Jack Links 500 at Talladega

Photo credits to @ / Talladega SuperSpeedway on X.

Welcome to the biggest and fastest track on the NASCAR schedule:  beautiful, sweet home Talladega! 

You never really know exactly what racing at ‘Dega will bring! Let’s break down this race!

The starting top-10 was: 

1. Tyler Reddick (45) 
2. Kyle Larson (5) 
3. Denny Hamlin (11) 
4. Bubba Wallace (23) 
5. Chase Briscoe (19) 
6. Brad Keselowski (6) 
7. William Byron (24) 
8. Chase Elliott (9) 
9. Ty Gibbs (54) 
10. Chris Buescher (17) 

The first stage of the Jack Links 500 was relatively uneventful and had smooth racing until the end. That being said, the top-five for stage one was: 

1. Ryan Preece (60)
2. Brad Keselowski 
3. Joey Logano (22)
4. Ryan Blaney (12)
5. Josh Berry (21) 

The second stage, however, was much more exciting. The green flag for stage two flew with Bubba Wallace leading. The first caution for an actual wreck came on lap 115, when Wallace got bumped in front of the field and spun, triggering The Big One. This wreck collected 26 cars, only four cars weren’t involved. The red flag was out after this caution for nearly 10 minutes. We went green again on lap 122 with Christopher Bell (20) leading. However, the green flag didn’t last long because on lap 124, Ty Gibbs cut a right front tire in turn 4, collected Micheal McDowell (71) and they both hit the wall. 

On lap 130, the race went green again with Ross Chastain (1) leading. There wasn’t another caution in stage 2 until the stage break. The Stage 2 top-five was: 

1. Ross Chastain 
2. Christopher Bell 
3. Chris Buescher 
4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) 
5. Todd Gilliland (34) 

Now, for arguably the best stage in this race: stage 3! The green was waved again and the 17 lead. Stage 3 stayed green until lap 161, when the 45 cut a tire in turn 2 and hit the wall. The final caution for the race came on lap 182, Erik Jones (43) spun out and got stuck in the grass in the infield. For the last three laps, Carson Hocevar (77) and the 17 were battling for the lead. 

However, it was Carson Hocevar who got it done at Talladega! This win marks the first of Hocevar’s Cup Series career.

The final top-10 was: 

1. Carson Hocevar 
2. Chris Buescher 
3. Alex Bowman 
4. Chase Elliott 
5. Zane Smith (38) 
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr 
7. Ross Chastain 
8. Austin Cindric (2) 
9. Noah Gragson (4) 
10. Kyle Busch (8)