TALLADEGA, Ala. — As the stars of NASCAR raged over safety concerns with the Next Gen car, rumors swirled the drivers would organize some sort of protest at one of the most dangerous tracks on the circuit.
Perhaps they’d outright boycott Talladega Superspeedway. Or maybe they’d send their message to NASCAR officials by refusing to seriously race Sunday.
But all 37 drivers showed up at their cars as scheduled. It’s the Cup Series playoffs, after all, and there’s a championship to be won.
And it was Chase Elliott — NASCAR’s most popular driver who a day earlier accused series leadership of taking a step backward in safety — who drove to victory lane and and earned the automatic berth into the postseason’s third round.
Elliott, who typically avoids controversial conversations, joined the growing chorus of veteran drivers who found NASCAR’s slow response to their concerns unacceptable. Alex Bowman, his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, and 23XI Racing driver Kurt Busch missed Sunday’s race with concussions, while Cody Shane Ware competed with a broken foot. Busch has missed 11 consecutive races.
Rick Hendrick said he wasn’t surprised when his four-car stable’s 26-year-old superstar, the 2020 Cup Series champion, took a rare public stance.
“I think these guys are concerned, and he sees a teammate hurt, and he’s a young guy with a career ahead of him,” Hendrick said. “I think this has been on Chase’s mind. I’m proud of him. He doesn’t say much, but when he speaks, everybody knows he’s not just popping off. He’s concerned.”
The race was one of the cleanest in memory at Talladega, and certainly the least dramatic through the first five races of the playoffs. NASCAR’s first-year Next Gen car developed a rash of problems in the first four postseason races, and Bowman’s concussion seemed to push the drivers to their breaking point.
NASCAR is scheduled to test this week a potential solution to the stiffness of the cars that drivers claim they’ve complained about all throughout the Next Gen’s development.
That did little to calm them leading into Talladega, one of the most unpredictable and chaotic tracks on the calendar. The drivers certainly could have deliberately taken it easy, but they truly raced. There were 57 lead changes among 17 drivers, and of the six cautions, only one was for a multicar crash.
“That was a pretty calm Talladega race,” Elliott said. “That’s something different.”
Elliott was fifth on the final restart with two laps remaining and took control of the outside lane to stalk leader Ryan Blaney. The Hendrick No. 9 Chevrolet surged ahead with a push from Erik Jones on the final lap, threw a block on Blaney’s attempt to reclaim the lead, then beat Blaney to the finish line by .046 second.
Elliott is the first driver through five playoff races to automatically advance into the next round with a victory, and the regular-season champ returned to the top of the points standings. The first four races were won by drivers not eligible for the championship in a chaotic start to the 10-race postseason.
“All you can ask for is just to add more opportunities,” Elliott said. “So it’s a big deal, and we’re excited for these final handful of events, and hopefully we can give it a run.”
The final caution was because Daniel Hemric stalled on pit road with an engine problem with seven laps remaining. Blaney was the leader, and NASCAR had to throw the caution because Hemric was stranded inside his car in a dangerous spot.
The restart for a final two laps was Blaney’s to control, but Elliott played it perfectly for his fifth win of the season. The victory was a massive rebound after Elliott crashed because of a tire failure while leading last week at Texas Motor Speedway, a result that had him on the brink of playoff elimination.
Blaney was second for Team Penske and fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports was third. Ross Chastain was fourth for Trackhouse Racing in another Chevy, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was fifth as the highest-finishing Toyota driver.
Blaney was disappointed not to win, but he goes into next Sunday’s elimination race on the Roval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway second in the standings.
“I’m probably going to replay in my head five different things I could have done different, but overall not a bad day,” Blaney said. “I’m happy we’re in a decent spot on points, but we really want to win.”
Hamlin said the risk versus reward of pushing hard at Talladega isn’t worth it in three-race playoff segments.
“To me, this is the three-race season. You points race,” Hamlin said. “We accomplished what we were trying to do.”
F1: Perez wins
SINGAPORE — Max Verstappen’s chance of clinching a season title Sunday was always a big of a longshot.
His likelihood of repeating as the Formula One champion isn’t, but the potential celebration was put on hold after the Red Bull driver finished seventh at a rain-delayed and chaotic Singapore Grand Prix, where teammate Sergio Perez secured his second win of 2022.
He crossed the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr., was third. Perez was subsequently handed a five-second time penalty for not staying within 10 lengths of the safety car when following behind, but the Mexican driver’s lead over Leclerc covered him enough to keep his fourth career victory.
The 32-year-old Perez won the Monaco GP in May.
Verstappen matched his worst finish of the season — he was seventh at the British GP in July — although he also had two retirements in the first three races. He had won the past five races but needed to win in Singapore and finish 22 points ahead of Leclerc to be crowned champion again.
That could happen next weekend at the Japanese GP, though. Verstappen is 104 points ahead of Leclerc and 106 clear of Perez, with 138 points up for grabs in the remaining five events, including an additional sprint race in Brazil.