NASCAR at Talladega live updates: Brad Keselowski wins in overtime shootout

Live updates for this event have concluded. A race recap and full analysis will be posted here.

The NASCAR Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway was today. The Geico 500 started at 2 p.m. on FOX. At 5:47 p.m., Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag in a two-lap overtime shootout.

The race was 188 laps (500 miles) with stages ending on laps 60, 120 and 188.

Check back here for live updates throughout the race and follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Race results

Stage 3

Lap 191, 5:47 p.m.: Brad Keslowski takes the checkered flag as a few cars spin in the pack behind him jockeying for Top 10 positioning.

Lap 190, 5:46 p.m.: Four wide through the tri-oval, and the white flag waves. Keselowski jumps to the inside lane

Lap 189, 5:45 p.m.: Matt DiBenedetto leads the field to green. If we see a white flag, race goes official.

Lap 187, 5:39 p.m.: There will be a two-lap “overtime” shootout to finish the race, and that assumes no more cautions. With five miles to race, that’d be a big ask.

Lap 186, 5:36: Caution with four to go! Truex’s tire that had been coming off and caused him to try and limp to the pits came apart, and the rubber rolled onto the track, bringing out the caution. Two-lap shootout. Matt DiBenedetto leads with Blaney, Keselowski, Harvick, McDowell your Top 5. Fords are stacked 1-2-3-4-5-6 (and 10).

Lap 183, 5:34 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr. felt a left side tire going down and he dropped off the pace ... safely. Single file for the leaders back to about 15 cars for now.

Lap 181, 5:32 p.m.: Martin Truex was involved in a small wreck earlier, and now he’s leading the inside lane and challenging for the lead. He’s been strong all day, despite that incident. DiBenedetto has been solid at the front, and has his Ford friends stacked up behind him in the outside lane.

Lap 178, 5:30 p.m.: Back to gree-flag racing, and we have three-wide racing as teams jockey for position here inside of 10 to go. No saving fuel anymore as the yellow-flag laps and some pit stops ended that issue. Brad Keselowski was 11th on the restart and he’s already up to 5th.

Lap 175, 5:26 p.m.: A lot of potential first-time winners in the Top 10, none of which pitted under this caution.l A lot of banter about overtime right now, and with good reason. All of the cars near the back have fresh tires and many have experience.

Lap 173, 5:21 p.m.: Caution out for a driver into the wall. Good on the field for missing him, and good on the car for staying pressed against the wall as the field passed. Keselowski pits from the Top 10, and a few others follow suit. Under yellow, they’ll drop to the back of the 26 cars on the lead lap with 15 to go!

Lap 172, 5:20 p.m.: Erik Jones now to the front after being told by his team he is “right on the number” for fuel. Matt BiBenedetto is stacked behind him for now, with Chastain and Keselowski in 3-4. Teams setting up for a final push as we get down to 16 to go.

Lap 168, 5:16 p.m.: Christopher Bell came out of the pit stops with the lead, but his team asked him to give that up to save fuel. They think he’s about two laps short on fuel in this one right now. Ross Chastain has taken the lead here and there is expected to be a mad dash to the finish in this one, as is normal in these superspeedway races.

Lap 159, 5:08p.m.: Varying strategies on display here, with a group of drivers electing to stay out on the track, all of the top Ford drivers. That have Kevin Harvick the chance to lead the race for a couple of laps during the stops. Looks like a two-tire stop for the Ford group.

Lap 155, 5:05p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse spins, but no caution. Bubba Wallace and others take the opportunity to head to the pits. Here comes the field!

Lap 149, 5:00 p.m.: The bottom lane starts to get some action as the teams start to plan their pit strategies for what might be the final green-flag stops. Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell in Toyotas are now in the top 10 and Ross Chastain has taken over the lead after Almirola peels back after burning a ton of fuel as the leader.

Lap 144, 4:55 p.m.: Aric Almirola is still running out front, but that may not be the best place for him. He’s running wide open on the throttle while everyone else in the single-file formation drafts and bides their time. Striking is the current lack of Toyota representation in the Top 10. Lot of blue ovals and bow ties.

Lap 137, 4:50 p.m.: Blaney shed the debris that was on his grill ... by sliding into second place behind Aric Almirola. McDowell and Keselowski run 3-4 behind them, with Buescher in fifth position. Mostly single-file racing as the teams settle in for the final push and plot strategy.

Lap 131, 4:45 p.m.: Ryan Blaney leads the field to green to start the final stage, but has picked up some debris on his front grill. It hasn’t appeared to bother him yet, but there’s a lot of chatter on the radio about it. Bubba Wallace, who led the field to the end of the second stage, sits in 12th.

Stage 2

Lap 120, 4:29 p.m.: Bubba Wallace wins stage two as another massive wreck closes the stage. This is his first stage win in the series. Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse, Christopher Bell and Harrison Burton also finish in the top-10. Just before the flag, the field is collected in a massive wreck on the frontstretch as Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace block high in the top lane. Denny Hamlin, running behind Keselowski, gets tapped by Martin Truex Jr. behind him as the front of the field bunches and he goes into the outside wall. Truex, William Byron and Chase Elliott are among the drivers collected in the aftermath.

Lap 109, 3:17 p.m.: Kurt Busch returns to the race at the same time as his brother Kyle Busch makes a MASSIVE save after getting sent low around Turn 4. Bubba Wallace is leading.

Lap 103, 4:04 p.m.: The caution comes out for Kurt Busch, whose car was black-flagged by NASCAR because of smoke, and fluid on the track from the car. He stops his smoking car, and flames come from the hood. An oil line was evidently leaking. Busch’s car goes to the garage for a mechanical issue.

Lap 94, 3:53 p.m.: Denny Hamlin gets two speeding penalties IN A ROW after pitting from the lead. He has to serve two pass through penalties after leading the race (44 laps so far). That’s a huge blow. Kevin Harvick and Chris Buescher were also hit with speeding penalties just before Hamlin, as the Fords were pitting. Hamlin followed them to pit road a lap later. He’s a lap down, but is not in the lucky dog position to return to the lead lap with multiple cars running a lap down.

“Sorry for that guys. I’ll make up for it,” Hamlin says.

Lap 92, 3:53 p.m.: Denny Hamlin continues to lead with Matt DiBenedetto, but thee Fords will shortly pit.

Lap 85, 3:50 p.m.: The Chevrolets just pit together, but the other manufcturers are staying out for more laps. This where the manufacturer strategies will differ. On pit road, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez get speeding penalties. Chase Elliott’s team has a slow pit stop, putting Elliott a lap down when he returns to field.

Lap 74, 3:40 p.m.: Denny Hamlin leads Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron and Ryan Preece, but the field goes three-wide into the 76th lap with Kevin Harvick on the inside lane, and Ross Chastain on the middle lane. On FOX, Joey Logano offers some critical commentary on the large spoiler and wreck-heavy racing.

“I‘m happy I’m alive,” he says. “But when are we going to stop doing what we’re doing? This is dangerous. I got a roll bar in my head. That’s not okay. I’m one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through. I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

Stage 1

Lap 61, 3:23 p.m.: The stage ends after Joey Logano goes flying through the air on the backstretch. Logano’s radio says that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit Denny Hamlin, which sent Hamlin into the back of Logano to turn him. His No. 22 does multiple flips through the air and directly over the oncoming car of Bubba Wallace, but Wallace says his car has minimal damage. Logano’s car has significant damage, and he reports that the “roof is in my head” but he is alright.

The stage ends with Matt DiBenedetto as the winner, followed by Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell.

Lap 53, 3:13 p.m.: Matt DiBenedetto leads the field directly in front of a pack of Ford teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Blaney led earlier after breaking away from Denny Hamlin on the inside lane.

Lap 44, 3:05 p.m.: After the restart, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell are leading on the bottom lane.

Lap 39, 2:58 p.m.: A caution comes out for Joey Gase, who goes into the wall in Turn 4. Among the drivers who pit are Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola and Daniel Suárez. Almirola earlier reported to his team that “everything’s tight.”

“It is clobbering everything underneath the car. Feels like it’s hitting where my seat is,” Almirola says on the radio.

Lap 34, 2:52 p.m.: Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch are at the front, leading two lanes, but Brad Keselowski is trying to make a move to open a third lane on the outside. Hamlin then drops low to form a single line on the next lap with Busch, and Keselowski gets the outside spot as Bubba Wallace tries to lead a middle lane with few cars. He eventually falls back out of the top-10.

Lap 25, 1:45 p.m.: The running order at the competition caution is Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott. Hamlin wins the race off pit road, and Harrison Burton, who is making his Cup Series debut gets a penalty for removing equipment after he carries a gas can still attached from the box. Truex recieves a speeding penalty and Ryan Preece gets a penalty for a crew member being over the wall too soon, so three drivers will drop to the rear for this restart.

Lap 22, 2:38 p.m.: Kyle Busch has moved into first with a line of Toyotas behind him in the low lane. He’s riding with Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin immediately behind him. Bubba Wallace says he plans to take two tires here and make some

Lap 18, 2:34 p.m.: Kevin Harvick is leading the top lane, while Bubba Wallace is leading the bottom lane. Wallace led laps earlier after driving to first from a last-place start due to the inspection penalty.

Lap 10, 2:28 p.m.: Kyle Larson’s No. 5 team hustles the car to the garage with an apparent engine issue. Larson says it’s just stopped working. His crew chief Cliff Daniels mentions the team didn’t remove something, to cause the engine issue.

Lap 2, 2:23 p.m.: The race goes green with Joey Logano in the lead from the outside, but Kyle Larson quickly drops back and he pits before entering the second lap. His No. 5 Chevrolet is overheating, with the temperatures spiking to 340 degrees. “I can’t even keep up with the draft,” Larson says with his car on pit road. He says his engine is blowing up.

Pre-race

2:10 p.m.: A four-jet flyover is complete. So it the national anthem and the command to fire engines. Cars are rolling off the grid. NASCAR announces that all of the Toyotas except Kyle Busch have now been added to the list of teams dropping to the rear. The Nos. 11 (Denny Hamlin) , 19 (Martin Truex Jr.), 20 (Christopher Bell), 23 (Bubba Wallace), 96 (Harrison Burton) will all drop to the rear for unapproved adjustments,

1:40 p.m.: NASCAR announces that two cars will drop to the rear for today’s race. The No. 51 driven by Cody Ware twice failed pre-race technical inspection. The No. 78 driven by BJ McLeod will also drop to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Those drivers were expected to start 33rd and 31st, respectively. Denny Hamlin is on the pole with Joey Logano in the front row. Cars are lined up on the grid.

1 p.m.: NASCAR announced this morning a multiyear partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to support the nonprofit with a focus on STEM education, career development and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives.

NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the media prior to the race at Talladega to discuss the partnership announcement along with Boys & Girls Clubs of America president Jim Clark, and also answered questions on a range of racing topics, including Jennifer Jo Cobb not being approved to race this weekend, NASCAR’s vaccination efforts and whether the sport will continue to race in states with strict voting laws. Find the full story, with Phelps’ quotes, here.

NASCAR this weekend: How to watch the race at Talladega

• Race: Geico 500
• When: Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. EST
• How to watch/listen: FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 188 laps, 500 miles on the 2.66-mile tri-oval
• Stages: Laps 60, 120, 188
• Last year’s winner: Ryan Blaney

NASCAR Cup at Talladega starting order

This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 1:56 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription