Better late than never, Chevrolet discovers there’s strength in numbers

 

Following a powwow with Bow-tie brass on Saturday, the Chevy drivers stuck to their strategy in the Geico 500.  

 

The result? The first win for Chevrolet in 2019 and six of the manufacturer’s drivers finishing in the top 10.

 

“It was huge,” Elliott said of the ability of the Chevy camp to work together. “We had a plan, executed it really well. Obviously, it could have gone both ways. Fortunately, everyone stayed the course.”

 

Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Daniel Hemric, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Brendan Gaughan, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10. 

 

Austin Dillon led the field to green but his time at the point didn’t last through the first lap. But as the race progressed, the Camaros remained together--on the track and during pit stops. Ty Dillon grabbed the lead from Martin Truex with a push from Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon and Elliott in tow. 

 

Elliott grabbed the lead out of the pits followed by Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., William Byron and Austin Dillon. Over the next 50 laps, the lead changed 10 times before Elliott cycled back to the lead on Lap 94. He won Stage 2 followed by his Hendrick teammates Bowman and Byron. Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Hemric, Logano and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.  

 

The race returned to green on Lap 117 with Elliott in the lead followed by Bowman, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Byron, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski and Logano. Elliott led the first 18 laps of the final stage until his progress was slowed by a debris caution on the backstretch on Lap 133. 

 

The leaders used the opportunity to pit before the race went green on Lap 136. With a fuel-only stop, Erik Jones took the lead. Logano and Truex exchanged the point prior to the Chevys pitting on Lap 154. The Fords were the next drivers to pit. Keselowski, who had led 10 laps, spun entering the pits and ended up backward in his stall. He dropped to 27th and would recover to 13th at the finish. 

 

Logano cycled back to the lead on Lap 167—and although he lost the point on Lap 174 momentarily to Kyle Busch—the No. 22 Ford regained the lead with a push from Blaney. 

 

With seven laps remaining, Chris Buescher was spun after contact with Aric Almirola on the backstretch while running 19th.

 

“We just got turned,” Buescher said. “I had a good driving car. We put ourselves in a good position there with just a handful of laps to go. Our Tide Pods Camaro was pretty good. It just turned right. We got hit and just turned right into the outside fence. It destroyed our race car. It destroyed several race cars. 

 

"It’s just so typical of these race tracks. It gets frustrating every time you come to these places and something like this. It’s just not very much fun.”

 

Martin Truex Jr., and Matt DiBenedetto were also collected in the melee. Logano retained the lead as the red flag was waved on Lap 183. Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Almirola completed the top 10.

 

The race returned to green on Lap 184. With an assist from Bowman, Elliott wheeled his way past Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Logano for the lead with three laps to go. Before the field could take the white flag, Stenhouse spun on the fronstretch. Coming through the backstretch, a wreck ensued when David Ragan ran into William Byron. Larson received the brunt of the wreck and barrel-rolled down the track.  

 

“Initially, I thought I was going to hit the inside wall pretty hard,” Larson said. “And then right before I got to it, I felt it lift and was just hoping it would set down; and then it just started tumbling. 

 

“That was probably the longest flip I’ve ever had. I haven’t seen a replay of it. I didn’t know if it would ever stop. I knew I was flipping and was just hoping that I wasn’t going to get any closer to the catch fence, so it was a little bit scary, but thankfully I’m all right.”

 

NASCAR called the sixth and final caution as Elliott was able to cruise to the finish line for his first Talladega win and the first for his crew chief Alan Gustafson. 

 

“Orchestrating it and the communication up front, laying out the plan was the majority of the hard work,” Gustafson said. “The execution today was just, you know, staying calm and sticking to our guns and staying committed to the cause.

           

“Fortunately, everybody did that and it worked really, really well.  The plan went really pretty much how we laid it out. You don't get those all the time, so we'll certainly take it. Proud of everybody at Chevrolet and all the Chevrolet team members. We needed to win this. We needed to consolidate our efforts. We needed to break the streak that one of our rivals has here.”

 

One rival, in particular, Ford, had won the last seven races at the 2.66-mile track. Both Logano and Almirola, who won here in October, were surprised it took the Chevys this long to devise a plan.

 

“They’ve changed their plan,” Logano said. “They watched us and changed their plan. It was successful for them today. Speedway racing is like that. It’s monkey see, monkey do. You just have to find the next thing to put you ahead. 

 

“It’s harder than ever to stay in line. When you’re in line, you’re running three-quarter, half-throttle. You’re just waiting to go. Cars are really tight, packed up. I was surprised to see how well that worked for them.”

 

Elliott enjoyed the roar of the crowd as he celebrated his fourth-career Monster Energy Cup Series win on the front stretch.

 

“I felt like it was a team win, for sure,” Elliott said. “The large majority of the day we were working together as a bowtie group, as Team Chevy. I felt like we executed that well. I think we could make it better, too. Just because it worked out, I don't think we need to be content in the results. I think we need to realize we can do a better job.

 

“There's certainly power in numbers at these races. When you have guys being selfless, wanting to push and make the lane go, it makes a difference. Certainly worked out for us today. Yes, there was a lot of effort that went in.  I felt like it was executed pretty well.”