Talladega Superspeedway.
2.66 miles of pure, unadulterated adrenaline awaits the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series, a far cry from the lower banks and strategic play of Kansas Speedway last weekend.
Last Week at Kansas…
The 2024 Hollywood Casino 400 kicked off in absurd fashion with former champion Chase Elliott starting in the back and setting off a massive pileup on the first lap, collecting the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Ty Dillon, Harrison Burton, and Josh Berry.
Much of those drivers continued with minimal damage, but Berry got parked for the day by NASCAR for the simple reason of having to be towed back to his pits. Why is that? Because Berry had four flat tires, his NextGen car became stranded. All the #4 car needed was fresh rubber, and it would’ve been fine. But, alas.
Racing resumed but not for too long as Kyle Larson ran over a piece of debris on lap 19, blowing his right-rear tire on the entry of turn 1 and putting the 2021 champion in the fence. The contact ruined his day with the #5 car limping to a disappointing 26th place.
The rest of stage one proceeded without hiccups as William Byron strutted to a stage one victory over Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.
Just 12 laps into stage 2, trouble met another Legacy Motor Club entry when Erik Jones spun out of turn 4 and into the infield. Right before green-flag pit stops were due to start later in the stage, Daniel Hemric lost control of his #31 car in turn 2, bringing the lead-lap drivers into the pits for service.
Much like the first lap of the race, the field wasn’t able to make it a whole lap without incident as Justin Haley’s debut in the Spire #7 went up in smoke, sliding into the unsuspecting John Hunter Nemechek on lap 149.
Shortly thereafter, the race’s seventh caution flew when Playoff contender Austin Cindric made contact with Kyle Busch, sending the 2022 Daytona 500 winner sliding down the backstretch before hitting the inside wall.
This set up a five-lap sprint to the end of the stage with many lead-lap drivers electing to stay out to collect points, leading to Alex Bowman’s first stage win of 2024.
The final stage began with a battle between Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar that ended when Ross Chastain took the lead for the first time in his Kubota #1 Camaro.
While Chastain attempted to scamper away to victory, Kyle Busch had other plans.
The two-time champion chased down the oft-maligned driver and made a decisive pass on the #1 on lap 205, just 63 laps from victory lane and extending his lofty yearly win streak.
Chase Briscoe had other plans.
Busch threatened to put the #14 a lap down, significantly hampering Briscoe’s Playoff chances. The soon-to-be pilot of the #19 ran a unique line through turns 1 & 2 that took the air off Busch’s nose on corner exit, essentially causing the #8 BetMGM Chevy to spin while keeping Briscoe on the lead lap.
This yellow saved the race of Ryan Blaney as the 2023 champion lost track position via a loose wheel early in stage 3. In need of a yellow, the Busch spin allowed Blaney to sync up his pit strategy with his opponents and rejoin the fight for the win.
Briscoe continued his reign of terror on the following restart as he mowed down Hocevar, making sure to collect bystander Todd Gilliland in the collision on lap 243, bringing out the 10th and final caution flag.
The final 20-lap run to the finish came down to a three-way battle between Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., and Byron. Chastain and Byron dispatched Truex with less than 15 laps to go and took the fight to each other.
Unfortunately for Byron, Chastain’s Kubota Chevy hauled the mail on the top lane where Byron’s car handled best, making a potential pass difficult for the Hendrick Motorsports driver in the closing laps.
Though Byron moved within a half-second of Chastain, it wasn’t enough as Chastain scored his fifth career victory and his first at Kansas Speedway. Since Chastain is not in the Playoffs, his win means all 12 Playoff spots are up for grabs heading into this weekend’s YellaWood 500.
The News
Though you’ve likely heard about it by now, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR in the western district of North Carolina this week.
The two teams seek an injunction from the courts to race under the proposed charter agreement for next season, but this lawsuit is unprecedented in the history of American stock car racing.
Not much is known about how this case will play out in the moment as it has just been filed. That said, SiriusXM Channel 90 (the official NASCAR channel) recorded an interview with opposing attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, on Tuesday when the news broke.
When the radio entity uploaded their daily radio show to audio streaming outlets, a massive chunk from Tuesday’s show was missing; someone, somewhere, had Kessler’s audio removed from the upload.
The audio has since been restored, but the controversy over NASCAR’s monopolization over American stock car racing only intensified as more news about the charter agreement that 13 out of 15 Cup Series teams agreed to leak out to the public.
There will be more on this story from me this week, so stay tuned.
Track History & Layout
Much like its sister track in Daytona, Talladega offers fans a full-throttle, action-packed event that’ll produce its fair share of thrills and spills, unless they start saving fuel
Richard Brickhouse claimed Dega’s inaugural victory in a 1969 event that was shrouded in controversy as much of the NASCAR field boycotted the race on safety grounds. Brickhouse may have triumphed in an equally-controversial fashion over Jim Vandiver, a result Vandiver disputed through to his 2015 death.
This S1apSh0es video does a great job of explaining this situation in full.
Perhaps in spite of the criticisms, the track grew to become a fan-favorite venue on the NASCAR calendar for fans while terrifying most of the drivers due to the nature of close-quarters pack racing.
Built on an old Air Force base, Talladega’s exceptional 48-foot track width from the infamous yellow line to the outside wall gives drivers abundant space to spread out to make up ground.
The lap starts as the driver rolls through the front stretch trioval, rapidly approaching the daring slopes ahead.
Dega’s high 33° banked turns 1 & 2 loom over the speedway, the site of a tremendous amount of horrific incidents. After enduring that g-forces associated with taking a turn that steep at immense speeds, cars will merge onto the Talladega Superstretch.
One of the sport’s longest straightaways, Talladega’s 4000-feet back straight played host to Ryan Blaney’s winning maneuver in last year’s YellaWood 500, following in the tire tracks of legends before him by crossing over Kevin Harvick on the final lap. The move vaulted Blaney to a championship last season.
An eternity goes by until drivers are met by the similarly-grueling turns 3 & 4, cars ripping through all lanes in an effort to find a couple more hundredths and thousandths of a second, inching their way to the front.
From there, drivers run down the hill off of turn 4, approaching the 16.5° banked trioval yet again until crossing the finish line, hurtling by at breakneck speeds for 500 miles as 39 other drivers buzz around them.
Weather & Fast Facts
NASCAR makes their second trip of the season to its largest oval, and much like the spring race, we shouldn’t see any rain this Sunday.
The projected high is 86°F with minimal cloud cover, something that might affect the handling of the cars around the race track. As drivers surge ahead, they’ll need to make sure their cars handle well in the draft; otherwise, they might be in for a bad result.
For the dozen Playoff drivers left, they cannot afford that heading to the Roval next week.
As for a normal (if you can call any race here that) Talladega race, it looks a little like this: 7 cautions for 32 caution laps, 41 lead changes, 12,290 green-flag passes (or 78.8 per lap), and an average lap of final caution falling with 4 laps to go.
Today’s race will air on NBC with coverage starting at 1:30pm Eastern time. The YellaWood 500 is due to run a scheduled distance of 188 laps over 500 miles with stage breaks falling on laps 60-120-188.
However, the dreaded NASCAR Overtime has reared its ugly head at Talladega’s fall race five times in the last decade, but none in the last three seasons. This extends the expected time of race to 3 hours and 19 minutes, meaning you should push back any evening plans until after 5:30pm if you intend to catch the whole race.
The Odds
Y’all know the drill; it’s a superspeedway race. So, the fortune cookie will be making our picks.
First up is the much-maligned superspeedway racer, Kyle Larson (+1600). Never a natural in these events, the closest the 2021 champion has come to big-track success was running out of gas on the final lap of the 2017 Daytona 500. Trying to shake off a poor Kansas performance, his first Dega win could cure all.
Next up is Noah Gragson (+4500). The second-year Cup driver put himself in position to win last year’s spring race, but contact with Ross Chastain ended his day a few miles short of victory lane. With nothing to lose in these last six races, look for someone like Gragson to find his way to the front to send SHR out on a high note.
Funny enough, Shane van Gisbergen (+6500) pops up as the third driver on the fortune cookie. His one start at Dega in the spring ended in a shower of sparks as his #16 Chevy got swept into the last-lap melee. The decorated Kiwi looks to break the mold of road-course aces before him and snag an oval win today.
Larson’s teammate William Byron (+1800) slots in fourth. The 2024 Daytona 500 winner owns three top-5s at America’s largest oval, including a runner-up result at this race last season where he pushed Blaney to victory. Rolling off 16th today, Byron and company hope their car crosses the finish line first this week.
Last on our list is pole sitter Michael McDowell (+1300). The Arizonan came about 500 yards from glory in the spring as he led much of the final run to the finish. That is until he turned himself off of Brad Keselowski’s bumper entering the trioval. He seeks his third career victory today; he has the best view in the field to start.
Writer’s Pick
Last week’s selection was Ryan Blaney. After some third-stage adversity, the reigning series champion bounced back for a fourth-place finish.
Guess what? I’m picking him again.
Blaney is categorically great at superspeedway racing, already earning four victories between Talladega and Daytona. This includes last year’s race where his heroics helped him to the win and ultimately, his first NASCAR Cup Series title.
Surrounded by teammates and fellow Fords at the front, stage points should be on tap for the 30-year-old as he looks to collect his 13th career win and a ticket to the Round of 8 to continue his pursuit at defending his title.
(Top Photo Credit: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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