Top 5 Closest Finishes in NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series History at Talladega Superspeedway

#4:2011 Good Sams Club 500- 0.018s

The 2011 Good Sam Club 500 offered another thrilling finish

Here's a quick spoiler: this won’t ebbehe last time you see a 2011 race at Talladega on this list. The fall race at Talladega is extra exciting since it is in the playoffs and championship hopes and dreams can be crushed here.

The 2011 running of the Good Sam's Club 500 was the first NASCAR Cup race since the death of IndyCar’s Dan Wheldon. The race saw 9 cautions and 72 lead changes, which is a drop from the spring race at Talladega. This is notable since there was a $100,000 bonus if there were 100 lead changes and the driver who made the 100th lead change would get the bonus.

The final laps saw Richard Childress Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton pull away from the pack to settle the race between the two. Coming to the tri-oval, Bowyer gets to the inside of Burton and gets the lead. Burton pulls back in and makes it close at the line, with the margin of victory being 0.018 seconds. This victory was also RCR’s 100th victory and Bowyer’s second consecutive victory in the fall race at Talladega.