Talladega, AL (93.7 The Fan) - Chase Elliott led Alex Bowman to the checkered flag as Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2 at the Geico 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in Alabama.
"It's nice to get a speedway win," said Elliott. "We've been close and had some really fast cars. Alan's (Gustafson) never won one in his fifteen years of crew chiefing, or however many years its been, so that's pretty cool."
Elliott was leading the race when all kinds of mayhem started behind him and the No. 9 Chevrolet.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Erik Jones spun but somehow managed not to hit anything so the race stayed under the green flag.
It didn't stay that way for long. David Ragan made contact with William Byron on the last lap, sending Byron's car across the track into the path of Jeffrey Earnhardt and Kyle Larson. Larson's car was headed toward the infield wall when it started barrel-rolling down the backstretch. Fortunately nobody was hurt.
Elliott said he couldn't have won the race, or ended Ford's 7-race win streak at the track, without the help of Bowman and others in the Chevrolet camp.
"We just had a plan, and we executed really well," said Elliott. "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."
Ryan Preece finished third, a career best, followed by Joey Logano and Daniel Hemric.
The race featured 37-lead changes among 15-drivers and was slowed by 6-caution flags for 21-laps.
The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the Gander RV 400 May 5th at Dover International Speedway.
___Follow 93.7 The Fan: Facebook | Twitter | InstagramListen to 93.7 The Fan on the Radio.com App - Download Now
