Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-55):
● Clint Bowyer started eighth and finished 30th.
● Bowyer and many drivers reported their cars were difficult to turn.
● Pitted under green on lap 15 to top off fuel, then returned to the pits the next lap with a cut right-rear tire.
● Regained one of the two lost laps on lap 47.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 56-110):
● Bowyer started 32nd and finished 27th.
● Pitted under green to top off fuel on lap 67.
● Bowyer fell one spot short of earning the free pass and returning to the lead lap at stage’s end.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 111-188):
● Bowyer started 27th and finished 31st.
● Moved into the free-pass position as soon as the stage started. A much-needed caution flew on lap 127, returning Bowyer to the lead lap running in 27th.
● Bowyer made a scheduled green-flag stop for fuel only with 43 laps to go.
● Restarted the race in ninth with 30 laps remaining.
● A multicar crash with 22 laps remaining collected the No. 14 as he raced in 12th.
● Bowyer was not hurt, but the car was too badly damaged to continue.
Notes:
● Bowyer came into Talladega riding a four-race streak of top-10 finishes. His 31st-place result in the GEICO 500 was his first this season outside of the top-20.
● Joey Logano won the GEICO 500 to score his 19th career Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his third at Talladega. His margin of victory over second-place Kurt Busch was .127 of a second.
● Ford took six of the top-10 finishing positions.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 29 laps.
● Twenty-two of the 40 drivers in the GEICO 500 finished on the lead lap.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Demo Days Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I don’t know if he got loose or was trying to get in a hole, but the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) wasn’t clear and wrecked a bunch of us. That was just kind of par for our day. It started when we locked the right-rear wheel up somehow coming to the pits and flat spotted that and had to come back in. We finally got two laps back, I got one lap back and then finally got on the lead lap, and then we wrecked. Par for the course.”
Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AAA 400 Drive for Autism on Sunday, May 6 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 beginning with a prerace show at 12:30 p.m.
TSC PR/Photo Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
