Recap: Ryan Blaney wins the YellaWood 500 Talladega fall race
TALLADEGA — It's race day.
The YellaWood 500 green flag drops at 1 p.m. CT on NBC. Aric Almirola will lead the field to green for the middle race of the Round of 12. William Byron is locked into the next round with his win at Texas last week but plenty of drivers still have work to do. Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace, both below the cutline, will start on row 5. Kyle Larson is the first playoff driver in the lineup, starting from fourth in row 2.
Playoff drivers Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain will be starting outside of the top 20 along with owner playoff driver Chase Elliott.
Fall Talladega NASCAR Cup Race: Recap of the YellaWood 500
Checkered Flag: Ryan Blaney edges by Kevin Havrick by 0.012 seconds for the win
23 to go: Joey Logano leads after pitstops
24 to go: back to yellow, pitstop time
25 to go: RED FLAG
27 to go: CRASH, CAUTION
Cars impacted: Ty Gibbs (out), Brad Keselowski (out), Austin Dillion, Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton
Denny Hamlin is the free pass
30 to go: William Byron leads, green flag stops to start soon
38 to go: William Byron leads
Lap 120: Brad Keselowski wins stage 2
Lap 108: Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric hit with pit road penalties
-Denny was leading before serving his pass through penalty
Lap 100: Bubba Wallace to the lead
-JJ Yeley has been behind the wall since lap 74
Lap 90: Front Row motorsports hold top 3 positions in the race
Lap 60: Ryan Blaney wins stage one, under caution
Lap 59: Ross Chastain into the wall, Christopher Bell involved
-Ross Chastain is out of the race, released from care center
Lap 23: Ryan Preece to the lead, in an Talladega nights themed car
Lap 10: Joey Logano leading, three wide racing in the field
Lap 1: Green Flag Drops with Aric Almirola leading
Stages: 60-60-68
Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports and Jacksonville State athletics for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Live updates for stage two from Talladega after Ryan Blaney wins the first stage
