As promised, it was a wild weekend at Talladega Superspeedway with the Cup Series with two multi-car wrecks with “The Big One” coming just five laps before the end of the race in a crash that sent Joey Logano flying through the air and Riley Herbst smashing very hard into the wall…twice!  Everyone got out of their cars and were checked and released from the infield care center.  Herbst appeared to have an injury to his left arm but not details have been released.

Kyle Larson won his first drafting track race in a four way battle that ended the race.  It was a true family affair heading for victory lane with all three Larson children riding in the car with dad!

Kyle Larson not only retains the points lead in The Chase; he has extended that lead to 73 points over Denny Hamlin.

Cup Series Point Standings:
Kyle Larson – 2441
Denny Hamlin – 2368
Christopher Bell – 2367
Chase Briscoe – 2362
Joey Logano – 2341
Ryan Blaney – 2334
Tyler Reddick – 2315
Austin Cindric – 2258
Ty Gibbs – 2258
Carson Hocevar – 2243
William Byron – 2127
Chase Elliott – 2223
Bubba Wallace – 2223
Daniel Suarez – 2201
Ryan Preece – 2192
Chris Buescher – 2186

Shane van Gisbergen – 739
Ross Chastain – 706
Brad Keselowski – 704
Michael McDowell – 643
Erik Jones – 618
Todd Gilliland – 612
Josh Berry – 609
AJ Allmendinger – 580
Austin Dillon – 566
Zane Smith – 541
Alex Bowman – 540
Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 515
John Hunter Nemechek – 504
Riley Herbst – 486
Noah Gragson – 447
Cole Custer – 439
Ty Dillon – 374
Connor Zilisch – 372
Cody Ware – 258
Kyle Busch – 217
Case Mears – 14
Kevin Magnussen – 11
Jimmie Johnson – 9
Katherine Legge – 8
BJ McLeod – 8

In the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Sammy Smith won the race as his time with JR Motorsports and the O’Reilly Series approaches an end.  Smith will be driving full time in the Truck Series next season.

Jesse Love holds on to the point standings lead but Justin Allgaier has closed the gap to just 19 points with two races remaining in the season.

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series point standings:
Jesse Love – 2401
Justin Allgaier – 2382
Corey Day – 2372
Sheldon Creed – 2351
Carson Kvapil – 2342
Sam Mayer – 2305
Sammy Smith – 2293
Taylor Gray – 2246
Austin Hill – 2233
Brandon Jones – 2212
Parker Retzlaff – 2200
Rajah Caruth – 2183

Brent Crews – 798
William Sawalich – 775
Ryan Sieg – 707
Anthony Alfredo – 684
Dean Thompson – 611
Brennan Poole – 576
Jeremy Clements – 550
Harrison Burton – 532
Jeb Burton – 503
Blaine Perkins – 459
Patrick Staropoli – 406
Kyle Sieg – 394
Josh Bilicki – 366
Lavar Scott – 327
Ryan Ellis – 316
Austin Green – 276
Garrett Smithley – 240
Nick Sanchez – 235
Joey Gase – 232
Josh Williams – 217
Mason Maggio – 181
Andrew Pattersson – 128
Alex Labbe – 93
JJ Yeley – 83
Nathan Byrd – 79
Myatt Snider – 73
Lee Pulliam – 66
Preston Pardus – 66
Jake Finch – 63
Will Rodgers  61
Dawson Cram – 58
Jordan Anderson – 57
Brad Perez – 56
Carson Brown – 54
Carson Ware – 51
Logan Bearden – 47
David Starr – 35
Blake Lothian – 35
Glen Reen – 32
Luke Fenhaus – 31
Matt DiBenedetto – 30
Jesse Iwuji – 12
Gray Gaulding – 9
Alex Guenette – 9
Tyler Tomassi – 9
Austin J Hill – 9
CJ McLaughlin – 7
Andy Jankowia – 7
Dexter Bean – 7
Cleetus McFarland – 7
Caesar Bacarella – 6
Derek White – 5
Baltazar Leguizamon – 5
Kyle Kelley – 3
Sage Karam – 2
Matt Wilson – 1

Kaden Honeycutt won the race at Talladega and now has a 43 point lead over Layne Riggs. 

In a race of just 94 laps, the Truck Series managed to avoid a big wreck on the Superspeedway.

Craftsman Truck Series point standings:
Kaden Honeycutt – 2371
Layne Riggs – 2328
Ty Majeski – 2230
Chandler Smith – 2229
Christian Eckes – 2227
Gio Ruggiero – 2194
Daniel Hemric – 2177
Ben Rhodes – 2168
Tyler Ankrum – 2157
Grant Enfinger – 2152

Jake Garcia – 559
Stewart Friesen – 492
Tanner Gray – 480
Justin Haley – 475
Brenden Queen – 472
Andres Perez – 448
Corey Heim – 380
Dawson Sutton – 366
Cole Butcher – 348
Landen Lewis – 334
Mini Tyrrell – 325
Corey LaJoie – 319
Connor Mosack – 269
Kris Wright – 248
Frankie Muniz – 215
Spencer Boyd – 185
Daniel Dye – 150
Timmy Hill – 139
Tyler Reif – 139
Tristan McKee – 127
Parker Eatmon – 125
Nick Leitz – 118
Parker Kligerman – 113
Josh Reaume – 102
Adam Andretti – 76
Bayley Currey – 75
Clayton Green – 73
Luke Baldwin – 70
Michael Christopher Jr – 69
Colin Braun – 68
Conner Jones – 61
Toni Breidinger – 59
Caleb Costner – 57
Jackson Lee – 54
Connor Hall – 54
Leland Honeyman Jr – 51
Ben Maier – 42
Clay Greenfield – 41
Nick Sanchez – 40
Conor Daly – 39
Travis Pastrana – 38
Gavin Boschele – 37
Kaz Grala – 34
Regan Smith – 34
Nathan Nicholson – 32
Derek Lemke – 29
Jason M White – 28
Thomas Annunziata – 28
James Hinchcliffe – 27
Wesley Slimp – 25
Stephen Mallozzi – 25
Cory Roper – 22
Brendan Gaughan – 21
Austin Varco – 20
Stefan Parsons – 19
Graham Doyle – 18
Carson Ferguson – 18
Dario Franchitti – 18
Carter Fartuch – 16
Lousi Foster – 16
Matt Millss – 14
Donovan Strauss – 14
Spencer Davis – 13
Ryan Newman – 13
Justin Carroll – 13
Justin Marks – 12
Mason Massey – 12
Monty Tipton – 12
Morgen Baird – 11
Tyler Tomassi – 8
Clint Bowyer – 8
Jason Kitzmiller – 7
Elliott Sadler – 5
Casten Everidge – 5
Natalie Decker – 4
Tony Stewart – 4
Dystany Spurlock – 3
Jamie McMurray – 3
Derek White – 2
Kasey Kleyn – 2
Jackson Macenko – 1
Jonathan Shafer – 1