Talladega Weekend Recap: Elliott Edges Blaney For The Win

All three NASCAR circuits arrived at Talladega Superspeedway where a lot of playoff hopes were on the line.

For the Camping World Truck Series, it was a crazy finish coming to the checkered flag when a wreck broke out, triggering the caution before the leaders got to the start-finish line. After a lengthy review, it was Matt DiBenedetto earning his first career truck series victory, edging out Alabama-native Bret Holmes and Ben Rhodes for the win. DiBenedetto only led the final lap, the only lap he’s led in the truck series so far.

“Oh man, it’s been such a long time coming,” said DiBenedetto, who was racing in the Cup Series a year ago for the Wood Brothers. “I’m so thankful.”

“I think my heart rate was higher waiting for that than [taking] the white flag.”

It was originally thought by the FS1 broadcast that Bret Holmes, the 2020 ARCA Menards Series Champion, had won the race since he had edged out DiBenedetto at the line. It was then pointed out that the caution came out before the checkered flag, making NASCAR review the finish of the race.

“It definitely showed we deserve to be here,” Holmes said. “Tough to lose that one for sure.”

A scary moment occurred for Jordan Anderson when his truck caught fire on lap 19 and slid into the inside wall on the backstretch. Anderson quickly got out of his truck and had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital, where was reported alert and awake. Anderson suffered second-degree burns from the accident. Anderson released a statement later that day.

Ben Rhodes finished in second, Bret Holmes was third, Ryan Preece and Christain Eckes rounded out the top five, while Hailie Deegan placed sixth, Chase Purdy, Colby Howard, Parker Kligerman, and Tyler Ankrum completed the top ten. Eckes and Rhodes were the only playoff drivers to finish in the top ten.

For the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it was 40-year-old AJ Allmendinger scoring the win in an exciting Talladega photo finish over 19-year-old Sam Mayer by .015 seconds, getting his first win at the Superspeedway. This also marks Allmendinger’s fourth win of the 2022 season, just a couple of days before announcing he will be returning to full-time Cup Series racing in 2023 (announced Monday).

“LET’S GO!!!,” Allmendinger cheered to the fans in the stands after climbing out of his car to retrieve the checkered flag.

“Gosh, we’ve been so close to winning one (superspeedway race) and I feel like I keep giving them away,” Allmendinger said. “Thought I might have given it away. I’m still learning, trying to know what too big of a lead is. But honestly, all credit to Landon Cassill.

“He kept shoving me. He stuck with me. That’s what is great about Kaulig Racing. When you have teammates like Landon and Daniel (Hemric) that you know wherever you go, they’ll go with you. So thank you, Landon.

“Man, I just wanted to win a superspeedway and finally got it,” he added.

Landon Cassill, who gave Allmendinger the push, finished third, Ryan Sieg was fourth, and Josh Berry was fifth. Parker Kligerman, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top ten.

Pole-sitter and series rookie Austin Hill, who swept the two stage wins and led the most laps with 60, ended up dropping out of the lead group in the closing laps to the finish. He finished 14th.

Lastly, the NASCAR Cup Series ran on Sunday featured a packed crowd at Talladega Superspeedway and ended in a popular victory for the fans with Chase Elliott edging out Ryan Blaney on the final lap to score his fifth win of 2022. With Elliott’s win, this marks the first time a playoff driver has won in the playoffs, securing Elliott’s spot in the Round of Eight.

With two laps to go, Elliott pulled from the bottom lane to the top lane and got a huge push from behind by Southern 500 Winner Erik Jones. Thanks to the push from fellow Chevrolet driver Jones, Elliott was able to edge fellow playoff competitor Ryan Blaney by 0.046 seconds at the line and give him the win.

“Moments like that, you have to really cherish and you guys are what makes this special to me,” Elliott said to the fans after the race. “So, thank you sincerely, I really appreciate it.”

“It was a wild last couple of laps. I wasn’t super crazy about being on the bottom and fortunately, I got just clear enough off of [Turn] 2 to slide up in front of Erik [Jones] and he gave me some great shoves, obviously a Team Chevy partner there. Just had a good enough run to get out front and then was able to stay far enough in front of Ryan at the line to get it done.

“These things are so so hard to win, you gotta enjoy them and just appreciate everyone’s effort today.”

2021 Daytona 500 Winner Michael McDowell finished third, Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin finished fourth and fifth.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman did not race this week as he is recovering from concussion-like symptoms after a crash at Texas last week. Team owner Rick Hendrick said Bowman would be re-examined by doctors this week in hopes of getting clearance to return to competition. Noah Gragson drove the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet as a substitute.

“I thought about it,” Blaney said after the race. “The second lane was kind of the strongest, definitely the second half of the race. And I thought about (throwing a block on Elliott) but when you go to the middle without a Ford or teammate behind you, the chances of getting split are so high.”

The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series will head to the Charlotte ROVAL next weekend, as both series will decide who will be eliminated and who will go to the Round of 8. The Truck Series will race next on October 22nd at Homestead-Miami to decide who makes the Championship Four. Ty Majeski is currently the only driver locked into that.