Starting from 19th place Car 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s Toyota won the 53rd Annual YellaWood 500, is 1st win in 144 NASCAR Cup Series races. This is his 1st win & 3rd Top 10 finish in 2021. This is his 1st win & 1st Top 10 finish in 9 races at Talladega Superspeedway. This was the 1st win for owners Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin. This is the first time in history there has been a winner from all three series in a single weekend at the same track. The race was postponed from from Sunday to Monday due to rain. It was started restarted on time but stopped due to rain. It was restarted again & just before the end of stage 2 it was stopped again. NASCAR tried to restart the race but called it due to half being completed. 2nd Place Car 2 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Ford, started from 7th place posted his 13th Top 10 finish in 27 races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 14th Top 10 finish in 2021. 3rd Place Car 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford, started from 8th place posted his 11th Top 10 finish in 27 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
4th Place Car 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet, started from 14th place followed by 5th place 12. Car 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota, started from 12th place. 6th Place Car 17 Chris Buescher Violet Defense Ford, started from 24th place followed by 7th place Car 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota, started from pole. 8th Place Car 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light Hunt4Busch Ford, started from 26th place followed by 9th place Car 43 Erik Jones US Air Force: Special Warfare Chevrolet, started from 26th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 38 Anthony Alfredo Georgia Peanuts Ford, in 10th place, started from 30th place was the highest finishing rookie. Denny Hamlin (P) leads the point standings by 19 points over Kyle Larson (P).
The race had 5 Cautions for 27 Laps: 1st Caution on lap 27 for Competition Caution. 2nd Caution on lap 57 for #5, 14, 24 and 77 Crash on the Frontstretch. 3rd Caution on lap 68 for Debris in Turn 2 from #5 [Red Flag: 18:20]. 4th Caution on lap 99 for 8, 9, 18, 19, 37, 42, 47, 48 and 78 Crash on the Backstretch. 5th Caution on lap 117 for #21, 24, 37 and 47 Crash on the Backstretch.
The race had 35 Lead Changes among 19 drivers; D. Hamlin (P) 0; K. Busch (P) 1; J. Logano (P) 2; K. Busch (P) 3-5; K. Harvick (P) 6-11; M. DiBenedetto 12-13; K. Harvick (P) 14; M. Truex Jr. (P) 15-16; K. Larson (P) 17-19; C. Custer 20-26; A. Alfredo # 27; K. Harvick (P) 28-29; K. Busch 30-33; K. Harvick (P) 34-37; D. Hamlin (P) 38; B. Keselowski (P) 39-40; D. Hamlin (P) 41-42; B. Keselowski (P) 43-53; C. Buescher 54-60; R. Stenhouse Jr. 61; J. Logano (P) 62-64; T. Reddick 65-66; J. Logano (P) 67-71; C. Ware(i) 72-75; *. Haley(i) 76-79; C. Bell (P) 80-83; D. Hamlin (P) 84-86; C. Bell (P) 87-88; K. Harvick (P) 89-91; C. Bell (P) 92-96; A. Bowman (P) 97; R. Stenhouse Jr. 98-105; C. Bell (P) 106; R. Stenhouse Jr. 107; K. Busch 108-112; B. Wallace 113-117.
Stages:
Stage 1 Top 10: 17, 22, 2, 4, 8, 12, 9, 42, 1, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 23, 2, 22, 1, 20, 17, 11, 4, 43, 38
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 31
Race Results for the 53rd Annual YellaWood 500 – Sunday, October 3, 2021. Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 117 Laps – 311.22 Miles
Finish Start Car Team Laps Status
| 1. 19. Car 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s Toyota 117 Running |
| 2. 7. Car 2 Brad Keselowski (P) Discount Tire Ford 117 Running |
| 3. 8. Car 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 117 Running |
| 4. 14. Car 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 5. 12. Car 20 Christopher Bell (P) Rheem Toyota 117 Running |
| 6. 24. Car 17 Chris Buescher Violet Defense Ford 117 Running |
| 7. 1. Car 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx Express Toyota 117 Running |
| 8. 9. Car 4 Kevin Harvick (P) Busch Light #Hunt4Busch Ford 117 Running |
| 9. 26. Car 43 Erik Jones US Air Force: Special Warfare Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 10. 30. Car 38 Anthony Alfredo # Georgia Peanuts Ford 117 Running |
| 11. 16. Car 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 12. 6. Car 19 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 117 Running |
| 13. 28. Car 41 Cole Custer Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford 117 Running |
| 14. 17. Car 14 Chase Briscoe # Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1Delvac Ford 117 Running |
| 15. 4. Car 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Maytag Ford 117 Running |
| 16. 21. Car 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. SunnyD Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 17. 22. Car 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 117 Running |
| 18. 3. Car 9 Chase Elliott (P) Adrenaline Shoc Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 19. 35. Car 00 Quin Houff 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 20. 38. Car 16 * Justin Haley(i) LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 21. 25. Car 6 Ryan Newman Kohler Generators Ford 117 Running |
| 22. 29. Car 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 23. 18. Car 99 Daniel Suarez Good Sam Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 24. 40. Car 96 * Landon Cassill(i) Carnomaly Toyota 117 Running |
| 25. 36. Car 53 Joey Gase(i) Sparks Ford 117 Running |
| 26. 20. Car 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 117 Running |
| 27. 2. Car 18 Kyle Busch (P) M&M’s Toyota 117 Running |
| 28. 31. Car 51 Cody Ware(i) Nurtec ODT Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 29. 37. Car 15 Garrett Smithley(i) Boom Mobile Chevrolet 117 Running |
| 30. 32. Car 78 BJ McLeod(i) NASCAR 21 Ignition Ford 117 Running |
| 31. 34. Car 52 Josh Bilicki Junction Fuels Ford 117 Running |
| 32. 27. Car 37 * Ryan Preece Kroger/Velveeta Chevrolet 116 Accident |
| 33. 23. Car 42 Ross Chastain Clover Chevrolet 116 Running |
| 34. 39. Car 66 * James Davison Rich Mar Racing Ford 116 Running |
| 35. 15. Car 21 Matt DiBenedetto Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 115 Accident |
| 36. 10. Car 24 William Byron (P) Axalta Chevrolet 115 Accident |
| 37. 5. Car 5 Kyle Larson (P) Cincinnati Chevrolet 113 Running |
| 38. 11. Car 48 Alex Bowman (P) Ally Chevrolet 97 Accident |
| 39. 13. Car 8 Tyler Reddick Realtree Chevrolet 97 Accident |
| 40. 33. Car 77 Justin Allgaier(i) BRANDT Chevrolet 55 Accident |
Race Comments: Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: #00 and 53 (Mulitple Inspection Failures) and 66 (Driver Change). Failed to Qualify: None. Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 23 Mins, 24 Secs. Average Speed: 130.218 MPH. Margin of Victory: Under Caution. Caution Flags: 5 for 27 laps. Lead Changes: 35 among 19 drivers. Busch Pole Award: Denny Hamlin, #11 0 mph. Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Anthony Alfredo, #38.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: October 10, 2021 – Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
NASCAR
http://www.nascar.com/
Graphics & Photos Courtesy of NASCAR