little bit sideways. I was like, ‘Get out of the way, just miss it.’ Tried to see if I was ahead of (Blaney) by the time it was called.”

Before the start of the second overtime, Busch’s team quizzed him on pitting for fuel but he opted not to. Asked how close he was to running out, Busch said: “It shut off right here when I was trying to do a burnout.

Race winner Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Race winner Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

“We were sweating it being close. I thought back to California, Fontana, earlier this year where we have a win. I am like, ‘We got to gamble.’

"You’re up here, got to take the track position when you have it, give it what you can on the restarts, see what happens. Lo and behold, it worked out. Knock on wood for this one.”

Blaney was credited with second, Chris Buescher third, Chase Briscoe fourth and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and Todd Gilliland.

Chase Elliott beat Hendrick Chevrolet team-mate Alex Bowman to win the opening Stage, the 2020 Cup champion then finishing second in Stage 2 as Aric Almirola came out ahead of a three-wide move to secure the intermediate points.

Blaney was leading with seven laps to go when Joey Logano - who was recovering from a pitlane pass-through penalty - tried to move into a third lane that had formed on top and spun after contact with Corey LaJoie.

The lap 184 incident, which also collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Burton in the process, sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Blaney out front followed by Almirola, Noah Gragson, Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain.

Entering Turn 1, Chastain got into Gragson, who got turned into the outside wall and collected Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece, which sent the race into a second overtime.

Early contender Elliott could only muster 12th at the finish as poleman Denny Hamlin slid back to 15th at the flag.

NASCAR Cup Talladega Race Results (196 laps)

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Time Gap
1 8 United States Kyle Busch Chevrolet 3:33'25.561  
2 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 3:33'26.727 1.166
3 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 3:33'28.510 2.949
4 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 3:33'29.839 4.278
5 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 3:33'29.839 4.278
6 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 3:33'29.840 4.279
7 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 3:33'29.955 4.394
8 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 3:33'30.094 4.533
9 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 3:33'30.094 4.533
10 36 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 3:33'30.095 4.534
11 51 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 3:33'30.097 4.536
12 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3:33'30.098 4.537
13 45 United States Tyler Reddick Toyota 3:33'30.419 4.858
14 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 3:33'30.595 5.034
15 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 3:33'30.620 5.059
16 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 3:33'30.705 5.144
17 77 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 3:33'30.716 5.155
18 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 3:33'30.982 5.421
19 78 United States B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 3:33'32.331 6.770
20 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 3:33'32.332 6.771
21 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 3:33'32.333 6.772
22 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 3:33'38.798 13.237
23 62 United States Austin Hill Chevrolet 3:33'39.013 13.452
24 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 3:33'43.679 18.118
25 15 United States Riley Herbst Ford 3:33'46.626 21.065
26 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 3:36'35.811 3'10.250
27 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3:36'38.874 3'13.313
28 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 3:32'23.684 1 Lap
29 16 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 3:32'23.935 1 Lap
30 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 3:33'42.479 1 Lap
31 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 3:31'32.352 2 Laps
32 42 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 3:21'13.627 7 Laps
33 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3:21'13.796 7 Laps
34 41 United States Ryan Preece Ford 3:21'14.675 7 Laps
35 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 3:32'35.893 7 Laps
36 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 3:08'56.440 13 Laps
37 38 Zane Smith Ford 2:26'51.819 55 Laps
38 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 2:26'52.138 55 Laps

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