Talladega NASCAR: Wallace takes landmark win in rain-shortened race

It was also the first win for the 23XI team co-founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin for this season, while Wallace's crew chief Bootie Barker scored the first win of his career after nearly 500 races atop the box.

The 188-lap race was postponed from Sunday due to rain, but after repeated rain interruption, NASCAR was forced to bring out the red flag for good after 117 laps.

As attempts to dry the track proved futile, Wallace was declared the winner, becoming the first African-American in victory lane since Wendell Scott at Jacksonville in December 1963.

Team Penske Ford drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano scored useful points towards their Playoff tallies by finishing second and third, ahead of Kurt Busch (Ganassi Chevrolet) and another Playoff contender Christopher Bell (JGR Toyota).

Wallace hadn't featured prominently in the opening stage, which was won by Chris Buescher.

The Roush Fenway Ford driver was at the front when a caution was required following contact between Justin Allgaier and Kyle Larson, Allgaier having been unsettled by a bump from behind by William Byron and sent up the track into the helpless Larson, while Chase Briscoe was also collected.

After a lengthy pitstop for repairs to be hastily conducted, Larson suffered a right-front blow-out during the second stage which caused another caution for debris.

This caused the whole field to pit, but when it started to rain, the race was red-flagged for almost 20 minutes. 

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, Toyota Camry

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

The race resumed on lap 76, but it wasn't long before the next incident arrived as Alex Bowman spun off the nose of Ricky Stenhouse Jr while battling for the race lead. 

Bowman slammed the outside wall and collected several drivers including Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Preece were among those involved.

As the threat of rain increased, the intensity picked up still further when the race restarted, with Wallace moving to the head of the pack and defending against Keselowski and Logano behind.

The pressure on Wallace was momentarily relieved when Preece was turned into the outside wall, collecting both Byron and Matt DiBenedetto, and the caution flag was displayed.

But when the rain came down, and the race was red flagged, Wallace was assured of a landmark victory - becoming the third new winner of a remarkable weekend at Talladega after Tate Fogleman (Truck Series) and Brandon Brown (Xfinity Series) also took their maiden victories.

Talladega NASCAR results

Cla	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Bubba Wallace	117	2:20'03.767
2	Brad Keselowski	117	2:20'04.025	0.258
3	Joey Logano	117	2:20'04.239	0.472
4	Kurt Busch	117	2:20'04.857	1.090
5	Christopher Bell	117	2:20'05.104	1.337
6	Chris Buescher	117	2:20'05.554	1.787
7	Denny Hamlin	117	2:20'05.571	1.804
8	Kevin Harvick	117	2:20'06.339	2.572
9	Erik Jones	117	2:20'06.340	2.573
10	Anthony Alfredo	117	2:20'06.341	2.574
11	Austin Dillon	117	2:20'06.675	2.908
12	Martin Truex Jr.	117	2:20'07.216	3.449
13	Cole Custer	117	2:20'07.217	3.450
14	Chase Briscoe	117	2:20'07.218	3.451
15	Ryan Blaney	117	2:20'07.345	3.578
16	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	117	2:20'07.663	3.896
17	Michael McDowell	117	2:20'07.664	3.897
18	Chase Elliott	117	2:20'07.665	3.898
19	Quin Houff	117	2:20'08.741	4.974
20	Justin Haley	117	2:20'10.439	6.672
21	Ryan Newman	117	2:20'10.884	7.117
22	Corey Lajoie	117	2:20'11.180	7.413
23	Daniel Suarez	117	2:20'11.188	7.421
24	Landon Cassill	117	2:20'12.289	8.522
25	Joey Gase	117	2:20'12.389	8.622
26	Aric Almirola	117	2:20'12.740	8.973
27	Kyle Busch	117	2:20'12.858	9.091
28	Cody Ware	117	2:20'13.813	10.046
29	Garrett Smithley	117	2:20'14.876	11.109
30	B.J. McLeod	117	2:20'15.205	11.438
31	Josh Bilicki	117	2:20'15.726	11.959
32	Ryan Preece	116	2:20'00.027	1 Lap
33	Ross Chastain	116	2:20'11.154	1 Lap
34	James Davison	116	2:20'11.725	1 Lap
35	Matt DiBenedetto	115	2:16'59.843	2 Laps
36	William Byron	115	2:16'59.897	2 Laps
37	Kyle Larson	113	2:20'10.168	4 Laps
38	Alex Bowman	97	1:54'32.014	20 Laps
39	Tyler Reddick	97	1:54'32.545	20 Laps
40	Justin Allgaier	55	51'20.415	62 Laps
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