Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

GEICO 500

Talladega Superspeedway

April 25th, 2021

Race #10 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

Laps Scheduled: 188
- Extended to 191 laps
Miles Raced : 508.1
Time of Race : 03 Hours 26 minutes 30 seconds
Average Speed: 147.620 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.102 seconds
Cautions: 7
Caution Laps: 34
Lead Changes: 35
Cars in Race : 40
Finished On Lead Lap: 26 (65%)

Brad Keselowski in victory lane — Talladega, Alabama - April 25th, 2021: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 MoneyLion Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2021 in Talladega, Alabama. Photo by Sean Gardner | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	10	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	49	40	9	5	191	1	1	0	2	Running
2	4	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	41	35	6	0	191	12	3	5	0	Running
3	23	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	45	34	11	0	191	0	0	8	3	Running
4	16	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	35	33	2	0	191	12	3	9	0	Running
5	13	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	42	32	10	1	191	28	5	1	0	Running
6	38	16	Kaz Grala	Chevrolet	31	31	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
7	20	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	30	30	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
8	11	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	29	29	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
9	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	42	28	14	0	191	11	2	2	6	Running
10	27	41	Cole Custer	Ford	27	27	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
11	25	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	26	26	0	0	191	1	1	0	0	Running
12	30	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	25	25	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
13	28	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	24	24	0	0	191	2	2	0	0	Running
14	29	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	29	23	6	0	191	9	2	0	5	Running
15	14	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	22	22	0	0	191	16	1	0	0	Running
16	18	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	21	21	0	0	191	12	3	0	0	Running
17	6	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	23	20	3	0	191	2	1	10	9	Running
18	9	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	26	19	7	0	191	6	2	0	4	Running
19	24	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	28	18	10	1	191	16	3	0	1	Running
20	39	96	Harrison Burton	Toyota	0	0	0	0	191	0	0	0	10	Running
21	21	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	25	16	9	0	191	0	0	6	7	Running
22	26	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	15	15	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
23	19	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
24	8	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	21	13	8	0	191	3	1	3	0	Running
25	31	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
26	37	15	JJ Yeley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	191	0	0	0	0	Running
27	22	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	10	10	0	0	190	7	1	0	0	Accident
28	33	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	190	0	0	0	0	Running
29	40	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	0	0	0	0	190	0	0	0	0	Running
30	34	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	190	0	0	0	0	Running
31	3	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	6	6	0	0	189	0	0	0	0	Running
32	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	12	5	7	0	188	43	3	4	0	Running
33	17	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	7	4	3	0	186	0	0	0	8	Running
34	35	28	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	186	0	0	0	0	Running
35	15	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	2	2	0	0	185	0	0	0	0	Running
36	36	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	1	1	0	0	180	0	0	0	0	Running
37	32	0	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	168	0	0	0	0	Accident
38	5	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	5	1	4	0	123	0	0	7	0	DVP
39	2	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	1	0	0	59	10	1	0	0	Accident
40	12	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	Engine

Race Infractions

GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Denny Hamlin	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Martin Truex Jr	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
BJ McLeod	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Cody Ware	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Bubba Wallace	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Christopher Bell	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Harrison Burton	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Martin Truex Jr	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	26	30	Yellow
Ryan Preece	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	26	30	Yellow
Harrison Burton	Removing equipment from assigned pit area	Tail End	26	30	Yellow
Joey Gase	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	39	43	Yellow
Aric Almirola	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	60	66	Yellow
Brad Keselowski	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	60	66	Yellow
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	60	66	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	60	66	Yellow
Chase Briscoe	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	60	66	Yellow
Daniel Suarez	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	83	84	Green
Ross Chastain	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	83	84	Green
Josh Bilicki	Improper fueling	Pass Thru	87	96	Green
Kevin Harvick	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	91	92	Green
Chris Buescher	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	91	92	Green
Denny Hamlin	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	92	93	Green
Denny Hamlin	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	93	95	Green
Kurt Busch	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	104	0	Yellow
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	104	109	Yellow
Kevin Harvick	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	105	109	Yellow
Denny Hamlin	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	119	126	Yellow
Martin Truex Jr	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	120	126	Yellow
Alex Bowman	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	120	0	Yellow
Chase Elliott	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	120	126	Yellow
William Byron	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	120	126	Yellow
Cole Custer	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	120	126	Yellow
Quin Houff	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Pass Thru	154	157	Green
Ryan Newman	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	155	158	Green
Ryan Newman	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	158	159	Green
Denny Hamlin	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	172	176	Yellow
Denny Hamlin	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	172	176	Yellow
Ryan Preece	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	172	176	Yellow
Kurt Busch	Safety violation	Tail End	173	176	Yellow
Martin Truex Jr	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	185	189	Yellow
Martin Truex Jr	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	185	189	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Talladega Superspeedway
52nd Annual GEICO 500
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski
Age: 37
Team : No. 2 - MoneyLion Ford
Owner: Team Penske
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Brad Keselowski won the 52nd Annual GEICO 500, his 35th victory in 423 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his sixth victory and 12th top-10 finish in 25 races at Talladega Superspeedway - Keselowski ties NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for second-most series wins at Talladega all-time with six wins each.
William Byron (second) posted his second top-10 finish in seven races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2021.
Michael McDowell (third) posted his second top-10 finish in 21 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Chase Briscoe (11th) was the highest finishing rookie.
This is Team Penske's 10th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
This is the 31st time a Ford has won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Race Recap

Brad Keselowski snags dramatic overtime victory at Talladega

April 25th, 2021

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Despite sustaining damage in an early wreck, and despite leading only one lap in Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski nailed down an opportunistic overtime victory in the 10th event of the NASCAR Cup Series season.

Surging to the front on the final lap, after fellow Ford driver Matt DiBenedetto abandoned the bottom lane and gave Keselowski a clear run to the front, Keselowski claimed his first victory of the season, the 35th of his career and his sixth at Talladega, tying Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for second-most all-time at the 2.66-mile track.

As the ninth different winner this season, Keselowski joined Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney on the 2021 victory list.

Keselowski said he thought "Merry Christmas!" to himself when the bottom lane opened up on the final lap.

"The whole race, I had a couple of opportunities to take the lead, but I just kept thinking, ‘Man, just keep your car in one piece till the end.' We've been so close here, and it just didn't seem to want to come together here the last few years, and I've been on kind of a four-year drought here, but it's nice to get number six.

"I would have never dreamed I'd tie Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. here. That's something. Those guys are really legends. I'm just really proud of my team. We had an accident there early, and they recovered and got it fixed up to where I could keep running. My crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, had a lot of confidence.

"I told him (before pitting on Lap 173 of a scheduled 188), ‘I want to come in and put four tires on this thing,' and he said, ‘Yep, go ahead.' And that really helped a bunch at the end."

William Byron ran second, extending his streak of top-10 finishes to eight races. Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and DiBenedetto. Kaz Grala, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Cole Custer completed the top 10.

DiBenedetto held the lead at the white flag in overtime, which took the race three laps beyond its posted distance. But the driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford moved up the track - uncovering Keselowski behind him — to block a run by Blaney. Keselowski used a strong push from McDowell to charge to the lead.

"Our day will come," DiBenedetto said ruefully of the lost opportunity. "We'll get there… It's just so circumstantial—our day will come."

Joey Logano had a much shorter day on track than his winning Team Penske teammate. As the lead pack of cars approached the green/checkered flag to end the first 60-lap stage of the race, an aggressive push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. forced Denny Hamlin out of line. In the process, Hamlin hooked the left rear of Logano's car, which got airborne off the bumper of Stenhouse's Chevrolet, turned upside-down, landing on its roof and barrel-rolled before righting itself. Keselowski's car also sustained minor damage in the incident.

When Logano's car bounced on its roof, his head hit the roll bar.

"It's nobody's fault," Logano said after a mandatory visit to the infield care center. "Denny is trying to go and the 47 (Stenhouse) is trying to go. It's a product of this racing. We have to fix it, though… At the same time, I'm appreciative of driving a car that is this safe and what Team Penske has done for the safety of these cars so that I can live to talk about it and go again.

"I got lucky that I didn't get hit while I was in the air."

The end of the second stage also produced fireworks, and once again, Hamlin was at the center of the maelstrom. As the top lane accordioned behind Keselowski, who was running second at the time, Martin Truex Jr. tapped Hamlin from behind, turning the No. 11 Toyota into the wall.

Truex then spun sideways, sustaining damage. Behind him, Byron steered down the track to the avoid the wreck and collected Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott in a chain-reaction collision. Bowman couldn't get his car repaired in the requisite six minutes and fell out of the race in 38th place.

Series points leader Hamlin, who led a race-high 43 laps, finished 32nd, three laps down.

Elliott, the reigning series champion, was able to continue and finished 24th. Harrison Burton came home 20th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut.