A multi-car incident involving 16 cars in turn four during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: John Harrelson/Getty Images)
If you were looking for your favorite driver in the top 10 following Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, chances are you had a tough time finding him.
Oh, Dale Earnhardt Jr. did finish a close second, his best result of the year and new points leader Kurt Busch had another solid effort in sixth place. But Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, the three most recent winners on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit, finished 43rd, 37th and 30th, respectively, in their Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impalas. It was a clear-cut case of the first ones now later being last and they weren’t alone in the misery. Kasey Kahne ended the day 36th in his Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Charger, which still was better than Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick (38th) and Clint Bowyer (39th).
So who was at the top? Brad Keselowski, who had never finished higher than 19th in his previous four Cup starts, won a shocking last-lap victory when leader Carl Edwards crashed and went airborne (see related story), with Earnhardt the runner-up followed by Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose and Scott Speed, the two Toyota drivers also earning career-best finishes. Sixth-place Busch and 10th-place Jeff Burton were the only drivers who entered Talladega in the top 12 in points and scored top-10 finishes in the Aaron’s 499.
Why? Simply put, The Big One and several little ones.
On Lap 7, Matt Kenseth got squeezed and hit Gordon, triggering a 14-car accident at the entrance of Turn 3, a wreck that eliminated from contention Gordon, Harvick, Bowyer, Kahne, Martin and Jamie McMurray, among others.
On Lap 180 of 188, Denny Hamlin got loose and started a 10-car crash on the backstretch that knocked out Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip and several other fast cars.
And then there was the wild last-lap crash with Edwards and Newman, as well as Kyle Busch’s spin on Lap 172, which narrowly avoided being another huge incident. In other words, just another day of crazy restrictor-place racing at NASCAR’s biggest oval track. Par for the course at ‘Dega.
