Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give you the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | How to find NBCSN

Monday, April 29
Midnight, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
12:30 p.m., MRN Outloud

Tuesday, April 30
3 p.m., Glory Road: “Battle of the Big 3,” NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
9 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

Wednesday, May 1
4 p.m., NASCAR Decades, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Decades, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Thursday, May 2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Friday, May 3
3 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
3:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
4:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Dover, FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series: JEGS 200, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
11 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice
Noon, NASCAR Xfinity Series practice
1 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series qualifying
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice
3:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series JEGS 200

Saturday, May 4
6 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series: JEGS 200 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
9 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1/FOX Sports App, (Canada: TSN2)
10 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1/FOX Sports App (TSN App)
11 a.m., NASCAR RaceHub: Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
12 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
1 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Xfinity, FS1/FOX Sports App
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Allied Steel Buildings 200, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)

On MRN
9 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice
noon, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice
1 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Allied Steel Buildings 200

Sunday, May 5
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1/FOX Sports App
2 p.m., (postponed) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400, FS1/FOX Sports App, (Canada: TSN2)

On MRN
1 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Gander RV 400

Monday, May 6
Noon, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Gander RV 400

Posted on by Staff Report

Chase Elliott survived the see-saw battle at the front to win Stage 2 in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway as manufacturers lined up to work together at the 2.66-mile track. Elliott led a group of three Chevrolets to grab his first stage win of the 2019 season.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron finished behind Elliott, in second and third place, respectively. Ryan Blaney, in the No. 12 Ford, broke up the Chevrolet party by coming in fourth place. Austin Dillon, in the No. 3 Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Full Stage 2 results

The first two stages featured 26 lead changes with Aric Almirola (27 laps) and Elliott (22 laps) leading the most laps.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 10
2 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 9
3 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 8
4 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 7
5 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 6
6 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing 5
7 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 4
8 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing 3
9 Joey Logano Team Penske 2
10 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 1

STAGE 1

Ty Dillon took advantage of fuel issues for the leaders to win Stage 1. Dillon jumped to the lead with six laps to go as Martin Truex Jr. had to conserve fuel to make it to the stage finish on Lap 55. It was Dillon’s second stage win of the season.

Truex had taken the lead only after Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski had to pit for fuel. Almirola, who led the most laps in the opening stage (27 laps), got a penalty for speeding on pit road, knocking him back to 26th place.

RELATED: Full Stage 1 results

Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five in Stage 1.

Earlier in the stage, there was drama as the caution flag came out on Lap 10 for a six-car wreck that Bubba Wallace ignited when he was trying to move past Ryan Blaney. Wallace collected Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell and elsewhere in the field Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Matt Tifft were involved.

RELATED: Wallace ignites wreck

Wallace, Tifft, Harvick and McDowell were all knocked out of the race.

Finish Driver Team Points
1 Ty Dillon Germain Racing 10
2 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 9
3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 8
4 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 7
5 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing 5
7 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 4
8 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 3
9 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing 1
Posted on by Staff Report

Bubba Wallace started a six-car wreck on Lap 10 of Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway when his No. 43 Chevrolet got loose in Turn 1 while he was working with the No. 12 Ford driven by Ryan Blaney.

Wallace’s car wobbled after getting close to Blaney and made contact with the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin. Then, Wallace’s car moved up the track and slammed hard into the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, driven by Michael McDowell.

“It was just unfortunate. I was trying not to wreck my buddy Ryan and cost us and some others, so I apologize,” Wallace told FOX. “We were fast. I was just trying to ride and not wreck somebody, and I wrecked myself.”

RELATED: Race leaderboard

Farther back in the field, Clint Bowyer, in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, Kevin Harvick, in the No. 4 SHR Ford, and Matt Tifft, in the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford, also were involved. The Nos. 4, 34, 36 and 43 were all ruled out of the race while the No. 11 stayed in. The No. 11 later left the race during Stage 2.

“I am not really sure what happened,” McDowell said. “I didn’t see a lot of it. Looked like the 43 was being real aggressive and making stupid moves at the beginning of the race.”

Posted on by Staff Report

TALLADEGA, Ala. — A total of eight cars will drop to the rear of the field before the start of Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway for unapproved adjustments. An additional car is dropping to the rear for a driver change.

The penalties affect all four Joe Gibbs Racing entries and both Roush Fenway Racing cars among the group of nine.

RELATED: Every car in the field | No. 1 car chief ejected | Full Talladega lineup

Those teams will fall to the rear of the 40-car field during pace laps before the start of Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The total list (presented numerically by car number):

  • The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ryan Newman, which qualified 24th in Saturday’s Busch Pole Qualifying.
  • The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin (qualified 23rd)
  • The No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (qualified sixth)
  • The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch (qualified 22nd)
  • The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. (qualified 20th)
  • The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Erik Jones (qualified 27th)
  • The No. 27 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet of Reed Sorenson (qualified 37th)
  • The No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford of Cody Ware (qualified 40th)
  • The No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet of Brendan Gaughan (qualified 29th)

Gaughan’s No. 62 will be dropping to the rear because of a driver change. Tyler Reddick went from winning Saturday’s Xfinity Series race to qualifying the No. 62 in Gaughan’s place. Gaughan was attending his son’s first communion and was not at the track Saturday.

 

Posted on by RJ Kraft

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Austin Dillon will start from the Busch Pole in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Does he merit a spot in your Fantasy Live lineup. We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration.

PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the game works | Tips to set your lineup

Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2. One the final stage starts, your roster is locked in.

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Talladega:
1. Aric Almirola
2. Clint Bowyer
3. Kurt Busch
4. Alex Bowman
5. Ty Dillon
Garage: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Cars to the rear: Ryan Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Reed Sorenson and Cody Ware (all for unapproved adjustments); Brendan Gaughan (driver change after qualifying, Tyler Reddick qualified the No. 62 on Saturday).

RELATED: Odds for Talladega | 10-lap averages | Podcast: Fantasy Fastlane

Analysis: Superspeedway racing is unpredictable and because of that aspect I am looking to mostly use drivers that I have barely played this season. Stenhouse, Bowman and Ty Dillon have been used only once or not at all by me. That trio also have good records on superspeedways — Stenhouse and Dillon have been particularly solid at Talladega. I haven’t used Kurt Busch much and I think this is a good spot to plug him in. I’m taking Almirola on the strength on his five straight top 10s here — he’s the only driver with six or less uses that is in my lineup. With Stenhouse moving to the rear, though, for unapproved adjustments I am shifting him to the garage.

Bowyer slots in for Menard thanks to four things: I wanted another Ford starting in the top 10, that Ford needed to not be a Team Penske car because I want to save all of them, Bowyer has a solid history with two wins, 13 top 10s in 26 starts here and I’m not sure I’ll use him 10 times so I feel comfortable with the use here. I still like Menard as a play, but I just like Bowyer a bit more. Austin Dillon also merited a lot of consideration from me as did David Ragan and Daniel Suarez.

For the bonus picks, I’m going with this arrangement: Brad Keselowski in Stages 1 and 2 and Joey Logano for the win with Ford for the manufacturer.

Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.

MORE: Play the Props Challenge today

1. O/U Ford will have 5.5 drivers finish in the top 10 at Talladega. I am in big time on the Over for this. Ford has won seven straight at Talladega. They had six in the top seven last spring at this race. I view this prop as figuring that two Penske cars, two SHR cars and two of Stenhouse, Newman, Menard, Ragan and McDowell find their way into the top 10 at day’s end.

2. Will Sunday’s race winner start outside the top 15? Usually, when Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are outside the top 15 you would say yes. However, with superspeedway stalwarts like the Team Penske trio, Bowyer, Almirola, both Dillon brothers plus Elliott, Kurt Busch and more, it’s hard to say no to that group. So I won’t.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Picking up significant speed from the first round of knockout qualifying to the second, Austin Dillon won the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Covering the 2.66-mile distance in 49.734 seconds (192.544 mph) in his No. 3 Chevrolet, Dillon edged first-round leader Aric Almirola (192.131 mph) for the top starting spot by .107 seconds. In Saturday’s first round, Dillon had run 192.108 mph to Almirola’s 192.324 mph.

The Busch Pole Award was Dillon’s first at Talladega, his second of the season and the fifth of his career.

RELATED: Qualifying results | Every car in the GEICO 500 field

Clint Bowyer qualified third at 191.723 mph, followed by Brad Keselowski and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Daniel Hemric, Dillon’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing.

The final round featured six Chevrolet drivers and six Ford drivers. Martin Truex Jr. will start 20th in the fastest-qualifying Toyota. Ford drivers have won the last seven Talladega races.

Dillon’s pole run came on his 29th birthday. It was the first Talladega pole for the No. 3 car since Dale Earnhardt, a 10-time winner at the track, claimed the top starting spot in 1994. Richard Childress Racing is celebrating its 50th year in the sport and Talladega its 50th year as a NASCAR track.

“It’s RCR’s 50th Anniversary, and my grandfather (team owner Richard Childress) takes a lot of pride in these speedway races,” Dillon said. “To come here and get a pole, we felt like we had a car capable of doing that… And, man, it’s all of these guys (the team).

“I didn’t do nothing. Just holding the wheel straight. I did hold the wheel straight. I guess I did that. Fun times. Sunday is when it matters, though. We’d love to get a win and lock ourselves in the Playoffs, because these races are ones that you can really take advantage of because there’s a lot of points to get out there. And that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow.”

Almirola thought his final-round run might have been affected by a gust of wind.

“I think we got pretty close to backing up what we ran in the first round there, but I felt like the wind picked up a little bit more,” Almirola said. “I don’t know if that was it, or what the case was. All in all, it was a great run for us. I’m happy about starting on the front row with good track position to start the race and a good pit stall. All those things matter.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start sixth, followed by Ryan Blaney, three-time Talladega winner and reigning series champion Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell.

Kevin Harvick earned the 19th pot on the grid, and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson qualified 21st.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It may not have been a victory for Gray Gaulding but the runner-up finish in the MoneyLion 300 at Talladega Superspeedway sure was sweet. Emotion poured out with plenty of jubilation from his family and friends.

“This is Talladega man. This is frickin’ awesome,” Gaulding said after his career-best finish in a NASCAR national series race. “This is what every driver wants to have is a last-lap chance to win a race and we did.”

RELATED: Full results from MoneyLion 300 | Reddick wins at Talladega

The biggest key for Gaulding was going into the race with an aggressive, no-holds-barred mindset.

“I told myself today I’m going to act like today’s the last race I got,” Gaulding said. “I was going to lay it all out on the table and I’m going to play offense and attack all day. I feel like the more times you play defense here at Daytona or Talladega you get yourself in trouble.”

The 21-year-old surged in the closing laps to finish 0.127 seconds off the pace of race winner Tyler Reddick.

“I tried every single trick in the handbook to get it done,” Gaulding said. “The 98 (Chase Briscoe, who finished fourth) got a huge run and went up to block me and then I slingshotted by him. I’ll tell you, it was pretty close … I was at least trying to hope to get to (Reddick’s) bumper — move him out of the way or do something.”

The strong run was far from lost on his fellow competitors — fifth-place finisher Austin Cindric noted how others “underestimated the 08 car” and that Gaulding was a “great helper” — as he and others gave plenty of congratulations to Gaulding after he got out of the car.

“I feel like I earned a lot of respect today,” Gaulding said. “At the beginning of the race, I had nobody. I was a lone ranger on an island with no one out there. I felt like I cut my teeth and showed these guys I could hang in there with the best of them.”

Gaulding has 84 starts across all three national series and the last few seasons have seen him bounce around the garage until landing at SS Green Light Racing to drive the No. 08 Chevrolet for team owner Bobby Dotter.

“We’re the underdogs everywhere we go,” Gaulding said. “Now, I like it like that. The beginning of the year people didn’t really pay attention to us. Now it just seems like every week with the cars we’re building and the way I’m driving and the way my crew chief Patrick (Donahue) and guys are setting my cars up, we’re going to have a shot at it one of these days.”

A bigger prize may be in the offing for Gaulding as his runner-up finish and status as a Xfinity Series regular made him one of four drivers (with Reddick, Briscoe and Christopher Bell) eligible for the $100,000 prize in the Dash 4 Cash finale next Saturday — May 4 — in the Allied Steel Buildings 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Dover International Speedway.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Tyler Reddick overcame a pit road speeding penalty and damage to the right side of his No. 2 Chevrolet to win Saturday’s MoneyLion 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

With the right side of his Richard Childress Racing Chevy heavily taped after a brush with the outside wall, Reddick crossed the finish line at the end of a two-lap closing dash .127 seconds ahead of runner-up Gray Gaulding, who drove his No. 08 Chevrolet to the first top-10 finish of his career.

The reigning series champion, who moved from JR Motorsports to RCR during the offseason, won for the first time this year, the first time at Talladega and the fourth time in his career, extending his series lead to 32 points over third-place finisher Christopher Bell.

Reddick also won the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus that goes to the highest finisher among four eligible drivers.

RELATED: Official race results

“I tried to take us out of this race so many times, and somehow we got back into the mix and got back to the lead,” said Reddick, who blocked for all he was worth on the final two laps after a seven-car incident on Lap 109 forced NASCAR to red-flag the event for track clean-up.

In fact, Reddick had luck on his side, too. After contact with the wall, he was roughly 200 yards from going a lap down when NASCAR called the third caution of the race on Lap 66 for debris in Turn 1. Twenty laps later, Reddick escaped contact with Noah Gragson’s Chevy without significant damage.

But it was dodging a Lap 95 wreck involving pole winner Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer that finally gave Reddick the sense that it might be his day.

“As soon as I missed that wreck when the 00 (Custer) and the 1 (Annett) got caught up, and I somehow missed it, and the 23 (John Hunter Nemechek) did a great job weaving his way out of it, too, I thought, ‘There must be a reason why I wasn’t in that wreck,’” Reddick said. “It was just a lot of fun to work my way back to the front.”

Chase Briscoe finished fourth, as he Reddick, Bell and Gaulding earned the four qualifying positions for next Saturday’s Dash4Cash race at Dover.

Austin Cindric was fifth, followed by Nemecheck, Justin Haley, Josh Williams, Landon Cassill and Chris Cockrum, who, like Gaulding, scored his first career top 10.

Gaulding had a run on the backstretch on the final lap, but a block from Briscoe slowed his momentum.

“I was kind of the lone ranger out there,” Gaulding said. “I think I just had to earn a lot of people’s respect. I did as much as I could to get beside him (Reddick), but when the 98 (Briscoe) came up, he kind of blocked my run.

“Man, it was so, so close. Man, what a day, baby. Talladega—let’s go!”

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

TALLADEGA, Ala. — You don’t often find a mixture of self-deprecation and confidence in the NASCAR garage. The ability to point out your faults and also know you can win at NASCAR’s highest level is rare. It’s a quality Chase Elliott has mastered when it comes to his approach to superspeedway racing.

In six Talladega Superspeedway starts, Elliott has never qualified outside of the top 10 but only has two top-five finishes. Elliott said it’s not because the cars aren’t fast, it’s mostly on him.

“I think the lack of good finishes is probably more just poor decisions on my part or being in a bad spot,” Elliott told NASCAR.com on Friday at the 2.66-mile track. “Whatever it is, it’s been different.  Sometimes there have been days that I probably could have done something different to have a better result, other days maybe not. It’s definitely not for the lack of a fast car.”

RELATED: Talladega schedule

This weekend, Elliott knows that to contend, he will need a strategy to team up and take on the fleet of Ford Performance, which has won the last seven Talladega events. In Daytona, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets worked with Joe Gibbs Racing in an effort to thwart the Ford contingent.

Heading into this weekend, Elliott is tight-lipped when it comes to strategy, but said the superspeedway “stampede” of Mustangs has his attention.

“I think for us, we obviously as a group at Chevrolet, we want to break that up and do a better job,” Elliott said. “I look forward to the challenge. I certainly respect them and what they have done and being able to stick together. I don’t necessary like it.”

On top of it all, Elliott and the rest will use a new aero package this weekend. The cars have shed the long-running restrictor plates, adding more drag and more horsepower. Even with the changes, Elliott said the way the race will play out ultimately falls into the drivers’ hands.

“I think the attitudes and aggression levels of how people want to act on Sunday is probably going to decide how the race unfolds,” Elliott said. “I think that is up to us and how we wake up on Sunday and want to be. That’s just kind of part of it.”