TALLADEGA, Ala. — Any hard-luck feelings among the back half of the top five in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway were drowned out by hugs up and down that section of pit road. Promising rookie Jesse Love from the speedway powerhouse of Richard Childress Racing wound up in Victory Lane, but the celebration from multiple underdogs was no less vibrant.
Anthony Alfredo, Leland Honeyman Jr. and Brennan Poole — third through fifth place in that order — emerged to find welcoming embrace by their delighted crew, family and friends after Saturday’s rough-and-tumble Ag-Pro 300. Alfredo matched a career-best finish from nearly four years ago, Honeyman established a new high-water mark for his Xfinity career just 17 starts in, and Poole snagged his first top five in a year.
Ryan Sieg also rounded out the cheers for the upset specials with an eventful 17th-place result that claimed the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize as the top finishing driver among the eligible quartet. His payday was a boost for his family-owned team, helping to slightly soften the sting from an ultra-narrow loss by 0.002 seconds to Sam Mayer last week at Texas Motor Speedway.
Love had the strongest car in the field once RCR teammate Austin Hill was eliminated by a crash that set up a string of overtime attempts. But his challenges came from a host of punchers making the most of their survival instincts and their spots near the front of the field.
Alfredo was tops among them across the start/finish line, recovering with remarkable moxie after his No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet sustained significant damage in the multicar crash that snared Hill. The right-front crumpling didn’t keep him from making a veered-out move through the tri-oval on the final lap, forcing the action into a four-wide frenzy.
The third-place result marked Alfredo’s best finish of the season and of his second tour with the Chris Our-owned team.
“That race is the epitome of our season, right?” Alfredo said from pit road. “We just have never given up, even when things aren’t looking so good. We just stay in the fight till the end, and we had another shot to win the race. We were in a perfect position before that accident happened in front of us, but we came back and had another one. So just beyond thankful to be here. Blessed to have the opportunity to do what I love for a living with great people. We’re punching above our weight this year, and we’ll just keep exceeding expectations. That’s what we’re here to do. We want to be a playoff team, we know we can do it and finishes like these certainly help.
“It stinks being that close in a way because of how important a win is, but just the guys we’ve been racing all year, we have to be beyond proud of that.”
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR.com
Honeyman was also beaming after bettering his previous career-best finish, an 11th-place run at Phoenix Raceway earlier this year. His first full national series season coincides with his Young’s Motorsports team’s expansion into the Xfinity Series; the longtime Craftsman Truck Series operation scored its only two wins here at Talladega with Spencer Boyd in 2019 and Tate Fogleman two years later.
“Finishing in the top five for us is very big as a team standpoint,” Honeyman said. “Prize money is more, it helps us get further ahead, and that’s what we want to keep doing is picking off all these top fives and top 10s as we can. Our goal every week is to finish inside the top 20, and I think we exceeded that very much so today.”
Poole seemed to pose the biggest threat to Love’s victory hopes, building momentum with his No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet as the field barreled through Turn 4 for the final time. He actually inched ahead of Love’s No. 2 Chevy in the high groove, but couldn’t keep the pace in the last stretch to the stripe.
Saturday’s outcome was the latest brush with an Xfinity win at Talladega, where the journeyman flirted with victory in a further-review finish in 2016.
“It’s just one of those deals where it’s just so close,” Poole said. “I mean, leading the race off of Turn 4, I feel like this place owes me one. Again, I’ve been so close to winning one of these races, and I want to win one so bad. This year, we’ve had a heck of a year. I mean, we’re running on a quarter of the budget of what most of these teams are, and I know we were 16th in points headed in here this weekend, and we’re really close to being a top-12 car.”
Sieg outlasted fellow Dash 4 Cash qualifiers AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Mayer. The latter two — both JR Motorsports drivers — were eliminated by early crashes, one of which also damaged Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. That left Sieg sitting in a prime spot to pocket the $100,000 bonus, until he scraped the outside retaining wall and made an unscheduled stop for a flat right-front tire with 23 laps left in regulation.
The last caution period finally put his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevy back on the lead lap, and his marching orders from the team over the radio for the final two-lap stint was simple: “Race everyone in front of you.” He ended up two spots ahead of a flagging Allmendinger, which perhaps helped soothe some of the heartache from last week’s photo finish.
“It’s huge for our small team and sponsorship’s hard to come by, and this just makes everything that much easier,” said Sieg, “so hopefully I get some of it.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jesse Love earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday in a typically wild double-overtime finish in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway — crossing the line by a slight 0.141-seconds ahead of Riley Herbst.
In many ways, it was victorious redemption for the 19-year-old Californian, who earlier this season was leading the race in overtime at Atlanta Motor Speedway only to run out of fuel before the checkered flag. Love’s win in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet makes him only the seventh driver to score his maiden win at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.
“Just a great group of guys [on my team] and it’s been such a journey to get to this point,’’ a grinning Love said before thanking a litany of people that helped him in his young career to date.
“I had PTSD flashbacks from Atlanta,’’ Love acknowledged, adding: “I love Talladega. I love the speedway and I love the fans.”
Love certainly earned this first win — starting on the outside of the front row next to his veteran RCR teammate Austin Hill, winning his fourth stage of the season (Stage 1) and leading 28 of the 124 laps. He ran top five for most of the afternoon and when he needed to go on that final restart, he went, jumping to the lead at the overtime green flag and holding off the field when it mattered most.
His RCR teammate Hill, the polesitter, led a race-best 41 laps and was out front with two laps remaining in regulation when he was hit from behind by Parker Kligerman. The incident sent Hill’s car into the wall and ultimately collected nine cars, including many that had been running toward the front much of the afternoon — putting the race into overtime.
On the ensuing overtime restart, Kligerman was eliminated in a four-car crash at the front as various cars started running out of gas. Love lined up on the front row for the final restart among eight drivers racing for their career first wins.
Herbst’s runner-up finish in the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was his best showing of the year. Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo finished third, followed by Young’s Motorsports rookie Leland Honeyman Jr. and Alpha Prime Racing’s Brennan Poole. Alfredo tied his career best mark and Honeyman had a career-best finish.
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed, Alpha Prime Racing’s Caesar Bacarella, Viking Motorsports’s Matt DiBenedetto, Jordan Anderson Racing’s Jeb Burton (the 2023 Talladega winner) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer rounded out the top 10.
There were 34 lead changes among 16 drivers in a typically Talladega afternoon.
Ryan Sieg, who lost to Sam Mayer last week at Texas Motor Speedway in a photo finish by 0.002-seconds, won the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.
An 11-car accident on Lap 65 proved critical to several race frontrunners as well as Dash 4 Cash eligible drivers.
Herbst hit Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy with only two laps left in the opening stage – both vying for a top 10 and some early stage points. It eliminated Allgaier from contention. Mayer was eliminated in a later multi-car crash and that left an intriguing battle between Sieg, who had to make a green flag late race pit stop because of a flat tire and AJ Allmendinger, whose car was damaged in a crash.
Sieg and Allmendinger lined up 19th and 20th — respectively — on the second overtime re-start and Sieg was able to pull away, finishing 17th with Allmendinger 19th.
“This is huge for our team,’’ Sieg said. “It was a rough one. I thought I threw it away, but were lucky enough to get the caution at the end and come back and beat the 16. So it all worked out and is pretty extraordinary for our small team.”
Not only does he win the Dash 4 Cash paycheck, but Sieg will compete against Love, Herbst and Alfredo next week at Dover for the final race of the incentive program.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith, who finished 25th, still holds a 14-point lead over Custer atop the championship standings.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the 1-mile Dover Motor Speedway next week for Saturday’s BetRivers 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Truex is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Jesse Love as the winner. The Nos. 8 and 81 will be taken to Concord, North Carolina for wind tunnel testing.
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Michael McDowell set the pace in Saturday’s only on-track activity for the NASCAR Cup Series, notching his second pole of the season and of his Cup career. The 39-year-old driver posted a final-round lap of 182.022 mph in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, just ahead of fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric in his Team Penske No. 2 Mustang and third-fastest Todd Gilliland, his Front Row teammate.
The session was an eventful one before it ever fully started, with the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet pulled from the qualifying order after competition officials noticed an unapproved adjustment to the roof-rail section as the car was pushed to the grid. The Cup Series points leader will start last in the 38-car field. | Full Saturday recap
Big story line
Friendly territory for Ford?
The debut of Ford’s new Dark Horse Mustang body this year has come with some unexpected sticker shock, with a bare cupboard in the win column in the season’s early going. The 10th race of the Cup Series campaign — treacherous as it might be — holds some hope for the Blue Oval faithful, who have a roster stocked with some of the most capable superspeedway drivers vying to break through in Sunday’s 500-miler at Talladega.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is the most recent Cup Series winner at the 2.66-mile track where he’s won three times. That triumph snapped a three-race streak here by Chevrolet drivers, but the Ford camp also boasts multi-time Talladega winners in RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski (six wins) and Joey Logano (three) — both adept at navigating the aerodynamic draft at NASCAR’s largest oval.
The emphasis on teamwork across manufacturer lines will be at a premium this weekend as automaker alliances will help the standouts rise in the tightly-woven pack. In the last seven races at drafting tracks, Ford has been a force, leading 965 of 1,452 laps, winning 11 of 14 stages, and claiming 13 of the last 14 front-row starts.
History tells us…
The last seven Cup Series races at Talladega have been won by seven different drivers, so dominance along the order of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s four-in-a-row run through the 2001-03 seasons hasn’t been a trend. Before Blaney’s victory in a Ford here last fall, three consecutive Chevrolet wins briefly gave that automaker the upper hand. Slightly further back in time, Ford had a near-monopoly on the place, with seven straight wins (2015-18) as part of a 10-out-of-12 run of success.
Even further back in the yellowing pages of the history books, Talladega has had a reputation as a one-off kingmaker for stock-car racing underdogs. Richard Brickhouse, Dick Brooks, Lennie Pond, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin Jr., and Phil Parsons scored upsets with the only wins of their Cup Series careers here.
He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…
Erik Jones. The Legacy Motor Club driver ranks a pedestrian 19th in the Cup Series standings, but the optimism for Jones’ first top-five finish — or better — of the season has risen at Talladega, belying his 30-1 opening odds.
Jones has led laps in six of the last seven Talladega races, and he has finished among the top 10 in six of his last eight starts here. Jones’ resume also has a drafting-track victory, his 2018 breakthrough at Daytona during his time with Joe Gibbs Racing. Slightly further down the ledger, pole-sitter McDowell made the betting board as a 40-1 shot on the opening list. | Talladega odds
Speed reads
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Turning Point: Trends from Texas, arriving in Talladega | Read article
• Spotter skillset: Extra emphasis on eyes in the sky for ‘Dega | Read article • Gilliland a good get: Third-year driver carries Talladega momentum | Read article • The Field of 16: Last four in, first four out for Cup Series Playoffs | Latest projections • Looking out for No. 1: Ross Chastain moves past Byron bump | Read article
• Byron’s Texas fallout: No. 24 driver also set to move on after Chastain tangle | Read article • Sieg stays the course: Xfinity regular creates buzz after 0.002-second defeat | Read article
• Dash 4 Cash back in action: Xfinity Series’ four-race initiative continues at ‘Dega | Program overview
• Through the years at Talladega: Take a trip through legendary moments | Photo gallery • NASCAR Classics: Picks to click from our Talladega video archives | Read article
• 36 for 36: NASCAR survivor pool picks for Talladega | Read article
• Fearless prediction: Racing Insights projects Sunday’s final race results | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Lineup pointers for Talladega | Sleepers, drivers to avoid
• Paint Scheme Preview: Springtime designs in bloom at ‘Dega | Pick your favorite • No. 45 Jordan Brand car dazzles: Reddick’s ride among fresh looks | Read article
• Power Rankings: Brad Keselowski rises in updated top-20 list | Latest driver rankings
Fast facts ⏩
Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Two Cup Series drivers share the longest active streak of top-10 finishes at Talladega with three — Ryan Blaney (1st, 2nd, 2nd in the last three races here) and Daniel Suárez (10th, 9th, 8th in that span).
• The leader at the white flag has gone on to win Talladega just once in the last seven Cup Series races here. That happened last fall, when Blaney led the last two laps.
• William Byron holds the current mark for most Cup Series wins at drafting tracks since the Next Gen car’s 2022 debut with three. The most recent came in this year’s Daytona 500.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ross Chastain opened Saturday’s media scrum at Talladega Superspeedway with praise for one former driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and spent the rest of the availability discussing its present occupant.
Chastain spoke of his days idolizing Jeff Gordon, the Hall-of-Fame four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, when asked who his racing idol was growing up. But he had to follow that by noting he has moved forward after last weekend’s race-ending crash with the modern-day No. 24 driven by William Byron at Texas Motor Speedway. The Trackhouse Racing pilot was setting sail for a podium finish in double-overtime before contact from Byron exiting Turn 2 sent Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet into the outside wall, spinning across the track and ultimately into a 32nd-place finish.
A former winner at Talladega, Chastain said Saturday that he and Byron are “buddies” and that the two are putting the incident behind them.
“I don’t have any opinion of how it all happened,” Chastain said. “Nothing I want to talk about.”
Byron said in a Tuesday roundtable he extended a phone call to Chastain, which Chastain has since returned, resulting in a two-minute conversation.
Chastain is no stranger to on-track contact, the glowing example being a yearlong rivalry with Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin that eventually resulted in a Hamlin penalty for intentional contact in 2023. This latest conflict puts the evolution of driver interactions back at the forefront of the conversation, even if Chastain remains unbothered by Byron personally.
“They definitely evolve,” Chastain said of those relationships. “We all are learning each other and remembering things. We’re people. We’re humans. We make mistakes and we make really good calls or really bad calls, and really good decisions or bad decisions. So I don’t think twice about last week or anything.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Of course, just because he’s putting the incident in his rearview mirror doesn’t mean he didn’t have any immediate reactions post-race, where he declined to comment after his evaluation and release from the infield care center.
“Of course in the moment, I was super mad and still am that we got wrecked,” Chastain said. “That’s not how anybody wants it, but as far as moving forward, I don’t lose any sleep over it. I’m in a spot now where I know I’ve got a job and I know I’ve got a lot of races ahead of me, and it’s not going to do me any good to dwell on that.
“So I’ve had a great week and a good week of just getting ready to come to Talladega. I promise you William Byron has not been — this is the most I’ve talked about or thought about him.”
Chastain will start Sunday’s GEICO 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from 32nd position, exactly where he left off a week ago at Texas. Byron will start 13th.
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Ford led qualifying for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with Michael McDowell earning the second pole position of his career Saturday.
McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford made a dramatic run in the final round of qualifying, with a speed of 182.022 mph around the 2.66-mile high banks, just edging fellow Mustang driver Austin Cindric, whose top speed in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was 181.739 mph. It was a dramatic birthday nod for the Ford Mustang, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this week.
Superspeedway racing has been a strong suit for 39-year-old Phoenix native McDowell. He started on the outside of the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 and won his only other pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Sunday will mark his fifth top-10 starting spot of 2024.
“I think we all felt that pressure knowing how strong we were at Daytona and Atlanta to come here to Talladega and repeat and have a really good starting spot,’’ said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner and last year’s Indianapolis Road Course winner.
“The guys put a lot of energy and effort into all the little extra details it takes to get that speed so excited for tomorrow and feel good about what we’ve been able to do this year with our superspeedway program.
“This is a good week for us to get a win,’’ McDowell added with a smile, noting the Ford Mustang anniversary.
Ford, which has yet to secure a trophy in the season’s nine races, certainly stacked Talladega qualifying. McDowell’s teammate Todd Gilliland – who has led the most superspeedway laps this year – was third fastest in the No. 38 Ford, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevy and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Busch is the defending race winner.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota in qualifying and his No. 19 Camry will roll off sixth. Team Penske’s Joey Logano will start seventh in the No. 22 Ford Mustang, followed by Ford teammate Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Chris Buescher, last week’s race winner Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota.
Of note, NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson will be starting last in the 38-car field.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece will start 11th in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford – his best qualifying run, by far, this season. Also of note, Hendrick Motorsports William Byron, a series-best three-race winner this season, will roll off 13th, alongside 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who earned his first career victory here in 2021.
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney – who has three Talladega victories including last Fall in the Playoffs, will start 21st. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, a two-time winner at the track, will start 23rd.
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Talladega Superspeedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Rank
Name
Points
Behind
T-1
Steve Luvender
284
—
T-1
Dustin Albino
284
—
3
Cameron Richardson
235
-49
4
r/NASCAR Community
219
-65
Race 10 of 36: Talladega
A wild race at Texas last week resulted in three top-10 finishes for our pickers and tightened up the points battle. Points leader Steve Luvender ended up with 13 points after his pick, Harrison Burton, finished 28th Sunday, the lowest-earning total on our panel. The r/NASCAR community selected Carson Hocevar, who picked up his best-ever finish (10th) and 27 points — a good call by the “hivemind.” Dustin Albino’s strategic choice of Daniel Suárez netted him 32 points from the No. 99’s fifth-place effort, while Cameron Richardson moved into second place overall after his pick of Brad Keselowski finished second with 40 points.
Now, our pickers face Talladega Superspeedway, a track where truly anything can happen. With our panelists all within 49 points of each other, it’s possible for anyone to leave ‘Dega with the points lead.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 21, Harrison Burton
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 99, Daniel Suárez Points earned last week: 32 (fifth-place finish) Total season points: 201 (fourth place)
Dustin: There has been little to cheer about through the first quarter of the 2024 season for Burton and the No. 21 team. However, he does drive a Ford that is affiliated with Team Penske, an organization that has seen plenty of success at Talladega for more than a decade. And though Atlanta Motor Speedway is a different beast than Talladega, many of the same principles apply. Atlanta is the site of Burton’s only top-25 finish this season, where the No. 21 car placed 11th.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 38, Todd GillilandSteve’s pick last week: No. 21, Harrison Burton Points earned last week: 13 (28th-place finish) Total season points: 250 (first place)
Steve: My points lead is shrinking, and Talladega makes me nervous. But, nonetheless, it’s Todd Time! Todd Gilliland has finished 12th or better in the last three Talladega races, which is no easy feat. And let’s not forget his recent performances on drafting tracks, too, including 16 laps spent pacing the field in the Daytona 500 and 58 laps led the next week at Atlanta.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 51, Justin Haley Cameron’s pick last week: No. 6, Brad Keselowski Points earned last week: 40 (second-place finish) Total season points: 211 (second place)
Cameron: Some would consider this a burn pick for a wild-card track like Talladega, but don’t be fooled, Justin Haley is an absolute unit on superspeedways. Call it luck, but Haley has finished on the lead lap and inside the top 20 in six of his eight Cup starts at Talladega. The No. 51 also found itself up toward the front early in the Final Stage of the Daytona 500 in February. Five of Haley’s eight national series victories have come at superspeedways, and if he has a clean race heading toward the frontstretch on the final lap, expect Haley to be up there battling for the win.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 51, Justin Haleyr/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 77, Carson Hocevar Points earned last week: 27 (10th-place finish) Total season points: 207 (third place)
The r/NASCAR community selected Justin Haley for Talladega in this week’s voting thread. He’s considered a solid underdog pick for Sunday, and Reddit agrees.
u/FridgusDomin8or: “Haley is known as a great plate racer and now he’s in a Ford with a solid alliance with RFK. Rick Ware has run good on these tracks in the past. He’s our guy this week”
u/ProjectMobius: “Has a Ford, at a superspeedway. This is one of his best chances this year, and we have to pick him at some point.”
u/SeattlePassedTheBall: “This is my pick. He was known for being one of the best super speedway racers in Xfinity and this is his best chance to punch above his weight in that car.”
u/Number9Rocks: “I think this is a good track to use for Justin Haley he is a great Superspeedway racer and he has shown a lot of speed in that Rick Ware car this year.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Talladega as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Liquid Death, the healthy beverage platform and one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic brands, is now officially a NASCAR partner. The brand will be on-site this weekend in Talladega to jumpstart the partnership with an interactive display featuring the “Thirst Hearse” and offering fans samples of select iced tea flavors.
As part of a wide-ranging, multi-year agreement that makes Liquid Death the “Official Iced Tea of NASCAR,” fans will see Liquid Death iced teas at select NASCAR-owned race tracks, including social and digital content, on-site experiences, activations and more.
“Liquid Death is a healthy beverage brand that not only produces high-quality iced tea but also looks to bring death to plastic bottles by using humor and entertainment,” said Jeff Wohlschlaeger, NASCAR senior vice president and chief sales officer. “With so many synergies between our companies, this partnership is a perfect fit. We’re thrilled to have them on board.”
Iced tea, one of the company’s newest product lines, saw tremendous growth throughout 2023. Shortly after the line’s launch, Liquid Death’s iced tea now holds the #1 best-seller position in the RTD tea beverage category on Amazon as defined by total retail sales. The brand’s line of low-calorie, low-sugar iced teas contain B vitamins and a microdose of caffeine and comes in five flavors: Green Guillotine, Slaughter Berry, Grim Leafer, Rest in Peach and Dead Billionaire. All cases of iced tea also include limited edition art on the bottom of each case.
“This is our first official iced tea sponsorship, and NASCAR is the ideal home for it,” said Ryan Heuser, Liquid Death’s senior vice president of experiential marketing. “We’re thrilled to be bringing our infinitely recyclable, ice-cold cans of Liquid Death to the extremely passionate NASCAR fanbase. We’ll be carried at select NASCAR tracks, campgrounds and tailgates across the U.S. and can’t wait to kick off our partnership at the iconic Talladega Superspeedway.”
Liquid Death uses comedy and entertainment to promote both sustainability and healthy products. Liquid Death’s social following captures more than 8 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, making it the third most followed beverage brand globally. A portion of proceeds goes to nonprofits as part of their partnership with 5Gyres and the Thirst Project.
The NASCAR season continues this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway when the NASCAR Cup Series hits the track for the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 21 at 3 p.m. ET. All the action will air live on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.
Wandering the cavernous Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Ryan Sieg was trying to find a quiet place for an interview.
At the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries’ 2024 trade show, a crowd of several thousand were jammed into an 11,415-square-foot ballroom humming at a low roar with the cacophony emanating from 350-plus exhibits.
But there was another reason it was hard for Sieg, the main character in one of NASCAR’s tightest finishes ever, to locate a peaceful corner for a phone call.
The Georgia native was getting recognized on this Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas as he never had before during a decade of plugging away as a midpack driver in the Xfinity Series.
Shaking hands and signing autographs near a simulator car wrapped just like the No. 39 Ford that placed an agonizing second by a literal inch last Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, Sieg was gobsmacked by an endless procession of well-wishers who wanted to talk about the highlight-reel finish.
“Yeah, a thousand times,” Sieg told NASCAR.com with a laugh during a break from this previously scheduled appearance for primary sponsor SciAps. “Everybody was saying, ‘You were just that short. We thought you had it!’ They were all pumped and thrilled.”
While he accepted their condolences and congratulations as graciously as he handled his post-race interviews, each greeting was a reminder of the “heartbreaking” fact that he remains winless in NASCAR’s national series after more than 450 starts in the last 15 years.
“Yeah, it stings,” Sieg, 36, said. “But I’ve just kind of moved on and tried not to get too upset.
“I mean, even here, it’s all over the place everywhere I go. I’ve got a lot of fans that I didn’t even really know about.”
Despite losing by 0.002 seconds to Sam Mayer in the second-closest finish in series history, Texas could mark the turning point for Sieg and a family-owned team based in Georgia that is off to a strong start in 2024. After missing last year’s playoffs, Sieg has returned to the form that had him in championship contention in 2019, ’20 and ’22 – but with an extra kick.
Ryan Sieg’s second-place car had its battle scars. (Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR.com)
RSS Racing has its largest staff (still only 14 full-time employees), its fastest pit crews and an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing paying its biggest dividends yet. There is decided optimism heading to Talladega Superspeedway — the previous track where Sieg had finished second (on Oct. 3, 2020).
Despite his disappointment, he lingered with team members through tech inspection after Texas, sticking around “just to keep their heads in the game, and they were all excited, even though we were on the wrong end of it.
“(Texas) was a big step to run top three, and it was pretty extraordinary to unload as the third-fastest car in practice. Everything’s going in the right direction. I just have to get that one spot better at Talladega.”
• • •
It could be a blessing in disguise that Sieg will wait a little longer for his first win as his family was unavailable to celebrate firsthand in Texas. His wife, Amanda, was at their home north of Atlanta, coordinating a birthday slumber party last Saturday for the middle of their three daughters.
Olivia, who turned 9 late last month, was the first to greet Dad when he got home, offering a big hug and a reminder that “Second’s still good!”
Sieg laughs that Olivia and 11-year-old Lily (Riley, 5, is their youngest) are beginning to appreciate his day job. “They tell all their friends at school what I do and then say, ‘Oh, you’re famous!’ ”
Before jetting off to Las Vegas, Sieg got a Sunday at home with Amanda and the girls, enjoying a cookout on the lake to fete his RSS teammate and younger brother, Kyle, who turned 23 two days after his season-best 14th at Texas.
Aside from collecting a few classic cars, friends say Ryan Sieg has few hobbies outside of racing and family.
The full name of his team is “Ryan Scott Sieg Racing,” though there is Internet confusion that it stands for “Ryan Shane Sieg Racing” (Shane Sieg was Ryan’s late older brother who raced in the Craftsman Truck Series from 2003-11).
“You can say whatever,” Ryan said. “We’ve just gone with it because Shane actually had the same initials that I did. His was Rodney Shane, and mine’s Ryan Scott. So it all works out the same as RSS Racing.”
It still is appropriate to associate the team with Shane because his go-karting career (inspired by a grandfather who was a former dirt racer) was the impetus for RSS Racing, which has been anchored by the Sieg family’s longtime towing business.
“They would tow Shane’s go-kart on the back of a tow truck to the race track,” Ryan said with a laugh. “And it all just started and kept going from there. For a little while, my uncle was my crew chief when we were in the Truck Series, and he started me off in late models. It’s all family.”
Parents Rod and Pam own the team but are fairly hands-off (with the towing business still to run). Ryan and Kyle Sieg and Mike Scearce (Kyle’s crew chief) handle the day-to-day operations.
In addition to he and his brother handling interior work and putting in their own cars’ seats (as well as sometimes applying wraps and clear coating), Ryan is at the shop daily to stay on top of mundane tasks such as answering emails and ordering parts.
Danny Dugan, the team’s marketing director who has worked in various roles at RSS Racing over the past 10 years, has witnessed Ryan “come out of his shell the last couple of years” as a leader.
“He was really reserved and kind of kept to himself,” Dugan said. “He’s old-school and just wants to drive and work on the car. But he’s definitely come a long way in opening up. He’s just a good guy, a good dad, a good husband. And that’s probably one of the reasons I’ve been with him for as long as I have. Not only him but the whole family. They’re just good people, and that’s tough to find in the racing industry. Things can go bad real quick, and that’s when people start stabbing each other in the back. That’s not who they are and who he is.”
For Ryan Sieg, racing is a family affair. (Getty Images)
RSS Racing’s infrastructure fosters a certain collegiality. After moving to a larger shop in Buford (about 45 minutes from Atlanta), the team added an eight-bedroom apartment with a kitchen, living room and showers to attract team members from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some team members stay at the shop Monday through Wednesday and then drive home to Charlotte to fly to races. Another team member makes a weekly round-trip drive to Charlotte (sometimes twice) to help get parts.
“It’s not a very fun drive with all the construction,” said Sieg, who has made the trip up I-85 twice recently for simulator sessions at the Ford Performance Technical Center in Concord. “We have to make sure we have everything in advance, so it is more difficult out of Georgia. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Without the convenience of Charlotte-based charter flights, it also can be a bigger hassle flying commercial from Atlanta. On the way to Texas, crew members tried to take the first flight at 5:30 a.m. Friday (to save a night in a hotel). But a 2:30 a.m. wakeup call was followed by a morning of delays, and they didn’t reach the track until a few hours after the garage opened.
The team has overcome its distance from NASCAR’s hub in other ways. A switch to Jordan Anderson Racing’s Trackhouse-affiliated pit crews has been a vast improvement this year. And after initial growing pains from a switch to Ford in 2021, RSS Racing’s alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing (which supplies data and cars) has borne fruit in the past three seasons.
Sieg said Matt Noyce has been a difference maker since taking over as the No. 39 crew chief for the final four races last season. Through two previous stints at Stewart-Haas, Noyce already knew the team’s processes and was an ideal liaison for RSS.
“He can get the most out of the information that they provide,” Sieg said. “He’s made everything a lot better, especially on my team. That’s why we brought Matt to get more advanced on our setups. That’s why we do the alliance. So it’s all paying off now.”
• • •
Ryan Sieg forced himself to watch the Texas finish during his Monday flight to Las Vegas. Other than the hindsight of knowing a harder turn to the right might have prevented Mayer from taking the checkered flag, there still are no regrets.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to have enough of a run (to win),’ and then the air just slowed our full momentum down,” he said. “We were just on the wrong end. I thought I did all I could do.”
Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg put on a show at Texas Motor Speedway. (Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR.com)
He lingered a little longer than typical in his car before dejectedly but politely answering every question.
“I’ve been in those situations a few times, and you try not to get too upset about it,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe we were that close and didn’t get it. And everybody (on the team) were just like, ‘It’s all good.’ They knew that I just did all I could do.”
It was his second top 10 in eight races, but Sieg believes he should have at least twice as many (he led 12 laps at Daytona and got in an incident at Martinsville after qualifying eighth).
“We’re getting the car the way I want it to drive,” he said. “We’ve been working hard, and Matt gets the most out of the guys.”
There are echoes of Jeremy Clements Racing, another family-owned team that keeps grinding away and has won twice in Xfinity with its namesake driver. Sieg actually made the first two starts of his Xfinity career with JCR in 2013 before going full-time at RSS the following year.
But he admits wondering what his results would be at an established team with direct Cup affiliation. Multiple times, Sieg has posted top 10s in Xfinity with cars that came directly from Cup shops. Before the proposed deal “went sideways” a few years ago, he considered taking sponsorship to Richard Childress Racing for a part-time Xfinity ride and the possibility of Cup races.
“It’s like, sometimes you want to just win,” Sieg said. “You know what I mean? You almost want to go to a different team that’s capable of winning. And then you’re also like, ‘Well, I just don’t want to leave what I’ve started here. I want to see it through.’ And you’re on the fence of do I just bring sponsorship somewhere else or just keep plugging away with what we have and get more sponsorship? And that’s what we’ve done.”
Dugan said the phone at RSS Racing has been ringing with prospective sponsors since Texas. Sieg is also eligible for the $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus at Talladega.
“We’re trying to turn what is a gut-wrenching loss into a positive,” Dugan said. “(Texas) definitely created some buzz. You get caught in running 10th to 20th, and people kind of get used to that. So anytime you finish second and have an exciting race like that and get more eyeballs, there’s obviously a ton of people that come out. It sucks you lost by an inch, but there are a lot of positives that come with it.”
The timing was very good to capitalize on the Vegas show for SciAps, a Boston-based company that specializes in handheld portable instruments to help sort scrap metal. Sieg said the sponsor already seems committed to returning in 2025, but he’d like to leave no doubt by making the Xfinity title race in Phoenix – a lofty goal he believes is attainable.
“We just got to keep the momentum going,” he said. “At least we want to make it all the way to the end, that’s one of our goals. We just got to at least make it to the first round. If we keep doing what we’re doing, I feel like we should be able to achieve that by winning a race here soon.”
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.
Editor’s Note: Racing Insights’ playoff projections use a combination of current standings and historical performance at upcoming tracks to determine the probability of each driver winning or making the playoffs on points.
With the Cup Series Playoffs on the mind throughout the season, what if there was a way to project how the 16-driver field could look before each race weekend?
It now exists via Racing Insights. From now until the start of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, ‘The Field of 16’ will give fans a weekly look at where their favorite drivers could potentially land in the postseason field – and the likelihood of having a shot at the Bill France Cup.
Here’s this week’s update on the projections heading into Talladega.
DRIVERS LOCKED IN
With multiple wins in 2024 already, William Byron and Denny Hamlin are safely into the Cup playoffs with 100% probability. Both drivers now have their eyes set on the regular-season title and the 15 bonus playoff points that come with it. Hamlin currently sits third in the Cup standings, 28 points behind Kyle Larson for the top of the table. Byron is 38 points behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in fifth.
DRIVERS LIKELY IN
There’s another shakeup to the playoffs compared to last year as Chase Elliott returns to the postseason following his Texas victory. With Elliott and Daniel Suárez winning in 2024, that will leave at least two drivers out from last year’s field.
Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell also locked in provisional spots after their respective wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. Larson currently stands as the points leader and would be the regular-season champ with the extra 15 playoff-point allotment in the bank.
On points alone, and with a rich history of good performances, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney sit in healthy spots a quarter of the way through the season and have favorable tracks coming up at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway.
LAST 4 IN
Here’s where the Suárez and Elliott victories are really going to make this fight for the final playoff spots interesting.
Currently, three Cup champs sit among Racing Insights’ projected Last 4 In, with Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch all barely on the right side of the bubble. Last season, only Ty Gibbs missed the playoffs among this group, but he’s off to a hot start in 2024, sitting sixth in points.
The driver that should be hovering over the panic button is Busch. While he’s the defending winner of the spring Talladega event, he only has three top 10s and a single top five nine races into the season. Coming up short to Suárez by just 0.007 seconds at Atlanta Motor Speedway could loom large for Busch’s playoff hopes if the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team doesn’t turn its season around soon.
FIRST 4 OUT
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a 2023 playoff driver, is well outside the playoff picture at the moment, but the surprise could be Michael McDowell getting left out, with a probability under 20% according to Racing Insights. Still, with a good chunk of road courses on the regular-season slate, there’s plenty of opportunity for the No. 34 driver to return to Victory Lane.
Then, there’s Alex Bowman. After missing the playoffs last year, 2024 is a big year for the Arizonan, and he’s been on a bit of a hot streak over the last month with three top 10s in the last four races before crashing out last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. However, with the depth of the Cup field and as strong as Gibbs has been to start the year, it will be a challenge to see the No. 48 make the postseason without grabbing a checkered flag.
WHO CAN SHAKE UP PLAYOFF PICTURE AT TALLADEGA?
The correct answer is anybody eligible for the postseason.
From Truex to Zane Smith, every playoff-eligible driver will have a shot to take a playoff bid Sunday at Talladega (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Bubba Wallace and both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing drivers in Chris Buescher and Keselowski jump out as those likely to be next to punch their tickets to the 16-driver dance. Others will say Blaney, but don’t think the defending champion qualifies as a true “playoff shakeup.” If you want a long shot for the weekend, Todd Gilliland was strong at both Daytona and Atlanta before getting collected in wrecks. If both Front Row Motorsports Fords have speed, look out.
Before each race weekend, check back into The Field of 16 to see the latest projections of the 2024 Cup Series playoff field.
Steve’s pick last week:
Cameron’s pick last week:
r/NASCAR’s pick last week:
