Where were all the wrecks, all the big ones? Sunday was a very un-Talladega-like race

With just one multi-car incident early, which didn't have much of an impact on the outcome of the event, 'Dega was a surprise as Chase Elliott bounced back for the win

There was even more ambiguity than normal heading into Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. And that’s saying something, considering the 2.66-mile behemoth with 33 degrees of banking in the turns normally presents some of the most chaotic, heart-pounding moments on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

But after a race last week at Texas Motor Speedway that sidelined Alex Bowman with a concussion and left Cody Ware on crutches entering the garage at Talladega, the noted safety issues with the Next Gen car had never been more apparent.

Suffice it to say that the nerves were amplified more than normal as the 36 drivers strapped in and fired their engines for 500 miles in Alabama.

Would another driver suffer a serious injury in the Next Gen car? Would everyone in the field play it safe and the race play out as a single file train? Would we see the 20^th different winner this season? Would a playoff driver finally win a playoff race?

What ensued was three hours and 15 minutes of close quarters racing that ended with Chase Elliott in victory lane and the healthy crowd at Talladega going wild as the series’ most popular driver earned his fifth victory of the season. The cheers from the raucous crowd didn’t go unnoticed by the Dawsonville, Georgia native.

“First, how about these fans, man? That's unreal. Moments like that, you have to really cherish," Elliott said with a big smile on the frontstretch. "You guys are what makes this special to me. So thank you sincerely. I really appreciate it.

“These things are so, so hard to win. You got to enjoy 'em. Just appreciate everybody's effort today. Thank you guys so much for coming out. Great crowd, great show.”

Throughout the course of the 188 laps, the field was side-by-side, resulting in 17 different leaders and 57 lead changes. There was only one multi-car incident, which occurred on Lap 25 and involved Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier.

When the sixth and final caution flag flew with six laps to go as the No. 16 Chevrolet of Daniel Hemric stalled on pit road, it set up a green-white-checkered finish and everyone was prepared to see a bunch of torn-up race cars.

“So, it’s going to be a green-white-checkered, we’re all going to smash into each other and see what happens,” Aric Almirola, who finished 14th, radioed his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing crew.

Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney lined up on the front row, followed by Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Elliott and Todd Gilliland. But the field would finish the final two laps clean and green, with Elliott -- who fell to seventh in the standings last week at Texas, but rallied Sunday to beat good friend Blaney to the checkered flag by .046 seconds. And as such, Elliott becomes the first playoff driver to get an automatic berth into the Round of 8.

While Blaney was disappointed as he has yet to win a race this season, he was surprised there wasn’t a big wreck in the final laps.

“Honestly, yeah, with how hard we were pushing each other and some big shots there," Blaney said. "I mean, I was full cross arm locked a couple times. I think everyone’s gotten better at this speed of taking pushes and what to expect. I think everyone’s gotten more skilled and knowledgeable about it.

“You still have to be careful what you do, but it just shows that we can push real hard and not really cause any big wrecks, even though I thought we should have had some today. It’s good we didn’t. We had one early, but it was never a big one.”

Count Chase Briscoe, who finished 10th, among those surprised there wasn’t a big wreck, either.

“It was tame in the sense there was no wreck, but I think that was the most racy race from start to finish," Briscoe said. "We barely ever ran single-file and these cars it’s so hard to make up ground. I guess from my side of things it was really racy because you’re never really riding around. You’ve got to go so hard all the time and shove the guy in front of you.

"We never really got single-file around the top, but I was surprised we didn’t see a wreck. I was figuring with how out of control these cars are when you get pushes from the back, especially the big ones we were having there towards the end, I figured something was gonna happen. I’m glad there wasn’t anything happening, but it was kind of a surprise to me.”

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are half over – five races are complete and five races remain. While everyone may be able to catch their breath briefly now that Talladega has come and gone and the series gets a home race next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Elliott is the only playoff driver that may sleep well this week.

The remaining seven spots in the Round of 8 are up for grabs at Charlotte, with Briscoe and Cindric tied for the final spot. William Byron is just 11 points behind and Christopher Bell is 33 markers behind. Bowman, should he be cleared to return, will basically need to win next week to continue his playoff run.