Posted on by Holly Cain

REDDICK NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE HATERS

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Tyler Reddick is well aware of “vibe change.” As quickly as race fans cheer on a team’s big success, they often suffer fatigue of it as well. With five wins in the opening nine races of the season, the 23XI Racing driver smiled Saturday when asked about the reception he currently receives.

He’ll start his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota from pole position in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), going for his second Talladega victory.

MORE: Full Talladega preview | Best weekend photos

“It is weird to be in this spot. I will say that,’’ Reddick allowed. “There’s certainly a lot of noise out there, a lot of speculations, but for me, it’s easy to not get caught up in it because we know what we’re doing, we know how we’re doing it, when we’ve been successful with it.

“So, yeah, I feel bad for those that are tired of it,’’ he added, noting what a challenge his winless 2025 season had been for the team.

“We are enjoying it. We want to keep winning and doing the things that we’re doing. Yeah, I don’t feel bad because I remember how I felt all of last year. I know how my team felt about last year, and so we don’t want to go back to not winning, and we’re going to keep working really hard to find ways to get to victory lane.”

“I found out last year, it’s really hard just to win any race, and so for us to put together like we have and start the year strong like, it’s hard to do, but we’re really thankful that it’s happened, and certainly, I think, with how last year went for us at no point are we like, ‘we’re good.’ I think if anything, we’re hungrier now than we were to start the year to just keep after it and keep winning races.”

BUSCH SETTING EXAMPLE FOR SON

A two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with 233 victories total in the sport’s three national series, Kyle Busch knows how to win and how to compete.

One of the most dynamic competitors in the sport’s history, however, Busch is currently enduring an unusual 102-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series dating back to his last trophy on June 4, 2023, at Gateway (Madison, Ill.). Not only does the statistic continually motivate him, but it has given him an unusual opportunity to set an example of grace and persistence for his children.

The father of two, including up-and-coming racer, 10-year-old son Brexton, knows his kiddos are watching him at work and the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is showing them how to react and prevail in both the challenging times as well as the victory circle moments. A two-time Talladega winner, he will start Sunday’s race ranked 27th in the championship standings and still looking to earn his first top-10 of the year.

MORE: Full Cup Series standings

His passion should never be doubted, however. And that ethos, he hopes to pass along.

“It’s frustrating,’’ Busch said of those who would question his effort or dedication. “Because I feel like I’ve done nothing except positive things in the time in which I’ve been at RCR. The last four years, I’ve done nothing but work as hard as I could possibly do. There’s a lot of great people there, and a lot of smart people there as well, in [team owner] Richard [Childress] and Mike [Dillon] and all those guys have given us all the resources and tools to go out there and succeed. It’s just not quite come together with the results of winning.

“The first year it did, but it’s trickled off since then. But there’s nothing that stands out to me other than going there to win races and be competitive. I’m raising a little racer myself. Brexton sees every single weekend. He’s around. He sees me go home and I’m watching SMT film or I’m looking at data or being at team meetings.

“I’m doing all I can on my side to help further develop the team, and it’s for me to show him there’s a lot of work that goes into this. It doesn’t just come easy. You’ve got to pour it in to get the result out of it.

“Yeah, we want to win and be successful. Brexton doesn’t really remember the days of me being out there winning all the time, winning all the races and [him] being thrown up in the air. That was a little before his memory time. Lennox too. I won those three races in ’23, and she was a baby. Trust me, this is my life, our lives and everything we’ve known and now another generation coming in.

Busch won pole position for February’s Daytona 500 and has a pair of victories at Talladega (Spring, 2008 and 2023) — leading laps in 14 of the last 15 races at the big track.

Kyle Busch, driver of the #07 Gainbridge Chevrolet, and his son, Brexton Busch wave to fans onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on May 30, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

KESELOWSKI’S DEGA LEGACY

RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski’s six Talladega Superspeedway wins are most among active drivers and second all-time to only the late Dale Earnhardt’s 10-trophy total. But it’s been since 2021 that the 2012 series champ last celebrated in Dega’s Victory Lane. He has had three runner-up showings since, including both 2024 races.

The former champion scored his career-first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in his track debut in Spring 2009. And, Keselowski fully concedes, he feels a special affinity for the place and enjoys watching historic YouTube videos of the races here.

“When I watch them, I think about how cool it is that I get to race here and get to compete on the same track and the success that you have and get to the same record book as those that were behind you,’’ Keselowski said. “That feels really cool.

“Talladega is a storied track. There’s so much history here. I don’t really necessarily get caught up too much in the pageantry, although I do think it’s cool, as much as I get caught up in the idea of being able to race where legends have raced before me and hopefully adding my name to a record book beside them.”

JONES AND TALLADEGA APPROACH

Even though the change to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship format has eliminated the win-and-in playoff strategy, Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones insists the emphasis on points racing doesn’t change the way he goes about competing. Particularly at places such as Talladega Superspeedway.

Jones, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at a drafting track, the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 2018, enters Sunday’s race 24th in the championship points standings — 63 points behind 16th-place Daniel Suárez in the final points position that would advance to the playoffs.

“We approach all these races pretty aggressive in the last handful years, because this has been our only great shot to try to win our way in the playoffs,’’ said Jones, driver of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota.  “So, I think if anything, it makes it more aggressive because the stage points are probably more important than ever. The finishes are great, but if you can go and earn top-three stage points in both stages, and even if you get wrecked out at the end, you’re still going to have a decent day, so I think that’s our focus.

“The stage lengths are probably a bigger change than anything. That first stage is a bit confusing, length on some strategies and things that guys can do. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out, but I think as far as the aggression side, I think it will be just as high as ever for stage points.”

TALLADEGA RACE NUGGETS

The last 11 Talladega NASCAR Cup Series races have been won by different drivers, the longest such current streak of any track. … The winner led 10 laps or fewer in the last 10 Talladega races. … Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch has finished on the lead lap the last 10 Talladega races. Should he do so on Sunday, he would tie the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt with 11. … Eight of the last 12 Talladega races have been decided by a last-lap pass. … A stage winner has gone on to win the race only once this season — Ryan Blaney at Phoenix. … Drivers have combined for only six DNFs through the last five races, which is the fewest for a five-race span in NASCAR history. … The 54 total caution flags this season are the fewest through nine races since 2012.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Crown-jewel trophies and remnants of the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 sit inside 23XI Racing’s Airspeed shop in Huntersville, North Carolina.

Tyler Reddick is the NASCAR Cup Series points leader, while Bubba Wallace stays in perennial contention for a championship.

As the team continues to age into NASCAR’s top level, it seems to be checking all boxes at a rapid rate.

However, its third full-time driver, Riley Herbst, has yet to get a taste of glory and add to the early lore of the sixth-year organization.

In 53 starts, Herbst has just three top-10 results and has yet to break through for a top five in his Cup career. But according to Herbst’s teammates, the No. 35 Toyota driver hasn’t crumbled mentally and remains an important piece for 23XI.

RELATED: Riley Herbst driver page | Cup standings

“Riley’s an incredible human being,” Wallace said Saturday at Talladega. “A lot of fun to be around through the good times, through the bad times. I’m jealous of his mindset. When he struggles or qualifies bad, he’s gonna go back and learn and try it again tomorrow. It’s just like, damn, I wish I could be that calm about it. He has a super-calm demeanor. Just has a great head on his shoulders.

“This is my two cents that Riley Herbst came into the Cup Series to a team that is continuing to trend upwards with really fast cars, really great people. This sport is hard. The Cup Series is freaking hard. When you jump into a winning organization, you are looked at as you need to win as well, and as a rookie, super hard to do unless you’re [Shane van Gisbergen] on a road course that none of us have ever been to. It’s just tough.”

Since making his top-level debut in 2023, Herbst has shown quick bursts of his skill. He scored a top 10 in his maiden Cup start in the Daytona 500 with Rick Ware Racing and also picked up a ninth-place finish in the fall Talladega race.

After a discouraging 26.4 average finish in 2025, the Las Vegas native has chipped his 2026 average finish down to 23.3 and has found some speed in the No. 35 Toyota with a fourth-place qualifying effort at Bristol and a top-15 run at Kansas.

23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin has been high on Herbst since bringing him to the organization and credits Herbst’s family for how Riley has managed his mentality so far.

“One of the things I admire with Riley is that even on the tough days, he’s got a very positive attitude,” Hamlin said. “Shout out to his parents for raising a good kid because he’s one of the best, one of the most humble kids that you can possibly find in the Cup Series. I’m really proud to see what he’s starting to do and how the performance is obviously improving as we would expect at this point. So I think that he’s doing a great job and he’s going to position himself nicely.”

Reddick, who enters Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a whopping 105-point advantage at the top of the Cup standings, understands Herbst’s growing pains.

Both drivers had successful careers in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Herbst won three times while Reddick was a two-time series titleholder. But to get to where Reddick is now, he had to overcome two winless campaigns with Richard Childress Racing before finally breaking through in 2022 at Road America and winning 12 races since.

“I remember my first year in Cup. It was brutal,” Reddick said. “You go from being able to contend for race wins on a consistent basis, you go from thinking you’re pretty good at, getting to pit road, getting off pit road, all the things that kind of come with it, restarts, you name it. You come in the Cup Series feeling pretty good, and you get to learn really quick just how deep the field is in the Cup side. It’s easy to get down when you have rough stretches, and I think he’s handled all that really well.

“I’m glad that me and Bubba and when Corey (Heim) runs, were able to help answer questions, be there. I think for him, when he’s able to see me and Bubba go out there at times and find things in our cars, it helps give him the confidence to help begin that search, whether that’s through his inputs or getting his car closer to what he wants to do that too. He’s doing all the right stuff back at Airspeed, and it’s been fun working with him and getting to know him better throughout this process.”

MORE: Talladega lineup | At-track photos: Talladega

Sunday’s race at Talladega offers an opportunity for Herbst to shock the Cup field and score his first career victory. One that won’t give him immediate title contention, but a vital building block for a team and driver still trying to find their base at the Cup level. With some help from his teammates on a drafting track and the continued support internally at 23XI, the ceiling is still very high for the 26-year old.

“He shows up every day with a smile on his face, ready to learn, ready to work and figure it the hell out, and I appreciate that about him so much,” Wallace said. “Somebody like him, can do whatever the hell he wants. He wants to be driving race cars. He wants to continue to better his craft and I got nothing but respect for him.”

herbst and wallace at talladega
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Posted on by Staff Report

To the best fans in sports,

I don’t like being in the news. No one who works for NASCAR should like being in the news. We’re not the story. Our racing heroes are.

So yesterday, I hope your attention was focused on Andy Jankowiak winning the ARCA race in a wild finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Or Corey Day’s thrilling first victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.

But amid all the deserved coverage devoted to yesterday’s on-track activity, you may have seen some personnel shifts here at NASCAR.

Specifically, I have been given the honor of leading NASCAR as its newest CEO. In addition, Ben Kennedy has been named NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer.

Before anything else, I want to say thank you to Jim France. Jim is a racer through and through. He’s led NASCAR with passion, steadiness, and a deep love for this sport during some of the most challenging and important years in our history. We’re all better because of his leadership.

We have much work ahead of us. I say ‘we’ because I cannot do this alone. I’m lucky to have a fantastic group working with me, and the best team of consultants in the world — you, the race fan. Your voice will be as important as ever.

I am fired up.

I am fired up for what’s ahead …

For the green flag to wave on Talladega … for the Coca-Cola 600, and Memorial Day Weekend in the greatest country in the world … for cars and trucks to roar past aircraft carriers in San Diego … for a Cup Series points race at North Wilkesboro 30 years in the making … for The Chase, and the championship dreams for a special 16 — or 12 or 10 –drivers … for Homestead and those dreams becoming reality under a warm South Florida sky … and for a future the will be shaped by you, for you, the race fan.

This is my 31st season at NASCAR. But my promise to you is that I will wake up each morning like it’s Day 1 — energized to preserve and grow the sport we all love so much.

Let’s go.

Steve O’Donnell
CEO, NASCAR

Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — This oh-so-close finish went down a little easier for Sheldon Creed.

After a frantic home stretch and two heavy crashes in the last lap of Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series tilt, Creed came out on the other side with a mostly damage-free car and a six-figure check to show for it. The 28-year-old Haas Factory Team driver steered clear of the turmoil for his eighth consecutive top-10 result, cashing in the series’ $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for the second straight week as the highest eligible finisher at Talladega Superspeedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Talladega

Finishing second has become a well-documented pattern for Creed, who was a runner-up 15 times before finally becoming an O’Reilly Series winner this February in Atlanta. The outcome of Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 was his second consecutive podium result — one that dropped him from an unofficial second-place finish to third after a post-race scoring review, by just 0.001 seconds behind runner-up Brent Crews and only 0.155 behind first-time winner Corey Day — but Creed was counting it as a virtual victory at one of the circuit’s most rigorous tracks.

“I don’t even care. $100,000? Second? I won, so I don’t even care,” Creed said, the ceremonial check still resting on the windshield of his No. 00 Chevrolet. “We’ve been really consistent and getting bonuses for the guys in the shop and yeah, I think all that matters more to me. Obviously, I want to win more and capitalize while our team is doing really good and building really fast race cars, but at the same time, just happy with our consistency.”

Creed led five times for seven laps in Saturday’s 300-miler, and he figured even more prominently among the contenders when he vaulted past a big block from pole-starter Jesse Love with a bold high-side move with six laps remaining. Three laps later, Day’s No. 17 Chevy challenged Creed on the inside and he was unable to counter his progress.

Creed was actually shown as the leader at the white flag, but his grip on the top spot was a loose one as his Haas Factory teammate Sam Mayer rode low, with Day alongside in the middle of a three-wide fight. Mayer crashed on the backstretch, and once Creed gave the top lane to Jeb Burton with a line of momentum, his victory hopes dwindled. Bedlam involving Burton and a host of others behind him drew a race-ending, field-freezing yellow flag with Day up front.

“I think those two mistakes there, and it’s hard, right, when you’re in those situations what lanes to block,” Creed said. “There’s runs coming from all of them at different times, so you block one and then you have to look in the mirror and block the next. Yeah, I just got myself behind there.”

Creed had positioned himself well at the end. Getting there, however, was an adventure to watch for his crew chief, veteran Jonathan Toney.

“This was an eventful race, for sure,” said Toney, in his fourth year with the No. 00 team and his second season with Creed. “From the beginning, from the drop of the green flag, it seemed like they wanted to be three-wide. The whole race seemed like we were in the middle three-wide about the majority of the time. So, yeah, I think everybody works real hard to capitalize on these races, and this is an opportunity for a lot of people to win a race, because a lot of the unpredictability in it. So yeah, that brings out some aggression and some late blocks and some bold moves to try to win. But everybody, when we came down here, everybody wanted to win the race, so that’s what you get when that happens.”

Creed also finished third at each stage, helping him accumulate a 50-point payday — second only to Day’s 55-point haul for winning. Post-race, he acknowledged the peerless pace of standings leader Justin Allgaier, who finished 23rd Saturday to snap his own seven-race streak of top fives.

MORE: O’Reilly Series standings | Talladega weekend schedule

Performances like Saturday’s have helped Creed’s efforts to chip away at Allgaier’s sizable advantage — which now sits at a still-grand 105 points. But it’s also helped re-establish the championship-caliber credentials of the No. 00 team, which won the series championship with Cole Custer in 2023.

“When he won, I think it absolutely was, and last year was a building year for us, and I think, yeah, now we’re back to that,” Creed said. “I think we’re showing we can run up front every week and finish good every week, and that’s what it’s going to take with this new format is just being able to run top five all day, every weekend you show up.”

The completion of Saturday’s race marks one-third of the way home for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as the racing calendar steams ahead toward May. Cracking the win column two months ago was a release for Creed & Co., and the team has finished no worse than 11th since.

Toney says the whole group is enjoying the ride.

“Man, we’ve just gelled so much and we’re having so much fun,” Toney said. “You know, Sheldon, he’s such a good, good person, and a good guy to be around, and he’s just super excited when he comes to the race track now, and that just motivates all of us. The pit crew, they keep performing and getting better and better each week. We keep building these back at the shop, and everybody there building good, fast race cars. So yeah, this is a lot of fun to be a part of right now.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Corey Day claimed the first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career Saturday afternoon, driving to the yellow and checkered flags in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway — his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leading only the last lap to earn his first trophy in his first full-time season.

The 20-year-old Californian sprint car driver delivered the multi-time Cup Series championship-winning Hendrick team its first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Talladega and this weekend earned a win for a special “guest” crew member, former NFL great Jason Kelce, who dressed out in Hendrick blue and helped transport tires for the team on pit road Saturday.

“I sure as heck didn’t think it [first win] would be at a superspeedway,’’ said a grinning Day, who also won a sprint car race in Nebraska earlier this week. “My 17 guys just built a rocket ship.

“I feel like we’ve been close, had a good day at Rockingham and had a couple other good days and just didn’t finish it off, so this is super cool.’’

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Talladega

Rookie Brent Crews finished a career-best runner-up in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed scoring third in a typical photo finish-type conclusion on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks. Creed’s work was good enough to claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive prize for his effort — the second straight week he did so.

“Hard to be too mad at [third] here when so much happens and very easily could have been in one of those crashes at the end.” Creed said. “Getting to take home the Dash 4 Cash is really special and thank the guys in the shop for that.’’

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was fourth in the No. 8 Chevrolet, extending a top-10 streak for the team to 68 races, second best all-time in the series. Owner-driver Jeremy Clements was fifth in the South Carolina-based No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing team Chevrolet, earning the independent team’s best showing since 2022.

Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Parker Retzlaff and Austin Green rounded out the top 10, with JJ Yeley earning the only Ford in the 38-car field an impressive 11th-place finish.

Love started on pole position in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, led the most laps (37) and was out front late before getting shuffled backwards with six laps remaining. The field split his car high and low on track, with Creed moving into the lead with five laps remaining.

Creed’s HFT teammate Sam Mayer, who had been impressive throughout the afternoon, was scored the leader with two laps to go in a three-wide front row also featuring Creed and Day. And then, as so often happens at Talladega, contact during the final frantic laps of competition shuffled the front pack, slamming Mayer’s No. 41 Chevy and two-time Talladega winner Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet into the outside wall.

Mayer settled for 25th despite leading three times for eight laps on the day. Burton, a photo-finish runner-up last year in the race, settled for 26th.

JRM teammates Carson Kvapil (Stage 1) and Justin Allgaier (Stage 2) claimed the two wins, but both were unable to recover from a mid-race green flag penalty for “impeding” cars on track during the final stage of racing.

The four caution periods were the fewest since 2022. The 38 lead changes were the most at the track since 2013.

Despite recording the lowest finish of the season (23rd), Allgaier retains the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship lead by 105 points over Creed.

MORE: Dash 4 Cash hub page

The series moves to Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 (3:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

Day, Crews, Creed and Smith will be eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash award next week in the Lone Star State.

Note: Inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage without issues, confirming Day as the winner. The Nos. 2, 8 and 19 cars will head back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for teardown.

Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR drivers woke up to two things Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway: the unwelcome sight of rain and a new, realigned era of the sport’s leadership.

The news became official Saturday with NASCAR appointing Steve O’Donnell to the role of chief executive officer and naming Ben Kennedy to the position of chief operating officer. Jim France, CEO since 2018, will remain as chairman.

RELATED: Talladega weekend schedule | What to Watch

NASCAR Cup Series drivers were among those who received early notice Friday about the shift in NASCAR’s upper management, and the reaction was largely positive about what it meant for the sport’s direction.

“Jim France, I believe that he has done a great job,” said Daniel Suárez, driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet. “Obviously, he has a lot of experience, he has seen a lot of things, but you know, the sport continues to evolve, continues to grow, and I think OD, he’s been around the sport for a very long time. He has a lot of experience. He has a lot of energy, too. He’s young, so I think that’s going to be very good for him. Obviously, Ben, he is very, very young. I mean, I feel like he’s my age. We raced together, he has a lot of experience and a very, very smart guy. So I think it’s good. I think it’s going to continue to push the sport to continue to think outside the box and continue to move forward.”

Several of the current crop of Cup Series drivers said they have a slightly closer connection to Kennedy, one of their contemporaries and a former racer who shared the track with them during his driving days. Kennedy — great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. — learned the ropes through his ties to the family business and through short-track competition, advancing to and winning in both the ARCA Menards Series East and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

That background, says Chase Elliott, should serve him well as he expands his executive reach to include NASCAR’s competition department.

“I’ve said this before about Ben, but I think it would have been very easy for him to take whatever role he wanted to take without putting the effort and time into really understanding racing, and when I say racing, also outside of the NASCAR world,” said Elliott, driver of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevy. “So I gained a tremendous amount of respect for him for going and racing himself and spending time around short tracks across the country and being willing to go and try, and became a really good racer, too, in that. I’m sure that he learned a lot about motorsports as a whole, and I think that that also qualifies him, not just because of his name, but he has put time in that people probably aren’t aware of, to motorsports, to understand and be worthy and capable of such a role. So a lot of respect for him in that sense.”

Ryan Blaney shared those experiences alongside Kennedy, both in climbing the stock-car ladder and growing up as the latest generation of a racing family. Blaney says he’s seen the weight of the 34-year-old’s words grow, along with his reach.

“He’s just a good human being, and I think he is getting more outspoken as well,” Blaney said, “like he’s gotten into his roles very well, and I think the role that he’s going to be in is good. He’s going to have more of a voice, but I think Ben always has really good ideas. Obviously, I think of it kind of like me, right? My family was involved in racing for a long time. I’m very passionate about it, and the same with him. His family has been involved with it since its inception, and he’s incredibly passionate about this sport and wants it to do well. So I think he has a lot of cred. I think everyone respects him.

“Like I said, I’ve always had a great relationship with Ben and always have been able to go to him with ideas or things that are on my mind and vice versa. He’s always reached out to me if he wants an opinion on anything, so I think that’s good. I think it’s good to have someone like that, so I think he’s very well-respected.”

The management shift is the latest in a series of executive moves and offseason changes in the sport. O’Donnell was promoted to president in March 2025, taking the reins from Steve Phelps, who assumed the role of NASCAR commissioner. This weekend’s announcement comes months after NASCAR reached a legal settlement for a charter agreement in December, Phelps’ departure in January and an overhaul to its postseason format that same month.

Elliott acknowledged the offseason changes that preceded Saturday’s announcement, but said he appreciated the patience NASCAR’s brass showed in building this personnel alignment.

“I mean, honestly, from my perspective, I think they took their time in that,” Elliott said. “I mean, if you just kind of look at everything that transpired over the winter, and where things started this season, and kind of all of that went on, I think it would have been very easy for them to feel like that they needed to put other people in positions and do it yesterday. So if I were to lean on any one side of the fence, it would be that I kind of appreciate them taking the time they did to be able to say, hey, these are the right people for the jobs and this is the position that whoever needs to be in to help make this thing go forward, and it seems like they took the time to at least think it through. And you know, I can admire that.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR’s biggest and arguably most daunting track comes into focus Sunday afternoon as the Cup Series treks to Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s the third time in 10 races that the premier series visits a drafting track, where a giant opportunity awaits — especially for teams buried in the early standings.

Tyler Reddick emerged victorious in both the season-opening Daytona 500 and at EchoPark Speedway, and heads to the Alabama high banks with continued momentum, winning last weekend at Kansas for his record fifth triumph in 2026.

RELATED: Full starting lineup

But it wouldn’t be a trip to Talladega without mentioning the Fords, which tend to work well in the draft and dominate a majority of these races. Will the blue ovals finally score a win on Sunday? See the full projected results for 188 laps of high-paced action, courtesy of Racing Insights, as well as drivers to keep an eye on over 500 miles.

DRIVERS TO WATCH

BRAD KESELOWSKI: The RFK Racing driver and co-owner is searching for his first victory in two years, and Talladega is no doubt his best track. He’s a six-time winner at the venue and has banked three additional runner-ups since his last Alabama dub in 2021. Keselowski enters with the sixth-best average finish in the series (11.3), and it certainly smells like a win is around the corner, so it’d only be fitting if it came Sunday.

CHASE BRISCOE: The most recent Talladega victor, Briscoe continues to climb the Cup Series ranks after a dismal start to 2026. His consecutive top fives at Bristol and Kansas slot him 15th in the standings as we’re finally seeing the championship-contending form witnessed late last year. In 10 Talladega starts, Briscoe’s average finish is 14.7, the seventh highest all-time. He’s led 50 laps on drafting tracks this year, a number that plays into his favor.

RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: All four of Stenhouse’s Cup Series wins have come at superspeedways, and he’s always a threat to capitalize. He finished second in the Daytona 500 this February and enters Talladega with consecutive finishes of 21st or better. Per Racing Insights, he’s one of the best at green flag pit stops, gaining an average of 3.6 positions each cycle at superspeedway. Stenhouse might not have the most speed, but his methodical approach should put him in contention at the very end.

MORE: At-track photos

FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR 2026 JACK LINK’S 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX)

FINISHCAR NUMBERDRIVER
145Tyler Reddick
25Kyle Larson
39Chase Elliott
424William Byron
554Ty Gibbs
623Bubba Wallace
76Brad Keselowski
811Denny Hamlin
920Christopher Bell
1012Ryan Blaney
1177Carson Hocevar
1219Chase Briscoe
1317Chris Buescher
1422Joey Logano
1560Ryan Preece
167Daniel Suárez
172Austin Cindric
1847Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
1948Alex Bowman
2034Todd Gilliland
2138Zane Smith
221Ross Chastain
2371Michael McDowell
2441Cole Custer
2543Erik Jones
268Kyle Busch
274Noah Gragson
2897Shane van Gisbergen
293Austin Dillon
3021Josh Berry
3135Riley Herbst
3216AJ Allmendinger
3342John H Nemechek
3410Ty Dillon
3588Connor Zilisch
3633Jesse Love
3751Cody Ware
3844Joey Gase
3966Chad Finchum
4078Daniel Dye
Posted on by Cameron Richardson

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Sometimes it takes a little bit of momentum to unlock success in the Cup Series, and that’s what Todd Gilliland has found entering Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Dubbed the “Toddfather” over recent years, Gilliland is still going through growing pains in his fifth full-time season at Front Row Motorsports.

DNFs at Daytona and EchoPark Speedway to start 2026 were the exact opposite of what the 25-year-old driver needed to be within the mix of possibly contending for a position in The Chase, but a recent top 10 at Bristol and a 17th-place run last Sunday at Kansas could spark a big swing for the No. 34 Ford team.

RELATED: Gilliland’s driver page | Talladega starting lineup

“It is fun,” Gilliland said. “Man, I definitely wish that we could start off a little bit more competitively. A lot of that starts with qualifying better. It really sets yourself up for the first stage or so. It is super nice to see some execution after that from us. I think Bristol, it was awesome to see as soon as the groove moved up to the top, we were really fast and executed flawlessly from there.”

Gilliland hasn’t started better than 17th (Circuit of The Americas) this season, and sitting 23rd in points doesn’t help his situation when it comes to maximizing Saturday practice and qualifying sessions on a weekly basis.

With no practice taking place on superspeedways and qualifying canceled for Sunday’s 188-lapper, the whole 40-car Cup field will start on an even playing field, and Talladega is arguably Gilliland’s best track. According to NASCAR Insights, he owns the second-best average finish in the Gen 7 era at Talladega (13.13) and returns to the 2.66-mile behemoth where he finished runner-up in the fall.

“A lot of it is a little bit of luck,” Gilliland said. “But also here, I feel like there’s just so much more room that you can really be looking ahead and get yourself out of a little bit of trouble if you see something happening, but I’d still say 95% of it still is being in the right place at the right time.

“I feel like last year in the fall was my best chance at getting a win at one of these places. Just how the last stage played out, we had good track position. Caution came out and we were on the front row for that last run where a lot of these times at these races, we’ve seen just the front two rows just kind of go back and forth. So I feel like it was a great spot. Ended up being in the third lane and just a much different race than what we’ve seen. Overall, I feel like we executed that well. So I feel like we’re trying to build off that and put ourselves in the same position this year.”

2025 talladega fall finish
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Like many, when it comes to managing the updated stage lengths that include a 98-lap opening segment, Gilliland said the No. 34 team is still on the fence about what’s going to be the best course of action Sunday afternoon.

“It’s just going to be interesting to see kind of what these guys come up with, and what your teammates want to do — what your manufacturer guys want to do,” Gilliland said. “I think you can see just manufacturers split in general, of what they are going to do and stick to it. We’ve seen that with, I think, Toyotas here in the past were going to short pit it and they were making good time, but, obviously, wrecked. That’s kind of the risk of doing that as well, but it’ll be super interesting to see for sure.”

Slowly but surely, Gilliland is crawling out of the hole that kicked off an important 2026 campaign, and with Front Row and his success on superspeedways, Sunday could be a special one for the group.

“All you can do is keep fighting, and these races are long enough that if you find some speed, you can usually get yourself out of a little bit of trouble,” Gilliland said. “I’m really happy with my road-crew guys, my crew chief, all those guys. I feel like we’re all closer than ever in our second year together and all that. So definitely feel good, and I love the guys I got behind me.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — So many unknowns tend to arise in the course of 500 miles at Talladega Superspeedway, from field-thinning wrecks to strategy sidesteps to the occasional surprise winner. For this Sunday’s go-around, the shroud of uncertainty hits a little differently for NASCAR Cup Series teams and their crew chiefs.

A shake-up of the stage lengths has tilted the strategy table for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), throwing a question mark into the equation for the first of two Cup Series stops this season at the 2.66-mile track. As is always the case, navigating the aerodynamic draft will be key for the 40-car field, but so will devising the best game plan for a new-look race, keeping in mind the emphasis on manufacturer teamwork and solidarity here.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Talladega

Previous Talladega events featured stage breaks that split the race roughly into thirds. In both races last year, Stage 1 ended at Lap 60, Stage 2 at Lap 120 and the final stage ran to the full distance of 188 laps. Sunday’s event, however, will go 98 laps before the first stage intermission, with two stages of 45 laps each to round it out.

NASCAR competition officials took the measure in an effort to stem the fuel-saving style of racing at a high-banked superspeedway designed for flat-out driving, setting up the likelihood of full-throttle action without the need to pit in Sunday’s second half. But the shift has also introduced new wrinkles to how teams might handle pit stops — how many and when?

“The way the stages are set up, the first stage has put in a potentially new style of fuel saving that we haven’t really seen before, but it really depends on what the masses do,” said Luke Lambert, crew chief for Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. “It’s created some options for all the teams, so it’ll be interesting to see how people play it. The length of that first stage forces the teams to have more options than we typically have, which means that it’s going to be even more important that you know what the people you plan to work with are doing, and guys can commit. So I expect it to be a little bit more dynamic, though, just once people start showing their hand and seeing what others are doing.”

Some of those options include flipping the stage, a commonplace tactic for road-course events. Pitting early before a stage’s end can place teams up front when the rest of the field hits pit road during the break, but for teams hungry to make up deficits in the points, a better stage finish and the chance to gain ground in the standings may take priority.

“I think it’s new, right? It’s different,” said Richard Boswell, crew chief for Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “I think there’s multiple different strategies that you can play, whether or not you’re going to one-stop it or two-stop it and try to short the stage. But for me, it’s really just about, we need to try and stack some points up, and if we can get points in the stages, then we’re going to. If we can’t, then we’re going to try and position ourselves like we would for a road course and short it, and try and start the next stage toward the front. So it’s going to be unique. I think we were talking about it this week, like, what do we think? Are guys going to run it like a road course? Are they going to run it out to try and score stage points? 50% think it’s this way, and 50% think it’s this way, so I think it could be very, very split.”

MORE: Cup Series standings | Weekend schedule: Talladega

The length of the opening stage creates an interesting proposition for teams opting for a two-stop or one-stop plan for the opening 98-lap portion. Matt McCall, Spire’s Cup Series competition director, said those options will mostly be predicated on how teams attack Stage 1. A hard-running lead pack that breaks out to a quick early tempo would hurt the more fuel-conscious teams’ hopes of a one-stop stage, but the chance of a race-altering caution period early on could also force audibles across the board.

“The opportunity is there for one stop, for sure,” McCall said. “I really think it dictates on how the pace of the race starts, and which manufacturer is up front will probably dictate how that plays out. I think there’ll probably be a little cat-and-mouse to figure that out within the first five or 10 laps, but there is opportunity for that to happen. I think it’s probably a little bit less, but also well aware if a caution falls in the middle of it, that’ll change everything.”

One thing that’s unlikely to change is the reliance on manufacturer teamwork. Automakers tend to pit together in groups at Talladega to keep their aerodynamic-draft alignment intact; the differences in fuel economy and pit-road execution are where the running order can be jumbled up.

Boswell says the alterations to the stage-length procedures shouldn’t have a dramatic impact on how manufacturers team up.

“I think it’s more of the same,” Boswell said. “Most of the time, the manufacturers, they pit together one because they’re the same manufacturers, but their fuel economy is the same as well, right? So they know how hard they’re pushing, they’re getting data from their teammates. They know when those guys have to pit, and quite frankly, it’s the best information we have to pit with the best people that we can, so I don’t expect that to change.”

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Track: Talladega Superspeedway
Location: Talladega, Alabama
Track length: 2.66 miles
When: 3 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FOX, HBO Max, FOX One, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 188 laps | 500.08 miles
Stages: 98 | 143 | 188
Sunday’s starting lineup | Cup Series pit stall assignments

How many options do drivers have for long Stage 1 on Sunday?

TALLADEGA, Ala. — In a twist for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega, the opening stage will be the longest of the 500-mile event.

Stage 1 will make up more than half the race, consisting of 98 laps that will open the door for a myriad of strategy options when it comes to pitting for fuel.

Recent events at Daytona and Talladega have seen the field defer to a hive-mind mentality of fuel saving while running in a tight-knit pack around the superspeedways. However, this weekend could see a different pace to the choreography and three-time Talladega winner Joey Logano was quite bullish about the multiple scenarios that could take place with the new race layout.

“A, B, C, D and E. That’s where we’re at at the moment,” Logano said of Sunday’s strategy playbook. “I’m looking forward to it. “I think Stage 1 is going to be — I hope it goes green because I want to see it play out. Everybody’s a different kind of race fan, right? Some people want to see the wide-open the whole time and draft. But I mean, this race, you’re gonna get a little bit of both. The two- versus one-stop (strategy). I mean, that’s a real discussion and a real decision everyone has to make. And what’s better? I don’t know if there’s a clear answer. You can’t do it on your own, right? So everyone getting on the same page, it’s very challenging, but I think it’s kind of fun.”

With an estimated fuel window around 45 laps, it will require some serious fuel saving to try to attempt to complete Stage 1 on one pit stop if there isn’t a caution or two early on.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe described a “cat-and-mouse game,” where those toward the rear of the field could risk the one stop versus those racing toward the front.

“It’s only the guys in the back that can really do the max save to do the one-stop thing,” Briscoe said. “That’s where it’s hard because this car, even when the whole field is going hard, the guys in the back can just naturally still save more and kind of keep up. I think there’s going to be somebody that gambles the one-stop thing. Obviously, you have to have a couple guys do it with you. But if it works out, you could really screw the field because you could lap them essentially depending on how the pace works out.”

MORE: Weekend schedule, TV info | At-track photos

One of the keys to success at Talladega is whether the active or reactive decision-making will make the difference in gaining the track position for the push to the Stage 1 finish and the subsequent segments, where a fuel stop is not expected due to Stage 2 and the final stage likely falling around 40 laps apiece.

Bubba Wallace, who scored his groundbreaking first-career Cup Series win at Talladega in the fall of 2021, has been vocal on not wanting to do the saving-fuel strategy and believes there will be a bit more “freedom” for the drivers to go all-out most of Sunday.

“At the end of the day, you put yourself in the best spot possible to capitalize on stage points and obviously the race win at the end,” Wallace said. “With the adjustments to stage lengths, it changes up our strategy a little bit, but I think it allows us to control our own destiny, which is kind of what we want. I am not the one to follow orders when it’s saving and doing all this stuff. I just want to go, but I understand the big picture. We gotta keep some fuel in the tank so that’s still gonna be the name of the game, but we’ll see.”

MORE: Sunday Setup

In the details …

A dozen active NASCAR Cup Series drivers have won at Talladega, but only seven have visited the track’s Victory Lane multiple times. Brad Keselowski leads the charge with six victories, tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for the second-most all-time. In the midst of a 68-race winless streak, the RFK Racing co-owner and driver is looking for a seventh Talladega win that would put him behind only Dale Earnhardt (10) in total ‘Dega triumphs.

Here are the active drivers who join Keselowski as multi-time Talladega winners:

DriversWins
Brad Keselowski6
Joey Logano3
Ryan Blaney3
Kyle Busch2
Denny Hamlin2
Chase Elliott2
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.2

Speed reads

Race-day essentials:

• Talladega hub: Key information, pit-stall assignments, results | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Dip into ‘Dega looks ahead of Cup, O’Reilly doubleheader | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: Officials detail in-race communications with teams | Listen now
• Reddick’s run: Where does Tyler Reddick go from here in historic stretch? | Neil Paine’s analysis
• Power Rankings: Cup Series’ top 20 drivers after Kansas | This week’s ranks
• NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault from Talladega | Watch now

Contributing: Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR.com