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.
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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Comments
Woulda, coulda, shoulda, pretty much sums up Ford in Nascar over the past decade…
What? A Ford won the championship last year, lol