Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has finally broken through for his first win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup with victory at the daunting Talladega Superspeedway.
Starting from pole Stenhouse cleared the “Big One” and made a move in a green-white-chequered finish on Kyle Busch to hold-off the field on the final lap of the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
In his 158th start in the Cup Series, the 29-year-old also gave Roush Fenway Racing its first victory since June 2014 (101 races ago) with Carl Edwards.
“We’ve been terrible for a long time. This year, every race we’re getting better and better,” said Stenhouse.
“We knew that Talladega was a good race track for us. This Fifth Third Bank Ford was so fast today – qualified on the pole and got the win. It’s cool to have Jack Roush back in Victory Lane. This is cool. The closest race track to my hometown and the fans were out here this weekend.”
Jamie McMurray edged Busch for second, as the winless start to the season for Joe Gibbs Racing continued.
The race itself was a typical Superspeedway encounter with cars and driving working amongst themselves to stay in the lead draft throughout the race. That was until AJ Allmendinger turned Chase Elliott while racing for second place. Elliott’s car turned on its side and Allmendinger flipped upside down as a total of 16 cars were involved in the pile-up.
The race was stopped for just short of 27-minutes with the likes of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth, Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon and Danica Patrick all having their racing winning hopes end.
The early bonus points stage winners were Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.
The Monster Energy Series now heads to Kansas Speedway for a Saturday night race on Saturday night this coming weekend.
VIDEO: Race Re-cap
VIDEO: Victory Lane
RESULTS: Geico 500 – Talladega Superspeedway
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Laps | Laps Led | Status |
| 1 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 191 | 14 | Running |
| 2 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 191 | 48 | Running |
| 4 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 5 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 6 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 191 | 31 | Running |
| 8 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 191 | 3 | Running |
| 9 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 191 | 1 | Running |
| 10 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 191 | 43 | Running |
| 12 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 191 | 3 | Running |
| 13 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 191 | 10 | Running |
| 15 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 7 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 191 | 2 | Running |
| 18 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | Joey Gase | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | Running |
| 23 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 191 | 15 | Running |
| 24 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 190 | 4 | Running |
| 25 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 185 | 2 | Accident |
| 26 | 75 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 183 | 0 | Running |
| 27 | 83 | Corey Lajoie | Toyota | 183 | 0 | Running |
| 28 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 174 | 0 | Engine |
| 29 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 173 | 0 | Transmission |
| 30 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 31 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 32 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 168 | 10 | Accident |
| 33 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 34 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 35 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 36 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 37 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 168 | 5 | Accident |
| 38 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 168 | 0 | Accident |
| 39 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 160 | 0 | Accident |
| 40 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 72 | 0 | Accident |
STANDINGS
| Rank | Driver | Pts | Behind | Wins | Starts | Top 5’s | Top 10’s | Poles |
| 1 | Kyle Larson | 428 | Leader | 1 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | 374 | -54 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | Brad Keselowski | 367 | -61 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| 4 | Chase Elliott | 353 | -75 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 5 | Joey Logano | 318 | -110 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| 6 | Jamie McMurray | 318 | -110 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | Kevin Harvick | 309 | -119 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 8 | Jimmie Johnson | 305 | -123 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Clint Bowyer | 289 | -139 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 277 | -151 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | 267 | -161 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 250 | -178 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 13 | Ryan Blaney | 240 | -188 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 237 | -191 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 15 | Kurt Busch | 227 | -201 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 16 | Trevor Bayne | 223 | -205 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | Aric Almirola | 222 | -206 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Kasey Kahne | 214 | -214 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | Matt Kenseth | 205 | -223 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 20 | Erik Jones | 200 | -228 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | Daniel Suarez | 187 | -241 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | Ty Dillon | 181 | -247 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Austin Dillon | 172 | -256 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | Paul Menard | 171 | -257 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 156 | -272 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | Chris Buescher | 136 | -292 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Cole Whitt | 125 | -303 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | David Ragan | 124 | -304 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | AJ Allmendinger | 123 | -305 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | Matt DiBenedetto | 118 | -310 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | Danica Patrick | 114 | -314 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Michael McDowell | 113 | -315 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Landon Cassill | 112 | -316 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Corey LaJoie | 67 | -361 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Gray Gaulding | 48 | -380 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 45 | -383 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Reed Sorenson | 44 | -384 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Michael Waltrip | 29 | -399 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 39 | Derrike Cope | 15 | -413 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | D.J. Kennington | 1 | -427 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Cody Ware | 1 | -427 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Brendan Gaughan | 0 | -428 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Elliott Sadler | 0 | -428 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Joey Gase | 0 | -428 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | JJ Yeley | 0 | -428 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Timmy Hill | 0 | -428 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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