Kyle Busch earns first Talladega win in 15 years

By Noah Nelson

In 2008, Kyle Busch’s move to Joe Gibbs Racing led to multiple victories in the regular season,
including the Spring race at Talladega. Fifteen years later, history repeated itself at the 2.66-
mile tri-oval Superspeedway, with Busch and Richard Childress Racing going to victory lane
after making a pass on the last lap as the field wrecked behind him.

Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney proved to be the dominant duo all day, with both drivers
leading the majority of the laps, but after an overtime restart, Wallace threw a late block on
Blaney on the last lap in turn one, resulting in a multi-car pileup that ended the race under
caution, with Busch and Blaney sailing towards the start-finish line to see if they could run the
other out of fuel. Busch crossed the line first for his 62nd career victory, his first at Talladega
since the aforementioned 2008 win. He led just three times, for three laps.

Busch’s race seemed all but over just before the restart, when the call for him to pit for fuel
came over the radio too late. Fuel was on the mind of every crew chief, with several cars pitting
for gas during the caution period. Ty Gibbs, who ran in the top three for much of the final run,
pulled to the apron as the final restart began, leaving every spectator wondering if anyone was
going to make it to the end.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be lucky. Some of these races come down to that,” Busch said.
“You’ve got to take them when they come your way. The seas kind of parted there when they
went up the race track. I saw [Wallace] turn just a little bit sideways and I was like, ‘Get out of
the way! Just miss it and try to see if I was ahead of [Blaney] by the time it was called.’”

“We were sweating it being close … and I’m like, ‘We’ve got to gamble. We’re up here.’ You’ve
got to take the track position when you have it and go get what you can on the restarts and see
what happens. And lo and behold, it worked out. So knock on wood for this one,” Busch said.

Ryan Blaney’s winless streak may not be over, but the Team Penske driver nabbed his best
finish of the year in 2nd place. Blaney and Wallace are known to be close friends off-track, but
Blaney’s frustration regarding Wallace’s aggressive blocking post-race was palpable.

“In my mind you kind of triple move like that, triple block, and you can’t block three times,”
Blaney said. “Runs are just so big, and as the leader with Bubba, he’s trying to block which is
the right thing to do, but I think he kind of moved three times. You don’t really get a lot of those.
I’ve got to go somewhere.”

A dejected Wallace lamented the missed opportunity for victory in his post-race interview.
“Close, close, close block,” he said. “Not [Blaney’s] fault. I honestly thought that he would leave
me high and dry coming back around. Hate it that I caused that one. Man, I thought it would play
out a little different, obviously not getting wrecked.”

The race weekend itself was shrouded in mounting anxiety regarding the safety of
Superspeedway racing. The Xfinity Series event the day prior saw several multi-car incidents
that saw two cars go airborne, with Our Motorsports driver Blaine Perkins barreling down the
back straightaway and going to the hospital for further evaluation. Perkins remained hospitalized
when the green flag flew today, albeit in stable condition.

A statement from Perkins’ family read: “Blaine is alert, in good spirits, and continues to be
observed at a local hospital. We appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers. We will continue
to provide updates as they are available.”

In a rare turn of events, drivers in today’s race were concerned primarily about fuel strategy and
track position, and did all they could to keep themselves out front while consuming the least
amount of fuel possible. At a track that is known for unbelievable position turnaround and
numerous lead changes, cars ran partial-throttle for entire runs, running two-by-two as if they
were in rush-hour traffic on the interstate. This allowed nearly the entire field to remain in
contention as the race entered its waning stages.

The first multi-car incident occurred when Noah Gragson caught Harrison Burton’s rear bumper
entering turn three, sending him around and collecting numerous other cars.
A thrilling battle between the rookie Ty Gibbs and the veteran Ryan Blaney ensued until another
multi-car accident occurred with just five laps remaining.

Corey LaJoie, Joey Logano, and several others got together when LaJoie’s #7 was pushed into
Logano’s rear bumper, sending him spinning in front of the pack, collecting others.

The race entered it’s first overtime attempt, which saw Ross Chastain take Noah Gragson three-
wide, ultimately making contact with the #42, sending him hard into the outside wall, collecting
several cars, including Ryan Preece and Kyle Larson, who suffered a vicious impact from
Preece’s Ford as he throttled up to miss Larson’s spinning car.

This set up the finish, where Kyle Busch ultimately stole the victory. He and Blaney both
seemed destined to run out of fuel and finish poorly, but their gambles paid off in the end.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Dover next week, where Chase Elliott looks to defend his
victory from a season ago, in his third race back after suffering a broken leg in a snowboarding
accident in Colorado in early March.

NASCAR Cup Series results
GEICO 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Sun. April 23, 2023