In a schedule that encompasses 40 weeks, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series visit 29 different facilities across two different countries, at tracks of varying sizes and dimensions.
None strike the fear in a driver’s heart quite like the 2.66-mile behemoth that resides in the heart of the Yellowhammer State better known as Talladega Superspeedway.
A stacked field of 39 drivers all vying for their chance to tackle the circuit’s biggest oval stands to make for a strong event in and of itself, but these drivers will be collected in a big pack for much of the 188 laps.
Even more critically, they’ll be inches apart and standing on the throttle the entire time, waiting for the right moment to slice and dice their way to the front.
Not only is Dega the biggest oval on the Cup calendar, it contains the highest banking of any track in the sport, slanted at a daunting 33° in the turns.
Anyone entered into the race today could come away with the trophy. However, there is only one way to get there: survival.
If a driver manages to avoid the chaos and high-speed destruction at Talladega, they might just manage to put themselves on the track’s storied winners list.
“The Big One” looms over this field of hungry racers like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Just hope your driver ends up with the checkers and not on a wrecker.
Last Week at Bristol…
Though it was two weeks ago, the Food City 500 was a relatively cut-and-dry affair where Kyle Larson sprinted out to an early lead and never gave it up on his way to victory lane.
If you’re interested in a more detailed breakdown of the event, here’s my recap of that race.
This Week in NASCAR
Katherine Legge announced a slate of NASCAR races to be run between the sport’s top two series that started at Rockingham with Jordan Anderson Racing in the Xfinity Series. Legge’s limited schedule included this weekend’s race at Talladega and Cup races at Mexico, Chicago, Sonoma, Richmond, and Watkins Glen.
After making his Cup debut at Bristol and finishing the race 31st, Jesse Love declared his intent to take the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevy out for a drive at Texas and Indianapolis, a sign that Richard Childress Racing is looking to move their Xfinity Series driver up to Cup in the near future.
The off weekend refused to stop for the Xfinity and Truck Series as the two lower divisions made their way back to the historic Rockingham Speedway.
In a wild event where drivers dropped like flies at the end due to poor fuel efficiency, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Tyler Ankrum scored his second career Craftsman Truck Series victory at the fabled 1-mile facility. Our writer Jey Allen attended the event and published their recap of it.
The next day was no different as fuel efficiency caused a flurry of late yellows that gave Jesse Love a chance at redemption, deftly sliding Sammy Smith out of his way on the final restart to claim his second victory of the 2025 season.
That was until Love’s No. 2 Whelen Camaro was deemed to be out of compliance and disqualified, elevating Smith up to the victor of the event. Love and his team lost their appeal earlier this week.
NASCAR México Series made their way to Puebla for the Commscope 200 Puebla at Autódromo Internacional Miguel E. Abed where Xavi Razo finally found his maiden victory of 2025 in a dominating performance.
The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi reported that NASCAR will be implementing a rotation for its championship weekend, starting next season with the sport returning to Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro is due to start in a matter of weeks, and track promoter Speedway Motorsports made it known that there would be a tweak to the format.
In a shocking turn of events that rocked the NASCAR garage, Spire Motorsports parted ways with Rodney Childers this week, putting the champion crew chief back on the free agent market.
The move comes after Spire made a significant investment in Childers during the offseason to pair him with Justin Haley, the driver of the No. 7 Camaro. Spire’s competition director Ryan Sparks will assume the role of interim crew chief for the remainder of 2025, a post he held through the end of last season.
With the Truck Series taking the week off, the Xfinity Series grind proceeded in Talladega in what was a relatively tame race for the first two stages because it went without a natural caution.
In the final laps, the two RCR cars made a beeline for the front where JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch tried to hold off the ravenous pack behind him.
It was not to be as a bad block from Zilisch sent his No. 88 WeatherTech machine skidding into the inside wall on the final lap off the front bumper of Jesse Love’s front bumper, bringing out the caution and freezing the field.
A lengthy review ensued that awarded the win to Austin Hill over Jeb Burton and Love, making him the most decorated superspeedway racer in the history of the Xfinity Series. For a more detailed recap of yesterday’s race, check out the venerable Joe Sell’s piece from this morning.
This morning, my colleague Jey and I produced our latest version of our NASCAR Cup Series power rankings, which you can read right here on Pit Box Press.
Zane Smith snared the pole for today’s race with Kyle Busch alongside on the front row. Here is a link to the starting lineup for the Jack Link’s 500.
The Race
Today’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega will be broadcast on FOX at 3pm Eastern Time with play-by-play from Mike Joy alongside analysts Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick.
The 500 signifies how many miles will be run in this event, taking 188 laps to reach that number. Those 188 laps are split into three stages ending on laps 60-120-188.
As for what a typical Talladega spring race looks like, here are the averages from the last 10 spring races: 7 cautions for 30 caution laps, 42 lead changes, and 12,704 green-flag passes (or 80.4 passes per lap.)
The average duration of this race is 3 hours and 22 minutes, and it’s often extended to Overtime, which has popped up in 4 of the last 10 spring events. This trend of Overtime keeps pushing the lap of final caution all the way down to lap 171 or 18 laps to go.
Writer’s Pick
Last race’s writer’s pick was Denny Hamlin. At the conclusion of a long day in Thunder Valley. lightning (and Denny) weren’t able to strike a third time, settling for a runner-up finish.
Hamlin is not the one on my radar today, though I will be staying in the Toyota Gazoo Racing camp.
While his last two victories have come in the Southern 500, Erik Jones earned his first career Cup Series victory at Daytona in the summer of 2018, holding off Kasey Kahne and former teammate Martin Truex Jr.
Fast forward to this race three years three years ago, Jones held the lead in the famous No. 43 car coming to the white and all the way to the trioval before ceding the advantage to Ross Chastain, winding up second.
Legacy Motor Club has had little to be happy about since Erik’s superb win at Darlington in 2022. In that time, they suffered a lame-duck year with Chevy, lost a driver due to scandal, and made the switch to Toyota without an alliance with an established team that ultimately set them back.
Jones beat Austin Cindric to the line in the second Daytona Duel race in February, though the win would be awarded to Cindric after it was revealed he was ahead at the time of caution.
That result (and a strong performance in the 500 itself) gives me confidence that Jones will rise from the 34th starting spot to win today. It would be perfect redemption after this track sidelined him with a back injury sustained in a harrowing accident, so look for That Jones Boy to put on a show.
(Top Photo Credit: Samuel King Jr.)
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