Ross Chastain wins the 2022 Cup Series “Geico” 500 at Talladega

AP Photo/Butch Dill

       Ross Chastain has won the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series “Geico” 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Chastain’s victory came to fruition after a move by Kyle Larson on the final lap, where he attempted to pass the leader, Erik Jones in the No. 43 machine. When Kyle Larson attempted to pass the No. 43, his car collided with Kurt Busch’s No. 45, and killed any momentum he had built. Erik Jones attempted to block Larson’s No. 5, but accidentally made contact. 

Due to this contact, Erik Jones would then fall back through the field. Ross Chastain who simply held his line throughout this chaos was able to make it to the checkered flag first, scoring his second Cup Series victory of 2022 and all-time.

For the most part, this race was only dominated by a handful of drivers. Some of those drivers included Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, William Byron and Kurt Busch. Two drivers who stood out in this group were Erik Jones and Kurt Busch. Although both drivers were expected to be somewhat of a contender during this race, their dominance was asserted beyond the expectations of many. 

This race did not exactly feature "The Big One", a massive wreck that often happens at Superspeedway races. This race did however feature a few significant crashes. One of those occurred earlier in the race, where Daniel Hemric's engine expired. Hemric's car then lost control, hit the track apron and proceeded to move up into the field hitting Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher. This caused immeasurable damage to Briscoe's Ford racing machine, and would end the day for all three drivers.

Another somewhat large wreck occurred about mid-way through the race on a restart. Joey Logano who was right on the bumper of Erik Jones received a large push from Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 car. With nowhere for Logano and the No. 22 vehicle to go, Joey Logano lost control of his car and went nose first into the outside wall. This wreck would also collect drivers like Austin Cindric in the No. 2, Ty Dillon in the No. 42, Harrison Burton in the No. 21, Daniel Suarez in the No. 99, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 47 and the No. 41 of Cole Custer.

The third and final significant wreck of the race occurred on the final lap when Kyle Larson, sitting a solid second place tried to make a move for lead in the tri-oval. Larson would wheel the No. 5 car into the approaching outside lane, but quite literally wheeled his car into them as he collided with the No. 45 of Kurt Busch. This would slow his momentum, as teammate Bubba Wallace also wrecked from the contact. Erik Jones the leader attempted to block this move but he too found himself involved. Instead, Ross Chastain who avoided the outside lane entirely steadily crossed the finish line first.

The following are the complete race results: 

NASCAR Digital Media

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