The AARON’S 499 at Talladega set a winning scenerio for some big names to present themselves in the final laps and the finish. Brad Keselowski and A.J. Allmendinger. Big, long names…

Four laps to go at Talladega and an impulse move takes out a chunk of the top challengers. It also set up a restart scenario that left the door open for the BK/KB train to rail to the front.

Denny Hamlin was crunched into a spot on the outside and when the two lines separated enough to make hole in the middle, he went for it. A.J. Allmendinger made an impulse move to keep the 11 behind him but he went without looking and Hamlin’s FedEx #11 was already nose in. The #22 of A.J. clipped and slid in front of Hamlin’s nose and dipped into the low row. The #22 straightened with contact on the inside row but the chain was off at that point putting the field on the brakes and into the wall and each other.

After the race was run, Allmendinger had little to “no comment” on the move. Should we expect a different response? Should we expect a “comment” acknowledging the impulse and impatience of making a block move on a pack restart? Should the drivers caught up and knocked back expect something? A call…? A card…? A box of chocolates…? Perhaps that’s racing. Perhaps apologies and side by side racing don’t mix.

Or do they?

Brad Keselowski (BK) rode the train with Kyle Busch (KB) making the push on the restart. Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle made the opening bid but were separated and Kenseth could not stay in front with the two-car drive of BK/KB. There was no time to do anything but go all out for the green-white-checkered final laps and Busch made the push tagged up with Keselowski. These type of tag-team finishes are a set-up for the “pusher” to exit the draft at the right moment and drive to the front for the win. Keselowski, however, made a move in anticipation of this to break the train first and keep the lead for the line.

He drove up the track then dove down leaving Kyle Busch on the upside and behind. The move put Keselowski in Victory Lane for the 2nd time this season and at Talladega for the 2nd time as well. (1st win there in 2009)

Brad apologized to former teammate Kurt Busch for an unfortunate bump that sent the elder Busch sliding to the infield and the wall. It was one of the first things he said when exiting the car in Victory Lane. We have no idea if Allmendinger was watching…

Kyle Busch took the 2nd slot, with Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle in the top five. The rest of the top 10 crossed with Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Dale Jr. and Jeff Burton.

Also to note, Ford had 4 cars in the top 10 for the 1st time this season including the #21 of Trevor Bayne with the Wood Brothers. The 2011 Daytona 500 winner has two top 10 finishes so far this season and that is with a partial schedule so the #21 hasn’t been on the grid for every race. That’s not bad at all when running with seasoned veterans that run a full schedule.

It’s on to Darlington for NASCAR.

Other series running this weekend include Formula 1 in Spain, Grand-Am in New Jersey and American Le Mans in California.