Chase Elliott wins ‘wild’ NASCAR race at Talladega to shake up Cup Series playoffs

Chase Elliott did what no other playoff driver has been able to do yet in this postseason.

Did we expect anything else?

Elliott and his No. 9 Chevrolet made a championship move in the final two laps to change the complexion of Sunday’s race and the playoff standings all at once — and he ended up taking the checkered flag at a raucous Talladega Superspeedway.

“How about these fans, man,” Elliott told NBC Sports at the start-finish line, the checkered flag in his hand. The crowd erupted. NASCAR’s most popular driver then added, “You guys are what make this special to me.”

Elliott is now the only playoff driver to win a race in the 2022 Cup Series postseason, breaking a run of non-playoff drivers stunning the field: Erik Jones won at Darlington, then Bubba Wallace won at Kansas, then Chris Buescher won at Bristol.

But the buck stopped with Elliott — the NASCAR Cup regular-season champion and Cup wins leader (five) — and with the win he’s guaranteed a spot in the Round of 8.

How Elliott won was a display of masterful maneuvering: Stuck on the inside line with two laps to go, he got enough room to clear the No. 43 car of Erik Jones and lead the outside line. And then, somehow, Jones pushed — providing his Chevy teammate with enough momentum to snatch a win from Ryan Blaney that, for most of Stage 3, felt set in stone.

“That was a wild last couple of laps,” Elliott said. “I wasn’t super crazy about being on the bottom. And fortunately I just got clear enough off (Turn 2) to get in front of Erik, and he gave me some great shoves.”

He added: “These things are so hard to win. You gotta enjoy them. And I just appreciate everybody’s effort today.”

Blaney finished second. Michael McDowell finished third.

Ryan Blaney finishes oh-so-close again

For a moment, it looked as if it would all work out for Blaney.

The Team Penske driver of the No. 12 Ford — who has been on both the frustrating and fortunate ends of the unpredictable NASCAR Cup season — ran a race that couldn’t have gone more according to plan at Talladega Superspeedway for 186 laps.

He took a Stage 1 win away from Denny Hamlin by mere feet. He then fell back into the pack during Stage 2, biding his time per direction from interim crew chief Miles Stanley, and then led the bulk of the last 50 laps in a race that featured 57 lead changes and 17 different leaders.

But then came a final restart with six laps to go and that aforementioned Elliott move. Post-race, Blaney was asked if in those final laps he should’ve blocked Elliott, who was gaining momentum on the outside line while Blaney manned the inside.

“I definitely thought about it,” Blaney said, moments after watching the race’s final laps on replay in his camp. “The second lane was the strongest one the second half of the race. I thought about it, but if you go to the middle, and you don’t have a Ford or a teammate behind you, your chances of getting split are just so high. ... So I chose to stay in front of Michael (McDowell), and he was awesome pushing me in the last restart, giving me great shots. And I was just a little bit too late.”

He added with a smile to mask a palpable frustration: “I probably will replay in my head five different things I could’ve done differently, but overall not a bad day.”

How did the rest of the playoff field do?

Talladega proved fruitful for playoff drivers on Sunday. Seven of them finished in the Top 10. Beyond Elliott’s photo-finish win — which secured his spot in the Round of 8 despite just barely being above the cut-line points-wise coming into Sunday — and Blaney’s second-place run, here’s where the other 10 ended up:

Ross Chastain finished fourth. He found himself at the front of many draft lines on Sunday, his patriotic paint design easy to spot. “Every point earned is just better,” Chastain said with a smile in a television interview post-race. “It’s never ending. You just always want more.”

Denny Hamlin finished fifth — the only Toyota to finish in the Top 10 on Sunday. “It’s so hard to pass,” Hamlin said post-race. He added, “Our goal going into the day was five stage points, and we got more than five in the first stage. We (decided to) punt in Stage 2, and then go try to get a good finish, and that’s what we did.”

Chastain’s TrackHouse Racing driver, Daniel Suarez, finished eighth. Austin Cindric finished ninth. Chase Briscoe finished 10th. William Byron finished 12th — a tough result considering the fact that he got 25 points deducted from the playoff chase after wrecking Hamlin under caution last week.

Pole winner Christopher Bell (17), Kyle Larson (18) and Joey Logano (27) brought up the back of the pack of the playoff drivers. Alex Bowman did not race after suffering from concussion-like symptoms after his wreck at Texas last week.

Here are the points standings as drivers head into a cutoff race in Charlotte next week, per NASCAR. (Elliott and the other seven drivers with the most points move on to the Round of 8.)

1. Elliott: 3,103
2. Blaney: 3,101
3. Chastain: 3,097
4. Hamlin: 3,090
5. Logano: 3,087
6. Larson: 3,087
7. Suarez: 3,081
8. Briscoe: 3,069
9. Cindric: 3,069
10. Byron: 3,058
11. Bell: 3,036
12. Bowman: 3,015

Official results from Talladega Superspeedway

Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage is complete, and there were no issues found, per NASCAR. The No. 4 and No. 19 cars will go back to the NASCAR R&D Center for teardown.

This story was originally published October 2, 2022 at 6:17 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription