Elliott Sadler heads back to Victory Lane in Nationwide at Talladega - MotorSportsTalk

Elliott Sadler successfully held off the swarm in the final three laps to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway for his first NNS triumph in almost two years.

In the final dash to the checkers, Sadler was pushed on the bottom by David Ragan while Chris Buescher and Regan Smith hooked up on the outside.

That was how they looked as they crossed the stripe side-by-side at the white flag, but in the end, Sadler was finally able to clear Buescher and lead the pack home in a clean finish.

“We just got on the inside line and we just had to make some good moves, and the sea kind of opened up for us,” Sadler said to ESPN. “It means a lot to me to get these guys in Victory Lane. I disappointed them last year when I wasn’t able to do it.

“To do it at Talladega – everybody’s always asking [me] about flippin’ at Talladega. [Darn it], man, we’ve won one at Talladega, so this feels a lot better.”

The stage was set for a wild finish with 10 laps remaining, when Chad Boat was spun hard into the inside backstretch wall to bring out the caution flag.

David Starr had been able to get in front of JR Motorsports’ trio of drivers (Smith, Elliott and Kasey Kahne) in the short green run that began with 14 to go, but lost the lead to Elliott right before the race went yellow for Boat’s wreck.

Elliott would lead the field to the restart with six laps to go, but quickly fell back on the outside. Then, as the field went into Turn 3, Elliott Sadler and Ryan Blaney made contact while fighting for the lead.

Blaney skidded into the outside wall then came back down into Elliott, who in turn sent Jeremy Clements hard into the wall. Kahne and Ryan Sieg were also impacted by the incident, which triggered a red flag period of just over nine minutes.

When the cars got rolling again under yellow, Sadler was now leading ahead of Buescher, Ragan, Smith and Starr. The green came back with three to go, and Sadler was forced to play some great defense before finally earning a hard-earned W.

“Under the red flag, I was playing all these scenarios in my head – really on how many races I’ve lost in the last couple of laps by not making the right decision,” Sadler said.

“But we just stayed to the bottom and stuck to our guns. David Ragan did a good job pushing us and we were just able to hold those guys off at the end.”

Today’s race proved to be a war of attrition, as the Sadler-Blaney incident was just one of several crashes that kept crossing out potential winners.

On Lap 45, James Buescher was tagged by Blaney in Turn 3 and spun to the bottom, where he ended up hitting Darrell Wallace Jr. and Dylan Kwasniewski.

Wallace was especially frustrated, declaring flatly “I hate plate racing.”

“I’m gonna be the Debbie Downer here,” said Wallace, a regular in the Camping World Truck Series. “I’m not looking forward to Talladega for the Truck race. That’s just the way it goes.”

Then on Lap 62, Brian Scott – who had won the pole just hours earlier for tomorrow’s Sprint Cup main event – was caught in an eight-car pileup that began after he was spun by Trevor Bayne in Turn 3.

Scott’s teammates at Richard Childress Racing, Ty Dillon and Brendan Gaughan, were also involved in the crash (Gaughan was knocked out of the race along with Scott, while Dillon kept going and finished 15th).

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES AT TALLADEGA
Aaron’s 312 – Unofficial Results
1. Elliott Sadler, led 40 laps
2. Chris Buescher, led 1 lap
3. Regan Smith, led 20 laps
4. David Ragan
5. Sam Hornish Jr.
6. Joe Nemechek
7. J.J. Yeley, led 1 lap
8. Landon Cassill
9. David Starr, led 5 laps
10. Trevor Bayne
11. Joey Gase, led 1 lap
12. Mike Bliss
13. John Wes Townley
14. Tommy Joe Martins
15. Ty Dillon, led 3 laps
16. Jeffrey Earnhardt
17. Eric McClure
18. Dakoda Armstrong
19. Chase Elliott, led 3 laps
20. Ryan Sieg
21. Ryan Blaney, one lap down, led 2 laps
22. Kasey Kahne, Lap 111, Accident
23. Jeremy Clements, led 1 lap, Lap 111, Accident
24. Ryan Reed, Lap 108, Running, led 29 laps
25. Chad Boat, Lap 107, Accident
26. Josh Wise, Lap 91, Engine
27. Jamie Dick, Lap 87, Running
28. Mike Harmon, Lap 86, Accident
29. James Buescher, Lap 86, Running
30. Kyle Larson, Lap 78, Running
31. Darrell Wallace Jr., Lap 74, Running
32. Robert Richardson Jr., Lap 63, Engine
33. Brian Scott, Lap 61, Accident
34. Brendan Gaughan, Lap 61, Accident
35. Dylan Kwasniewski, Lap 43, Accident
36. Bobby Gerhart, Lap 31, Engine
37. Carl Long, Lap 14, Electrical
38. Jeff Green, Lap 4, Vibration
39. Matt DiBenedetto, Lap 3, Vibration
40. Blake Koch, Lap 1, Vibration

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For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.

SuperMotocross Power Rankings Detroit — *Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports*

Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.

Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.

Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.

MORE: Chase Sexton inherits the win in Detroit

It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.

Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.

Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.

450 Rankings

This Week	Driver	Percentage Points	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Chase Sexton [2 Main, 6 Heat wins]	87.00	1	0
2.	Cooper Webb [2 Main, 1 Heat win]	86.71	2	0
3.	Eli Tomac [5 Main, 6 Heat wins]	84.57	3	0
4.	Jason Anderson [5 Heat wins]	80.71	4	0
5.	Ken Roczen [1 Main, 1 Heat win]	80.50	5	0
6.	Justin Barcia [1 Heat win]	79.07	7	1
7.	Aaron Plessinger	77.14	6	-1
8.	Adam Cianciarulo	69.75	11	3
9.	Christian Craig	68.86	10	1
10.	Justin Cooper	63.90	9	-1
11.	Justin Hill	58.57	15	4
12.	Dean Wilson	51.50	12	0
13.	Colt Nichols	51.25	13	0
14.	Shane McElrath	46.86	17	3
15.	Josh Hill	46.79	16	1
16.	Benny Bloss	45.31	18	2
17.	Jared Lesher	39.00		NA
18.	Joey Savatgy	38.63	14	-4
19.	Cade Clason	37.50	21	2
20.	Grant Harlan	35.54	23	3

Supercross 450 Points

The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.

The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.

In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.

Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.

Supercross 250 Points

Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.

Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.

250 Rankings

This Week	Rider	Power Avg.	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Hunter Lawrence – E [5 Main, 5 Heat wins]	90.43	1	0
2.	Jett Lawrence – W [3 Main, 3 Heat wins]	90.30	2	0
3.	Nate Thrasher – E [1 Main, 3 Heat wins]	84.00	5	2
4.	Cameron McAdoo – W [1 Heat win]	79.80	9	5
5.	Haiden Deegan – E [1 Heat win]	78.21	7	2
6.	Jeremy Martin – E [2 Heat wins]	78.00	8	2
7.	Jordon Smith – E [3 Heat Wins]	76.77	4	-3
8.	Levi Kitchen – W [1 Main]	75.30	3	-5
9.	Mitchell Oldenburg – W	75.20	11	2
10.	RJ Hampshire – W [4 Heat wins]	74.50	17	7
11.	Max Anstie – E	74.43	6	-5
12.	Tom Vialle – E	72.07	12	0
13.	Max Vohland – W	71.56	10	-3
14.	Stilez Robertson – W [1 Heat win]	69.22	14	0
15.	Chris Blose – E	67.43	18	3
16.	Chance Hymas – E	67.10	15	-1
17.	Enzo Lopes – W	66.00	20	3
18.	Michael Mosiman – E	65.80	16	-2
19.	Pierce Brown – W	65.78	13	-6
20.	Phil Nicoletti – W	59.25	21	1

* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage

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