Ross Chastain goes strong at Talladega

True to his ritual, Ross Chastain exploded his second watermelon of the season at the end of a perfectly controlled race. Change of atmosphere this Sunday going from the dirt of Bristol to the endless ribbon of asphalt of Talladega Super Speedway. Promising spectacular racing, the largest oval of the season with 2,66 miles of development (4,30 km) and its 33-degree inclined turns is one of the most anticipated events of the season.

The temple of speed in Alabama © James Gilbert/Getty Images

L‘heure de la révolte avait sonné pour Toyota en qualifications, Christopher Bell précédant sur la grille Martin Truex Jr., son coéquipier de la Joe Gibbs Racing. Comme à Daytona, la puissance des Next Gen était réduite à 550ch sur cette piste contre près de 700 habituellement, ce qui n’empêchait pas Bell de signer la pole à près de 300 km/h de moyenne !

Pole position for Christopher Bell and Toyota © James Gilbert/Getty Images

4 laps from the end of the first segment, a violent slowdown by Daniel Hemric led to the elimination of the unfortunate duelists of the last lap in Bristol, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick. The section ended under yellow flag with the victory of Bubba Wallace, always performing well on these fast tracks.

This same Bubba Wallace was later involved in a Big One, sandwiching with Erik Jones the unfortunate Joey Logano who went into the wall before returning to the track to mow down Ty Dillon and by runoff Daniel Suarez, Todd Gilliland and Ricky Stenhouse Jr The second segment ended with a show of strength from Hendrick Motorsports whose 4 drivers put in a hell of a pace to take William Byron to his 3rd segment of the season.

The No. 22 gets into the wall, and multiple cars are collected entering Turn 1. pic.twitter.com/GBLAo7VYap

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 24, 2022

While around twenty cars remained on the leader's lap, the last 68 laps of racing at Talladega took a strategic turn, with each driver striving to position themselves at the front without taking the risk of destroying their chances of victory in a crash. Very lively for ten laps, Erik Jones seemed to hold the victory, but in the last meters of the race Ross Chastain launched the offensive pushing Kyle Larson out of his path who in turn sent Kurt Busch into the wall. Well helped by a final push from Austin Dillon, Chastain was able to race to victory ahead of Dillon, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson who, failing to win, finally signed his first Top 5 on Super Speedway.

Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace, great leaders of the race © Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Return to short-track next weekend with the unmissable confrontation with the Monster Mile in Dover.

Standings for the Geico 500 at Talladega: