Ecstatic Earnhardt Jr. Recaptures Talladega Magic with GEICO 500 Win

Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

After two rain-plagued weekends on the short tracks of Bristol and Richmond, the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series convened on a sunny, Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. A 2.66-mile tri-oval conducive for speeds of 200 miles per hour and higher, its was not going to be a calm Sunday drive for the 43 drivers and teams committed to running 188 laps for the GEICO 500.

The second restrictor plate race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Saturday's time trials was performed under a revised format that avoided the messy result of this year's Daytona 500 group qualifying. Despite a different format, Jeff Gordon again prevailed with the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports by an astonishing 0.281 seconds over his teammate Kasey Kahne. When the GEICO 500 started on Sunday, Gordon enjoyed his qualifying advantage for a mere three laps before the #5 car of Kahne took a brief lead. Such as the case of a typical NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega, battles for the lead was fluidic. In the first 100 laps of the race, the lead changed hands 14 times.

For any event held on the Talladega Superspeedway, there is an anticipation that a multiple car wreck will occur. For the 2015 GEICO 500, lap 47 delivered what many expected. Started when the lead pack-running #6 Ford of Trevor Bayne slid loose out of turn 2 by aerodynamic disruptions and possible contact from Kurt Busch's #41 car. Within seconds, multiple drivers were swept-up in the big wreck. This year's Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson and Greg Biffle were among 14 cars listed as being part of the melee. Such a severe crash scene, NASCAR called a more than 11-minute red flag to clean up the debris. When the yellow flag replaced the red, crews of vehicles involved in the lap 47 crash were permitted to begin repairs. The teams unaffected by the major crash entered pit lane for regular service. Jimmie Johnson and his #48 Lowes Chevrolet exited the pits first by taking two tires. The Penske Racing team for Logano's #22 Ford fought to stay in contention for the race while fixing significant damage. While Logano would remain running, he would not be a contender for the race's win.

In the midst of a pit cycle with 31 laps to go,  the #3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon bellowed flames causing a yellow flag to come out. Having pitted just seconds prior to Dillon's issue, Jeff Gordon's crucial late race stop was marred by speeding. Unfortunately for the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet driven by the four-time Cup champion, he was not able to compete for the victory on Sunday. Involvement in a last-lap crash relegated Gordon to a 31st place finish.

Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Leading through the late stages, a large piece of soft debris landed on the grille of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet. With water temperature gauges climbing on the #88 car of Earnhardt Jr., last lap battles resulting behind the leader saw Carl Edwards' #19 spun out by Casey Mears. The sliding Toyota ultimately led to a final wreck that included the before-mentioned #24 car. With the green flag remaining on the field and fending-off a challenge from competitors including teammate Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the final 27 laps to win the GEICO 500. Leading a total of 67 laps on the day, Earnhardt Jr.'s 24th career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory is his 6th at Talladega. While Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s ability on restrictor plate tracks has been unquestionable, his effectiveness at Talladega Superspeedway since the 2006 repaving was weakened. Prior to the 2015 GEICO 500, his last win was in 2004.

With this past Wednesday being the birthday of his late father (NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt), Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had an emotional last week. When asked in a post-race press conference what the win meant to him, the driver of the #88 Nationwide car responded, "I think about all the races he won here and at Daytona. I love when we go to Victory Lane because I feel like I add to his legacy there. All I ever want to do is make him proud. I feel like when we win at those tracks where he was successful, that's exactly what we're doing." The press conference followed a touching victory lane celebration.

Crossing the line in second-place, Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Lowes Chevrolet SS appeared to have driven for in the defense of Earnhardt Jr. than competing against his teammate. While only two of the Hendrick Motorsports cars finished in the top-30, it was still an outstanding show of dominance shown by the team as a whole. Collectively, the Hendrick Motorsports four-car squad led 167 of the race's 188 laps.

Paul Menard slipped his way into the top-3 in the final lap of the GEICO 500. The second top-10 for Menard and the #27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet SS, the driver stands in 11th place in the overall points after 10 races. With Chevrolet dominating the top-3 at the Talladega NASCAR Sprint Cup event, 6 of the top-10 wore the bowtie badge.

Driving on a limited basis for the historic Wood Brothers Racing team, Ryan Blaney scored a career-best Cup Series finish. In only his sixth start in the top stock car series, the 21-year-old Blaney was running third in the late stage of the GEICO 500 (his dad Dave Blaney's career-best finishing position at Talladega). Rounding out the top-five at Talladega Superspeedway was Martin Truex Jr. driving the #78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS who charged from a 36th starting position. Truex Jr. currently sits eighth in the overall series points standing.

An honourable mention in the top-10 results of the 2015 GEICO 500 goes to Josh Wise driving a #98 Ford Fusion. Finishing 10th in after coming from a 34th place starting spot, the 22-year-old Wise obtained his first career top-10 in Sprint Cup.

2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup

GEICO 500

Race Result

Finishing Position	Car #	Driver	Sponsor/Car Make	Laps
1	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Nationwide Chevrolet	188
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's Chevrolet	188
3	27	Paul Menard	Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet	188
4	21	Ryan Blaney (i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	188
5	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row/Visser Protection Chevrolet	188
6	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	Medallion Bank Ford	188
7	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet	188
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet	188
9	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	188
10	98	Josh Wise	Phoenix Construction Ford	188
11	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald's Chevrolet	188
12	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	188
13	35	Cole Whitt	Speed Stick Ford	188
14	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Dr Pepper Toyota	188
15	43	Aric Almirola	Fresh from Florida Ford	188
16	7	Alex Bowman	Golden Corral Chevrolet	188
17	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger/Hungry Jack Chevrolet	188
18	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Dustless Blasting Toyota	188
19	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet	188
20	38	David Gilliland	Farm Rich Ford	188
21	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet	188
22	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	188
23	51	Justin Allgaier	Brandt Chevrolet	188
24	34	Chris Buescher (i)	CSX/Play It Safe Ford	188
25	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	188
26	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fifth Third Bank Ford	188
27	32	Bobby Labonte	C&J Energy Services Ford	188
28	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	188
29	46	Michael Annett	Bene-fit Chevrolet	188
30	15	Clint Bowyer	PEAK Commercial & Industrial Toyota	188
31	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet	188
32	19	Carl Edwards	ARRIS Toyota	188
33	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	186
34	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	158
35	3	Austin Dillon	Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet	157
36	55	Michael Waltrip	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	151
37	16	Greg Biffle	Ortho Ford	147
38	18	David Ragan	Pedigree Toyota	123
39	40	Landon Cassill (i)	Chevrolet	91
40	62	Brendan Gaughan (i)	Dia Thrive Chevrolet	90
41	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford	46
42	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet	46
43	33	Brian Scott(i)	Shore Lodge Chevrolet	18