Pit Stops : Talladega Superspeedway

• Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Highly anticipated Talladega could shake-up the Cup Playoffs

The NASCAR Cup Series takes the 2024 Playoffs to one of the most anticipated races of the season this weekend, Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the world-famous Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway high-banks.

With a non-Playoff driver, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain claiming the trophy last weekend at Kansas Speedway, now only two races – at Talladega and at the Charlotte ROVAL next week – remain in this round for the 12 Playoff eligible drivers to score a win and automatic ticket to the Playoffs’ Round of 8.

With his runner-up showing at Kansas, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron has taken the lead in the Playoff standings – six points ahead of reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson is ranked fourth.

JGR’s Denny Hamlin, Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott and Team Penske’s Joey Logano complete the top eight drivers. Elliott and Logano, however, have only a four-point advantage on the Regular Season Champion, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick for that final spot to advance in the Playoffs.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez (-14), Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (-25) and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (-29) are all below the cutoff line heading into the weekend. But when it comes to racing on the Talladega high banks anything can happen. And typically, does.

Blaney is the defending race winner, the victory last year setting him up for a Championship 4 Round appearance where he ultimately claimed the title in the Phoenix season finale. In fact, Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford is a three-time winner at the big track and joins Elliott – the 2020 series champion – as the only multi-time Talladega winners in the last 10 races at the track.

Owner-driver Brad Keselowski is the winningest active driver at Talladega – scoring his first career NASCAR Cup Series win there in 2009 and making five additional trips to Victory Lane since. He finished runner-up to Reddick this spring.

Only three current Playoff drivers – Reddick, Byron and Bowman – finished among the top-10 this May.

Among the current Playoff contenders, Blaney, Elliott (two), Hamlin (two) and Logano (three) all have multiple Talladega victories.

Among those four drivers below the cutoff line and needing a solid performance at Talladega to advance their Playoff run, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe brings a strong resume with him this weekend. In seven NASCAR Cup Series starts on the big track, his best finish was fourth in the 2023 spring race and he has finished worse than 15th only once. Briscoe’s average finish of 14.4 is fourth best in the field among drivers with multiple starts – behind only Beard Motorsport’s Anthony Alfredo (9.3), Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland (12.8) and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (13.7).

Instead of fearing the unpredictability of a track like Talladega, Briscoe, 29, said he has developed a calm mentality about the style of racing. And interestingly, since 2014 eight of the 10 Talladega Playoff races have been won by drivers ranked below the Round of 8 cutoff line – as Briscoe finds himself this weekend.

“I think you have to have a short memory,” the two-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner said. “I’ve gone through different kinds of spectrums of superspeedway racing. I’ve taken the conservative route and I’ve gone the super-aggressive route. And every time I’ve gone the conservative route, I typically end up crashed.

“So, I’m just going to go back to being on the aggressive side. It’s a little tougher with this Next Gen car just because you can’t take runs or do things like you typically would. You’re going to have to try to be up in the mix for stage points and try to just finish the best you can.

“… I’m just going to go with the mindset of being aggressive and trying to lead every lap and trying to make every move I can and hopefully, stay out of the chaos.”

Fifteen different drivers have won the 20 Talladega Playoff races. Team Penske teammates Blaney and Logano are the only current Playoff contenders to win multiple Playoff races at Talladega – both claiming two Playoff victories.

Of note, NASCAR has issued a technical bulletin for the Talladega race weekend with changes to the cars designed to increase safety at the big track. Modifications will be made to the Rocker skirt, Right side roof flap fabric and the Ride side roof rails will be extended to 2” with polycarbonate.

Busch Light Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET (USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Aric Almirola won the pole position for this race last year. Michael McDowell started on pole at Talladega this spring.

• YellaWood 500
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Michael McDowell
• Age: 39
• Team : No 34 - Love's Travel Stops Ford
• Owner: Bob Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Travis Peterson
• Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the YellaWood 500 with a lap of 5231 seconds, 183063 mph
• This is his sixth pole in 496 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his sixth pole and 15th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his second pole in 28 races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Austin Cindric (second) posted his 13th top-10 start of 2024 and his third in six races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Todd Gilliland (third) posted his second top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway It is his sixth in 31 races this season
• Josh Berry (19th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, October 6th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bests Keselowski, Byron in intense Talladega Playoff race

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off the field in overtime to claim the victory in a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – edging Brad Keselowski and William Byron by a mere .006-second in a thrilling three-wide finish.

That heart-stopping finish was indicative of the afternoon of competition at NASCAR’s biggest track (2.66-mile) – which once again lived up to its reputation and provided a thrilling Playoff race that has major implications for the championship contenders. 

A massive 27-car accident with five laps remaining brought out a red flag and stopped the race for nearly 10 minutes. The incident affected eight of the 12 Playoff cars in varying degrees. There is only one more race remaining in this round to settle which eight drivers advance to the next round of championship competition.

Stenhouse, the 36-year-old Mississippi native who is not Playoff-eligible, hoisted his fourth career trophy – all coming at superspeedway tracks – and first in 65 races. His No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet led 19 of the 195 laps, including the all-important last one after a side-to-battle with six-time Talladega winner Keselowski and this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron. 

This marks the third time in the five Playoff races that a non-Playoff driver has hoisted the race trophy.

“Felt really good, we had our Chevy teammates behind us and I was hoping Kyle [Busch] wouldn’t push the six [Keselowski] that hard, I knew the 24 was going to try to get to the line,’’ said Stenhouse, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in 2017.

“Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in and obviously we haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in ’23. It’s been an up and down season, a lot of hard work this season trying to find a little bit of speed but we knew this track is one of ours to come get it.’’

The finish was set-up after the vast incident that took out several front-running cars and affected all but four Playoff drivers. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – who essentially needed a victory to earn an automatic berth in the next Playoff round – was leading the race – having exchanged the top spot multiple time with Stenhouse in the closing 20 laps.

With five laps remaining, Cindric’s leading No. 2 Ford was hit from behind on the backstretch by Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford which triggered an accordion-style accident from three rows behind the leader. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford struck Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford that then pushed Keselowski’s car forward and into Cindric.

The aftermath collected 27 cars in all, completely sidelining Playoff drivers Cindric, who was credited with a 32nd place finish, his Penske teammate Logano (33rd), and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (30th).

“Obviously incredibly frustrated,’’ Cindric said. “Just really proud of my team and the full execution of the day. We got that stage win {second stage) and put ourselves at the front of that green flag pit cycle and had another shot [to win].

“I don’t feel like complaining right now, I’m too pissed off and it won’t do anything. But proud of the team. We’ve brought really fast race cars to every single race of the Playoffs and we’re going to have to bring another one next week and I need to go out and do my job.’’

His Penske teammate Logano, who was similarly frustrated, said there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.

“I don’t think we could have done anything much different,’’ the two-time series champion Logano said. “We had the bottom working fairly well and by the time we got off [turn] two, the push from the 21 [Burton] that transferred to the six (Keselowski) that transferred to the 2 [Cindric] just at a bad angle. And off he went.’’

Other Playoff drivers affected in the accident included, perennial Talladega race favorite Chase Elliott, who finished 29th after pitting for repairs following the accident.

Regular season champion Tyler Reddick was also in the accident and rallied to finish 20th. Alex Bowman, who was involved in two accidents on the day, finished 16th.

Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney ran among the leaders and scored points in both stages but was eliminated from competition mid-race in the day’s first multiple car accident, leaving him 39th of the 40 starters.

On the up-side, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished fourth tying his best ever Talladega finish – only his second top-five at the track in 20 races. Non-Playoff driver Erik Jones was fifth.

Another Playoff competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell was sixth, followed by Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Bell’s fellow Playoff driver and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in 10th.

With Byron’s finish, he becomes the first and only Playoff driver to secure a position in the next eight-race round. Bell is next in the standings, holding a 57-point advantage on the Playoff cutoff line, followed by Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Blaney, Reddick and Elliott.

Elliott is 13 points ahead of Logano going into next week’s road course race at the Charlotte ROVAL – the final race of this Playoff round which will set the next eight-driver round. Daniel Suarez, who rallied to a 26th place finish despite spending most of the race recovering from a pre-race penalty for equipment violations, is now 20 points behind Elliott for that final transfer position.

Cindric and Briscoe are 29 and 32 points back, respectively, essentially needing a victory at Charlotte.

The final race of this Playoff round is next Sunday, the Bank of America ROVAL400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. A.J. Allmendinger is the defending race winner.

• Drivers Entered: 40
• Laps Scheduled: 188
• Laps Actual: 195 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.006 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 26 Minutes 25 Seconds
• Average Speed: 150.773
• Cautions: 4 for 24 laps
• Lead Changes: 66
• Green Flag Passes: 21,514 (125.8 passes per green flag lap)

• YellaWood 500
• Race Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr
• Age: 37
• Team : No 47 - Kroger Health/Palmolive Chevrolet
• Owner: Gordon Smith
• Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr won the YellaWood 500, his fourth victory in 431 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his second victory and 11th top-10 finish in 23 races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Brad Keselowski (second) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 32 races at Talladega Superspeedway It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2024
• William Byron (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 14 races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Carson Hocevar (14th) was the highest finishing rookie
• William Byron leads the point standings by 17 points over Christopher Bell