Bubba Wallace has won Monday’s rain-shortened NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway! After taking the lead on lap 113 and with everyone in the field doing everything they could to get to the front with rain approaching, Wallace held strong.
A few laps later, Ryan Preece, who was one of many trying to catch Wallace spun and collected some of the competitors running behind him. Sprinkles began to fall and before long the sky decided that this race was no more and let it pour.
NASCAR threw the red flag and all the cars came to a stop on pit lane. The waiting game began to see if the track could be dried before the sun set and the race could be restarted. That wait ended at 4:27 PM EST as rains continued and with all hope lost to restart the event.
For the first time in his Cup Series career, Bubba Wallace is now a winner in the elite series.
"This is to all those kids out there that want to have an opportunity in whatever they want to achieve to do the best they want to do," Wallace said after being declared the winner. "You're going to go through a lot of bullshit but you've always got to stick true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you. And stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry. There's been plenty of times where I've wanted to give up and you surround yourself with the right people and it's moments like this that you appreciate."
The win by Wallace capped off a (extended) weekend that was dominated by first time winners. After Tate Fogleman won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race to start the weekend, Brandon Brown won the Xfinity Series Race. This was the first win for both in their respective series.
While oddsmakers thought the same would be improbable in the Cup Series, Bubba Wallace made it happen making it a weekend sweep for the first timers.
Final Results:
Bubba Wallace
Brad Keselowski
Joey Logano
Kurt Busch
Christopher Bell
Chris Buescher
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Erik Jones
Anthony Alfredo
Austin Dillon
Martin Truex, Jr.
Cole Custer
Chase Briscoe
Ryan Blaney
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Michael McDowell
Chase Elliott
Quin Houff
Justin Haley
Ryan Newman
Corey LaJoie
Daniel Suarez
Landon Cassill
Joey Gase
Aric Almirola
Kyle Busch
Cody Ware
Garrett Smithley
B.J. McLeod
Josh Bilicki
Ryan Preece
Ross Chastain
James Davison
Matt DiBenedetto
William Byron
Kyle Larson
Alex Bowman
Tyler Reddick
Justin Allgaier
Check it out from Gary Gastelu at Fox News:
Nick Bromberg at Yahoo shares his view:
ESPN shares the AP's recap:
Finally, see the recap by Chris Estrada from NBC Sports: