2022 GEICO 500 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 10 of 36 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	GEICO 500
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]
Year:	2022
Location:	Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama
Course Mi:	2.66
Course Km:	4.28
Distance Laps:	188
Distance Mi:	500.08
Distance Km:	804.64
Avg:	148.637mph
Pole Driver:	Christopher Bell
Pole Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Pole Time:	52.927
Most Driver:	William Byron
Most Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Most Laps:	38
Car:	1
First Driver:	Ross Chastain
First Team:	Trackhouse Racing Team
Network:	Fox
Announcers:	Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch), and Dillon Welch (3 & 4)

The 2022 GEICO 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on April 24, 2022, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Contested over 188 laps on the 2.66 mile (4.28 km) superspeedway, it was the 10th race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Talladega Superspeedway, formerly known as Alabama International Motor Speedway, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. A tri-oval, the track was constructed in 1969 by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking. The track currently hosts NASCAR's Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which is 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km).

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1			Chevrolet
2	Austin Cindric (R)		Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14			Ford
15			Ford
16	Daniel Hemric (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21	Harrison Burton (R)		Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38	Todd Gilliland (R)		Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
44			Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51			Ford
55	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford
62	Noah Gragson (i)		Chevrolet
77	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet
78			Ford
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Christopher Bell scored the pole for the race with a time of 52.927 and a speed of 180.928mph.^[7]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	20			Toyota	53.152	52.927
2	19			Toyota	53.228	53.008
3	16	Daniel Hemric (i)		Chevrolet	53.493	53.221
4	99			Chevrolet	53.345	53.234
5	5			Chevrolet	53.348	53.254
6	45			Toyota	53.270	53.255
7	11			Toyota	53.440	53.308
8	24			Chevrolet	53.483	53.316
9	23			Toyota	53.310	53.336
10	8			Chevrolet	53.513	53.399
11	31			Chevrolet	53.514	—
12	18			Toyota	53.515	—
13	22			Ford	53.572	—
14	3			Chevrolet	53.602	—
15	6			Ford	53.626	—
16	43			Chevrolet	53.628	—
17	14			Ford	53.635	—
18	2	Austin Cindric (R)		Ford	53.653	—
19	1			Chevrolet	53.657	—
20	42			Chevrolet	53.689	—
21	34			Ford	53.708	—
22	12			Ford	53.743	—
23	10			Ford	53.744	—
24	4			Ford	53.751	—
25	21	Harrison Burton (R)		Ford	53.764	—
26	47			Chevrolet	53.802	—
27	48			Chevrolet	53.813	—
28	9			Chevrolet	53.940	—
29	41			Ford	53.943	—
30	17			Ford	53.964	—
31	62	Noah Gragson (i)		Chevrolet	53.989	—
32	38	Todd Gilliland (R)		Ford	54.178	—
33	7			Chevrolet	54.205	—
34	51			Ford	54.677	—
35	44			Chevrolet	54.791	—
36	15			Ford	55.118	—
37	78			Ford	55.129	—
38	55	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford	55.662	—
39	77	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet	0.000	—
Official qualifying results

Race

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 60

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	10
2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	6
6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	5
7	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	4
8	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 60

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	4
8	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	2
10	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 68

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	19	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	188	42
2	14	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	188	35
3	12	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	188	39
4	5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	50
5	2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	188	45
6	16	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	37
7	28	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	44
8	21	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	188	29
9	27	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	36
10	24	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	188	27
11	22	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	188	26
12	11	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	188	25
13	23	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	188	28
14	33	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	23
15	8	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	39
16	6	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	188	26
17	9	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	188	30
18	7	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	188	19
19	39	77	Landon Cassill (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	0
20	31	62	Noah Gragson (i)	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	0
21	18	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Team Penske	Ford	188	16
22	1	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	187	23
23	15	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	187	14
24	36	15	David Ragan	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	186	13
25	38	55	J. J. Yeley (i)	MBM Motorsports	Ford	185	0
26	37	78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	172	11
27	32	38	Todd Gilliland (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	121	10
28	34	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	105	9
29	29	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	98	8
30	26	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	95	8
31	4	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	92	6
32	13	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	89	5
33	20	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	4
34	25	21	Harrison Burton (R)	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	89	3
35	35	44	Greg Biffle	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	79	2
36	3	16	Daniel Hemric (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	56	0
37	17	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	56	1
38	30	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	56	1
39	10	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	31	1
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 41 among 16 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 6 for 28
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 21 minutes and 52 seconds
• Average speed: 148.637mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 22nd race at the Talladega Superspeedway. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and six-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Vince Welch handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds and Jamie McMurray provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform inside the backstretch when the field raced down the backstretch. Dillon Welch called the race from the Sunoco spotters stand outside turn 4 when the field races through turns 3 and 4. Steve Post, Jason Toy and Chris Wilner worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Chase Elliott	368
	2	Ryan Blaney	347 (–21)
1	3	William Byron	334 (–34)
2	4	Kyle Busch	312 (–56)
	5	Alex Bowman	309 (–59)
3	6	Joey Logano	308 (–60)
2	7	Kyle Larson	299 (–69)
1	8	Martin Truex Jr.	298 (–70)
1	9	Ross Chastain	292 (–76)
2	10	Aric Almirola	265 (–103)
2	11	Kevin Harvick	252 (–116)
2	12	Chase Briscoe	246 (–122)
4	13	Austin Dillon	245 (–123)
1	14	Christopher Bell	243 (–125)
4	15	Tyler Reddick	242 (–126)
2	16	Austin Cindric	238 (–130)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	371
1	2	Toyota	341 (–30)
1	3	Ford	337 (–34)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2022 schedule . Jayski.com. . March 25, 2022.
2. Web site: Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. March 25, 2022. January 3, 2013. April 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170428035211/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/talladega-superspeedway.html. dead.
3. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 18, 2022. April 18, 2022.
4. Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. April 23, 2022. April 23, 2022.
5. Web site: GEICO 500 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. April 24, 2022. April 24, 2022.
6. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 24, 2022. April 24, 2022.
7. Web site: Utter. Jim. Bell takes Cup pole at Talladega as JGR sweeps front row. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. April 23, 2022. Lincoln, Alabama. April 23, 2022.