(Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Bubba Wallace took the blame for the last-lap crash that took him out of Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, chalking it up as a bad block on good friend Ryan Blaney.
“I pulled a late block … a close, close block and it sent us around,” Wallace told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. “I hate it. I caused that one. I just thought it would play out a little differently.”
After a crash involving Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson carried the race to a second NASCAR Overtime attempt, Wallace selected the top row for the restart. He pushed Kyle Busch out to the lead as Ty Gibbs, who lined up third on the bottom, ran out of gas at the green flag and peeled off the track. Blaney, who led the bottom line, dropped back several car lengths as a result.
Behind a push from Brad Keselowski, Wallace followed Busch down to the bottom and the trio lined up ahead of Blaney. Coming into the tri-oval, Wallace got a run and made his move on Busch, taking the lead at the white flag and hooking up with Blaney.
Entering Turn 1, Blaney tried to make his move on Wallace. Blaney made a move up a lane but Wallace got there too late, sending the No. 23 machine spinning in front of the field. Wallace finished 28th.
“I honestly thought [Blaney] would leave me high and dry coming back around,” Wallace said. “The way that we were shoving and pushing, we were kind of getting each other out of whack instead of moving the momentum forward. And then when I got the move, it was ‘OK, cool.’ It was just all about defending and you can’t let your guard down for one second.
“Just hate it for our team. It’s just how it goes. It was by far our best plate race that we’ve ever done. Hats off to the 23 group, Freddie (Kraft, spotter) on top of the roof. A great day for us, just a crappy result.”
(Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
Wallace had speed all afternoon, finishing fourth in Stage 2 and leading a total of 35 laps. Twenty-three of those laps came in the first stage, where he led from Lap 8 to Lap 30 before surrendering the lead and pitted with other Toyotas a few laps later. Wallace cycled to the back of the lead pack after green flag pit stops and finished Stage 1 in 32nd.
Only Blaney, who paced 47 laps and finished second, led for more than Wallace. A victory would have broken Blaney’s 55-race winless streak, dating back to the summer Daytona race in 2021.
“The Fords were quick. We did a good job working together,” Blaney said. “I think [Gibbs] ran out of gas at the restart zone and kind of hurt our lane. By the time we got back up there, we tried to make every run we could. It’s a fast car, just a shame not to win. This is a completely separate race than anywhere else, so you take it for what it’s worth, get ready to go for the next speedway. Hopefully, the momentum carries over.”
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 30 for the Würth 400. The race is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Chase Elliott is the defending winner.
