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NASCAR Ford Teams Finish Well, Fall Short Of Win At Talladega April 2023: Video

Due to the flat noses on the NASCAR Ford Mustang racers, The Blue Oval typically performs well at superspeedway tracks like Talladega, as they can essentially form a freight train and force their way to the front of the field. That’s exactly what they did during the Cup Series race on April 23rd, 2023, although they fell short of the victory at the line as a dramatic wreck unfolded on the last lap.

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang and winless since 2021, led 47 laps at the 2.66-mile superspeedway on Sunday. On the final NASCAR Overtime restart, he traded the lead several times with the No. 23 Toyota TRD Camry of Bubba Wallace and the No. 8 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of eventual winner Kyle Busch. However, as the white flag flew, Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang nosed hard into the back of Wallace’s No. 23 Camry, sending the latter into the wall and collecting several frontrunning race cars. The incident opened the door for Busch’s No. 8 Camaro to win.

After the race, Blaney was understandably disappointed that victory had eluded him and the No. 12 Mustang.

“It’s just you get big runs and you take them when you can,” Blaney said of the contact with Wallace. “I’m glad everyone’s okay, but in my mind you can’t make a triple move like that, a triple block. You can’t block three times, I don’t know, the runs are so big and as the leader Bubba’s (Wallace) trying to block, which is the right thing to do. But I think he kind of moved three times. I got to go somewhere. I hate for cars to get torn up and I hate for us to be so close to the win.”

He added, “I’m not blaming anybody. It’s just hard racing at the end of this thing and unfortunate that cars got torn up and we missed out on another win.”

Chris Buescher’s No. 17 NASCAR Ford finished third, followed by the No. 14 Mustang of Chase Briscoe in fourth and the No. 6 Mustang of Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five after running near the rear for most of the day.

“At the end, I felt like we were exactly where we wanted to be,” Keselowski said after the race. “Got to Kyle Busch [No. 8 Camaro] right down here, down the front stretch, and was going to give him a big push to clear for the lead, but didn’t get that chance with the wreck.” He added, “If the race had actually finished [instead of being called due to a caution on the last lap], we probably could’ve won it.”

It’s worth noting that the No. 2 NASCAR Ford of Austin Cindric, who was scored 26th, was seized by NASCAR and taken back to the Research and Development center for further evaluation. If there are any penalties, they will be announced later in the week.

NASCAR Cup Series Race Results, Talladega Superspeedway, April 23, 2023
Finish Start Car Number Driver Team Laps Run Laps Led Car
1 17 8 Kyle Busch McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet 196 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
2 5 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 196 47 Ford Mustang
3 10 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 196 0 Ford Mustang
4 4 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors YOG Ford 196 1 Ford Mustang
5 20 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Edge Ford 196 2 Ford Mustang
6 24 43 Erik Jones U.S. AIR FORCE Chevrolet 196 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
7 18 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 196 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
8 6 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 196 0 Toyota TRD Camry
9 22 99 Daniel Suarez Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 196 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
10 28 36 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Skills Ford 196 0 Ford Mustang
11 38 51 JJ Yeley(i) Jacob Companies/Biohaven Ford 196 0 Ford Mustang
12 29 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 196 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
13 27 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 196 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
14 32 77 Ty Dillon NationsGuard Chevrolet 196 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
15 33 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Cheez-It Chevrolet 196 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
16 13 45 Tyler Reddick MoneyLion Toyota 196 0 Toyota TRD Camry
17 1 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Direct Toyota 196 7 Toyota TRD Camry
18 37 78 BJ McLeod B'laster Chevrolet 196 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
19 26 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 196 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
20 36 15 Riley Herbst(i) Monster Energy/Mechanix Wear Ford 196 0 Ford Mustang
21 11 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford 196 11 Ford Mustang
22 2 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 196 11 Ford Mustang
23 23 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 196 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
24 31 62 Austin Hill(i) Realtree Chevrolet 196 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
25 34 7 Corey LaJoie Celsius Chevrolet 196 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
26 15 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Duracell Ford 196 0 Ford Mustang
27 7 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 196 19 Toyota TRD Camry
28 12 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 195 35 Toyota TRD Camry
29 19 16 AJ Allmendinger Farmsmart Chevrolet 195 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
30 8 22 Joey Logano Shell Penzoil/Autotrader Ford 195 3 Ford Mustang
31 3 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 194 4 Toyota TRD Camry
32 30 42 Noah Gragson # Wendy's Beef is in the Bag Chevrolet 189 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
33 9 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 189 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
34 16 41 Ryan Preece Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 189 2 Ford Mustang
35 21 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 189 0 Ford Mustang
36 25 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 183 11 Ford Mustang
37 35 38 Zane Smith(i) Wellcare Ford 141 0 Ford Mustang
38 14 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 141 0 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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Comments

  1. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, pretty much sums up Ford in Nascar over the past decade…

    Reply
    1. What? A Ford won the championship last year, lol

      Reply

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