Wallace led the way on the start of the final lap in second overtime but Ryan Blaney was closing fast to challenge for the lead.
Wallace moved his No. 23 Toyota high, low to block and finally on the third attempt got hit by Blaney to trigger a multi-car wreck, which 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 joined Richard Childress Racing to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet this year. It’s the 62nd career victory Busch and his first win 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.
“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.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Aric Almirola first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 127, Almirola was followed by Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Wallace.
Noah Gragson gave Harrison Burton a big push into the lead on the restart as Martin Truex Jr. ran third.
Blaney moved ahead into the lead thanks to a shove from Wallace with 50 laps remaining.
Gragson got into the right-rear of Burton in Turn 3 on Lap 142 to send Burton spinning out of the lead in an incident that…
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