Ross Chastain led one lap on Sunday at the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, but it was the most important one.
With Erik Jones and Kyle Larson running first and second with a lap to go, Chastain let the front runners duke it out and skated by for the win.
“Holy cow, we didn’t do anything,’’ Chastain said. “We just stayed down there.’’
Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Larson and Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top five on Sunday. After 10-races this season Chase Elliott sits atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings with Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman filling out the top five.
On Sunday morning Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, winning the race by 16.527 seconds over his teammate Sergio Perez. It was Verstappen’s second win of the season and 22nd of his career.
Series leader Charles Leclerc finished sixth after he spun out on lap 54. The Ferrari driver was running third at the time and was in pursuit of Perez. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished third, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Alfa Romeo driver Valterri Bottas rounded finished fifth.
Despite finishing sixth Leclerc sits atop the driver standings with a 27-point lead over Verstappen. Perez, Russell, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz round out the top five in the season standings.
News & Notes:
During the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson turned the fastest lap of his storied motorsports career. During his 138 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Wednesday he drove a lap at 227.900 mph.
Johnson retired from NASCAR after the 2020 season and joined the IndyCar Series in 2021 with a part time schedule racing for Chip Ganassi Racing. This season Johnson will run a full IndyCar schedule
“Man, that’s really boogieing,” Johnson told NBCSports.com after practice. “This is the reason why wanted to become an IndyCar driver. I wanted to experience driving a really fast race car really fast.”
Abbie Eaton is returning to the W Series. Eaton sustained a serious back last season in the W Series season double header in October that ended her season. During the 2021 season she had four top-10 finishes in the series first six races.
“To have another opportunity with W Series is what I’ve wanted ever since I broke my back six months ago, so I’m relieved that all my hard work has paid off,” Eaton said.
Up Next:
NASCAR Cup Series: DuraMAX Drydene 400, Dover Motor Speedway, May 1 3:00 p.m. (ET)
IndyCar Series: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Barber Motorsports Park, May 1, 1:00 p.m. (ET)
