Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off teammate Jimmie Johnson to win Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, all but assuring Earnhardt a spot in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.
It was Earnhardt’s first win of 2015, the 24th win of his Sprint Cup career, his first triumph at ‘Dega since 2004 and moves him into a tie with Jeff Gordon for most wins by an active driver at the famed Alabama track, with each driver having six wins apiece.
Earnhardt and Gordon are four wins behind the all-time winningest driver at Talladega, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Here’s the final results from Sunday’s Geico 500:
1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 188 laps … $306,065
2 Jimmie Johnson … 188 laps … $256,121
3 Paul Menard … 188 laps … $190,060
4 Ryan Blaney … 188 laps … $148,385
5 Martin Truex Jr. … 188 laps … $159,600
6 Sam Hornish Jr. … 188 laps … $156,715
7 Ryan Newman … 188 laps … $151,670
8 Kevin Harvick … 188 laps … $168,570
9 Denny Hamlin … 188 laps … $127,645
10 Josh Wise … 188 laps … $111,070
11 Jamie McMurray … 188 laps … $138,701
12 Kurt Busch … 188 laps … $127,435
13 Cole Whitt … 188 laps … $125,618
14 JJ Yeley … 188 laps … $121,993
15 Aric Almirola … 188 laps … $142,148
16 Alex Bowman … 188 laps … $117,918
17 AJ Allmendinger … 188 laps … $128,518
18 Matt DiBenedetto … 188 laps … $109,157
19 Tony Stewart … 188 laps … $128,724
20 David Gilliland … 188 laps … $108,710
21 Danica Patrick … 188 laps … $107,435
22 Brad Keselowski … 188 laps … $143,851
23 Justin Allgaier … 188 laps … $106,100
24 Chris Buescher … 188 laps … $94,185
25 Matt Kenseth … 188 laps … $133,721
26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. … 188 laps … $104,085
27 Bobby Labonte … 188 laps … $95,435
28 Casey Mears … 188 laps … $102,885
29 Michael Annett … 188 laps … $91,685
30 Clint Bowyer … 188 laps … $128,643
31 Jeff Gordon … 188 laps … $145,872
32 Carl Edwards … 188 laps … $97,685
33 Joey Logano … 186 laps … $138,268
34 Kasey Kahne … 158 laps … $109,436
35 Austin Dillon … 157 laps … $127,721
36 Michael Waltrip … 151 laps … $117,874
37 Greg Biffle … 147 laps … $121,469
38 David Ragan … 123 laps … $129,515
39 Landon Cassill … 91 laps … $80,465
40 Brandon Gaughan … 90 laps … $76,465
41 Trevor Bayne … 46 laps … $117,040
42 Kyle Larson … 46 laps … $96,373
43 Brian Scott … 18 laps … $64,965
Average speed: 159.487 mph
Time of Race: 3 hours, 8 minutes, 8 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.158 seconds
Lead changes: 27 among 15 drivers – Gordon 1-3, Kahne 4-6, Stewart 7-11, Earnhardt 12-15, Gordon 16-19, Harvick 20-20, Allgaier 21-21, Labonte 22-22, Gordon 23-48, Busch49-49, Johnson 50-91, Gilliland 92-92, Wise 93-93, Gordon 94-95, Johnson 96-103, Earnhardt 104-104, Hamlin 105-106, Earnhardt, 107-110, Gordon 111-115, Mears 116-116, Gordon 117-123, Earnhardt 124-147, Stewart 148-148, Earnhardt 149-155, Hamlin 156-158, Stenhouse Jr. 159-159, Cole Whitt 160-161, Earnhardt 162-188.
Laps led: Earnhardt (67 laps), Johnson (50), Gordon (47), Stewart (6), Hamlin (5), Kahne (3), Whitt (2), Gilliland (1), Harvick (1), Busch (1), Mears (1), Stenhouse Jr. (1), Allgaier (1), Labonte (1), Wise (1).
Cautions: 6 for 23 laps
Follow @JerryBonkowski
