The once friendly confines of Talladega Superspeedway were unkind to many of the points contenders this week. The top-4 in points would struggle, while one driver would find himself in the battle for his life after a horrific backstretch accident. The tides are about to turn in Extravaganza 2020.

Race Results

Points Standings

Schedule

There was a ton of three-wide action early as to be expected. Tim McDonnell made the first three-wide pass for the lead before being overtaken by the QSM duo of Craig Lee and Ryan Heuser. John Tharp would lead most of his 19 laps led of the day early in the go.

Lap 23 saw Alan Nesfeder become the first casualty of the day, separating the pack into two groups while the rest of the field successfully avoided the mayhem. Ryan and Rick Jackson dominated as the two high-horsepower machines pulled away from the second pack. 

John Tharp took the lead again on lap 33 and kept it until the first round of green flag pit stops. The first group of 19 cars already eclipsed 8 seconds on the second by this time, ensuring themselves that a good stop would keep them in a battle for the lead early.

Once stops were complete, Dale Rosendaul, Brandon Raines and John Battista's engine were out of the draft, leaving 15 left while the second pack grew stronger. Rick Jackson and Ryan Heuser would dominate again, leading over a third of the race's total laps by the end.

Things got more competitive after the second round of pit stops, seeing Dan Johnston take the lead in a three-wide move on lap 98. He would lead the field for three more laps until the first caution flag waved.

On the backstretch, Philip Parker got sandwiched between Aaron Cummings and Glenn Kaufmann on lap 99, spinning Glenn around before getting slammed by Johnny Reed Foley. Just after the restart, Tim McDonnell got spun and clipped Jimmie Stevens and Rick Jackson. Rick's car got smacked by Ben Geer ricocheting his car violently off the outside wall and straight into the path of Matt Raboin. Matt hit Rick straight on the drivers door, knocking him unconcious, though he was able to get out under his own power. With the #44 out, it left Ryan Heuser left to dominate the show.

Severe devastation occurred after a 174 MPH impact to the inside wall by Dan Johnston left the backstretch grandstands fans in horror. Contact from Brodrick Wittmann and Alex Crapser flew him through the infield without brakes, slamming the inside access-wall so hard that he flew back onto the racetrack at over 100 MPH. Dalton Lucas got smacked, and points leader Ryan Heuser knocked the entire rear side of the car off after more heavy contact with the #121. Dan suffered a major concussion, a broken left leg, fractures to his right clavicle and right scapula, three broken ribs and four broken front teeth in the accident.

Alex Crapser took his first lead of the day with 25 laps to go, squeezing by Jonathan Skrabacz for the spot. He led for 8 more laps before Dale Rosendaul and Zach Michael drafted by on the inside. Dale led for three more circuits before relinquishing the top-spot to Zach Michael. 

With nine laps to go, Dale drove back by Zach on the inside lane with help from Matthew Dominique. He was poised to win his first race in over a decade after crossing the line first with 3 laps left. Zach then made another move on the inside of the frontstretch to re-take the spot. Coming out of turn 2, Dale made a successful cross-over maneuver to re-take the lead. The loss of momentum would hurt both of them by the end of the lap, with Alex Crapser barely eking out the #11 with 2 laps to go.

It became such a furious battle for second place, giving Alex the break he needed to stay a couple of car-lengths ahead of the field for the entire 2-lap run. William Perry made a hard charge at the end but it was to no avail, as nobody was stopping Alex Crapser from ending his 39-race win-less drought. Congrats to Alex, crew chief Jeremy Hebel and the entire Lucas Racing team for an excellent victory!

Geico 500 Video, Part 1

Geico 500 Video, Part 2