This NASCAR Cup Series season has been doted by dazzling endings all year long, and Sunday’s Round of 12 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway also delivered.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. surged to the win in a three-wide photo finish by just 0.006 seconds over Brad Keselowski, with William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet third, just 0.027 seconds shy of Stenhouse. The dramatic visual of 13 cars flashing across the finish line within half a second of the leader was thrilling and exhilarating, just how any Talladega charge to the checkers should.
And yet that wasn’t even the closest finish this season. It wasn’t the first photo finish of the year. Heck, it wasn’t even the first three-wide photo finish this year. Sunday’s Stenhouse storm to Victory Lane marked the third-closest finish of 2024, behind Kyle Larson’s 0.001-second shocker over Chris Buescher at Kansas Speedway (the closest finish in Cup Series history) and Daniel Suárez’s triple-barrel thriller at Atlanta, besting Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Kyle Busch by 0.007 seconds.
Those three margins of victory are within the eight closest finishes in Cup history, all within a span of 30 races. How lucky we are to bear witness to some of the most exciting dashes to the stripe in the sport’s 76-year history.
On Sunday evening, that exhilaration was all over the face of Stenhouse, who grew up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, some 300 miles northwest of Talladega.
“Obviously like with the Atlanta race earlier in the year (and) the first Kansas, you know, my spotter Tab (Boyd) was pumped as soon as we crossed the line,” Stenhouse said. “I’m just sitting there waiting to celebrate and make sure. It was way too close for me to call from the seat.
“When the 24 jumped out to the outside, it was like a parachute hit my car. I was just hoping that we would get to the start/finish line before them. It was a drag race at that point. When I got probably to the backstretch, they were pretty confident that we had won, and a big sigh of relief for sure.”
On the other side of it was the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford of Keselowski, whose push from Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson was ultimately not enough to fend off Stenhouse’s No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevy.
“He gave me a good push down the frontstretch,” Keselowski said of Larson. “But the 24 was able to really stick with the 47 there and just needed a tiny bit. It’s a good finish for us. We’ve been knocking on the door of these plate tracks. I hate that we didn’t bust through with a win, but I’m happy to be right there in contention.”
There was a moment exiting Turn 4 where Keselowski was clear high and could have blocked Stenhouse’s lane, but he ultimately decided the bottom lane provided his best shot at the win.
“I knew they were gonna have a really big run and that the 24 was really tight to him and I was just gonna get split,” Keselowski explained. “So I felt like I made the right move, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re outnumbered.
“I just needed a half a foot, I guess. I got a really good push from the 5 down the frontstretch, but just wasn’t quite enough.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Larson exited his No. 5 Chevrolet after 500 miles at Talladega Superspeedway with a beaming smile. He wasn’t in Victory Lane with a horseshoe-shaped wreath of fresh flowers around his neck, but shaking off a handful of daunting speedway streaks with a clean top-five finish was satisfaction enough.
Larson placed fourth in Sunday’s YellaWood 500, avoiding the day’s biggest crash and strengthening his hold on positive ground in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at what’s been one of his most challenging tracks. The result also broke the Cup Series’ longest string of finishes outside the top 10 where aerodynamic drafting tactics apply, filling a 14-race void.
“I mean, eventually, right, it’s got to work out, and today was just that day,” Larson said. “Especially with that wreck on the backstretch, that easily in the past would be us getting in the middle of that somehow. But we got through it, and yeah, we had a great car.”
Larson exits Talladega and heads to the Round of 12’s elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course with a comfortable 52-point cushion — pocketing a 34-point gain Sunday, relative to the elimination line. He was one of four of the 12 remaining playoff-eligible drivers who scored stage points at both breaks, navigating a treacherous stretch of four-wide racing through Stage 1 and contending with a tough entry to his pit stall near the RFK Racing No. 17 Ford of Chris Buescher.
Larson’s best break came in the massive crash that snarled more than 20 cars, including eight drivers involved in the postseason fight. With Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford crossed up in front of the pack after an aggressive low-line push, Larson joined a host of fellow Chevrolet drivers who sailed through in the top lane with minimal bumps.
When the track cleared for overtime, Larson shook out with a prime spot — second in the bottom lane behind Talladega master Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford. Up top was Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with help from fellow Chevy driver William Byron. Larson stayed glued to Keselowski, who didn’t waver far from his lane and wound up just 0.006 seconds shy of a victorious Stenhouse at the stripe.
“I wanted to give him a good shove down the backstretch, get him clear at some point through (turns) three and four, and then hopefully when the 47 (Stenhouse) had some momentum back, I was hoping that he would move up and they’d either chase each other way up, and I could get a run to the lead and to the start/finish line,” Larson said. “But Brad’s really smart, and yeah, he felt like his best opportunity was probably to stay committed to the bottom lane. It was probably the right decision, because he only … I mean, he didn’t lose by much. So I think he would have had an easier opportunity of losing had he moved up to try and block.”
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers made gains relative to the playoff bubble, but the strides made by William Byron and Larson were the most pronounced. Byron took third place Sunday and rode a stage-point bonanza to maintain his lead in the Cup Series standings, advancing to the next round on points. Larson’s uptick helped offset a 21-point net loss in the previous week’s round-opener at Kansas Speedway, and his plus-52 margin was helped by finishing fourth in Stage 1 and nine in Stage 2 at Talladega.
That execution, combined with a dose of good fortune when the late-race melee broke out, was enough for No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels.
“I think the most realistic take that I can have is that was a very typical day for how it goes for us,” Daniels told NASCAR.com. “You know, we certainly probably have the worst finishing position of anyone in the field when it comes to speedway races, but I would imagine we’re among the best of stage points scored. Typically, we execute well in the stages and we get stage points, so doing that again today was a lot of what we’ve worked really hard to try to put ourselves in position to do. Certainly nice to have all the teammates to work with and have it go the way it did, to score some stage points. Then at the end of the race, typically we’re in that fourth-to-10th bubble where the wreck starts, and most of the time we just don’t make it through. And the difference today is the wreck happened right in front of us, right where we were, and this time we did make it through, so good, heads-up driving by him. Good, good job for the team to stay in it all day, and yeah, thankful to get out of it relatively clean.”
Larson enjoyed a good word of congratulation on pit road afterward from Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon, a six-time Talladega winner during his Hall of Fame driving career. For Larson, it was a more modest Talladega resume-builder, but one worth savoring when chaos reigned around him.
“I mean, it’s only my second top five in like 10 and a half or 11 years of Cup racing, so I’m very happy with it,” Larson said after his 20th Talladega start. “And yeah, like I keep saying, I know we’re capable of doing it. You’ve just got to find some luck along the way, and today we did find that luck, so it’s good.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — On a tumultuous Talladega Sunday when the postseason fortunes of many drivers diverged and scattered, Denny Hamlin may have had the wildest playoff swing in the right direction. The positive movement stemmed from a final pit stop that seemed to be Hamlin’s undoing, then ultimately turned into a fortunate stroke that helped him avoid the race’s largest crash.
Just like Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team drew it up?
“No,” Hamlin said, “but can I say yes and get away with it?”
Hamlin salvaged a 10th-place finish in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, providing him with substantial headway in his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs quest. He exits the middle race of the postseason’s Round of 12 with a 30-point edge over the provisional elimination line for Sunday’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, where just eight championship-eligible drivers will be left from the current dozen.
Hamlin’s day had already hit a hitch with his involvement in a crash at the end of Stage 2, one that damaged his No. 11 Toyota and sidelined Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain. He continued on, but appeared to be sunk after his final stop for service.
Hamlin veered toward pit road with a mix of Toyota and Ford teams on Lap 171 of 195, and his crew changed two tires during the fueling. That decision, said No. 11 crew chief Chris Gabehart, was based on concerns about excessive tire wear from the front-end damage, which altered the steering angle — plus the tires were changed in the time it took to add fuel. When Hamlin resumed at the back of the pack after a slight delay exiting the pits, the ill effects of the earlier damage took hold, and the veteran became unhooked from the aerodynamic draft. He dropped more than 10 seconds behind, falling to 32nd.
“Silence on the radio,” Hamlin said of his feeling in the car. “I just assumed silence is bad news, and I knew that we were dead last of the cars that were running. I think that the damage that we had from the Blaney incident, just it really got magnified once we got to the tail end of the pack, and then we lost the draft because we just weren’t fast enough. So yeah, just … it was looking grim. And then all of a sudden, you know, I had some good luck.”
That windfall of good fortune came at the expense of most of the pack when a colossal 23-car crash erupted well in front of him with four laps remaining, forcing a red flag. “I was a mile and a half away from the wreck when it happened,” said Hamlin, who tiptoed by the melee at the end of the backstretch.
Hamlin moved up 20 spots in the exchange after the stoppage. Those gains, combined with other playoff contenders falling out of the race, moved Hamlin from minus-17 relative to the running elimination line before the crash to a plus-27 position before the final restart.
Two-thirds of the remaining playoff-eligible drivers placed outside of the top 15 once the checkered flag fell, ending a chaotic day at one of the circuit’s most feared maelstroms. Hamlin wasn’t among those unfortunate eight, notching his third consecutive top-10 result.
“I feel happy about it,” Hamlin said. “I mean, ultimately, if you would have said I’d be where I’m at, I would have certainly took it before this race happened. So I think we’re very fortunate today.”
Called the most unpredictable track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Talladega Superspeedway didn’t disappoint, providing late drama in the form of the “Big One” with five laps to go that shuffled the field and had huge playoff implications. We’ll be talking about the fallout from this version of the YellaWood 500 for a while, but for now, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from just another wild afternoon at the famed 2.66-mile superspeedway.
WINNER
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made it two wins in a row for non-playoff drivers as the JTG Daugherty Racing superspeedway ace held off Brad Keselowski in a photo finish for the victory by 0.006 seconds. The driver who just turned 37 on Wednesday recorded his fourth win in the NASCAR Cup Series — all on superspeedways — and his first since the 2023 Daytona 500.
Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. They are not known for their superspeedway prowess, but Larson and Bell came home fourth and sixth at Talladega, respectively, bucking their history and putting themselves in safe positions heading to the Charlotte Roval. Bell sits 57 points above the elimination line while Larson is 52 up. And if you thought this might be the chance to knock out a couple of championship contenders, well, think again.
Denny Hamlin. The No. 11 team appeared to be cooked after taking two tires on a late pit stop and losing contact with the draft, but when the “Big One” happened late, that strategy call actually kept Hamlin out of harm’s way. It probably wasn’t the way crew chief Chris Gabehart drew it up, but Hamlin now sits 30 points above the elimination line heading to Charlotte.
WHO’S NOT?
Austin Cindric. He was five laps away from possibly getting a win and advancing to the Round of 8, but Cindric got too far out in front of the pack, which surged toward him and ultimately led to his spin on the backstretch that set off the “Big One.” Now, Cindric remains mired 29 points below the elimination line and likely needs a win at the Charlotte Roval in order to advance.
Daniel Suárez. His day started with NASCAR penalizing the No. 99 team for unapproved adjustments to the roof area and that meant starting from the rear, performing a pass-through penalty and going without car chief Eddie D’Hondt Jr., who was ejected. Then, Suárez spun and had to come to pit road in Stage 1 and finished the day involved in the “Big One.” Not quite what the superspeedway winner earlier this year at Atlanta might have envisioned as he’s 20 points below the elimination line.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric looked to be on the cusp of a playoff-defining moment.
The No. 2 Team Penske Ford, fresh off a strong Stage 1 finish and an even better Stage 2 result, was leading the inside row, spearheaded by a cavalcade of Fords. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with a caravan of Chevrolets behind, led the way up top.
For Cindric, the math was straightforward. A victory would net the 26-year-old two Cup wins on the season and additionally clinch a Round of 8 berth. Simple enough. However, a bump from behind by Brad Keselowski eventually culminated in Cindric wrecking out and collecting 23 cars in what amounted to a playoff-shifting moment in the 2024 postseason.
“I just got turned at the front of the field. Unfortunately, that’s how Daytona ended for us and I think what that says is we’ve got really fast race cars and great execution,” said Cindric, who finished 32nd. “As the leader, I was trying to be as predictable as possible as far as taking pushes and it’s just a real shame. I don’t really feel like doing a whole lot of complaining about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t really matter. It puts us in a must-win situation for the Charlotte road course. We’ve brought some exceptionally fast race cars every single race of the playoffs and I cannot understate how proud I am of my race team and we’ll have to bring another one next week.”
“Everyone just gets more aggressive at the end of the races,” added his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who finished 33rd. “The 2 (Cindric) got out there a little bit more than what he had been and the 21 (Harrison Burton) gave me a shove and transferred that to the 6 (Brad Keselowski). You can’t see what’s in front of you from there and he got to the 2 with a fair amount of steam there. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s not Brad’s fault. It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just the product of the racing that we’ve got. Everyone is getting more and more aggressive as the laps wind down and it happens. It happens a lot.”
Eight of the 12 playoff drivers were involved in the wreck, with Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell the only postseason drivers to evade the incident.
The shockwave could best be analyzed when viewing the playoff grid before and after the incident. Here is how the playoff standings looked before the multicar wreck and once the checkered flag waved in NASCAR Overtime that saw Stenhouse Jr. triumph in photo-finish fashion:
DRIVER
PRE-WRECK
POST-WRECK
Austin Cindric
WIN
-29
William Byron
+51
CLINCHED
Kyle Larson
+28
+52
Christopher Bell
+24
+57
Chase Elliott
+17
+13
Joey Logano
+9
-13
Alex Bowman
+6
+26
Ryan Blaney
+5
+25
Tyler Reddick
-5
+14
Denny Hamlin
-17
+30
Chase Briscoe
-23
-32
Daniel Suárez
-42
-20
The swings, in other words, were massive. Instead of clinching a playoff berth, Cindric concludes Talladega 29 points below the elimination line … coincidentally, the same amount under the line he was entering Talladega.
A ninth-place finish in Stage 1 coupled with a Stage 2 victory certainly helps matters for the No. 2 camp, and Cindric was sure to provide glowing reports leading up to the caution.
“I give us an A-plus on the day,” Cindric said. “One of the fastest cars in the field and got a stage win, points in both stages and came out in front of the field on the last pit cycle. I cannot ask for any more on a track like this, where there’s so many variables. Proud of my team for the effort.”
Logano, who was running behind Keselowski at the time of the wreck, came into Talladega four points to the good. Before the wreck, Logano was nine points above the elimination line. His involvement in the incident resulted in a 22-point swing that leaves the 34-year-old Connecticut native nine points below the elimination line and the first driver outside the eight-driver postseason grid heading into an elimination race.
The wreck, however, might’ve been a benefit for their teammate in Ryan Blaney, the defending series champion who wrecked out on Stage 2 following contact with Alex Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“I have no idea,” Blaney said after exiting the race when asked about his playoff positioning heading to Charlotte. “I don’t have good hope right now, to be honest with you. We didn’t get very good stage points, and obviously, we’re last, so we’ll just see where it is at the end of it.”
However, what looked to be a disastrous ending to what started as a strong day for the No. 12 was eventually salvaged following the carnage; Blaney was plus-five before the wreck and ended the race 25 points to the good, sixth in the playoff standings.
Plenty other playoff drivers saw their fortunes change. Hamlin, who battled drafting issues through the race’s early stages, lost the pack after green-flag pit stops and eventually finished the race in 10th, vaulted six spots following the wreck compared to before it. His JGR teammate Bell additionally swung from fourth in playoff positioning to second, behind Byron, who clinched a Round of 8 berth following the race’s conclusion.
“Yeah, I’m excited about the points standings,” Bell said. “We came out of here as good as we ever have, so that’s awesome. Hopefully, we can have a (good) day next week at the Roval. I think we’re going to have pace, and we can open up the strategy a little to hopefully race for the win.”
No matter how or where you spin it, there were playoff ramifications aplenty. That’s Talladega for you, and a track known to bring chaos certainly brought it Sunday.
And who knows? With Charlotte’s new road-course layout, more chaos could be on the way when the Cup circuit hits the twists and turns next Sunday in the Round of 12 finale (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Whatever the case, Talladega has come and gone, and with it came plenty of shockwaves in the playoff picture. Chalk it up as another playoff-defining moment.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off the field in overtime to claim the victory in a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway — edging Brad Keselowski and William Byron by a mere 0.006-second in a thrilling three-wide finish.
That heart-stopping finish was indicative of the afternoon of competition at the 2.66-mile behemoth — which once again lived up to its reputation and provided a thrilling playoff race with significant implications for the 12 championship contenders.
A massive 23-car accident with five laps remaining brought out a red flag and stopped the race for nearly 10 minutes. The incident affected eight of the 12 playoff cars in varying degrees. There is only one more race remaining in this round to settle which eight drivers advance to the next round of championship competition.
Stenhouse, the 36-year-old Mississippi native who is not playoff-eligible, hoisted his fourth career trophy — all coming at superspeedway tracks — and first since winning the 2023 Daytona 500. His No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet led 19 of the 195 laps, including the all-important last one after a side-to-battle with six-time Talladega winner Keselowski and this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron.
This marks the third time in the five playoff races that a non-playoff driver has hoisted the race trophy.
“Felt really good, we had our Chevy teammates behind us and I was hoping Kyle [Busch] wouldn’t push the six [Keselowski] that hard, I knew the 24 was going to try to get to the line,” said Stenhouse, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in 2017.
“Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in and obviously we haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season, a lot of hard work this season trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew this track is one of ours to come get it.”
The finish was set up after the vast incident that took out several front-running cars and affected all but four playoff drivers. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was leading the race — having exchanged the top spot multiple times with Stenhouse in the closing 20 laps.
With five laps remaining, Cindric’s leading No. 2 Ford was hit from behind on the backstretch by Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, triggering an accordion-style accident from three rows behind the leader. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford struck Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford, pushing Keselowski’s car forward and into Cindric.
The aftermath collected 23 cars in all, completely sidelining playoff drivers Cindric, who was credited with a 32nd-place finish, his Penske teammate Logano (33rd), and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (30th).
“Obviously incredibly frustrated,” Cindric said. “Just really proud of my team and the full execution of the day. We got that stage win [second stage] and put ourselves at the front of that green flag pit cycle and had another shot [to win].
“I don’t feel like complaining right now. I’m too pissed off and it won’t do anything. But proud of the team. We’ve brought really fast race cars to every single race of the playoffs and we’re going to have to bring another one next week and I need to go out and do my job.”
His Penske teammate Logano, who was similarly frustrated, said there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.
“I don’t think we could have done anything much different,” the two-time series champion Logano said. “We had the bottom working fairly well and by the time we got off [turn] two, the push from the 21 [Burton] that transferred to the six (Keselowski) that transferred to the 2 [Cindric] just at a bad angle. And off he went.”
Other playoff drivers affected in the accident included, perennial Talladega race favorite Chase Elliott, who finished 29th after pitting for repairs following the accident.
Regular season champion Tyler Reddick was also in the accident and rallied to finish 20th. Alex Bowman, who was involved in two accidents on the day, finished 16th.
Defending race winner and reigning champion Ryan Blaney was on pace for solid points day until a push from the No. 48 of Bowman sent the No. 12 Ford out of shape and wrecking into Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano on the final lap of Stage 2, ending Blaney’s day and scored with a 39th-place finish in a 40-car field.
On the up-side, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished fourth, tying his best-ever Talladega finish — only his second top-five at the track in 20 races. Non-playoff driver Erik Jones rounded out the top five.
Another playoff competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell was sixth, followed by Justin Haley — in his second 2024 race for Spire Motorsports. Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Bell’s fellow playoff driver and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin completed the top 10.
With Byron’s finish, he becomes the first and only playoff contender to secure a position in the next eight-race round. Bell is next in the standings, holding a 57-point advantage on the provisional elimination line, followed by Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Blaney, Reddick and Elliott.
Elliott is 13 points ahead of Logano going into next week’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, where the playoff field will shrink down from 12 to eight drivers. Daniel Suárez, who rallied to a 26th-place finish despite spending most of the race recovering from a pre-race penalty for equipment violations, is now 20 points behind Elliott for that final transfer position.
Cindric and Briscoe are 29 and 32 points back, respectively.
The final race of the Round of 12 is next Sunday, the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). AJ Allmendinger is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming Stenhouse as the race winner. No vehicles will be taken back to NASCAR’s R&D Center.
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney found trouble in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race, crashing out at the end of Stage 2 at Talladega Superspeedway — the same track that launched his run to the championship in 2023.
Blaney was sent around after a push from Alex Bowman in the tri-oval, causing the No. 12 to spin and hit the SAFER barrier, collecting Ross Chastain in the process. Denny Hamlin and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano also were among those involved, but only Chastain joined Blaney as unable to continue.
Blaney was heard on the race scanner saying: “Go ahead and thank the 48 (Bowman) for me, I appreciate it.”
“I don’t think it was much of a push. More of him driving through me,” Blaney told NBC Sports after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “We just got wrecked once again by somebody else and just ended our day, which stinks and we have to fight back next week.”
Blaney had been running at the front of the field alongside teammate Austin Cindric. The field was four-wide in multiple instances of the opening stages, and did so without incident. Coming to the end of Stage 2, Blaney was shuffled out of his lane as cars went three-wide, leading to the wreck.
“I thought Austin and I worked well together,” Blaney said. “I had a feeling that the 8 (of Kyle Busch) would pull out and help Chevy. He wasn’t gonna help me, obviously, so we got in the middle. I didn’t think it was terrible. We were probably still gonna run fifth or sixth, and then the 48 just drove straight through me in the tri-oval. He just wrecked the (expletive) out of me. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Blaney was recorded with a 39th-place finish in a 40-car field. He leaves Talladega 25 markers clear of the elimination line after a 23-car wreck with five laps to go collected several playoff contenders. William Byron was the only driver to advance to Round of 8 on points after non-playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race.
Sunday’s race was the second of three events in the Round of 12, and the postseason field will be trimmed down to eight championship-eligible drivers after next weekend’s round finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — The No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driven by Daniel Suárez will start at the rear in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) after NASCAR officials found an unapproved adjustment to the roof area.
Suárez, one of 12 remaining NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers, will also serve a pass-through penalty after the green flag. Eddie D’Hondt Jr., the No. 99 car chief, was ejected from the contest.
Suárez’s No. 99 Chevy initially earned the 31st starting spot after Saturday’s qualifying at the 2.66-mile facility. Suárez enters the second of three Round of 12 races 14 points below the elimination line. In 15 career Cup races at Talladega, Suárez has four top-10 finishes.
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Christopher Bell will also start at the rear of the field after an unapproved adjustment that came from a missing bolt in the rear window. Bell initially qualified 21st and entered Talladega 28 points above the elimination line.
CONCORD, N.C. – WeatherTech, a company with a long history in motorsports and a familiar brand to race fans, will partner with two of the most visible drivers and teams in NASCAR for the 2025 season.
Between Shane van Gisbergen in the Cup Series and Connor Zilisch in the Xfinity Series, WeatherTech will be the featured sponsor in 36 NASCAR races in 2025.
“When I wanted to spread our WeatherTech racing wings and get involved in NASCAR racing, our research for the best team to partner with came down to Trackhouse because we share the common values of excellence and integrity, along with their ingrained mantra of working hard to succeed and win,” said WeatherTech founder David MacNeil. “At WeatherTech, we couldn’t be happier with how our first year has unfolded and are looking forward to a successful 2025 with Trackhouse.”
WeatherTech, headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, is a leading manufacturer of premium American-made automotive accessories and home and pet care products. The company has a long history in sports car racing in America and became the IMSA title sponsor in 2016 and extended its agreement through 2030. It also serves as the primary sponsor of van Gisbergen in 2024 during his rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series.
“WeatherTech has been in racing a long time and they understand what it takes to succeed in the marketplace as well as on the race track,” said van Gisbergen, 35, who is a native of Auckland, New Zealand. “In fact, I have raced with (David MacNeil’s son) Cooper MacNeil in IMSA. They have been a huge supporter of mine this year, and I’m looking forward to taking WeatherTech to the Cup Series in 2025. We both know there will be a huge learning curve, but we’re ready for the challenge.”
The No. 88 Weather Tech car that Shane van Gisbergen will drive in 2025.
Van Gisbergen’s story is now familiar to most NASCAR fans. Trackhouse founder and owner Justin Marks convinced van Gisbergen to climb behind the wheel of Trackhouse’s Project 91 Chevrolet at the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023.
Marks created Project 91 in 2022 to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen raced for Project 91 at Watkins Glen International in 2022 and at Circuit of The Americas in 2023.
The NASCAR world took notice of van Gisbergen at Chicago in 2023 when he led nine laps and won the race by 1.259 seconds in overtime, becoming one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start.
Van Gisbergen has raced full-time with Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2024, winning at Portland International Raceway, Sonoma Raceway and the Chicago Street Race. He’s also raced in eight Cup Series races in 2024.
While Trackhouse Racing sought out van Gisbergen south of the equator, it only had to go to nearby Mooresville, North Carolina, to find Zilisch who will race with the perennial championship-contending JR Motorsports organization. JR Motorsports, founded and owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley, has launched the careers of NASCAR stars like William Byron, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and others.
Zilisch has compiled an impressive resume this season that includes winning his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen in August. He’s also won the Rolex 24 in Daytona, the Twelve Hours of Sebring, four ARCA races and a CARS Tour event. He won the pole in his Craftsman Truck Series debut at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas in March.
While he will be a new face in the Xfinity Series in 2025, Zilisch has long been a fan of WeatherTech, stemming from his sports car racing in IMSA.
The No. 88 Weather Tech car that Connor Zilisch will drive in 2025.
“WeatherTech has been part of racing ever since I started,” said Zilisch, who honed his skills on the road courses of Europe and the short tracks of America before joining Trackhouse Racing as a development driver in January. “WeatherTech has played such a significant role in the success of sports car racing in America so I feel honored I can carry their brand to the Xfinity Series. Plus, I love the paint scheme and hope to have it near the front on Saturdays and then watch Shane on Sundays in 2025.”
The No. 88 is a historic number in NASCAR. In the Cup Series, the car number has made the trip to Victory Lane 76 times by legends including Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Donnie Allison, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Buddy Baker and others. In the Xfinity Series, the No. 88 has won 13 times.
Both van Gisbergen and Zilisch hope to add to those numbers in 2025.
NBC Sports’ Nate Ryan gives his fast takes heading into Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio):
Control seems counterintuitive in the random environs of Talladega, where a bobbled wheel or a misjudged gap can clean out two dozen cars in a blink.
Consider how relatively capricious recent results have seemed at the 2.66-mile oval, especially since the 2022 debut of the Next Gen car.
There has been no repeat winner in the past eight races, tying the longest streak of different winners at Talladega (per Racing Insights). In the past five races, the polesitter has a best finish of 17th, and it’s been four years since a race winner started higher than 10th. The past three races have featured a Toyota, a Ford and a Chevrolet in Victory Lane.
But while the action might seem as arbitrary as at any point in the track’s 55-year history, the Next Gen has added a wrinkle of autonomy at Talladega.
As the single-lug nut era made it possible to change four tires in less time than to top off a gas tank, the strategic focus shifted to fuel economy at superspeedways, with a goal of winning every pit cycle by gaining positions on a shorter stop.
Tyler Reddick, who won the April 20 race at Talladega, said a byproduct of those tactics has been enhanced maneuverability from a varying degree of throttle usage throughout the field.
Going forward or backward is as easy as modulating the accelerator.
“I don’t love the thought of all the fuel saving,” Reddick said. “But as a driver, it is completely in your hands in the first half of those stages. You’re able to go right to the back. You’re able to go right to the front. It’s totally in your control.
“If we were all saving zero fuel, we would just run side by side, two by two for the entire race, and I don’t think we’d see a lot of movement. So I don’t love running half throttle, but it’s in the driver and team’s hands to make the most of it and use some sort of strategy to get to the front.”
Playoff drivers such as Reddick will want to be at the front at the end of the first two stages Sunday. With Ross Chastain having won at Kansas Speedway, no one has locked into the third round, and Reddick was among only three playoff drivers who finished in the top 10 in April at Talladega (the others were Alex Bowman in fifth and William Byron in seventh — also the top two finishers in this year’s Daytona 500).
After Denny Hamlin illustrated the risk of eschewing stage points in favor of hanging back at Atlanta Motor Speedway, sandbagging would seem highly unlikely Sunday for any championship contender — particularly when others’ emphasis on fuel conservation will open avenues to the front.
Two more reasons it would be stunning to see Hamlin revisit his Atlanta plan: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing has yet to win on a drafting track with the Next Gen and 2) JGR’s foursome posted a best finish of 11th the last time at Talladega.
With only two top 10s in nine starts at Talladega (despite two pole positions), JGR’s Christopher Bell said biding time would be unappealing Sunday.
“You just never know how it’s going to go,” Bell said. “Normally I would say just finishing the race is most important, but the last couple times the fall Talladega race hasn’t really had much crashing, and if that’s the case, you’re not going to score very many points.”
An ill-timed slump:
Though he leads the series with 19 top 10s, Reddick has only two in the past six races, and the regular-season champion’s No. 45 Toyota team has been unable to identify why his performance has suffered.
“Definitely concerned,” said Reddick, who qualified fourth at Kansas but finished 25th because of erratic handling. “What got us to winning the Regular Season Championship is car performance. We’ve just been lacking performance and a good handling car, so yeah, at this point, it’s definitely a head-scratcher. Coming off of the regular season. I felt no emphasis to change what I was doing. I don’t think anyone on this team has, either. We just haven’t been putting together good races, haven’t had speed and haven’t been able to get stage points. It’s been tough.”
The 23XI Racing star, who is four points below the elimination line, could be just the latest example of why staying on top in NASCAR is so tricky. There’s a long history of points leaders who understandably are reluctant to adjust their setups while running well — making them prime targets for being leap-frogged by rivals who hit on a new advantage through their willingness to try anything in the hunt for more speed.
Your drafting darling
In five drafting races this season, Austin Cindric has two top 10s but somehow leads the series in points (181) and laps led (168) across Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. The Team Penske driver has mastered stage racing at those tracks with two wins and three seconds.
“The one thing that we’ve had at all of those tracks is speed,” said Cindric, who was 23rd at Talladega in April but earned 33 points with a first and second in the stages. “That certainly makes my job easier.”
His team deserves credit for strategic execution (a Penske hallmark) and qualifying (the No. 2 Ford has consecutive top-10 starts at the track where car preparation means everything in the speed of a solitary lap).
But since winning the 2022 Daytona 500, Cindric has shown a calculating shrewdness for positioning and timing on drafting tracks. He said that often comes down to realizing the long-term benefit of staying put and consequently resisting the urge to make a pass at the expense of losing drafting help.
“It’s just kind of recognizing what role do you have within the pack,” he said. “You don’t necessarily have as many options to move forward. Are you able to advance yourself forward or the row? I think knowing your role and where you exist on track is probably more important than it has ever been.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
House of horrors
Mired in a stretch of 14 consecutive races without a top 10 on drafting tracks (the longest in Cup, per Racing Insights), Kyle Larson faces the daunting prospect of rebounding from his 30th at Kansas.
Talladega is statistically the worst track on the schedule for the 2021 Cup Series champion, whose average finish is 22.84. Zooming out gets even worse for Larson, who has one top 10 in his past 20 drafting races while failing to finish 11 times.
But he has stayed upbeat about his chances Sunday — and the case for optimism actually is well-founded. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has scored points in both stages of three of the past five races at Talladega and has led in four of the past six. His teammates will bring the experience of two Talladega wins and a 1-2 finish at this year’s Daytona 500.
That’s why a Larson victory at Talladega would feel more like a breakthrough than a bolt from the blue.
No backing down
Kyle Busch immediately absolved Chase Briscoe of any fault for the spin at Kansas that ensured the two-time Cup Series champion’s winless streak would be extended to 51 races.
But even a lingering sense of blame would have had little impact on Briscoe, whose penchant for moving on from mistakes is as strong as any young driver in Cup. Busch’s streak of 19 consecutive seasons with a victory remains intact in part because Briscoe took out Reddick on the last lap of the Bristol Dirt Race in 2022 — a move the Stewart-Haas Racing driver has said he would have made again.
Rarely burdened by inhibitions, Briscoe said “having a short memory” again will be the mantra of his go-for-broke approach at Talladega.
“I’ve went through different kind of spectrums of superspeedway racing from conservative to super aggressive,” he said. “Every time I’ve went the conservative route, I crash. So I’m just going with the mindset of being aggressive and trying to lead every lap and make every move I can and hopefully stay out of the chaos.”
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is the host of the NASCAR on NBC Podcast and also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
