Race report
NASCAR Cup Talladega
Chase Elliott wins after massive last-lap crash at Talladega
It wasn’t pretty or easy but Chase Elliott gave Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports its first win of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Jim Utter
Edited: Apr 29, 2019, 12:33 AM
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Elliott was working furiously to protect his lead on the last of 188 laps, when a wreck involving Kyle Larson, Jeffrey Earnhardt, David Ragan and others brought out a caution.
The caution froze the field and ensured Elliott’s victory – his first of the season and fourth of his career.
"What a day. A huge thanks to all my partners, my team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet - there was a lot of teamwork done today," Elliott said. "You guys up there (Elliott pointed to the crowd), you're the ones that really make it happen.
"We just had a plan and we executed really well. Obviously, it could have gone either way but fortunately everybody stayed together and stayed the course and we got a little help on the last lap with the caution.
"I appreciate all the support, man. This is special. This is close to home for me and sort of feels like a home race."
Elliott’s HMS teammate, Alex Bowman, was second, Ryan Preece third, Daniel Hemric fourth and Joey Logano completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 were Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Brendan Gaughan.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Elliott the first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 117, Elliott led the way followed by Bowman, Larson, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon.
Austin Dillon reported he may have a tire going down on Lap 125 while he was running in the sixth position.
With 60 laps remaining in the race, Elliott continued to remain out front followed by Bowman, Larson, William Byron and Kurt Busch.
A caution for debris was displayed on Lap 132 for debris on the backstretch. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit for tires and fuel with Erik Jones the first off pit road.
With 47 laps to go, Logano, with a push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., got around Jones to retake the lead with a pair of Toyotas behind him.
On Lap 144, Martin Truex Jr., with some help from David Ragan, powered to the front.
With 40 to go, Truex continued to lead the way followed by Ragan and Daniel Suarez.
On Lap 152, Logano moved back into the lead as Earnhardt powered into the top-10.
A final round of green-flag pit stops began on Lap 155 as a large group of Chevrolets elected to make their final stop for fuel in the race.
Brad Keselowski spun on pit road while the Fords made their group stop the following lap. His team completed his pit stop with his No. 2 Ford pointed in the wrong direction.
With 30 laps remaining, Ross Chastain led the way but still had to make a final pit stop in the race. Logano was second and Stenhouse third.
Chastain finally pit on Lap 165, which put Stenhouse back into the top spot followed by Logano and Kyle Busch.
With 21 laps to go, Logano drove around Stenhouse and reclaimed the lead.
With 15 to go, Logano worked feverishly to block and protect his position out front. One lap later, Kyle Busch powered to the point.
Logano returned to the point with 13 laps to go as Ryan Blaney moved into second.
On Lap 182, Matt DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley were involved in a violent wreck on the backstretch, started with Almirola got into Buescher. Buescher’s car briefly got airborne.
A red flag was displayed to clean the track of debris. When the race returned to caution, several cars from 10th on back elected to pit.
The race returned to green with four laps remaining and Logano in the lead, followed by Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Kurt Busch and Elliott.
With three laps to go, Elliott moved into the lead.
Read Also:
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led 1 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 188 44 2 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 188 0.035 8 3 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 188 0.307 4 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 188 0.422 5 22 Joey Logano Ford 188 0.422 37 6 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 188 0.791 7 6 Ryan Newman Ford 188 0.827 8 62 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 188 0.828 5 9 10 Aric Almirola Ford 188 1.118 27 10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 188 1.118 4 11 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 188 1.483 12 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 188 1.681 13 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 188 1.682 10 14 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 188 1.683 15 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 188 1.684 4 16 21 Paul Menard Ford 188 3.121 17 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 188 3.122 7 18 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 188 31.853 19 20 Erik Jones Toyota 188 33.620 4 20 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 188 11 21 24 William Byron Chevrolet 188 22 81 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 187 0.783 23 38 David Ragan Ford 187 0.833 24 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 187 0.980 1 25 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 187 2.787 16 26 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 187 1 lap 9 27 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 186 2 laps 28 51 Cody Ware Ford 184 4 laps 29 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 182 6 laps 30 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 181 6 laps 31 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 181 6 laps 1 32 77 Justin Haley Chevrolet 180 7 laps 33 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 178 10 laps 34 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 154 34 laps 35 52 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 132 55 laps 36 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 80 107 laps 37 36 Matt Tifft Ford 11 176 laps 38 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 11 176 laps 39 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 10 177 laps 40 34 Michael McDowell Ford 10 177 laps
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