GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (⏰ 3 p.m. ET | 📺 FOX, FOX Sports App | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Alabama, the 10th regular season race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.
Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | Talladega 101
📍 Location: Talladega, Alabama 📐 Track length: 2.66 miles 🎟️ Buy tickets: Find weekend passes, seats for Sunday 💰 Cup Series race purse: $7,857,314 📏 Race distance: 188 laps | 500 miles 🔢 Stages: 60 | 120 | 188 -- 🚪 Entry list: Drivers, teams heading to Alabama 📋 Starting lineup: Denny Hamlin on the pole 🚗 Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit 🏆 Most recent winner: Chase Elliott Key things to watch 🔑 Top story line Another wild-card race. Every year, it becomes harder and harder to tell which driver will triumph at Talladega. On one end of the spectrum, Brad Keselowski has seemingly mastered the track with six career wins on the mammoth oval. And on the other end, two of the last three winners at the track were just earning their first victory. There have already been seven winners heading closer to the midway point of the regular season, and the urgency for drivers likely needing a win to get into the NASCAR Playoffs is apparent -- especially for Chase Elliott. Elliott was sidelined with an injury, leaving him behind in the points standings. But luckily for him, he's the defending race winner and has an eager attitude when it comes to embracing the challenge. Sunday could be anybody's race, but don't count out the 2020 champion. 🔐 TITLE TELL?: Each of the last seven years, the Cup Series champion was top six in points by the ninth race of the season | Read the analysis Qualifying story Toyotas show out. Four Toyotas qualified in the top 10 on Saturday morning at Talladega, including pole winner Denny Hamlin. It was the 37th pole win of his career but the first for him this season and his first on a superspeedway, according to Racing Insights. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs (third), Christopher Bell (sixth) and Martin Truex Jr. (seventh) joined Hamlin in the top 10. It will be Gibbs' best career start. Meanwhile, Bell started on the pole last fall at Talladega, but it was Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet who came away with the win. Toyota's last win at Talladega was in the fall of 2021 by Bubba Wallace. Hamlin won the fall race in 2020 at Talladega. History tells us... Ford is the focus. Led by exceptional form from Keselowski, Ford has won 10 of the last 15 races at the daunting 2.66-mile superspeedway -- a remarkable showing of prowess. Carrying momentum from a strong showing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Keselowski joins Blue Oval counterparts Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano near the top of Sunday's betting oddsboard to win the race. Michael McDowell, a more-than-respectable superspeedway racer, was also one of four drivers to finish top 10 in both Talladega races last season. Look for this group to have another solid day, overall. He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for... Erik Jones. Jones doubled up with two sixth-place results in the 2022 races at Talladega, achieving a remarkable feat of consistency. Based on his consistency at a track where it is pretty rare, he may be worth a look at 35-1 opening odds. According to Racing Insights, four of the last five winners at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega were at 30-1 odds -- not a far cry off from where Jones sits on the board currently. Keep an eye out for the No. 43.