"This is awesome! At Talladega!" - Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola shakes off heartbreaker at Dover to take the checkered flag for the 1000Bulbs.com 500
Aric Almirola shakes off heartbreaker at Dover to take the checkered flag for the 1000Bulbs.com 500
It was Stewart-Haas Day at Talladega Superspeedway. The organization's four Ford drivers swept the top four positions in qualifying Saturday before claiming the top four spots in Stage One and Stage Two Sunday. And when the checkered flag was waved, it was the Stewart-Haas Racing #10 car of Aric Almirola crossing the finish line first to win the 1000Bulbs.com 500. It is the second career Cup Series victory for Almirola and more importantly it punches his ticket to the round of eight in the NASCAR playoffs.
"Today, the Good Lord was shining on us and we went to Victory Lane. We did it, finally," said Almirola.
The win for Almirola comes one week after a heartbreaking race at Dover where he had victory in his sights until a late caution flag ruined his day. That was one of several instances this season where Almirola had a dominant car in the late stages before being derailed by late flags or equipment failures.
"I’ve been so close so many times this year," said Almirola. "Four or five times this year, I feel like we’ve had a shot to win, and I haven’t been able to seal the deal. … I feel like I’ve let (the team) down so many times, because we’ve had so many opportunities to win and haven’t done it."
The Team Penkse Fords have dominated Talladega recently, but this weekend the Fords of Stewart-Haas Racing moved to the forefront. On Saturday Kurt Busch claimed the pole, followed by teammates Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola. The quartet started strong when the green flag fell on Sunday and finished Stage One in the same exact running order. They continued their dominance into Stage Two which was won by Harvick followed by Bowyer, Busch and Almirola.
It seemed the only thing that could stop the Stewart-Haas gang was the "Big One", the large accident that wrecks half the field at every restrictor-plate race. Yet Sunday's race was a very rare one at Talladega, the "Big One" never came. That presented another challenge for the drivers: fuel mileage. In the race's waning moments, the Stewart-Haas quartet still held onto the top four spots but were all running low on fuel.
With only three laps remaining, Alex Bowman spun out and hit the wall to bring out the yellow caution flag. The late caution sent the race into overtime meaning even more gas was going to be needed to finish. Kevin Harvick became the first victim, forced to pit for fuel as the race was approaching the overtime re-start. Kurt Busch assumed the lead and held on until the final lap when his #41 car ran out of gas in Turn 4. Almirola raced past to take the lead and win the race, followed closely by his teammate Clint Bowyer. Rickey Stenhouse Jr., who struggles everywhere except the restrictor-plate tracks, took third place.
The final lap was the only lap Almirola led all afternoon, once again proving the old adage you only need to lead one lap to go to victory lane. Overall the four Stewart-Haas cars combined to lead 153 of the 193 laps run on the afternoon. While Almirola and Boywer saved enough gas to finish 1-2, fuel mileage woes resulted in a 14th place finish for Busch and a 28th place finish for Harvick.
Denny Hamlin, still searching for his first victory of the season, finished in fourth place while Joey Logano, who won this race in the spring, came home with a fifth place finish.
Kurt Busch was the winner of Stage One and Kevin Harvick took the checkered green for Stage Two. Each driver earned bonus points for their playoff point standings.
Click here for full race results.
The 1000Bulbs.com 500 was the second of three races which make-up the second elimination round of the NASCAR playoffs. The field of 12 drivers will be cut to 8 after the third race at Kansas on October 21. Wins in this round by Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola guarantee they will advance to the next round.
Kevin Harvick has accumulated enough points after Sunday's race to advance to the next round regardless of his performance next week at Kansas. That leaves five spots still up for grabs.
Alex Bowman is currently in 12th place and will need a win to advance to the third round. Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson also currently sit below the cut-off line. They don't have to win to advance, but will need strong finishes and some luck. Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer are the drivers just above the cut-off line. They each need a strong finish next week and have to hope one of the drivers below the line doesn't win the event or one of them could be eliminated. It would be a huge upset if Truex, one NASCAR's "Big Three", doesn't advance to the third round.
Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch have comfortable point leads heading into Kansas. They aren't guaranteed to advance, but it would take a big disaster at Kansas for any of them to fail to move into the third round.
You can see the updated Driver's Playoff Points Standings here.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue in Kansas next week with the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. The last race of the second elimination round of the playoffs, four unlucky drivers will be going home with their championship dreams crushed.
Author: @chops316
Editor: @liberty-minded
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