Posted on by Kobe Lambeth

YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway

(⏰ Sunday, 2 p.m. ET | 📺 NBC, NBC Sports App | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)

Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega, the 31st points-paying race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | Talladega playoff race 101

📍 Location: Talladega, Alabama
📐 Track length: 2.66 miles
🎟️ Buy tickets: Find weekend passes, seats for the race
💰 Cup Series race purse: $8,806,315
📏 Race distance: 188 laps | 500 miles
🔢 Stages: 60 | 120 | 188
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📋 Starting lineup: Almirola on pole at Talladega
🚗 Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
🏆 Defending winner: Chase Elliott, fall 2022

Key things to watch 🔑

Saturday’s sessions

Aric Almirola claimed the Busch Light Pole Award at Talladega Superspeedway, picking up his sixth career NASCAR Cup Series pole. The driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led a 1-2-3 qualifying effort of Blue Ovals, with Team Penske’s Joey Logano starting alongside him on the front row and SHR teammate Chase Briscoe in third. Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski round out the top five. A total of seven Fords qualified inside the top 10, including Xfinity Series regular Riley Herbst, who will make his fourth start in the Cup Series on Sunday. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain qualified the lowest of the remaining playoff drivers, with the No. 1 Chevrolet set to start 32nd. | Read the full practice, qualifying recap

Big story line

Can Brad Keselowski break his 92-race winless streak and get his first win as a car owner in the Cup Series?

It is hard to believe that 92 races have passed since Keselowski’s last visit to Victory Lane, which came at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2021. While it must feel great watching the RFK Racing resurgence, it has to feel a little frustrating for Keselowski to watch teammate Chris Buescher win four times as the No. 6 team is still awaiting that big breakthrough. Keselowski’s time could arrive on Sunday at the 2.66-mile Alabama track, where he leads all active drivers with six wins.

He enters the race weekend with some momentum, riding a five-race streak of top-10 finishes. More winless streaks of at least 90 races or longer have been broken at Talladega than any other track on the schedule. Given Keselowski’s success at drafting tracks, impressive record at Talladega and resurgent 2023 season, do not be surprised if his long drought finally comes to an end. | Relive Keselowski’s last Cup Series win in April 2021  | Watch the race on NASCAR Classics

History tells us…

If Kyle Larson’s typical superspeedway misfortune strikes again, he could head to the Round of 12 elimination race at Charlotte in an uncomfortable spot.

With the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet only two points above the elimination line after crashing out last Sunday at Texas, coming to a track where he typically struggles to get a good result certainly does not inspire confidence. In the last 11 races at Talladega, Larson has 10 finishes outside of the top 10. In Larson’s last eight races on drafting tracks, he has not finished better than 13th and picked up five DNFs. He only has one top-five finish in 17 Talladega starts.

Adding to the concern entering Talladega, the 2021 Cup Series champion earned 10 total points or fewer in the last four of the last six Talladega races. To make matters worse for the No. 5 team, under the current format, Larson has never gained on the bubble in the Talladega playoff race. We have seen miracles happen at Talladega before and Larson will need a miracle run on Sunday to avoid heading to the Charlotte elimination race in trouble, given his past Talladega history. | Inside the Race: Diving into Kyle Larson’s devastating late-race wreck

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

Chase Briscoe. The 2023 season has not been a strong one for Briscoe. After winning at Phoenix early last season and making the postseason, Briscoe currently sits 30th in the Cup Series standings. Given the struggles we have seen across the board at Stewart-Haas Racing this year, Talladega might be one of his last realistic shots to end up in Victory Lane before season’s end. His top-10 finish last Sunday at Texas was his first one in the last six races. This snapped a cold streak that saw the No. 14 team finish 11th or worse 17 times in the last 20 races. Briscoe enters Talladega with odds of 28-1. He finished fourth in Alabama in the spring race.

Despite the long, frustrating season, the SHR driver will get to have some fun this weekend with teammate Ryan Preece as both drivers honor “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” with the No. 14 Ford receiving sponsorship from Old Spice and Briscoe taking on the role as Cal Naughton Jr. Meanwhile, Preece will have Wonder Bread sponsoring the No. 41 Ford and gets the ultimate honor of being Ricky Bobby. Maybe a little bit of fun can bring the No. 14 team some positive vibes and see them mix it up toward the front at Talladega on Sunday.

Familiar favorites ⭐️

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. 

• At-track photos: Sights and scenes from Talladega Superspeedway | Photos
• Bubble Watch: Playoff drama intensities at Talladega | Get the analysis
• Fantasy Fastlane: Don’t shy away from non-playoff drivers at Talladega | See the advice
• Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Talladega | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Don’t forget what Ross Chastain is capable of | Latest driver rankings
• Stacking Pennies: Kurt Busch tells Corey LaJoie how he ended up with an autographed Michael Jordan rookie card after winning at Kansas Speedway. | Listen to the podcast

💎 NASCAR 75: Learn more about the history of the sport, from pioneers to current stars | Visit NASCAR 75 hub

Get in on the action 💰

Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy and Fan Rewards.

• Fantasy Live: Participate in interactive gameplay from week to week | Choose your lineup
• Fan Rewards: New in 2023, get rewarded for your participation | Learn more
• NASCAR BetCenter: Don’t miss your chance to make picks each week | Visit the BetCenter
• Going the distance: 2023 Cup Series championship odds | See them here

🔮 Advance to Victory Lane: Racing Insights projects the finishing order

Posted on by Holly Cain

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs return to action after an off week with Saturday’s Love’s RV Stop 250 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the famed Talladega Superspeedway.

There have been seven different race winners in as many Talladega playoff races for the Truck Series. Matt DiBenedetto was the 2022 race winner. Grant Enfinger (2016) is the only current playoff competitor with a past playoff victory at Talladega.

MORE: Truck Series Playoffs standings | Talladega schedule

Tricon Garage driver Corey Heim, the Regular Season Champion, has already earned his spot in the Championship 4 with a victory in this round’s opener at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago. His three challengers for the title remain to be set among a highly motivated closely ranked group of playoff drivers.

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes, who won both stages and led the most laps (150) at Bristol, enters Saturday’s race with a comfortable 29-point edge atop the points standings. Eckes finished runner-up at Bristol after Heim’s last pass for the win in a move that could prove critical if Eckes doesn’t advance.

“(Points) don’t really mean a damn thing anymore,” Eckes said that night. “It’s cool to have stage wins or whatever, but it’s just points. … It’s an extra point or whatever. Finishing second compared to first could be life or death.”

Niece Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar is 18 points above the four-driver elimination line and GMS Racing’s Enfinger holds a 14-point edge to the good. Reigning series champion Zane Smith (-14), Ben Rhodes (-19), rookie Nick Sanchez (-22) and Ty Majeski (-22) are currently below the line.

The Alabama-native Enfinger boasts the best finishing record among playoff drivers at his home-state track with the 2016 victory and three top-10 finishes in nine starts. The 2021 series champion Rhodes, has a pair of top-five finishes in seven starts. Eckes is the only other driver among the Round of 8 contenders with a top-five and his 11.5 average finish in two starts is tops among the championship challengers.

The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Sanchez joins seven other drivers making their Talladega debut this weekend.

Zane Smith, who will be competing full-time with Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series next year through a Trackhouse Racing partnership, has advanced to the Championship 4 three times, but he does not have a top-10 finish in three previous Talladega playoff races.

Of note, Tricon Garage co-owner and former NASCAR Cup Series regular David Gilliland will drive the No. 1 Toyota at Talladega. It is his second race of the season and his first at the big track since winning the pole and finishing third in the 2018 race there.

Former series champion Brett Moffitt will join Front Row Motorsports this weekend in the No. 34 Ford as Smith’s teammate. NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff competitor Parker Kligerman – a two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Talladega winner – is also entered this weekend in the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Chevrolet, as is fellow Xfinity contender Chandler Smith in the No. 25 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet.

There is no practice this weekend. Qualifying is slated for Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET (FS2).

Contributing: Staff Report

Posted on by Staff Report

Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced on Thursday that the NASCAR Cup Series will return to the 2.5-mile oval layout in 2024 just in time for what will be the 30-year anniversary since the circuit’s inaugural running at the track. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will also race on the oval next year.

NASCAR Classics: Watch full races from Indianapolis

The NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 presented by PPG will run Sunday, July 21, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 will take place on Saturday, July 20, the track announced.

The Cup Series returns to the oval layout after competing on the track’s road course since 2021. The event will mark the first time the Cup Series has raced on the layout since July 5, 2020, when Kevin Harvick led a race-high 68 of a scheduled 161 laps en route to his fourth of nine Cup wins that season.

The track has hosted a total of 27 Cup races dating back to the inaugural 1994 running when Jeff Gordon won his first of five races on the Indy oval, a mark that still stands among all active and former Cup drivers.

MORE: Most memorable moments at Indianapolis

NASCAR conducted a Goodyear tire test at the track in August, where three Cup Series teams participated to help Goodyear and NASCAR officials evaluate the circuit as a possible inclusion in future schedules.

Note: Fans who attended Brickyard Weekend in 2023 will have a limited time to act to secure their seats for 2024 before tickets go on sale to the general public later this fall. 

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series was front and center inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.

Steven Wilson drove the virtual No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to a $100,000 payday in front of a crowd of just over 250 attendees in the Great Hall — an audience full of accomplished racers on asphalt, including 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.

Bolstered by a live broadcast team on-site, Sir Purr and cheerleaders from the Carolina Panthers and simulator rigs for casual attendees, the main floor of the sport’s most illustrious building was transformed into sim racing’s grandest stage for the second consecutive year as eNASCAR steadies its footing in both the worlds of eSports and motorsports.

MORE: Dive into all eNASCAR coverage

Wilson battled Garrett Lowe, Nick Ottinger and Tucker Minter for the Coke Series title while NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs competitors Harvick and William Byron looked on from just feet away, while other national series regulars like Carson Hocevar, Anthony Alfredo, Ryan Vargas, Rajah Caruth and Brad Perez joined the spectacle in front of Glory Road.

Carson Hocevar sits in an iRacing simulator rig while conversing with Ryan Vargas and Rajah Caruth
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Studios

Byron’s career famously boosted from iRacing, using the sim as a tool as he learned to race real cars in Legends cars and late models. A team owner with skin in the game Tuesday —  Championship 4 competitor Ottinger drives the virtual No. 25 Logitech G Chevrolet for William Byron eSports — Byron watched nervously as his driver fought for a title under the lights of the Hall of Fame.

“It’s intense,” said Byron, who won the Cup Series race Sunday at Texas to lock himself into the Round of 8. “I don’t know how I would handle that. I think I’d be really nervous.”

iRacing wasn’t just an early-career, once-and-done platform for Byron. Practice on the sim this season, he said, helped lead to one of his most dominant victories of the year in the Cup Series, where he owns a league-best six wins in 2023.

“It’s really been a tool consistently throughout my career,” Byron said. “I think it’s gone in waves. Like I think that I’ve used it more at times, sometimes not so much. But for example, like this year, that win at Watkins Glen (leading 66 of 90 laps), I used the simulator quite a bit for that. So it just varies. But yeah, it’s been a big tool over time.”

Kevin Harvick, Keelan Harvick and Steven Wilson stand next to the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Trophy which Wilson won for claiming the eNASCAR iRacing championship
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Studios

Harvick and his 11-year-old son Keelan were present to give the command to start engines for Tuesday’s eNASCAR finale and stayed to celebrate Wilson’s championship drive at the end of the night. Nearing the end of his driving career in Cup, Harvick took notice of the platform’s growth during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 — a rise in popularity that never truly dwindled.

“For me, it’s really the evolution,” Harvick said. “And I think when you look back at pre-COVID and you look at everything that happened through COVID, I think that the best thing that happened was the interaction with everybody. Racers are racers, and seeing where it has progressed, even after COVID and to where it is today is fun to see it continue gaining momentum.

“It’s fun to watch. Keelan spends a lot of time iRacing and we spend some time watching the races as well. So it’s fun to be able to bring him and see some of the guys that he just talks to on Discord.”

Wilson was the only returning member of this year’s Championship 4 in the Coke Series who competed under the daunting pressure inside the Hall of Fame in 2022. That experience was significant, but so too is the opportunity to perform where the sport’s history is cemented, particularly as NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary.

“It means everything,” Wilson said. “The NASCAR Hall of Fame is one of the most important places in the sport, so for them to allow us to be here, it’s amazing to have this event. Obviously we’re racing for $100,000, which is crazy too, but just having that live event — I think the crowd this year was bigger than it was last year, which last year, we didn’t really know what to expect. But this year, it was even bigger than last. So that was awesome to see and it seemed like everybody was really into it this year, and it was really cool to hear all the noise behind me while I’m racing.”

The crowd increased by nearly 80% from the event’s inaugural running, with Wilson’s family sitting front and center to watch him claim the grand prize of a championship win and $100,000.

Dale Earnhardt's black No. 3 car sits in the NASCAR Hall of Fame as the eNASCAR Championship 4 contenders appear on a screen in the background
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Studios

NBC Sports analyst Steve Letarte has served many roles within his long career in NASCAR, including as Cup crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports with two Hall-of-Fame drivers in Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also serves as a team owner of Letarte eSports in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

A member of the broadcast team for Tuesday’s finale, Letarte lauds the series and simulator for its ability to organically grow motorsports.

“I’ve been a part of the iRacing group for a long time,” Letarte said. “Dale introduced it to me, I don’t know, a couple of decades ago now. And I’m a huge supporter of it, because I think it can deliver racing into areas of the world and country that we can’t deliver racing, right? It gives a lot of people the opportunity to see what racing can be. I made my entire living in racing, so the fact that it could perhaps grow a sport that I love is great, and the fact that what is a digital, virtual race (is) happening in the halls of a Hall of Fame that’s been built on 75 years of history is quite amazing.”

Posted on by Staff Report

North Wilkesboro Speedway will return to the Cup Series schedule next season, reprising its role as the host of the annual NASCAR All-Star Race in 2024.

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports made the announcement on Thursday, setting a May 19 date for the non-points invitational. In addition, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race on May 18 at North Wilkesboro, and the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge will take place there on May 17. Complete schedules for on-track competition, broadcast information and the All-Star Race format will be announced at a later date.

The 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro oval returned to the NASCAR calendar earlier this year, marking its first on-track action for NASCAR national-series competition since 1996. Speedway Motorsports revived the dormant facility, aided by funds from the North Carolina state budget and the diligent grassroots efforts of the community in Wilkes County and its surroundings.

RELATED: Photos from NASCAR’s return to North Wilkesboro

Kyle Larson was the weekend’s big winner in the track’s return in May, sweeping the All-Star Race event and the preliminary race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. But the weekend also marked a celebration of the sport’s history for NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, breathing new life into a facility that hosted the premier series during its first season in 1949.

North Wilkesboro Speedway became the fifth track to host the All-Star Race. Charlotte Motor Speedway has been the longest-running All-Star host, putting on its 1985 debut and then staging the event each year from 1987-2019. Other tracks to host the All-Star Race include Atlanta Motor Speedway (1986), Bristol Motor Speedway (2020) and Texas Motor Speedway (2021-22).

NASCAR Classics: Watch full races from North Wilkesboro

Racing continues this weekend at North Wilkesboro, which will play host to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the first time in Saturday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 (8 p.m. ET, FloRacing). Tour-type Modifieds were part of a series of revival events in August 2022, when Ryan Newman and Matt Hirschman divided the victories.

Ticket packages for next year’s NASCAR events at North Wilkesboro will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. ET on Oct. 5, 2023 at www.NorthWilkesboroSpeedway.com. 

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

If Texas was any sign, the Round of 12 is going to be full of twists and turns. No better track to heighten playoff drama as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Talladega Superspeedway for 500 miles of close-quarters racing (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Before the action begins this weekend from the 2.66-mile Alabama oval, see how the Round of 12 drivers could fare on Sunday, trends to watch for the race and interactive ways to follow every on-track moment.

RELATED: See paint schemes for Talladega | Betting favorites for Sunday’s Cup race

ROUND OF 12 UPDATE 📊

Two drivers who led over 200 laps at Texas find themselves the last in and first out on the elimination line as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace are separated by just two points. Going into Talladega, Wallace appears to have a significant edge over his playoff competitor given his superspeedway prowess, but the No. 23 Toyota driver only owns one top-10 finish at the track, which was his breakthrough Cup win in the fall of 2021.

Three past ‘Dega winners currently sit below the elimination line with Wallace, Ryan Blaney (minus-11) and defending track winner Kyle Busch (minus-17).

Those three could look to surpass Larson, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr., who have scored just one top-five finish each at Talladega since 2015.

RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski put on a drafting masterclass in the most recent superspeedway event at Daytona, finishing 1-2. Since becoming a pair last season, the two have combined to lead 153 laps at superspeedways.

MORE: Racing Insights’ projections for Sunday

📉 TRENDS TO WATCH 📈

— The last four winners at Talladega all started 16th or worse.

— Since the current format was introduced in 2014, a non-playoff driver won the Talladega playoff race only once (Wallace, 2021).

— Toyota has yet to win a superspeedway race in the Next Gen era.

— Seven different drivers won the last seven races at Talladega.

(Via Racing Insights)

CLASSIC TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY RACES 🎥

1993: Dale Earnhardt outduels Ernie Irvan by 0.005 seconds | WATCH

2000: Dale Earnhardt wins 76th and final Cup race | WATCH

2019: Ryan Blaney reaches Round of 8 in photo finish | WATCH

2022: Chase Elliott beats Blaney to the finish line | WATCH

ON-TRACK SCHEDULE 🗓️

Saturday, Sept. 30

— 4:30 p.m. ET: Qualifying (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

Sunday, Oct. 1

— 2 p.m. ET: YellaWood 500 (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

MORE: Full weekend schedule at Talladega

RULE CHANGES/GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES 🛞

The GEICO Restart Zone returned to its 2022 dimensions after being extended for this season’s first five races.

Goodyear brings the same tire used at all superspeedway races in the Next Gen era. Cup teams will be issued one set for qualifying and an additional six sets of tires for Sunday’s race.

NASCAR implemented safety updates to the Next Gen car.

Along the right-side door bars and extending toward the rear clip, teams are mandated to run a steel plate in addition to the chassis adjustments made for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The right-side door bar gussets and the removal of the front clip V-brace are changes that remain, in addition to the removal of other front-clip components, to create a softer and larger crush zone for frontal impacts.

Also included in the updates are front-bumper strut softening (modifications to existing parts), the requirement of an empty front ballast box and a modified cross brace. NASCAR incurs the cost of all these updates.

In the event of a lost wheel that is contained to pit road, the offending team will be subject to a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions. If the infraction occurs during a caution period, the offending team will restart at the tail end of the field.

If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty plus a two-race suspension for two crew members. Each penalty is series-specific: Violations in one series will not impact those crew members’ eligibility to participate in other series.

RELATED: See rules changes for 2023

FAN REWARDS 🫵

Fans can get in on the action all season long with NASCAR Fan Rewards, a free program that rewards fans for participating in the action when they watch races and play NASCAR Fantasy.

There’s no cost to join. Fans must be 18 years or older to participate in the program.

Earn points by checking into a race from home or at the track, setting your Fantasy Live lineup, making purchases on the NASCAR.com shop and more. Points can be redeemed for race tickets, merchandise and VIP experiences at the track, including pace car rides and waving the green flag at qualifying.

JOIN TODAY

FOLLOW THE RACE 📲

NASCAR Mobile has now added support for fans to “Follow the Race” and access live leaderboard and race information from Live Activities in the current app release (v13.2.0), available now. Android users, we didn’t forget you — the same functionality has been custom-built for Android devices, as well.

How to access Live Activities on iPhones:

  1. Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
  2. Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
  3. Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of screen.
  4. Select “Follow the Race.”
  5. Swipe up to access the home screen and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
  6. Lock the device and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
  7. To turn off, simply visit the leaderboard, click the three-dot menu and “Unfollow the Race.”

FANTASY LIVE 🏆

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which resets for the playoffs. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $10,000 prize for the winner.

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

PLAYOFFS GRID CHALLENGE 🏆

During the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, fans have the opportunity to compete in The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortage. Fans can enter by visiting The Playoffs Grid™ Challenge page and registering for a free NASCAR.com account before filling out a bracket. From there, choose from a list of playoff-eligible drivers round by round, and you’re on your way to compete for prizes!

How to play: Playoffs Grid Challenge 

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM 💻

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Talladega Superspeedway — nestled in the Birmingham, Alabama, hill country — is fast and furious, a bucket-list venue for NASCAR fans and a resume-maker for NASCAR drivers. Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) plays an important role not only in the sport’s longstanding Talladega tradition but also in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

RELATED: Talladega surprise winners | Buy tickets to Talladega

The 2.66-mile Talladega is the largest and fastest oval track in the sport. It is its own brand of competition in strategy and bravado. And inevitably after hours of dramatic back-and-forth, it’s the final handful of laps that will either secure a playoff driver’s position in the next round or triumphantly represent a career-maker for one of the other drivers hoping to chase the championship another year.

Even among the variety of playoff venues, Talladega is perpetually top-of-mind with the competitors.

“I don’t think you can pick a guy that is a favorite at Talladega because you never know what can happen there,” said Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, a back-to-back Talladega (2019-20) winner and current playoff driver.

“I think the best thing that we have talked about for that race is to try to control it like we have in the past and get a few of our cars up there and control the front of the pack. Hopefully, you can maintain that. We kind of see it is difficult to go from the back to the front now at speedways, so you try not to bury yourself.”

Talladega represents an interesting phenomenon among competitors. No matter what their thoughts are on the tightly packed high-speed racing, it seems more advantageous to simply embrace the challenge.

It’s one of the few places where reality actually lives up to legend. And Talladega is legendary.

From the beginning, this track has claimed large-font headlines. Richard Brickhouse won the inaugural event in 1969 — by a full seven seconds over Jim Vandiver — in a race that featured many non-NASCAR regulars. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and LeeRoy Yarborough had all refused to race in protest of a worrisome tire situation.

The drama and action only intensified from that dramatic start with Talladega earning its place as one of the most iconic race tracks in all of auto racing.

The late seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt is the all-time winningest driver with 10 victories — including the last great triumph in his career, winning this fall race in 2000 by passing 17 cars in the final five laps for the victory. And his son, fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer and current NBC Sports broadcaster, Dale Earnhardt Jr., would nobly carry on that Talladega tradition earning five wins of his own including a record four consecutive from 2001-04.

In the last 10 years, there has been a range of drivers who specifically fare well on the high banks and those who count as surprise winners able to take advantage of the unpredictable pack racing there.

The defending race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott has two wins at Talladega in the last decade.

Current playoff driver Brad Keselowski leads active drivers with six Talladega trophies, earning his very first career NASCAR Cup Series win there in 2009. Six of the current 12 playoff competitors — Blaney, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain — have Talladega victories.

And Busch, who earned his first Talladega win in 2008 and his second this spring — a span of 30 races — makes no bones about the competitive challenge of the big track.

“Talladega is a stress-ball of emotions,” said Busch, who goes into the weekend’s race ranked last (12th) in the playoff standings after a DNF on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron picked up his series-best sixth win of the season last weekend at Texas to secure his position in the next round of the playoffs. Although that gives him some breathing room in this second race of the three-race round, he says he absolutely expects Sunday’s race to have a different, unmistakable feel than the spring non-playoff race there.

“It is (a different vibe) for sure,” said Byron, whose best Talladega finish is runner-up in the 2021 spring race.

“I think it’s even more difficult to get track position. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about Talladega in the fall. It’s not like you can just drive up there and steal something from somebody. It’s definitely going to be tough getting to the front, and I feel like we’ve personally struggled with that in the past. It’s not been our best superspeedway race in the fall.

“I think being a playoff race, it’s important to get up to the front and control the race. It’s not like the spring where there’s a lot of different agendas and not everyone is taking it as serious.

“It’s definitely intense.”

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

The Myers family has long been associated with Modified racing in the Southeast, specifically at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Members of the Myers family have been racing at Bowman Gray since the early 1950s, when brothers Billy and Bobby Myers claimed four track championships in five seasons from 1951-55.

After the untimely passing of the two brothers during the late 1950s, the racing tradition was carried on by Billy’s son Gary Myers and later by Gary’s two sons, Burt and Jason Myers. Burt is a 10-time track champion at Bowman Gray, giving the family 14 track championships in total at the legendary quarter-mile oval.

However, what one might not know is the Myers family also has a long history at another North Carolina race track: North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“I grew up going there,” said Burt, a two-time champion of the now-defunct NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. “My dad grew up with Richard Childress and with Chocolate [Danny Myers, Burt’s second cousin] being involved with Childress. David Smith, the old jackman [for Dale Earnhardt] was my dad’s friend growing up.

“We would go to the races and stand in the pits and stand in Earnhardt’s pit and watch races there. Then being able to be fortunate enough to go with my dad when he raced there and then the times I’ve gotten to race there. There is just so much history that goes with that place.”

RELATED: Entry list for Saturday’s Mods race at North Wilkesboro

Burt is among the 39 drivers entered to compete in Saturday’s Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing). The event marks the first for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at the storied venue, which is rich in Myers family history.

Nearly every member of the Myers family that has raced in the last 70 years has won at North Wilkesboro.

They include a NASCAR Convertible Division victory by Billy, which came on March 16, 1958, against a field of drivers that included stars of the era like Bob Welborn, Tiny Lund, Glen Wood and Gwyn Staley.

Bobby, Gary and Jason Myers also earned wins at the 0.625-mile oval through the years.

But the one member of the family who hasn’t won at North Wilkesboro is Burt.

Burt Myers in action during the Hayes Jewelers 200 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on April 23, 2022. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

“My dad gives me a hard time about it,” Burt said. “My grandpa, my great uncle Bobby, my dad, and my brother have all won at North Wilkesboro, and I have not. So they give me a hard time about it. I’m hoping to get some redemption this weekend.”

There are several things working in Burt’s favor this weekend, but perhaps none are bigger than the fact that he will have more experience at North Wilkesboro than likely anyone else in the field.

He made his first start at the track in 1995, one year before the venue closed following the departure of the NASCAR Cup Series. He was just 19 at the time and had just started racing Modifieds.

In all, Burt has competed in seven Modified events at North Wilkesboro spread across more than two decades. That includes the Racetrack Revival held last season that helped bring North Wilkesboro back to life. He scored back-to-back fifth-place finishes.

“We kind of feel like we have an idea of what it’s going to take to be fast at North Wilkesboro,” he said.

LIVE STREAM: Watch the Modified Tour at North Wilkesboro live on FloRacing

Burt knew as soon as the race date was announced last year that he wanted to be part of the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150, but it wasn’t until one of his sponsors approached him about running the event that things came together.

“Basically every Modified race that has ever been held in the South, the Myers family tries to be there. The main question that I was asked was, ‘Are you running North Wilkesboro?’ Myers said. “We kind of put that on our calendar at the beginning of the year whenever the Tour made that announcement.

“To be honest the key ingredient was Tommy Lancaster at Citrusafe. He said, ‘I really would love to have you run North Wilkesboro. We want to be a part of North Wilkesboro with you.’ That’s kind of when the ball started rolling.”

Burt’s goal for Saturday night is fairly straightforward. He’s not a full-time competitor with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, so he’s not racing for points.

All he cares about is winning the race and adding his name to his family’s legacy at the track. He also simply wants to be able to call himself a North Wilkesboro Speedway Modified winner.

“Absolutely I want to win. Absolutely I want to be able to say that every Myers that has raced has won at North Wilkesboro,” Burt said. “I don’t think about the past and what’s happened; I think about what we can do moving forward to be better. Therefore, I just want to win this race. I’m not thinking about why I want to win this race. I’m just thinking about that I know I want to win this race.

“[North Wilkesboro] is where it started. It’s where Modifieds belong.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch announced Wednesday that he has sold Kyle Busch Motorsports and Rowdy Manufacturing to Spire Motorsports, shifting the team ownership spectrum in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Included in the sale are the assets of Busch’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team and the assets of Rowdy Manufacturing’s chassis building operation and CNC machine shop. The transaction also includes the 77,000-square-foot facility that houses KBM and Rowdy Manufacturing in Mooresville, North Carolina.

RELATED: Truck Series standings | Talladega schedule

“When we started the Truck Series team back in 2010, I never imagined that we would be able to win 100 races with 18 different drivers and that one day I’d be racing in the Cup Series alongside so many of the drivers that I once mentored at KBM,” Busch said in a team press release. “I owe a lot of gratitude to so many people, starting with Samantha and my family for believing in this dream that I had. It took countless hours by so many amazing people to make KBM the winningest team in Truck Series history. I will always appreciate everyone that walked through the doors and gave their all to make this such a successful organization.”

The arrangement signals the end of a 14-year tenure for one of the Craftsman Truck tour’s most decorated teams. The Kyle Busch-owned organization scored its 100th Truck Series win earlier this season and fielded trucks for two series champions, both of whom have since joined their former team owner in the Cup Series — Erik Jones, the 2015 champ, and Christopher Bell, who reigned in 2017.

Busch accounted for 48 of his team’s 100 wins as the driver of his own trucks, but the team also provided a springboard for promising young talents who would reach NASCAR’s big leagues. In addition to Jones and Bell, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded trucks for current Cup Series drivers Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Daniel Suárez, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland.

KBM was long a proving ground for prospects in the Toyota pipeline. The organization shifted its manufacturer alliance to Chevrolet this season, a move that dovetailed with Busch’s leap across automaker lines from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing on the Cup Series side.

The organization currently fields two entries in the Craftsman Truck Series – the No. 4 Silverado for full-time driver Chase Purdy and the No. 51 Chevy for a rotation of drivers including Busch, Jack Wood and others.

Spire first entered NASCAR competition as a single-car Cup Series team in 2019, and the group began part-time participation in the Truck Series in 2022. The team has two victories in 20 Truck Series starts, with current Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson dividing the wins.

Spire scored its only Cup Series win in its first season in 2019, with Justin Haley prevailing in the summertime race at Daytona International Speedway. The Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr-owned organization currently fields two Cup Series entries for teammates Corey LaJoie and Ty Dillon.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Months ago, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Nos. 14 and 41 cars sat unsponsored for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford, had an idea: “We should just do ‘Talladega Nights.’ ”

Wish granted.

On Sunday, Ryan Preece’s No. 41 Ford will feature the classic white and blue Wonder Bread paint made famous by Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the 2006 hit NASCAR comedy. Briscoe will don the Old Spice red and blue on his Ford Mustang, paying homage to Cal Naughton Jr.’s car from the feature film.

“Holy smokes, we’re actually doing this,” Briscoe said with a laugh in a Tuesday teleconference with Preece and NASCAR Studios.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview: Talladega | Talladega schedule

The real-life teammates sat donned in their respective fire suits, clearly enjoying the splash of fun that stemmed from recreating classic moments from the hit movie that starred Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby and John C. Reilly as Naughton Jr.

“It’s just been a lot of fun, to be honest with you,” Preece said. “We’ve been able to do a lot of different skits. When it comes to social media, obviously, it’s something that people are on constantly, and it’s created an opportunity for us to kind of show our personalities and really get into the movie. I’m pretty pumped about some of the stuff we actually shot earlier, and that’s going to come out here in the next day or so. So we’re gonna give people some laughs.”

While it’s a light-hearted callback to a funny flick that even famed director Christopher Nolan claims is a “remote-drop” movie, Preece had his own dramatic crash at Daytona International Speedway one month ago that left him thinking: “I’m flying through the air. This is not good.”

“Basically, the same thing as during the movie,” Preece said, recalling his thoughts from the serious tumble he took down the Daytona backstretch that Briscoe dubbed “his best Ricky Bobby impersonation.”

WATCH: Preece flips in late-race crash at Daytona

The wreck was significant — with five laps to go, Preece’s No. 41 Ford was jolted left across the nose of Briscoe’s car, sending both vehicles toward the grass before Preece became airborne and flipped side over side, end over end before landing on his wheels.

“Obviously, I don’t want to do that this weekend,” Preece said. “I’d rather have a successful day and a really, really good finish like we’ve all run all year. But the car kept me safe. In my eyes, it was the biggest wreck that I’ve had just because I don’t like flipping. I’d actually just got done telling my crew chief I didn’t want to race dirt midgets or anything like that because I didn’t want to flip like that, and then that happens. But yeah, moving forward, just going into the superspeedways with a plan, and we can hopefully execute that plan.”

Briscoe was a firsthand witness to his teammate’s unexpected flight, a frightening moment after wheeling his car back to pit lane.

“Actually, just through the corner, I’d tightened my belts up knowing that we’re kind of getting down to that time,” Briscoe said. “And I was going to the backstretch and saw Ryan just kind of coming out of the corner of my eye coming down across the track. And, you know, we made contact, and we’re kind of sliding. And from my vantage point, I could see his car go up in the air, and it was like on its side, and I knew that it wasn’t going to be good, right? Like he was already up in the air. And I knew we were in the grass and stuff.

“I was trying to save mine, and ours is all messed up. I drove back to pit road, and we qualified on the pole, so we’re in pit stall one. And I remember looking at the big screen, and they had a replay of it just being like, ‘Holy smokes, man.’ It literally looked like a sprint car (or) midget crash. So I was pretty worried. You’re worried for any guy in the field, I think; we all kind of have that camaraderie. But when it’s a teammate, somebody that you know — we’re around each other every Tuesday, Wednesday and then all through the weekend — so it’s definitely different. But at the same time, you know, like Ryan was saying, it’s part of the job.”

Indeed, while Preece’s Daytona crash was his biggest to date, it wasn’t his only significant impact this season. In the spring race at Talladega, a late-race crash sent Kyle Larson spin across traffic and directly into the path of Preece, who had nowhere to go but into the right-side door of Larson’s car, caving a hole into the No. 5 Chevrolet while Preece took a heavy impact.

NASCAR took both cars back to its Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, and implemented changes in time for the July race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Those changes appeared to prove effective both in Preece’s Daytona crash and one by Ryan Blaney that same evening, in which his No. 12 Ford went hard and nose-first into the Turn 4 SAFER barrier. The sanctioning body also took Preece’s Daytona car back to the R&D Center for further evaluation to see if further safety changes were necessary.

“My lower body is going to thank every adjustment that we’ve made because those hits can certainly feel really, really hard,” Preece said. “And I just do want to point out, as Chase would say, as well: We make them as safe as we can, but it’s not like jumping into your bed or landing in a cloud of pillows. So, it’s definitely been the right direction. Obviously, talking to Blaney after his (crash), how horrific that looks and how much the wall moved, he felt a lot better than he did previously at Nashville.

“So yeah, we’re heading in the right direction. But obviously, it’s something that we need to continue working on. Just that way, we, you know, we can always keep each other safe.”

In the meantime, Preece and Briscoe will aim to engage the slingshot on Sunday at Talladega (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — where in true “Talladega Nights” fashion, if you ain’t first, you’re last.

“Every weekend you go to the race track, there’s two guys dressed up just like we are right now, always in the grandstands,” Briscoe said. “So it’ll be cool to actually have those two cars on the race track, and no better place to do that than Talladega, obviously.”