STEWART-HAAS RACING
GEICO 500
Date: April 23, 2023
Event: GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)
Note: Race extended eight laps past its scheduled 188-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Aric Almirola of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
● Aric Almirola (Started 2nd, Finished 20th / Running, completed 196 of 196 laps)
SHR Points:
● Aric Almirola (24th with 170 points, 161 out of first)
Almirola Notes:
● Almirola won Stage 2 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point.
● Almirola led three times for 11 laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 118.
Race Notes:
● Kyle Busch won the GEICO 500 to score his 62nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Talladega. Ryan Blaney finished in the runner-up position as the race ended under caution.
● Twenty-seven of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● There were eight cautions for a total of 34 laps.
● Christopher Bell remains the championship leader after Talladega with an 11-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.
Sound Bites:
“There’s so much to be proud of. We had a great racecar and ran up-front, led, was in position all day, and then just Ross (Chastain) doing Ross things on that restart. Wiped out the right side of our car, and either broke something in the right-front suspension or had the right-front tire go flat. So, it took a racecar that had a great shot to win and crashed. That part is frustrating, but we have a lot to be proud of. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and these guys gave us an unbelievable speedway car again, and we keep showing up to these places with an opportunity to win. The last few weeks we’ve had really fast racecars and run up front, so at some point we’re going to convert and win us one.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 30 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.