Earnhardt goes for first win of season — NASCAR NOTES

No one was more excited about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s first NASCAR Cup Series win than his father, who was willing to do truly anything to celebrate with his son after the GEICO 500.

“She supports me through anything I need to do”, Stenhouse Jr. said after the race, according to USA Today Sports. “We’ve been bad for a long time”.

“I’m just going into every weekend trying to win that race, and if things fall into place, they fall into place”.

“I’ve felt like the way our cars have performed and the way they’ve driven, I’ve felt like we could get something in victory lane before the season was up”. It’s been a good one for a long time (five top-10s at TSS). Alonso got his first laps in the auto last week at the Speedway, quickly passing the mandatory rookie test and working his way up to a top lap at 222.548 miles per hour, a speed that would have earned him 32 starting position in the 33-car field past year.

Alonso told reporters afterward that driving an Indy vehicle was fun because, “They ask you if you are ready inside the auto, you say yes”. “But I got the feeling that it was just one of those days where he was gonna make it happen”. He had 300 races – the first 150 weren’t great; the next 150 were. AJ Allmendinger made contact with Chase Elliott, sending Elliott airborne and Allmendinger onto his roof. In all, 18 drivers were involved in the accident and the race was red-flagged. If a team can’t fix its damage on pit road in five minutes, the vehicle is ruled out of the race. It’s just Talladega. It’s all it is. He dominated in both the Trucks and Xfinity Series, using that ladder to bring along young talent who paired with veterans to win so many races – more than 300 across the top three series – that others started complaining about bullying. “I expected to … well, I wanted to start the season off good”. He did not finish, though, because he got caught in the big wreck that finally happened on lap 168.

Matt Kenseth has 15/1 odds for today’s race. Ryan Blaney exited eight laps earlier in a single-car crash.

The changing fortunes of racing at Talladega kicked open a door for Kahne and the No. 5 team in Sunday’s GEICO 500.

The leader at the white flag, Kyle Busch, finished third.

Four drivers stayed out during a caution on lap 82 after pitting late during the previous caution to restart up front. It’s main drivers Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse didn’t shine out of the gate as a result. He was back up front, though, by lap 91. Stenhouse Jr. says fences are a family tradition in his family’s celebrations.

Jimmie Johnson finished in eighth place, with Paul Menard and David Ragan completing the top 10.

Few thought it would take Stenhouse 158 races to get his breakthrough first-career cup win. Clint Bowyer finished 14th and Kevin Harvick 23rd, the last auto on the lead lap.

Busch was third at the end of the stage.

STAGE TWO: Denny Hamlin won the second stage, leading 39 of the 55 laps in the segment.

The stage win was Keselowski’s second of the 2017 season.

“I think it means everything for us”, team President Steve Newmark said.

“I could have defended the middle better off of (turn) two”, Johnson said. This track and Daytona have rules that are unique to just them. “We had a fast auto today, and I thought we had a good shot to win there before it happened”. McMurray was seeking his first win since he took the October race at Talladega in 2013.

Stenhouse started from the pole and praised the power from his Doug Yates-built engine for the speed. Aric Almirola won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega on Saturday.