Bubba Wallace USATSI NASCAR Cup Series
USATSI

Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney grew up together, aspiring racers chasing a dream. As careers blossomed, their close friendship has transcended different NASCAR Cup Series teams and manufacturers, Blaney even serving as a groomsman in Bubba's wedding earlier this year.

That makes it no surprise the duo gravitated toward each other at Talladega Superspeedway in Sunday's GEICO 500, a NASCAR drafting race where a partner you can trust is a must to make a move in the draft.

But for the first time on a national stage, that trust has been tested.

Wallace blocked Blaney, hard, multiple times during overtime until the duo made contact on the final lap. The resulting wreck smashed up a half-dozen cars, gifting the win to Kyle Busch under caution when the two could have settled the win between themselves.

"You get big runs," Blaney explained. "And you take 'em when you can. In my mind, you got a triple move like that, triple block, you can't block three times. I don't know. With Bubba, he's trying to block, it's the right thing to do. But he moved three times. I got to go somewhere, you know?"

Wallace immediately claimed responsibility for what happened. In a race where passing was more difficult than usual at Talladega, the move happened in turns one and two – a little earlier than you typically expect.

"Just got jumped by the 12," he explained. "Pulled a late block. Close, close, close block and just sent us around so… not the 12's fault. I honestly thought he would leave me high and dry coming back around.

"Just hate it for the team, and that's how it goes. It's our best, by far, plate race we've ever done."

It was also the best race of each driver's season. Blaney led a race-high 47 circuits, the most for him since last year's Phoenix finale, while Bubba's 35 laps out front were the second most of his Cup career. The duo had won three of the previous seven Cup races held at this track.

Instead, they have nothing to show for it in a year they both may need a win to make the playoffs. Kyle Busch was the big beneficiary, emerging ahead and posting a second win with new team Richard Childress Racing despite leading just three laps on the day.

The Russian Roulette-style luck of superspeedway races had haunted Busch for years, with the two-time Cup Series champion going winless at Tallaega since 2008. He'd led well over 200 laps here and come close only to see a car turn sideways and slam into him several times in the closing laps.

"Speedway races are hard to win," Busch explained. "You got 30 guys out there vying for it, that have a legit shot to win, barring different circumstances."

In his first year with a new team, perhaps Lady Luck is signaling a run of good fortune is headed Busch's way. This time, it just came at the expense of two good friends who will likely sit down and have a long, private conversation this week.

That's Talladega.

"When I'd seen the 12, I was pumped," Wallace said as the race unfolded in overtime. "We work well together, obviously. Every speedway race...

"It's just the way it goes."

Traffic Report

Green: Chase Briscoe. It was an awkward start for Briscoe, losing a lap after spinning out while making a dive toward pit road. Some late cautions gave him the lap back, and a charge to fourth was impressive considering how slowly cars would move up through the draft with this Next Gen chassis. Three straight top-5 finishes now leave him on the right side of the playoff bubble.

Yellow: Brad Keselowski. A fifth for Keselowski continues a strong season, doubling his top-5 output from 2022. But Talladega is a place he's won six times, and more was expected from an RFK Racing program (just two laps led) that impressed during the last two Daytona 500s.

Red: AJ Allmendinger. An innocent victim in the Wallace-Blaney crash, the 'Dinger now has three DNFs in first full-time season back at the Cup level since 2018. The difference between this year and two part-time campaigns with Kaulig Racing is staggering: only one top-10 finish in 10 starts versus 11 in 23, including a win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in 2021.

Speeding Ticket: Fuel mileage gone wrong. A number of drivers got bitten by the way cautions fell in the final stage, setting up a fuel economy run. Conservation in the draft helped lead to better racing, getting a third lane of traffic working where drivers were going all out instead of trying to save some gas.

But too many drivers still wound up not saving enough. Rookie Ty Gibbs was the most notable name that ran out down the stretch while teammate Denny Hamlin was forced to pit during the race's final caution, giving up valuable track position that left him 17th after winning the pole.

Oops!

Once again, Ross Chastain injected his bumper right into the center of controversy. His contact with both Noah Gragson and Aric Almirola forced the race into a second overtime, with the trio going three-wide near the front of the pack before the No. 42 of Gragson got turned dead on into the outside wall.  

The wreck also led to scrambling in the pack, Kyle Larson spinning out to avoid the incident and leaving Ryan Preece with nowhere to go in a collision that bent the roll cage of Larson's No. 5.

The next step on Next Gen safety? That's a discussion for another day. But it all started out front with the Chastain contact, an incident that wound up cutting the tire of Aric Almirola and taking the No. 10 Ford out of contention on the final restart – leading to yet another driver tacked on to the Chastain enemies list.

"Ross doing Ross things on that restart," Almirola said. "Wiped out the right side of our car… took a race car that had a great shot to win and crashed [it]."