NASCAR Cup Series: Chase Elliott wins 2019 GEICO 500 thriller

Chase Elliott earned his first victory of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning a thrilling GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott took the checkered flag under caution to wrap up what was a thrilling GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This race, which was the 10th race of the 36-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, was the first superspeedway race to feature the new aero package, and that package delivered a race to remember.

Elliott, who started the 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama in 11th place in his #9 Chevrolet, officially won it by 0.035 seconds over teammate Alex Bowman in second place in his #88 Chevrolet to earn the fourth victory of his Cup Series career and his first since he won the October race at Kansas Speedway in the round of 12 at last season’s playoffs.

Elliott’s victory was also the first victory by a Hendrick Motorsports driver and by a Chevrolet driver since he won that race at Kansas Speedway last October. He has now earned the last four victories earned by Hendrick Motorsports drivers and Chevrolet drivers dating back to his first career Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen International in August of 2018.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

Four of the top five finishers of this race all earned career-high Cup Series finishes. Rookies Ryan Preece of JTG Daugherty Racing and Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing finished in third and fifth place in their #47 Chevrolet and #8 Chevrolet, respectively. Preece wrapped up a top three sweep by Chevrolet drivers in this race.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano was the highest finishing Ford driver of the race. He finished in fourth place in his #22 Ford. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch was the fifth Chevrolet driver in the top six, as he finished in sixth in his #1 Chevrolet.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman and Beard Motorsports’ Brendan Gaughan finished in seventh and eighth place in their #6 Ford and #62 Chevrolet, respectively. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola finished in ninth in his #10 Ford ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who was the highest finishing Toyota driver of the race, in 10th in his #18 Toyota.

The race featured a total of 38 lead changes among 15 drivers. The lead change total of 38 is the highest in a Cup Series race since the October race at Talladega Superspeedway in the 2014 season featured 38 lead changes. A Cup Series race has not featured more than 38 lead changes since the May race at the track in the 2014 season featured 48 of them.

Aside of Elliott, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 44 laps led, 14 other drivers led at least one lap of the race.

These other 14 drivers were Bowman, Logano, Gaughan, Almirola, Kyle Busch, Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney, Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr., Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Premium Motorsports’ Ross Chastain and Leavine Family Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto. Dillon won stage one while Elliott won stage two.

Race polesitter Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing did not lead any of the race’s 188 laps.

The race only featured six caution flag periods, of which two took place as a result of the usual endings of stages one and two and the other four took place as a result of on-track incidents. However, the final two caution flag periods took place at the end of the race and were particularly notable.

The first of these final two caution flag periods ended up becoming a red flag period with just six laps remaining.Several drivers, including Truex Jr., DiBenedetto, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Chris Buescher and Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley, were involved in the heavy wreck that began this caution flag period.

The final caution flag period began after the race’s final lap had begun, and NASCAR had no option but to end the race as a result of it. The race’s final lap began with Stenhouse Jr. spinning out and hitting the wall, but NASCAR did not throw the caution flag because he was not in anybody’s way and would not be in anybody’s way until the rest of the field crossed the finish line later that lap.

But on the back straightaway on that final lap, Front Row Motorsports’ David Ragan got into Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, sending Byron’s #24 Chevrolet into Larson’s #42 Chevrolet and sending Larson’s #42 Chevrolet into the #81 Toyota of XCI Racing’s Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Enough air got under Larson’s #42 Chevrolet to send him barrel-rolling head-first into the inside retaining wall. His car continued to barrel roll after it made contact with the wall. Thankfully, nobody was injured as a result of this wreck.

Here is a video of this nasty accident which ultimately ended the race with Elliott leading after he made his way from fifth to first place following the final restart that took place with only four laps remaining.

Listen in as the @NASCARonFOX crew breaks down the crash that brought out the race's final caution.#GEICO500 | @TalladegaSuperS pic.twitter.com/xwkFkkHJxk
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 28, 2019

Of the 40 drivers who started the race, 34 finished it and 25 finished it on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Race Results
1st – Chase Elliott
2nd – Alex Bowman
3rd – Ryan Preece
4th – Joey Logano
5th – Daniel Hemric
6th – Kurt Busch
7th – Ryan Newman
8th – Brendan Gaughan
9th – Aric Almirola
10th – Kyle Busch
11th – Corey LaJoie
12th – Daniel Suarez
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Austin Dillon
15th – Ryan Blaney
16th – Paul Menard
17th – Ty Dillon
18th – Reed Sorenson
19th – Erik Jones
20th – Martin Truex Jr.
21st – William Byron
22nd – Jeffrey Earnhardt
23rd – David Ragan
24th – Kyle Larson
25th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26th – Ross Chastain
27th – Parker Kligerman
28th – Cody Ware
29th – Clint Bowyer
30th – Chris Buescher
31st – Matt DiBenedetto
32nd – Justin Haley
33rd – Jimmie Johnson
34th – Landon Cassill
35th – Stanton Barrett
36th – Denny Hamlin
37th – Matt Tifft
38th – Kevin Harvick
39th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
40th – Michael McDowell

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

The next race on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Gander RV 400, which is the 11th race on the schedule. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 5.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series