Aric Almirola Closes Out Talladega; Stewart Haas Racing Dominates

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Aric Almirola, the driver of the #10 Smithfield Bacon for Life Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 14, 2018, in Talladega, Alabama. Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Talladega Superspeedway hosted the second race in the Round of 12 section of Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs. It was a ‘do or die’ type of day for some teams on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs. Talladega’s unknowns gave these teams an uneasy feeling heading into this race weekend.

Everyone figured this Talladega would not vary from races here in the past. This playoff race has been one of the most anticipated races of the season based on the playoff implications. However, in Sunday’s race, one team showed everyone else in the field how it is done.

The four cars of Stewart-Haas racing worked hard Sunday afternoon to stay together and stay out front. It was not a typical superspeedway race as the SHR team basically dictated the actions for the rest of the field. The four cars of SHR would work flawlessly on restarts in order to maintain their positions and run away from the field. Behind them, the rest of the field struggled to keep up, forming multiple packs throughout the track; the rest of the field could not stay organized to formulate a run back into the main group.

The No. 41 car of Kurt Busch won the first stage of the race. His teammate Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car countered this with a stage two victory continuing to prove that Stewart-Haas Racing had the perfect strategy to stay out front all afternoon.

The third stage of the race proved no different as this team continued to lead the way. The race continued to run single file. Team Penske tried to make multiple runs on the outside line but had little support as drivers did not want to give up position running the bottom line.

Shortages in fuel were a concern as well among all teams. Team Penske, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Hendrick Motorsports all had concerns about whether their drivers could make it on fuel or not.

A late wreck that involved the No. 88 of Alex Bowman brought out the caution that forced this race into overtime. Coming back to restart, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski came down pit road after realizing they would not be able to finish the race without stopping for fuel. The final restart was a battle between Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Clint Bowyer.

Kurt Busch jumped back out into the lead that he held for most of the afternoon, but it was a battle as both of his teammates wanted the win. Regardless of Kurt Busch’s efforts to win the race, he ran out of fuel coming onto the front stretch of the final lap. His teammate, Aric Almirola had a strong push from Stenhouse Jr. and finally closed out the race. Aric Almirola won the 1000Bulbs.Com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

This victory couldn’t come at a better time for Almirola. On the verge of playoff elimination, he survived the variables of Talladega and won the race to advance into the next round. The Stewart-Haas Racing team could potentially have all four drivers advance to the Round of 8. Almirola advances automatically with this win. The rest of this team is in a good position to advance. With a solid effort next week, this SHR team can have all four drivers advance. This will be huge in the following round to have a full time remaining.

To recap how dominating of a performance Stewart-Haas Racing, the whole team led 155 laps out of the 193 total laps run. The team also paced the field with all four cars leading the field for the majority of day until the final two laps. It truly was a spectacular performance for a team to run at Talladega as SHR did on Sunday.

Next week, the Cup Series will race at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400. This will be the elimination race of the Round of 12. The four teams of Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski are on the verge of being eliminated and they will need a solid effort to move on after next week. On the edge of being eliminated, someone will have to step up and give a winning performance.