Weekend Stat Sheet - September 30-October 2

- Chase Elliott punched his ticket to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with his 18th career win and his second at Talladega Superspeedway (AL). Elliott led only 10 laps, but won the second and third stages to gain the playoff points.

READ MORE: Chase Elliott Riding Playoff Roller Coaster after Dega Win

- There were 57 lead changes at Talladega in the Cup race with no driver leading more than 36 laps. Chase Elliott’s win also marks the third straight Talladega race where the winner came from outside the top 10.

READ MORE: 'Stage Points Are a Big Deal' at Talladega Without Attrition

- Finally after leading three white-flag laps on the restrictor plate tracks, AJ Allmendinger scores a victory. Leading only three laps, Allmendinger logged his fourth win of the season and 25th top-10 finish. Between him and Noah Gragson they have only finished outside the top 10 a total of 10 times.

READ MORE: Allmendinger Gets Elusive Superspeedway Win, Advances in Xfinity Playoffs

- The wild Truck finish at Talladega left Matt DiBenedetto the winner after starting 30th. The 95-lap contest saw 25 lead changes among 11 different drivers. Only Homestead remains for this season before the Championship race at Phoenix.

READ MORE: Matt DiBenedetto Takes First Career NASCAR Win at Talladega

- If there's one constant in short track racing, it's Augie Grill performing at Montgomery Motor Speedway. Grill won the Modifieds of Mayhem event on Saturday for his 27th career win at the facility among touring series. Grill has led nearly 3,000 laps at the venue across all platforms.

- Ryan Kuhn scored a big win on Friday in PASS action at Thunder Road Speedbowl (VT). Kuhn beat out Trevor Sanborn and Joe Pastore for the win. For Kuhn it’s his second win of the 2022 season as he stretched his point lead over Eddie MacDonald who had problems.

- One of the tightest Milk Bowl results in recent memory came about on Sunday Afternoon at Thunder Road Speedbowl (VT). Christoper Pelkey was one point better than Jimmy Hebert and two points better then Derek O’Donnell who won the third and final segment. Pelkey overcame a 17th in the second segment to back up his first segment win and final segment third-place finish.

- After three second-place runs Gio Ruggiero finally gets the job done at Montgomery Motor Speedway (AL) in the Show Me The Money Series. The championship will come down to the last race on November 5th in the Show Me The Money Pro Late Model 100.

- Austin Nason picked up his second-straight National Short Track Championship victory on Sunday in the main event at Rockford Speedway (IL). Nason has six top-five runs in the race and now the first back-to-back wins since Alex Prunty in 2017 and 2018. Only Joe Shear, Steve Carlson, Eddie Hoffman and Dick Trickle have won more than twice.

- Extra distance races don’t seem to be a problem for Cole Butcher who won the Tirecraft 200 finale for the Maritime Pro Stock Tour. Butcher of course won the Oxford 250 this year as well as a few other events for a fine season thus far.