Clint Bowyer Wins Talladega Race With Big 2011 Chase Consequences

The 2011 Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is often referred to as the wild card race in the Chase. This year it lived up to the billing as seven of the Chase drivers finished in the bottom half of the field. Non-Chasers Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton battled side-by-side for the win in the final few yards with Clint Bowyer claiming the win in a thrilling finish.

Qualifying

Mark Martin picked up the 51st pole of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career and his third at Talladega. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson was second fastest in qualifying.

The second row saw Clint Bowyer on the inside with 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne the only non-Chevrolet among the top seven starters. Bayne rolled off fourth in his Ford.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates swept the third row as well with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. starting side-by-side in fifth and sixth.

Drop Of The Green

When the green flag dropped drivers immediately paired off into the two-by-two dance partners that have characterized restrictor plate racing in 2011.

Jeff Gordon made his way up to Mark Martin's back bumper to control the inside lane. Jimmie Johnson was pushed to the lead by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman was pushed up the middle by his teammate Tony Stewart.

Johnson/Earnhardt lead the first lap before Newman/Stewart lead for a brief time. Then David Ragan was pushed into the lead by his teammate Matt Kenseth.

Ragan/Kenseth swapped positions giving Kenseth a point for leading a lap but that allowed Jeff Burton to get past.

The frantic lead changes continued throughout the early going as this crazy two-by-two racing allowed for a lot of passing and a lot of lead changes.

Storylines

Talladega is often referred to as the wild card race in the Chase. With "The Big One" always looming as a possibility any driver could take a DNF and be eliminated from Chase contention through no fault of their own.

Because of the threat of mayhem many of the Chase leaders opted to drop back and ride around at the back of the pack. Edwards, Gordon, Johnson, Earnhardt and others decided to avoid the craziness at the front and ride safely in the back until closer to the end.

With 85 laps to go it finally happpened. A.J. Allmendinger was turned while running on the high side of the track. Allmendinger came down across in front of the field and caused "The Big One."

Two of the top four Chase drivers were involved. Kevin Harvick came into the race second in the Chase but he was caught up in the crash through no fault of his own along with Kyle Busch who was fourth in points until today.

They both made it back onto the track but were never in contention again. When the race was over Kyle Busch was no longer a Chase contender while Kevin Harvick's hopes were still hanging by a thread.

Kurt Busch came into Talladega seventh in points. Kurt was twenty-seven points out of the lead and still in contention for the Championship. Kurt was caught up in Bobby Labonte's crash and knocked out of Chase contention for 2011.

When the checkered flag flew seven Chase drivers had finished twenty-fifth or worse.

Chasing The Checkers

When the track had been cleaned up from Kurt Busch's crash there were only ten laps to go and the intensity meter was pegged.

Jeff Burton was in the lead being pushed by Clint Bowyer but there was a pack of wolves behind them. Mark Martin was turned from behind and got into Regan Smith.

Smith turned up and hit the outside wall just about as hard as is possible in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race car. Fortunately he was OK as all of the safety devices did their jobs.

Only two laps remained when the final green flag flew.

Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer were out front again and had a huge fifteen carlength lead when the white flag flew. The pack tried to catch them but this race was to be settled between the two of them.

Clint Bowyer pulled down to the bottom as the twosome entered the tri-oval headed towards the checkers. Burton tried to block and the two touched a couple times as the finish line was rapidly approaching. They crossed the line side-by-side with Clint Bowyer ahead by about 18 inches.

Top Ten

1. Clint Bowyer
2. Jeff Burton
3. Dave Blaney
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Brian Vickers
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Tony Stewart
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Michael Waltrip
10. Martin Truex Jr.

The Points

Three drivers who were previously putting pressure on Carl Edwards in the points had trouble in Talladega. Carl was able to add significantly to his point lead. Carl Edwards now leads by fourteen over Matt Kenseth.

On the opposite end of the spectrum Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch joined the list of drivers with no realistic shot at the 2011 Championship.

The top five drivers are within twenty-six points of the lead while Kyle Busch in sixth is now 40 points behind with just four races remaining. It's not mathematically impossible but also not realistic to think that he still has a shot.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:

1. Carl Edwards -0
2. Matt Kenseth -14
3. Brad Keselowski -18
4. Tony Stewart -19
5. Kevin Harvick -26
6. Kyle Busch -40
7. Jimmie Johnson -50
8. Kurt Busch -52
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -74
10. Jeff Gordon -82
11. Denny Hamlin -84
12. Ryan Newman -88