Talladega Tyler

GEICO 500:

Tyler Reddick stole the win from Brad Keselowski in the tri-oval at Talladega Superspeedway as mayhem unleashed behind them on Sunday afternoon. The Geico 500 is Reddick's first win of the 2024 campaign and locks himself into the playoffs. Reddick's win was capped off with co-owner Michael Jordan in attendance (MJ's first time at the track when a 23XI car ended up in victory lane) and MJ having an adorable and viral moment taking Reddick's son, Beau, from Reddick's fiancé, Alexa, on pit road and taking him to victory lane to celebrate the 45 team's win.

The race was what superspeedway races have become the last several years, especially in the new generation of car, a two-by-two (and occasionally 3-by-3) fuel saving mania. Then, once one set of teams/manufacturers/drivers are all set on fuel, intensity gets ratcheted through the roof. This does make for a rather boring first 450-ish miles. I will, however, say I do appreciate the effort and strategy approaches of this racing. Drivers going two and three wide to get where they need to be, pushing other drivers, and doing what they can to ensure their strategy and plans work does make it more compelling than the single file yellow line or wall hugging races of the past. My chief issue is once it is go time and the cars get side by side, it's hard to actually make passes and moves happen. Moreover, the races typically end, or happens damn close to the ending, a massive wreck that then makes many question what the hell we are doing at places like Daytona and Talladega. Now, I don't want these tracks go away or lose a date. But maybe do something that incentives drivers and teams to not go 6 seconds slower for 80% of the race and go all out from the drop of the green flag.

And of course, this race ended in chaos. The Toyota's made the first move, and what was likely going to end in Toyota's winning and taking several of the top spots, until the vicious Erik Jones wrecked occurred taking out several Toyota counterparts. This caution, while negative for Toyota dominance, did allow Tyler Reddick, MTJ, and Gibbs to get good track position on the impending restart after the rest of the field hit pit road. The only downfall was this set up a two by two ride to the finish as drivers were basically stuck where they restarted. Several attempts to establish a third line looked promising but ended up not producing anything notable. It looked for sure to be a Michael McDowell win as he was able to get out front and control both lines several times. Then off turn four on the last lap, it looked like Brad K was going to snag the win until McDowell, doing what he had to do, threw too late of a second block and Brad K, being pushed ferociously by Noah Gragson both going for the win, clipped the 34 and sent him back across the track unleashing hell on the rest of the field. This slowed up the remaining Fords of Brad K and Gragson enough for Reddick to sneak through and get to the checkered flag before NASCAR threw the caution. Some folks have had issue with NASCAR holding the caution, but I for one am glad they let the leaders race it out to the line.

Now we look forward to Dover Motor Speedway this weekend. The Monster Mile is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit - a true test of driver, car, and strategy. Tune in Sunday on FS1 at 2 p.m. for the Wurth 400.

Picks:

Cup = Martin Truex Jr

Xfinity = Sammy Smith

Trucks = OFF

Photo Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images