A missed call to pit for fuel led to Kyle Busch being able to grab the win in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday (4/23).

The “Big One” never really happened this time at Talladega. There were eight caution periods during the race. Two were at the end of the first two stages. Chase Elliott won stage one and Aric Almirola was the winner in stage two. Two of the other cautions were for single car incidents.

There were multiple car wrecks. However, none would classify as the “Big One.” There were two yellow flags that involved five cars each. The remaining two were the largest. Each of those would involve seven cars per incident.

There was plenty of good racing though. Twenty-one drivers exchanged the official lead of the race 57 times. That is at the start-finish line where it is recorded. That does not count how many times the lead was exchanged at other spots on the track during the race.

The end of the race went green for an extended period. That made teams start to worry about having enough fuel. Most felt they were good to make the end of the race. However, many doubted if they had enough for a green-white-checkered overtime. That very scenario is what ultimately came about.

The sixth caution flag put the race into NASCAR Overtime. The rule is that in the green-white-checkered finish, if the caution comes out before the leader takes the white flag there is another attempt. If the leader takes the white flag, the next flag (yellow or checkered) ends the race. Several cars had to hit pit road for fuel for the overtime finish. Many felt they had enough for one attempt at the overtime.

Before the leader could take the white flag in the green-white-checkered finish, the seventh yellow waived. This put many cars in the situation they would have to pit for fuel. Kyle Busch’s team called him to pit for fuel too late for him to make the move to pit road. That put him up front for the re-start. However, it left the question of would he have enough fuel.

Kyle and Bubba Wallace were battling for the win and made it around to the white flag. That meant the next flag would end the race. Ryan Blaney was behind Bubba pushing him to the lead. Bubba lost control of his car when Ryan moved to try to pass for the win. Bubba slid down and Kyle Busch was able to avoid being hit by him and take over the lead. Kyle was in the lead when the yellow was issued for the cars wrecking behind him. That ended the race and froze the field at the moment of caution. Any car that made it to the start-finish line would earn the spot they were in crossing the line under the yellow.

Kyle had enough fuel to make it around the track and take the checkered flag to win the race. This was his second win at Talladega Superspeedway in the Cup Series. His first came 15 years ago. It was also his second win of the 2023 season. Ryan Blaney was awarded second-place. Chris Buescher took home third-place. See the complete race results for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway here.

Following the race at Talladega, the top three in the point standings remain the same. Christopher Bell is at number one. Ross Chastain is in second with Kevin Harvick in third. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.

Next up is the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway Sunday, April 30th.

By: Buck Stevens