Ryan Blaney emerged with a fender-clanging victory in overtime Monday at Talladega Superspeedway, bumping aside Erik Jones and edging Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by inches to land his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season.
Blaney’s Team Penske No. 12 Ford led a race-high 63 of the 191 laps in the GEICO 500, which was pushed back one day because of persistent Sunday afternoon rain. His second straight triumph at the 2.66-mile track was the fourth of his Cup Series career.
Stenhouse held on for second in the JTG-Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet, just .007 seconds back at the checkered flag. Aric Almirola took third place going backwards, ahead of Denny Hamlin and Jones, who rounded out the top five in order.
Team Penske and its Wood Brothers affiliate dominated the middle portions of the race and remained in control entering the final stage. But stage victories went to Chevrolet drivers, with rookie Tyler Reddick landing Stage 1 and Stenhouse taking Stage 2.
The race was the first with new superspeedway rules in place designed to improve safety and competition. The result was a flurry of lead changes, with aggressive bump-drafting and big aerodynamic pushes dictating the action. As with most other races in NASCAR’s return after the coronavirus outbreak, the event was held without practice or qualifying.
The Monday running was also affected by rain, as storms forced a 58-minute, 18-second delay with 57 laps complete.
The entire field took part in an emotional rally of unity with Bubba Wallace, who was the target of a racist, hate-filled incident Sunday in the NASCAR garage. His No. 43 Chevrolet was pushed to the front of the starting grid, with team owner Richard Petty on site to show his support. Wallace finished 14th.
The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race weekend is a doubleheader, with events scheduled Saturday and Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
This week we do have something to celebrate! Three players, Jim, aka Chiefy, our points leader Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head, as well as Jeremy The Coach all were stowaways in Ryan Blaney’s hot rod. For that selection they all added 54 points to their 1st segment collection, and were the highest scorers this weekend.
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
Following the above mentioned trio this week is Snoopy Dawn. Snoopy was hanging with Aric Almirola for Talladega and pocketed 34 points when the checkered flag waved this evening.
Following Snoopy on the weekly scoring pylon is a duo consisting of Leon Your Most Humble Sheriff and Carole, aka Rudy. This duet added 33 points to their weekly tallies. Even though they each racked up the same score this week, it came from two different drivers. The Sheriff was supporting Joey Logano, while Rudy was riding shotgun with Denny Hamlin.
It appears that Dan The Numbers Cruncher is making a run into the fantasy league money positions this week! The Numbers Dude added 31 points to his totals via Kurt Busch.
Rounding out the top five scorers for Talladega is Carlton The Doorman. The Doorman was rooting for Kyle Busch, and for that was rewarded with 19 points.
The only player who remained in their previous position was our current leader The Cheddar Head, all the rest of the players played musical chairs to some degree! Although I am not sure what song they were playing during their game of musical chairs, maybe it was one big county song!
The leaders of the chair swappers this week is the tandem of Jim, aka Chiefy, and Edie The Las Vegas Super Star, moving five (5) places at the end of the race. Chiefy had a great race launching himself up five places to now sit in 6th place. Unfortunately, The Vegas Super Star didn’t fair so well this week, dropping 5 places to now dwell in 11th place! (More about this in the last section of this post.)
Jeremy The Coach and Carol, aka Rudy, each moved up three (3) places after Talladega to reside in 2nd and 7th places, respectively.
Now for the long list of players who fell one (1) place this week. This list contains Dan The Numbers Dude, Snoopy Dawn, Leon Your Most Benevolent and Extremely Humble Sheriff, Carlton The Doorman, Linda The Cookie Mom, as well as Bernie The Bay Area Bandit. This bumbling group stumbled into, and now occupying 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 10th.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
This week we have one person who is fortunate enough to secure a double award. This happens from time to time, when that said player really suffers a max cave-in! This week Edie The Las Vegas Super Star was supporting the senior citizen, Matt Kenseth. Normally, Kenseth is a safe choice for a moderately good score, but it didn’t happen that way today. Kenseth was only able to produce a tiny (1) point for The Vegas Super Star! That microscopic one point not only put her in line for The Crappiest Pick of The Week, but also landed her squarely in The Outhouse, as well!
Next weekend NASCAR pulls off a doubleheader at The Tricky Triangle, aka Pocono Raceway.
Check out the results of the GEICO 500 from Talladega.
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR BELTS TIGHT AND LET’S GO RACIN’!