NASCAR
Aric Almirola Scores First Victory of 2018 with Talladega Win, is on to the Round of 8
After a race that saw all 4 Stewart-Haas Racing cars running up front for most of the day, Aric Almirola took the Talladega win. This win comes at a pivotal time for Aric and the 10 team. He is now locked into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Aric’s Talladega win is his first in over 4 years, and a full-team effort helped the 10 win.
Calm Opening Stage Domination by SHR and Ford
The course of the weekend truly began in qualifying on Friday, as Stewart-Haas Racing took the front 4 positions. When the 1000Bulbs.com 500 went green on Sunday, the 4 SHR teammates worked together to stay up front. The 4-car tandem of Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Aric Almirola would leave the competition in the rear view mirror. After only 1 caution flag, the 4 car pack cruised to the Stage 1 victory behind Kurt Busch.
SHR Battles Back in Stage 2
After pit stops between stages, the lead was taken from the SHR brigade by Ryan Blaney. Blaney’s Ford was able to hold off the SHR cars for 6 laps, until a caution came out. This caution on lap 63 was for a spinning Jimmie Johnson, who made slight contact with the inside wall. Once back underway, SHR was leading again, but this time behind Kevin Harvick.
A caution would come out late in Stage 2 that would see the leaders with a split strategy. After Kyle Larson spun on lap 105, the front running cars chose not to pit, while many others did. The SHR team was looking for Stage points. Meanwhile, others in the field had their mind set on the overall Talladega win.
Although Kyle Busch was fighting hard for the lead, Harvick would hold him off for the Stage win. Once again, SHR finished in the top 4 positions in the Stage, with Kevin Harvick as the victor. At this point, the rest of the field was wondering how to steal this race away from the SHR company. All but 4 laps of the first 2 Stages were led by them.
New Faces Up Front to Start Final Stage
The final stage would begin on lap 116, with Brad Keselowski and William Byron on the front row. Keselowski came into the race as the favorite, with 5 prior Talladega wins. While both Keselowski and Byron would lead, Kurt Busch and his teammates would be leading again on lap 140.
Fuel Concerns for the Finish
With the leaders on differing pit strategies, fuel was a concern for the finish, even without overtime. However overtime would come into play when Alex Bowman spun in turn 4, and collected several others. As a result of the extended yellow, many of the drivers up front had severe fuel issues. Coming to the overtime restart, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney were out of gas. They both had to make their way to pit road rather than restart the race.
Despite a series of cautions, Kurt Busch would hold the lead with his teammates behind him through the overtime restart. On the final lap, Kurt ran out of fuel in turn 4, and teammate Aric Almirola was able to pass him. The last lap was a topic of controversy itself. A crash happened in turn 1 and no caution was thrown. Had the caution been thrown, Kurt Busch would have the Talladega win rather than Almirola.
The top 10 finishers from the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega had a surprisingly low number of Playoff drivers. They were Almirola, his teammate Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, Paul Menard, and Regan Smith.
Significance of Talladega win for Almirola, SHR
In terms of the Playoffs, the Talladega win advances Aric Almirola on to the next round of the postseason. Besides that, this marks Aric’s 2nd career win, his first since Daytona in July 2014, 149 races ago. This is also Aric’s first win since joining Stewart-Haas Racing this season. In addition, the Talladega win is the 50th Cup Series win for SHR, and the team’s first victory at the Alabama Superspeedway.
How to Watch the Next Race
The next stop for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be Kansas Speedway, for the Hollywood Casino 400. This race will mark the end of the Round of 12, and the end of the Playoffs for 4 drivers. Coverage will be next Sunday, October 21, at 2 PM EST on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. The eliminations for Round 1 came down to a 3-way tiebreaker, so there’s no telling how close this round’s eliminations will be.
