For the third time in five playoff races, a non-playoff driver took the checkered flag. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged out Brad Keselowski by six one-thousandths of a second to win the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, his fourth career NASCAR Cup Series win.
Pit strategy ultimately played a secondary role in the outcome, as is often the case at superspeedways. But that doesn’t mean there were no pit road plotlines coming out of the high banks in Alabama.
Alex Bowman Cooled Off by Penalty
Entering Talladega, no one had accrued more points during the playoffs than Alex Bowman, with the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet racking up three top 10s across first four playoff races.
At the end of stage two, Bowman appeared to be well positioned for another good finish, placing sixth in stage two following contact with Ryan Blaney that ended the defending champion’s day.
However, the post-stage two pit stops on lap 122 threw a wrench into the No. 48 team’s plans. Trying to maximize track position, Bowman started to leave his pit stall early with a fuel can still attached in the left rear of the car. Bowman stopped to try and avoid any issues, but the fuel can barely slid over the front line of the No. 48 team’s stall, resulting in a penalty for removing equipment from the pit box.
Bowman lost all his track position, miring him in the back of the pack as the aggression picked up during the final stage. Finally, on lap 172, The (Really) Big One struck on the backstretch, engulfing the majority of the field, including Bowman.
While Bowman was able to continue after the crash and salvaged a 16th-place finish, Talladega could have been another great finish in Bowman’s solid playoff run. Without the removing equipment penalty, there’s a good chance Bowman lines up somewhere in the first three rows, perhaps avoiding the wreck and contending for the win like his Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson.
Despite the penalty, Bowman will head to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL next Sunday with a decent margin for error at 26 points above the cut…
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