Bubba Wallace Makes History, Wins at Talladega

The Yellawood 500 was scheduled to run on Sunday, October 3rd, however, due to rain, the race was pushed back to Monday at 1 pm. The race was able to start, but there was still the threat of inclement weather. Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr battled for the lead after the restart from the competition caution that took place on lap 25. The first real caution came out at lap 57 with 4 laps to go when William Byron gave a huge push to Justin Allgaier in the No. 77, as Allgaier was turned right into Kyle Larson, as they both ended up wrecking. This would lead to the end of stage one, with Chris Buescher taking the stage win. Under caution, Kyle Larson was trying to beat the damage clock and ended up a lap down due to Larson’s car not getting up to power right away. Larson had to meet minimum speed in three laps to be off of the DVP (Damaged Vehicle Policy).

Kyle Larson was able to meet minimum speed but unfortunately ended up in the wall with a blown tire. Now, this would put him back on the damage clock for six minutes due to the caution coming out from that accident. Many came down pit road for fuel, but then on lap 74, it began raining once again. The cars came down pit road and came to a stop. After a bit, the cars began rolling again to continue the race. On lap 98, Alex Bowman got pushed too hard and was turned into the wall collecting Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, and BJ McLeod. The race would then restart on lap 104 as intensity picked up. Dark clouds were approaching the track again as the race was already past halfway. With five laps left in stage two, it was being told that rain could come before the stage ended. Ryan Preece was turned collecting William Byron and Matt DiBenedetto. Bubba Wallace was scored the leader at the time of the caution.

The Air Titans attempted to try to dry the track, but once the rain picked back up, the race was called and Bubba Wallace was declared the winner. Wallace picked up his first career Cup Series victory, as well as becoming the first African American to win a Cup race since Wendell Scott in 1963. McDonald’s as a sponsor also picked up their first win since July 1994 at Talladega, as well as crew chief Bootie Barker getting his first win as a crew chief after 483 races. Kyle Larson was only 22 points above the cutline after Talladega and the points standings looked very tight, heading into the final race of the Round of 12 next weekend.