CUP: Collected in multi-car crash, Chase Elliott completes a Talladega weekend of Playoff contenders in last place
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Chase Elliott picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet was collected in a multi-car accident after 51 of 193 laps.
The finish, which came in Elliott’s 356th series start, was his second of the season and first since August 16th at Richmond, nine races ago. In the Cup Series rankings, it was the 37th for the #9, the 699th from a crash, and the 879th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 64th for the #9, the 1,438th from a crash, and the 2,019th for Chevrolet.
Elliott’s wreck in Richmond came just two races before the Playoffs, a spot he earned thanks to a consistent season and confirmed with a popular victory in Atlanta. But the journey very nearly ended in the “Round of 16,” where after a 17th in Darlington and 3rd in Gateway, a crash with John Hunter Nemechek put him 38th in Bristol. He escaped just 16 points above the cutline and enjoyed a much stronger “Round of 12,” taking 5th in Loudon before winning Kansas after a last-lap pass on a dominant Denny Hamlin. But following his 8th-place showing on the Charlotte “Roval,” it was back to work in the “Round of 8” as an 18th-place finish last week in Las Vegas dropped him below the cutline, a full 23 points out, with just two races left to make the Championship Four. Fortunately, these were both tracks where Elliott had won: Talladega and Martinsville.
With no practice, Elliott first hit the track in qualifying, where he ranked last of the Playoff drivers in 25th with a lap of 52.959 seconds (180.819mph).
For only the sixth time in 2025, a full field of 40 entrants filled the grid for Sunday’s race. Ranking 40th and last was Casey Mears, marking his 28th career Cup start at Talladega and first since 2016. Mears’ #66 S I Yachts Ford, fielded by Garage 66, was joined by three other drivers for unapproved adjustments: 9th-place Riley Herbst in the #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota, 28th-place John Hunter Nemechek in the #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, and 30th-place Erik Jones in the #43 Dollar Tree Toyota.
Coming to the green, Jones was last across the stripe, 4.374 seconds back of the lead, running to the outside of Herbst in the final row. When the green flag dropped, he didn’t accelerate as fast as Herbst, who pulled to his outside and followed in Nemechek’s draft. To their inside was B.J. McLeod, who ran an unsponsored black #78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports. A moment earlier, the inside line had stacked-up, causing McLeod to bump into the back of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #47 Jack inks Non-Vegan Chevrolet. As Stenhouse pulled away from McLeod, Herbst followed Nemechek past the #78 off Turn 2, and Jones followed Herbst onto the backstretch, dropping McLeod to last. Ahead, Mears had pulled to the inside line with no drafting help ahead of him, and he quickly dropped into the clutches of McLeod. Mears and McLeod formed a two-car draft of their own, the #78 showing 3.410 seconds back of the lead.
By Lap 4, Mears and McLeod had caught back up with the tail end of the field, inching Mears ahead of the now 39th-place Jones, and on Lap 5, the entire field was separated by just 1.922 seconds from first to last. By Lap 8, McLeod was among the seven cars from 34th on back that formed an even longer single-file trailing pack, led by Austin Dillon’s #3 Breztri Chevrolet. This pack also stayed in touch with the lead pack with McLeod following in the tire tracks of 39th-place Hamlin.
McLeod held the last spot until Lap 18, when the tail end of the pack started to battle side-by-side, causing the 40th spot to swap between several drivers. Jones was the first to take over on Lap 18, 3.354 seconds back of the lead, followed by McLeod on Lap 20, and Mears on Lap 21. During this run, Denny Hamlin dropped to the back of the field in his #11 National Debt Relief Toyota and took the last spot by Lap 22, then Mears again on Lap 24, and A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Black’s Tire Chevrolet on Lap 25. Zane Smith’s #38 Benebone Ford took the spot on Lap 26, then William Byron’s #24 Raptor Chevrolet on Lap 27, followed by Ross Chastain’s #1 Busch Light Hunting Chevrolet on Lap 29, Ryan Preece’s #60 Trimble Ford on Lap 30, then Jones again on Lap 32, still only 1.854 seconds behind the leader.
On Lap 38, Jones was on the outside of a three-wide battle for last place off Turn 2 with Austin Dillon and Mears to his inside. This dropped Austin to last on Lap 39, then Jones on Lap 40 before McLeod retook the position on Lap 41. By now, the field was preparing for their first round of green-flag pit stops. Mears took the last spot on Lap 43, just before McLeod pitted, only to be caught speeding in Section 18. On Lap 45, Shane Van Gisbergen took the last spot after pitting his #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet. McLeod then served his penalty, dropping him a lap down as he retook last on Lap 46. Also penalized were both Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch, who by Lap 50 had fallen to 39th and 38th with McLeod running by himself, now on the tail end of the lead lap after the rest of the leaders had pitted. But he was stranded, and on Lap 52 had pulled to the outside entering Turn 3 as the leaders rushed past him to his inside, again putting him one lap down.
Unbelievably, in nearly the exact same way as Saturday’s XFINITY race, the leaders wrecked right after they lapped McLeod. Heading into Turn 3, Jones had rallied from the back of the field up to 2nd on the outside line, directly behind Noah Gragson’s #4 Rush Truck Centers Ford that was challenging A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 to his inside for the lead. But midway through the corner, Gragson spun off Jones’ nose and into the right side of Allmendinger, sending both back up the track and into the outside wall. Gragson collected Jones on his way to the wall, then blocked the track for a closing Stenhouse, and the resulting wad of cars also collected Justin Haley’s #7 Chevrolet, who likewise clobbered the outside wall with the right-front. Chase Elliott arrived on the scene in the middle lane and lifted off the gas when Austin Cindric’s #2 Discount Tire Ford cut left, spinning Elliott nose-first into the right side of Austin Dillon’s #3. The contact damaged Elliott’s nose enough to spray fluid from the engine onto the windshield as he spun into the rain-soaked infield grass. All seven cars involved attempted to make it to pit road, though Allmendinger’s stopped short of pit entry due to a fire. The driver climbed out and lay on the ground next to his car, catching his breath after the impact knocked the wind out of him. He was soon checked and released from the infield care center.
The remaining six damaged cars received attention on pit road, including Elliott, who stopped in his Stall 24. With the starting line well past pit exit, none of these drivers were credited with another lap complete, and Elliott took the last spot on Lap 54. By Lap 56, crew chief Alan Gustason got on Elliott’s radio and said, “It’s over.” “What was that, Alan?” “We’re out.” Elliott’s car pulled into its garage stall as the other involved cars were towed to an open space alongside a hauler behind those stalls. Elliott retained the 40th spot with Stenhouse in 39th, Haley in 38th, and Stenhouse in 37th. Jones held 36th but returned to complete four more laps with the front bodywork removed, climbing to 34th and dropping Allmendinger to 36th. Then in the final 30 laps, 39th-place Cindric returned and finished the race under power, taking 34th from Jones to finish 116 laps down. This dropped Gragson to 36th, Allmendinger to 37th, Stenhouse to 38th, and Haley back to 39th.
On a weekend where “Round of 8” contenders finished last in all three races at Talladega, Elliott heads to next week’s race at Martinsville 62 points below the cut line in a must-win scenario.
Gilliland earns career-best finish on a strong day for Front Row Motorsports
Finishing a career-best 2nd behind race winner Chase Briscoe was Todd Gilliland, who equaled his father David Gilliland’s career-best runner-up at Sonoma in 2008, when he also trailed a Joe Gibbs Racing entry in Kyle Busch. Gilliland’s #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford showed impressive speed in the final stage, and frequently paired with his Front Row Motorsports teammate Zane Smith, who led two laps to Gilliland’s 11 and finished 9th in the #38. This marks Gilliland’s first top-five finish since the 2022 race on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit, where he finished 4th.
Taking 5th was the #41 Sysco RaceTrac Ford of Cole Custer, who was battling for the lead on the final lap of both Daytona races this season and earned just his second top-five finish of the year, his first since a 4th in the August Daytona race. This was a particularly sweet performance for the Haas Factory Team, which saw both its XFINITY Playoff contending cars wiped out after only 15 laps of Saturday’s race.
And coming home a remarkable 18th was Casey Mears in Garage 66’s #66 S I Yachts Ford. In this, only Mears’ third Cups start since 2019 and his 28th at Talladega, Mears earned his best finish since the 2016 season finale at Homestead, his last start for Germain Racing, where he also came home 18th. Mears rallied from twice losing a lap, earning a pair of Free Passes when Shane van Gisbergen got stuck in the grass on Lap 112, then on Lap 166 after Cody Ware’s #51 Arby’s Steak Nuggets Ford spun after losing the engine.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked only the second time the #9 finished last in a Cup Series race at Talladega. The only other occasion was on May 3, 1981, when Chase’s father Bill Elliott was also swept up in a multi-car accident in his #9 Mell-Gear Ford. Bill’s wreck happened on Lap 2 and involved 12 cars.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #9-Chase Elliott / 51 laps / crash
39) #7-Justin Haley / 51 laps / crash
38) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 51 laps / crash
37) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 51 laps / crash
36) #4-Noah Gragson / 51 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) 23XI Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (4)
2nd) Kaulig Racing, Penske Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (3)
3rd) Garage 66, Legacy Motor Club, Rick Ware Racing (2)
4th) Front Row Motorsports, Hyak Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, NY Racing Team, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Spire Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Ford (11)
3rd) Toyota (7)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
