2023 GEICO 500

2023 GEICO 500
Race details
Race 10 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	April 23, 2023
Location	Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.66 mi (4.28 km)
Distance	196 laps, 521.36 mi (838.88 km)
Scheduled Distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.64 km)
Average speed	146.575 miles per hour (235.890 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Denny Hamlin;
Time	52.979
Most laps led
Driver	Ryan Blaney
Laps	47
Winner
No. 8	Kyle Busch
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch), and Dillon Welch (3 & 4)

The 2023 GEICO 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on April 23, 2023, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Contested over 196 laps – extended from 188 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 2.66 mile (4.28 km) superspeedway, it was the 10th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Talladega Superspeedway, the track where the race was held.

Talladega Superspeedway, formerly known as Alabama International Motor Speedway, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. A tri-oval, the track was constructed in 1969 by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking. The track currently hosts NASCAR's Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which is 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km).

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
15	Riley Herbst (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
36	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
38	Zane Smith (i)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
51	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
62	Austin Hill (i)	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet
77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet
99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Denny Hamlin scored the pole for the race with a time of 52.979 and a speed of 180.751 mph (290.891 km/h).^[9]

Qualifying results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	R1	R2
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	53.308	52.979
2	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	53.309	53.011
3	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	53.292	53.025
4	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	53.280	53.085
5	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	53.333	53.124
6	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	53.388	53.245
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	53.315	53.281
8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	53.341	53.299
9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	53.440	53.302
10	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	53.417	53.303
11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	53.455	—
12	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	53.470	—
13	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	53.496	—
14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	53.497	—
15	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	53.499	—
16	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	53.509	—
17	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	53.548	—
18	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	53.559	—
19	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	53.568	—
20	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	53.611	—
21	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	53.629	—
22	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	53.651	—
23	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	53.671	—
24	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	53.693	—
25	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	53.695	—
26	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	53.745	—
27	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	53.750	—
28	36	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	53.849	—
29	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	53.874	—
30	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	53.902	—
31	62	Austin Hill (i)	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	53.973	—
32	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	54.033	—
33	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	54.039	—
34	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	54.059	—
35	38	Zane Smith (i)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	54.063	—
36	15	Riley Herbst (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	54.106	—
37	78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	54.297	—
38	51	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	54.424	—
Official qualifying results

Race

During the overtime lap, Kyle Larson's car was t-boned by Ryan Preece in a collision triggered by Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson. The wreck collapsed Larson's passenger side roll cage, described by race winner Kyle Busch as "brick getting rammed into a stick of butter".^[10] Neither Larson nor Preece were injured from the collision, but the carnage reignited safety concerns regarding the Next Gen car. NASCAR took both cars to the R&D Center for further investigation.^[11]

Race results

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 60

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	4
8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	3
9	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	2
10	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage Two Laps: 60

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	8
4	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	7
5	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	6
6	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	4
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	2
10	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 68

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	17	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	196	40
2	5	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	196	35
3	10	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	196	34
4	4	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	196	33
5	20	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	196	32
6	24	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	196	31
7	18	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	37
8	6	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	196	29
9	22	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	196	29
10	28	36	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	196	27
11	38	51	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	196	0
12	29	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	44
13	27	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	33
14	32	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	23
15	33	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	196	23
16	13	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	196	21
17	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	196	23
18	37	78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	19
19	26	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	196	18
20	36	15	Riley Herbst (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	196	0
21	11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	196	24
22	2	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	196	25
23	23	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	196	23
24	31	62	Austin Hill (i)	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	0
25	34	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	13
26	15	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	196	16
27	7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	196	15
28	12	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	195	16
29	19	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	195	8
30	8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	195	10
31	3	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	194	6
32	30	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	189	10
33	9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	189	10
34	16	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	189	9
35	21	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	189	2
36	25	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	183	7
37	35	38	Zane Smith (i)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	141	0
38	14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	141	1
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 57 among 21 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 8 for 34
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 25 seconds
Average speed: 146.575 miles per hour (235.890 km/h)

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 23rd race at the Talladega Superspeedway. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and 2008 fall Talladega winner Tony Stewart called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Josh Sims handled the pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Fox
Booth announcers	Pit reporters	In-race analyst
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy Color-commentator: Clint Bowyer Color-commentator: Tony Stewart	Jamie Little Regan Smith Josh Sims	Larry McReynolds

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden & Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform inside the backstretch when the field raced down the backstretch & Dillon Welch called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 4 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Steve Post, Georgia Henneberry, Chris Wilner and Brienne Pedigo worked pit road for the radio side for MRN.

MRN Radio
Booth announcers	Turn announcers	Pit reporters
Lead announcer: Alex Hayden Announcer: Jeff Striegle	Turns 1 & 2: Dave Moody Backstretch: Mike Bagley Turns 3 & 4: Dillon Welch	Steve Post Georgia Henneberry Chris Wilner Brienne Pedigo

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Christopher Bell	331
	2	Ross Chastain	319 (–12)
	3	Kevin Harvick	311 (–20)
	4	Kyle Larson	295 (–36)
3	5	Kyle Busch	290 (–41)
	6	Tyler Reddick	286 (–45)
2	7	Martin Truex Jr.	281 (–50)
2	8	Ryan Blaney	276 (–55)
2	9	Alex Bowman	270 (–61)
1	10	Denny Hamlin	270 (–61)
4	11	Joey Logano	268 (–63)
	12	Brad Keselowski	267 (–64)
	13	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	247 (–84)
1	14	William Byron	245 (–86)
1	15	Chase Briscoe	243 (–88)
	16	Chris Buescher	240 (–91)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	382
2	Toyota	342 (–40)
3	Ford	338 (–44)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

References

^ "2023 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
^ "Talladega Superspeedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
^ Taranto, Steven (14 September 2022). "NASCAR releases 2023 Cup Series schedule highlighted by new Chicago, All-Star race stops". CBS Broadcasting Inc. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ "NASCAR unveils 2023 schedule for its national series". National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
^ "Qualifying Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
^ "GEICO 500 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. April 23, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 23, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
^ Utter, Jim (April 22, 2023). "Hamlin beats Almirola to NASCAR Cup pole at Talladega". Motorsport.com. Lincoln, Alabama: Motorsport Network. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
^ Gelston, Dan (April 30, 2023). "Larson: Aftermath of violent Talladega wreck 'unsettling'". ABC News. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
^ Crandall, Kelly (April 25, 2023). "Preece to meet with NASCAR to analyze Talladega crash". RACER.com. Retrieved April 30, 2023.

Previous race: 2023 NOCO 400	NASCAR Cup Series 2023 season	Next race: 2023 Würth 400

[1] "2023 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved October 10, 2022.

[2] "Talladega Superspeedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2023.

[cbs-news20220914-3] Taranto, Steven (14 September 2022). "NASCAR releases 2023 Cup Series schedule highlighted by new Chicago, All-Star race stops". CBS Broadcasting Inc. Retrieved 29 March 2023.

[nascar-news20220924-4] "NASCAR unveils 2023 schedule for its national series". National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2023.

[5] "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.

[6] "Qualifying Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.

[7] "GEICO 500 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. April 23, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.

[8] "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 23, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.

[9] Utter, Jim (April 22, 2023). "Hamlin beats Almirola to NASCAR Cup pole at Talladega". Motorsport.com. Lincoln, Alabama: Motorsport Network. Retrieved April 22, 2023.

[10] Gelston, Dan (April 30, 2023). "Larson: Aftermath of violent Talladega wreck 'unsettling'". ABC News. Retrieved April 30, 2023.

[11] Crandall, Kelly (April 25, 2023). "Preece to meet with NASCAR to analyze Talladega crash". RACER.com. Retrieved April 30, 2023.

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