Surprise in Talladega
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Multiple pile-ups, wrecks and near death experiences characterize the Aaron’s race in Talladega. This is a Nascar fan’s dream, other than Dale Jr. did not win.
But second is a good thing for Dale Jr. at the Jr. Nation Headquarters.
But when the smoke settled on Sunday, Talladega was able to crown its 10th driver to win their first Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega. And that driver was none other then Brad Keselowski.
The day started out with Hendrick Motorsports poised to make history, just one win by Dale Earnhardt Jr to become the only team in NASCAR history to win four straight races with four different drivers.
However, it was Keselowski and Phoenix Racing, owned by James Finch, who stole the show.
As the cars circled through the tri-oval for the final time, it was between Carl Edwards and young Keselowski. Keselowski peaked below Edwards, as he put a strangle-hold on the yellow line–which is out-of-bounds at Talladega–as Edwards turned down to block. Edwards spun out of control as Keselowski steered high to miss the driver who was literally flying towards the fans to win his first Cup race–in just his fifth start–as well as the first Cup win for Finch–who has been in the sport for years.
“This is the best thing to ever happen to me,” Finch said. “I’ve always dreamed about winning one of these races. Sprint Cup racing is the hardest racing in the world. I’ve won 400 short-track races. I’ve said I’d trade all of them for one of these races. That’s how hard they are to win.”
Finch entered his first race as an owner on September 16, 1990 with driver Jeff Purvis at Dover. They started four races total, registering no top-tens and no lead lap finishes. It was 2002 when Geoff Bodine finished the Daytona 500 third for the team’s first top-five and first top-ten finish in its history. Since then, the team had made 104 starts with only two top-fives and seven top-tens to show for it.
Bruce Cameron, The Racing Reporter