NASCAR at Talladega results: Keselowski dodges damage and survives to win Alabama 500

Hailey Hernandez

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NASCAR at Talladega results: Keselowski dodges damage and survives to win Alabama 500 image

NASCAR raced at the circuit's longest and most challenging track Sunday, Talladega Superspeedway, in the Alabama 500. Brad Keselowski made a last-lap pass of Ryan Newman to get the win, his fifth at the track.

The race was red-flagged with less than 20 laps remaining for cleanup of a crash involving 16 cars. Five laps later, another red flag was brought out, but Keselowski again avoided any substantial damage. In the end, only 14 cars finished the race, out of a starting field of 40. There were just six undamaged cars on the track at the finish.

MORE: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 10 best Talladega moments

Sunday was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s final race at the Talladega Superspeedway. He also avoided any damage from the three major crashes, but he could only manage to finish seventh.

MORE: Dale Jr. blocked out potential for injury

Keselowski won Stage 1 in the 188-lap race, while Ryan Blaney took Stage 2.

The win also Keselowski's third of the Monster Energy Cup season and the 24th of his career.

MORE: Round of 12 standings, schedule after Talladega chaos

NASCAR at Talladega: Highlights, updates

Take a look below at how all of the action unfolded at Talladega Superspeedway for the Alabama 500:

(All times Eastern)

6:40 p.m. — Keselowski makes a move late on Newman to win the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The top 10 finishers: 

1 Brad Keselowski
2 Ryan Newman 
3 Trevor Bayne
4 Joey Logano
5 Aric Almirola
6 Denny Hamlin
7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 
8 Kasey Kahne
9 Gray Gaulding
10 David Ragan

6:37 p.m. — Let the madness resume. Back to green with three laps to go. Hamlin and Newman are battling for the lead way out in front. Newman is starting to pull away, but Keselowski moves up side by side. 

6:32 p.m. — The flag moves back to yellow to finish out the five laps. Fans are getting anxious at Talladega Superspeedway.

6:12 p.m. —  Six laps to go, and another late caution is out. This time it is Elliott who is caught being too aggressive and he clips Suarez and Chris Buescher. Earnhardt is still in as he avoids another disaster.

6:00 p.m. —  There is another caution out with less than 11 laps to go. Harvick, Blaney, Logano and Bayne are caught in the wreck, which brings out a second red flag. Earnhardt slips through once again without any significant damage. It is now Larson who takes the lead.

5:58 p.m. —  Elliott retakes the lead with 12 laps to go. There are only 21 cars still running in the race. Nearly half of the field of 40 has crashed out. 

5:55 p.m. —  On the NBC broadcast, Truex takes responsibility for causing the massive "Big One" crash. He says he made a bad judgment call trying to get things going. Johnson also heads to the garage. The leader after all of the drama is Suarez. More on the "Big One" here.

5:52 p.m. —  Sixteen laps to go and the race is back to yellow. 

5:39 p.m. —  A number of drivers were in that crash. Sixteen cars were involved: Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Harvick, Stenhouse, David Ragan, Johnson, Landon Cassill, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Brendan Gaughan, Danica Patrick and Matt DiBenedetto.

5:34 p.m. —  We restart with 18 laps to go and there is a huge crash with the back of the field with a number of drivers seeing major damage to bring up a red flag for cleanup. Earnhardt is sideways, but it looks like he escaped any damage that could end his day a few laps early. The top six drivers look to be untouched.

5:23 p.m. — Big contact between Joey Gase and D.J. Kennington. It looks like Gase takes most of the damage. Caution is out, so we will see another restart. Kennington is sent to the garage for having too many people working on the car, under the damaged-vehicle policy.

5:14 p.m. — The race stalls again with a wreck in the back of the field. Keselowski finally pits to let his team work on the radio. He also gets four tires but restarts in 30th place.

5:05 p.m. — Another caution is out on the track. It looks like Earnhardt narrowly escaped without any significant damage.

5:01 p.m. — Kyle Busch takes advantage of the green-flag pit stops, but it is short-lived. Logano takes the lead from Busch with 39 laps to go. Logano is looking for three straight fall wins at Talladega.

4:50 p.m. — The leading group chooses to pit on Lap 144.

4:46 p.m. — Blaney and Elliott make contact, but damage seems minimal. 

4:44 p.m. — Earnhardt is making a big push, and he moves into second place behind Elliott.

4:34 p.m. — Keselowski and his team are having some serious radio issues. It doesn't look like a decision has been made yet to try to make repairs if they are lucky enough to get a caution.

4:25 p.m. — Blaney holds on and wins Stage 2. Drivers who round out the top 10: Keselowski, Bowyer, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Johnson, Harvick, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

4:12 p.m. — Blaney is making aggressive moves and it results in him pulling alongside Kurt Busch for the lead.

4:05 p.m. — The race is back to green with 23 laps left in Stage 2. Kyle Busch takes the lead.

3:55 p.m. — Johnson takes a lengthy stop on pit road during the caution to try and repair the damage on his car. Meanwhile, Earnhardt wants an NFL update.

3:50 p.m. — Another caution, this time for debris on the track in Lap 82.

3:47 p.m. — Matt DiBenedetto is the new leader at Talladega. 

3:37 p.m. — More contact is made between cars going to pit road. No caution is called, but Jimmie Johnson's car sustains some damage to right rear side. Johnson pits and his team decides not to fix the damage this time around.

3:30 p.m. — Matt Kenseth takes the lead. He is trailed by Daniel Suarez, Kasey Kahne, Harvick and Kyle Busch. Drivers are four-wide now in Stage 2.

3:20 p.m. — Keselowski takes Stage 1 to earn a big playoff point. Logano, Blaney, Stenhouse and Johnson round out the top five finishers. Earnhardt started on the pole, but he finishes Stage 1 in 27th after his second penalty for speeding on pit road.

3:14 p.m. — NASCAR is going to give drivers a one-lap shootout for the first stage after the restart. 

3:12 p.m. — Five laps to go in Stage 1 as the second caution of the day comes out. Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Blaney make contact but the caution is called for Paul Menard after he hits the wall. Earnhardt is penalized again.

3:00 p.m. — Ford holds the top eight spots after the restart: Logano, Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch.

2:52 p.m. — Here's more of an explanation on the crash and penalties from the wreck. McMurray takes the blame for the crash.

2:43 p.m. — Earnhardt, McMurray, Thompson and Jones are all done for the day after the damage from the wreck.

2:37 p.m. — The first caution is called after a wreck. Jeffrey Earnhardt, Jamie McMurray, Mark Thompson and Erik Jones were all involved.

2:35 p.m.  — Marks is sent to the garage for having too many crew members working on the car on pit road while under the damaged vehicle policy.

2:34 p.m.  — Justin Marks scrapes the wall but keeps going. He will head to pit road. There is no caution out on the track. There is also a new leader: Chase Elliott moves into the top spot. 

2:28 p.m. — Logano, who has won this race the past two years, gives the lead to Earnhardt as drivers make the first stop on pit road. 

2:23 pm. — Things are getting interesting early here at Talladega. Logano holds the lead beside Penske teammate Brad Keselowski, but there is a lot of action going on behind him.

2:16 p.m — The green flag is in the air and we're underway at Talladega. Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead the field of 40 early on.

1:52 p.m. — The race is set to start around 2:13 p.m. ET.

1:48 p.m.  — Dale Earnhardt Jr. earns a warm welcome during driver intros at Talladega. There are big crowds surrounding him as he gets ready for his last start here.

 

Hailey Hernandez