What happened?
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Chase Elliott took the high line to get around Ryan Blaney on the last lap to win his fifth NASCAR Cup Series race of the season Sunday (Oct. 2) at Talladega Superspeedway. Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin fanned out behind the duo to round out the top-five finishers.
Elliott is the first driver of the 2022 playoff grid to earn a win during the postseason, now locking himself into the Round of 8.
How did it happen?
Unlike the usual Talladega standards of crazy, this final stage was mostly tame.
Blaney found himself fighting near the front of the pack for a majority of the final section of the 500-mile event and his No. 12 appeared to be the car to beat.
It was shaping up to be a fun fight to the finish with Blaney being the heavyweight everyone was to contend with.
That was until Daniel Hemric found himself stalled on pit road with eight laps to go.
CAUTION IS OUT.
Daniel Hemric’s car stops on pit road. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/RwNn1GzuPH
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 2, 2022
The caution halted everyone’s momentum and now left the field with less time as there were only two laps of racing left rather than seven.
Blaney restarted on the inside lane with Erik Jones, who had also shown speed much of the race (23 laps led), heading up the top lane.
Unfortunately for the Petty GMS racer, the outside line would not hold up once the green flag waved. It left the bottom lane single file as Blaney and McDowell broke away from the pack. However, once the third inside car of Elliott cleared the No. 43, the Georgian opted to break high and lead the top lane himself.
It was a risk that paid off, as Elliott’s line immediately gained momentum and allowed the No. 9 to challenge Blaney out in front.
On the last lap, it appeared as though Elliott would lose too much ground, but one last push from Jones in turn 3 would launch the Hendrick Motorsports driver ahead of Blaney’s Team Penske Ford and into the lead.
For the final 100 feet, nobody could challenge the sport’s Most Popular Driver and keep Elliott from his fifth win of the year.
“He gave me some unbelievable shoves.”@ChaseElliott credits @Erik_Jones for pushing him to the @TALLADEGA win. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/4t7lDGIC46
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 2, 2022
Who stood out?
Blaney may have come up short once again, keeping him from his first win of 2022, but if it weren’t for that last caution, it would be hard to convince…
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