GEICO 500
Date: April 21, 2024
Event: GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)
Race Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
RWR Race Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 34th, Finished 24th/ Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)
● Justin Haley (Started 27th, Finished 34th/ Running, completed 185 of 188 laps)
RWR Points:
● Justin Haley (33rd with 101 points)
● Cody Ware (38th with 13 points)
Note: This was Ware’s first start of the season.
RWR Notes:
● This was Ware’s eighth career start at Talladega. His best finish remains 19th, earned in October 2020.
● This was Haley’s ninth career start at Talladega. His best finish remains sixth, earned in October 2023.
● Haley led two times for four laps to bring his laps-led total at Talladega to nine.
Race Notes:
● Tyler Reddick won the GEICO 500 to score his sixth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Talladega. His margin of victory over second-place Brad Keselowski was .208 of a second.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
● Thirty of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Talladega with a 15-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.
Sound Bites:
“I think our No. 15 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang was a fast car. We showed our speed multiple times throughout the race. I just wanted to play it smart and be there at the end, which is what we did. Unfortunately, the last 20-25 laps we didn’t have a whole lot of help behind us to get a pack going towards the front, but I’ll take the wins with the losses. I’m still happy for our first race back. I’ll take the positives from it and know that we’ve got good, fast cars here at the superspeedways.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 15 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I’m really glad we had a chance to run up front and lead laps. We’ve had so much speed and haven’t really had the results to show it, so I’m glad we finally got to put it on display like that. I wish things had ended differently, there wasn’t much I could do in that situation and at the end of the day we were able to keep making laps and finish it out. I’m proud of the No. 51 team and everyone at RWR for sticking with it.” – Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Parts Plus/Grady Health Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 28 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
-RWR-
Contact Heather Griffin
True Speed Communication on behalf of Rick Ware Racing
(704) 249-1337 or Heather.Griffin@TrueSpeedCommunication.com
