Clear, blue skies and sunshine in Talladega. 36 trucks in the field. The stages are 20-20-54.
Caution on lap 18 of 94 for Jordan Anderson’s (3) truck going up in flames. Huge fire under the truck. He tried to extinguish the fire and it didn’t go out. He put the window net down as he headed toward the inside wall and he came out as the truck hit the wall. He laid down behind the truck after climbing out, jumping up on the wall, then jumping down onto the track surface.
Stage one ends under caution with John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (4) at the front.
The MRN reporter at the in-field care center, Alex Weaver, said she’s getting word from NASCAR that Jordan Anderson (3) is headed straight to the ambulance.
Caution on lap 25 of 94. Colby Howard (81) lost a tire the spun.
We see the helicopter rotor spinning and the doors closing.
Caution on lap 32 of 94 for a crash by Lawless Alan (45) and a wreck involving Dean Thompson (40). Carson Hocevar (42) says he ran over some debris which is attached to his truck. Bryan Dauzat (28) got damage in the Lawless Alan incident. MRN reported all of these incidents. TV only showed the Lawless Alan incident. They seemed to occur simultaneously as two different turn reporters were both trying to call the Alan and Thompson issues at the same time. Both yelled ‘Trouble!’, then the guy covering the Lawless Alan issue began his call.
MRN says Ty Majeski (66) took a job in the ThorSport shop when he ‘disappeared’ from NASCAR. Postman says the shop is full of racers and you see their vehicles (legends car, power boat at one time, modified car) in their parking lot on Friday evening.
Chandler Smith (18) wins stage two.
Caution on lap 63 of 94 for a crew member chasing a tire across pit road during green flag pit stops.
Caution on lap 72 of 94 for a spin by Colby Howard (81).
Caution on lap 79 of 94 due to Grant Enfinger (23) and Austin Wayne Self (22) get together and collected Tanner Gray (15) and Johnny Sauter (13).
Sauter pushed AWS into Tanner Gray who lost it and ran into Grant Enfinger sending the whole group into the outside wall.
Restarting on lap 84 of 94.
Carson Hocevar (42) has appears to have a flat on lap 88 of 94 and drops to the apron from the lead.
Caution is out on lap 89 of 94. Hocevar (42) spun and just sat there. Once the caution flag came out he pulled away from the scene.
I hope Hocevar (42) is getting penalized for bringing out the caution unnecessarily.
MRN reports NASCAR is penalizing Hocevar 1 lap for intentionally bringing out the caution flag.
The race may finish in overtime since they’re still rolling around under caution on lap 91 of 94.
TV is showing that it will. nascar.com shows we’re on lap 91 of 95 with the lights off on the pace truck. It updated to show overtime incrementing the total laps to 95.
Restarting on lap 93 of 95 with Christian Eckes (98) and Ben Rhodes (99) up from followed by Matt ‘MattiD’ DiBenedetto (25) and Bret Holmes (32).
They crash shortly before the line further back in the field (Corey Heim (51)) and they crash at the line in the front of the field. Bret Holmes wins. Well, Bret Holmes crosses the finish line first. The caution flag was flying along with the checkered flag.
Bret Holmes (32) got to the finish line first, ahead of Matt ‘MattiD’ DiBenedetto (25). The winner depends on who was leading when the caution came out.
The field is frozen when the caution comes out.
MattiD passed Ben Rhodes (99) below the yellow line according to MRN. Jeff Striegle says DiBenedetto made contact with Rhodes. Alex Hayden says you have to determine if DiBenedetto was forced down below the yellow line.
‘MattiD’ is officially the winner. That’s disappointing.
Ben Rhodes said, during his MRN interview, he just wished tv was here so he could see what happened.
MRN Care Center updates from:
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- Corey Heim (51)
- Ben Rhodes (99)
- Zane Smith (38)
- John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (4)
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Alex Weaver is making her debut with MRN according to Jeff Striegle. I wonder if she’s replacing Kim Coon permanently, or if Kim’s tv stint is temporary. Looks like it was temporary in June.