Chase Elliott seized the lead in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway during a four-lap shootout to the finish and took the checkered flag under caution after Kyle Larson barrel-rolled behind him.
Elliott’s victory broke a Chevrolet drought in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series dating to last October at Kansas Speedway and broke a seven-race Ford stranglehold on the 2.66-mile track.
The first driver not from Team Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing to win this season, Elliott crossed the stripe ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who scored his career-best finish but regretted he didn’t have the chance to make a move on Elliott on the last lap.
On a day when Chevrolet drivers faithfully executed a game plan to work together, Elliott scored his first win at Talladega and the fourth of his career. Elliott had taken the checkered flag in three of Chevrolet’s four 2018 wins, including the triumph at Kansas.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
This week nobody had chosen William Clyde Elliott, Jr, aka Chase, as their driver for Talladega, so the award will go back onto the shelf for next week at Dover.
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
The biggest scorer this week is our leader Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty who racked up 37 points from Austin Dillon’s good afternoon at Talladega.
Additionally, Jim, aka Chiefy, Edie The Las Vegas Super Star, as well as Linda B. The Cookie Mom faired very well while supporting “The Outlaw”, who now wants to be known by his given name, Kurt Busch. All three players racked up a very cool 36 points from KuBu’s 6th place finish.
Meanwhile, we have a quartet of players that consists of Karen The Highly Opinionated Southern Bell, Snoopy Dawn, Carlton The Doorman, and Jeremy The Coach adding a nifty 35 points. The Coach received his points from Ryan “No Neck” Newman, while the other three players were rooting for Joey Logano this week.
Our resident dirt midget racer, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, jumped up on the radar screen adding 29 points to his totals as his man YRB, Young Ryan Blaney, hung on to finish 15th.
Rounding out the top five scorers this week is Lonna The Quilt Angel and Leon Your Most Humble Sheriff adding a cool 29 points to their pot from Aric Almirola’s 9th place finish.
As this segment begins to draw to a close, we have just two more races left, the middle of the leaderboard shows that positions 6 through 12 are only separated by a slim 20 points! So these last two races will provide a lot of volatility.
The biggest mover of the week is Dan The Numbers Cruncher. The Numbers Dude could only muster one (1) stinkin’ point this week. For his poor results he plummeted five (5) positions to land in 11th spot.
The trio of Carole, aka Rudy, Snoopy Dawn, and Carlton The Doorman moved three (3) places at the end of the GEICO 500 tonight. Both Snoopy and The Doorman climbed up three spots to sit now in 7th and 8th, respectively. Conversely, Rudy dropped three positions to rest in 6th place.
Moving two (2) places this week are Jeremy The Coach, Karen The Highly Opinionated Southern Belle, Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head, as well as Bernie The Bay Area Bandit. The Coach and The Highly Opinionated One each stepped up two places to dwell in 3rd and 5th places, respectively. However, The Cheddar Head and The Bandit stumbled and fell two places to crash in 10th and 15th places, respectively.
Rounding out the movement for the week are these four players, Linda B The Cookie Mom, Jim, aka Chiefy, Kathy The Church Forecloser, and Wild Bill The Pretzel Man, just moving next door to their previous landing spot. The Cookie Mom, Chiefy, and The Church Forecloser all stepped up one position, sitting in 13th, 14th, and 17th place, while The Pretzel Man fell back one position to fall into 18th place.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
Well our resident accountant, Dan The Numbers Cruncher, is bestowed with the coveted “Crappiest Pick of The Week” award for his microscopic score of one (1) point!
And with just two races left in this segment we have a new players in “The Outhouse”! Although the race to the bottom has been fierce all segment, this week Wild Bill The Pretzel Man evicted Kathy The Church Forecloser! The competition has been extremely keen with just one (1) point that separates those two for “The Outhouse”!
Next week NASCAR moves to the fastest one mile track in the country, Dover International Speedway.
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR BELTS TIGHT, AND LET’S GO RACIN’!