Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

What Noah Gragson is doing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series right now is historic.

The fourth-year driver for JR Motorsports finds himself tied with series legend Sam Ard with wins in four consecutive races, a feat no driver has accomplished since Ard did so in 1983. And while four drivers have won five of their consecutive series starts, no one has ever won five straight races.

Gragson can write his own history at Talladega Superspeedway if he takes his No. 9 Chevrolet back to Victory Lane on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Las Vegas native is a two-time winner on superspeedways and is the most recent victor at Talladega.

MORE: Xfinity playoff standings | Talladega schedule

At 24 years old, Gragson is experiencing his most fruitful season of his time in NASCAR’s upper echelon. His seven victories this season have come at a variety of different track types — a superspeedway like Talladega; intermediates like Pocono, Darlington, Kansas and Texas; and 1-mile or shorter tracks like Phoenix and Bristol.

If it feels like there’s some recency bias with Gragson’s performance, you might be right to a certain extent. According to Racing Insights, Gragson’s last nine races have produced staggering numbers: five wins, seven top fives and eight top 10s with seven stage victories, 352 laps led and an average finish of 4.89. He’s also racked up an impressive 32 playoff points and is the only competitor locked into the Xfinity Series’ Round of 8 courtesy of his Texas win.

Before this year, Gragson had never won more than three times in a single season. His Xfinity total now sits at 12, ballooning from five at the start of the season.

Perhaps more impressive is that Gragson has maintained a high level of performance since the start of 2022. The first four races produced consecutive top-three efforts, culminating with a Phoenix victory in March. That was followed by a season-worst stretch that saw three finishes of 20th or worse in the next four events.

Gragson quickly relocated his footing. Since that span, Gragson has finished outside the top 10 in just four of the last 19 races. His 13 stage wins this year are the most in an Xfinity season since Christopher Bell racked up 17 in 2019.

His success is also proving significant for JRM, which he’s called home since 2019. JRM, co-owned by Rick Hendrick, Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Dale Earnhardt Jr., is enjoying its winningest season as a company with 13 victories, four more than its previous record of nine in 2014. Chase Elliott won the Xfinity Series championship that year driving the team’s No. 9 Chevrolet. Gragson is now JRM’s second-winningest driver, with his 12 wins trailing Justin Allgaier’s 16.

RELATED: 2022 Xfinity Series winners

Questions surrounding Gragson’s maturity followed an intentional spin during the Xfinity race on July 2 at Road America, an incident that collected numerous vehicles and resulted in a $35,000 fine from the sanctioning body. Those questions have largely been answered as the season progressed — so much so that Petty GMS has signed Gragson to drive its No. 42 Chevrolet on a full-time basis starting with the 2023 Cup Series season.

His growth is continuing in NASCAR’s premier series this year. Gragson has made 13 Cup starts this season — three superspeedway starts for Beard Motorsports and 10 races for Kaulig Racing. Gragson was slated to drive the No. 62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports again at Talladega but instead will drive the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports as Alex Bowman sits sidelined with concussion-like symptoms.

With Cup aspirations coming to fruition, Gragson’s goal remains focused on one thing: turning his recent Xfinity Series dominance into a series title in Phoenix.

Posted on by Staff Report

Alex Bowman will not compete in the Round of 12 playoff race Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway because of concussion-like symptoms he suffered after a Sept. 25 crash at Texas Motor Speedway, according to Hendrick Motorsports.

Bowman was evaluated by physicians on Thursday, according to the team, and it was determined he could not participate this weekend.

TALLADEGA: Full weekend schedule

“After undergoing medical evaluation due to concussion-like symptoms, I will not be driving the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet in Talladega,” Bowman said on social media. “I’m disappointed but know my health is the number one priority.”

Last Sunday, Bowman brought out the caution flag on Lap 98 of 334 when his car hit the wall. Bowman was able to continue in the race but finished 29th, five laps down to winner Tyler Reddick.

Bowman is currently in last place in the 12-driver playoff field, 26 points below the cutline, and he will likely face a must-win situation next weekend at the Charlotte Roval if he is able to return in time for the Round of 12 elimination race. According to a NASCAR spokesperson, Hendrick Motorsports’ request for a postseason waiver enabling Bowman to remain eligible for the Round of 8 has been granted.

Hendrick Motorsports announced that Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports will fill in for Bowman for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM).

Gragson was originally slated to pilot the No. 62 Chevy for Beard Motorsports. Instead, his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier will now drive the No. 62. It will be Allgaier’s 81st Cup Series start and second of 2022 (Bristol Dirt).

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race, is traditionally regarded as one of the most action-packed, thrilling venues on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar.

And after a dramatic playoff race a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway, expectations are super high for the YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Counting Tyler Reddick’s victory at Texas, the first four 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races have been won by non-playoff contenders — an unprecedented streak. The result has been a tightly bunched field of championship chasers trying to point their way into the Round of 8, if not fortunate enough to earn a trophy this round at Talladega or the Charlotte Roval.

Talladega 101: Format, tires, story lines, more | Full weekend schedule

Texas had a great effect on the title contenders. Race runner-up Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, now leads the championship standings for the third time this season (also one-week tenures following the Phoenix and Darlington-2 races). He’s 12 points ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, 14 up on reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, and 15 points ahead of his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.

MORE: Logano rises to No. 1 in Power Rankings

Logano and 12th-place driver Alex Bowman are separated by only 56 points. Logano and eighth-place Chase Briscoe (in the final transfer position) are separated by only 30 points.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and this season’s series-best four-race winner who led the standings for 23 weeks, has dropped to seventh place in the championship run. After a DNF at Texas, he’s now only 11 points up on the elimination line.

Another major shift in the standings has affected Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. The two-race winner was issued a $50,000 fine and 25-point driver and owner penalties for rough driving — officially, “vehicle contact during a caution period” — at Texas following an incident with fellow playoff competitor, Denny Hamlin, of Joe Gibbs Racing.

The points penalty drops Byron from third place in the standings to 10th — eight points below Briscoe in that final playoff advancement position. Hendrick Motorsports said Tuesday it would appeal Byron’s penalty.

The good news for both Elliott and Byron, however, is that they are among the favorites for Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

No. 45 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace is the defending winner of this playoff race, earning his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at the big track last fall. Playoff driver Chastain won in April at Talladega — leading only the final lap to take his second career series win. Byron led a race-best 38 laps in that race, but finished 15th. He was runner-up in the 2021 spring race.

Elliott, who is favored by oddsmakers to win this weekend, earned his only NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega in 2019 but has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts. Blaney, who is also a favorite, won back-to-back races at Talladega — the 2019 playoff race and 2020 spring event — and is the only driver to win consecutive races at the track since NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon swept the 2007 season.

In addition to Chastain, Elliott and Blaney, the only other drivers among the 12 playoff eligible with wins at Talladega are Logano, who has three victories (2015, ’16 and ’18) and Hamlin, who has a pair of wins (2014, 2020).

RFK Racing driver/owner Brad Keselowski leads all current drivers with six victories on the Talladega high banks.

With no consensus favorite yet established for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship run, Talladega takes on increased importance even as it’s considered one of the most unpredictable venues on the circuit.

“It’s really tough because you can’t predict when a wreck is going to happen,” Hamlin said, of Talladega strategy. “As a driver, you start to feel the intensity of the pack picking up and you start to see people making aggressive moves. You just have to make a judgment call on whether you want to be part of it at that time.”

Qualifying (one-lap and two rounds) is set for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET and will be aired on the NBC Sports App, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Brandon White

The 2022 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway served as a swan song for long-time competitor Timothy Peters.

A two-time winner of the prestigious event, Peters had been away from regular competition since the end of the 2021 season. He elected to team up with former NASCAR crew chief Marcus Richmond for one last opportunity to bring home another grandfather clock.

The effort resulted in a solid eighth-place finish for Peters, who described the entire weekend at Martinsville as an emotional farewell to the sport that has been a vital part of his life since the early days of his childhood.

“I’m never going to say never,” Peters said. “I wanted to scratch this itch, and R&S Race Cars accommodated me. The car had our old Bailey’s colors from back in the day and my father’s number. I wish we could have won, but the car is one piece, and [R&S Race Cars] can work on it ahead of the next one.”

RACING REFERENCE: Career NASCAR stats for Timothy Peters

Peters has found success in nearly every single car he has strapped into throughout his long career.

Along with countless Late Model Stock victories to his name, Peters became one of the most consistent competitors in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series during the 2010s by tallying 11 career victories, 10 of which came with Red Horse Racing.

Timothy Peters celebrates a win in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at South Boston Speedway in 2015. (Photo: Grant Halverson/NASCAR via Getty Images)

When Red Horse Racing shut down in the middle of 2017, Peters primarily devoted his attention toward the development of Nelson Motorsports’ Late Model Stock operation, which visited Victory Lane in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 that same year with Peters driving.

Peters believes he can still contend with all the major Late Model Stock frontrunners even at the age of 42. Despite this, the decision to take a step back from racing in 2022 came down to one simple factor: family.

Now a father of two, Peters took a job as a UPS delivery driver not long after the 2021 ValleyStar Credit Union 300. He has grown fond of his new occupation and said the most important benefit of the transition is being able to spend more time with the people he cares about the most.

“Racing was going ahead of my family, and I needed to get back to them,” Peters said. “I was missing beauty pageants, baseball games and cheerleading events. I wanted to be with them and see it all. My kids are 9 and 7 years old, and I’ve seen them more over the past year since we brought them home from the hospital.

“There is life after racing, but that’s all I’ve known since I was five.”

Even though he enjoys seeing his kids grow up, Peters knew he needed some form of proper closure with auto racing. He got in touch with Richmond about the possibility of competing in this year’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300.

Richmond and Peters bonded over their love of racing when they met in middle school, and the pair ended up progressing through the ranks together. They went their separate ways shortly after joining Bobby Hamilton Racing in 2005, but Richmond later became Peters’ crew chief at Red Horse Racing, where they won three races together from 2014-15.

RACING REFERENCE: Crew chief stats for Marcus Richmond

Like Peters, Richmond has always possessed a strong passion for Late Model Stock racing , having served as Peters’ crew chief during his two ValleyStar Credit Union 300 wins in 2005 and 2017.

It simply made too much sense for Richmond to have his long-time friend join R&S Race Cars for Martinsville and provide feedback on his own program.

“Timothy is very professional and he does everything 100 percent right,” Richmond said. “He knows everything about racing, and it was a breath of fresh air having to have him work with us and give input on our cars. He was very pleased with the performance of our car, and he told me that was the most fun he had in a long time.”

Richmond added that Peters’ presence with R&S Race Cars at Martinsville not only benefitted the program, but also his two young drivers in Conner Jones and Jonathan Shafer.

Peters worked closely with Jones and Shafer during the weekend to provide knowledge on maintaining track position and being patient around the half-mile facility, especially when it came to racing others in their respective heat races.

Although Jones ended up missing the 200-lap feature, Shafer successfully overcame a disallowed time trial and engine issues in his heat to earn the final starting position on the 40-car field, where he ended finishing two spots behind Peters in 10th.

Timothy Peters in action during the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway on Sept. 24, 2022. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

For Richmond, the consistency R&S showed at Martinsville highlighted the value of having Peters’ expertise inside the Late Model Stock garage area. Richmond admitted Peters’ presence will be missed if the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 was indeed his final race.

While Richmond respects Peters’ desire to spend more time with his family, he plans to keep a seat open for Peters should he ever want to climb back into a car.

“I’d love to see [Timothy] keep racing, but it all comes down to funding,” Richmond said. “If he can get the funding to run two or three races a year, that would be great. Timothy still does such a great job, and it’s so nice to always work with him. My goal is to find Timothy the funding to run the [Virginia] Triple Crown and a few other races.”

Peters expressed his gratitude toward Richmond and everyone else who came together to support him for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and give him a proper sendoff on his successful racing career.

As Peters climbed out of his No. 11 Solid Rock Carriers/PepperJack Kennels Toyota in the same fire suit he wore while driving for Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program back in 2006, he was overcome by a sense of peace.

Leaving auto racing was never going to be an easy transition for Peters, but he departed Martinsville confident he had properly closed one chapter of his life and was prepared to start the next one as a different kind of driver.

“I can still do it,” Peters said. “[Saturday] rekindled that fire, but at the end of the day, I know what the right decision is. This is the only family I’ve got, and I want to keep them.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin won the first stage of the 2021 Southern 500 en route to a win in the first playoff race of the season, which earned him a spot in the Round of 12.

The next race (Richmond) was also won by a playoff driver (Martin Truex Jr.), as was the next one (Kyle Larson, Bristol) and the next one (Denny Hamlin, Las Vegas).

Four races, and four wins for playoff drivers to open the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

One year later: Four races, and four wins for non-playoff drivers to open the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Non-playoff drivers have been crashing the playoff party for years. But this is the first time non-playoff drivers have won the first four playoff races — and the first time non-playoff drivers have won four straight playoff races.

For the YellaWood 500 this weekend, four drivers are tied as co-favorites in race-winner NASCAR odds at BetMGM. All four are alive in the Round of 12:

  • Chase Elliott +1200
  • Joey Logano +1200
  • Ross Chastain +1200
  • Ryan Blaney +1200

None of those four drivers is among the public’s favorite, however. Collectively, as of Thursday, the co-favorites have 20.3% of the handle. That’s less than the combined handle of the two most popular drivers, both non-playoff drivers; Erik Jones (+2500) and Brad Keselowski (+1600) have 29.1% of the total race-winner handle as the public pounds non-playoff drivers for the second straight week.

And half of the top 10 most popular drivers by ticket count are also non-playoff drivers, including Jones, who leads all drivers in ticket share with 6.3%.

This week’s featured matchups at BetMGM are also loaded with non-playoff drivers as they seek a fifth straight win:

Tyler Reddick (-125) vs. Austin Dillon (-105)

Tyler Reddick struggled in the next race after his first two career Cup Series wins, finishing 29th at Atlanta and 29th at Michigan.

If he finishes 29th this weekend after a win at Texas, it’d be a huge improvement over his last two starts at Talladega Superspeedway; he finished 39th in April and 39th in the 2021 fall race.

Meanwhile, Reddick’s featured matchup opponent Austin Dillon hasn’t finished worse than 12th in his last four starts at Talladega. But while Dillon is a more popular pick in race-winner betting — 3% of tickets and 4% of the handle to Reddick’s 1.5% and 1.2% — he has just 33% of the handle in featured matchup betting.

Denny Hamlin (-115) vs. William Byron (-115)

The highest-ranked driver in this week’s matchups, Denny Hamlin, is the fourth-most-experienced driver at Talladega in this weekend’s field. Only Kevin Harvick (43), Truex (35), and Kyle Busch (34) have more career Cup Series starts at the track than Hamlin (33).

But only Joey Logano, among active drivers, has more laps led at Talladega than Hamlin. The 41-year-old JGR driver has led at least six laps in each of his last five starts at the track — and at least one lap in 26 of his 33 career starts.

Hamlin is dominating featured matchup betting against William Byron, who has just two top-10 finishes in 10 starts at Talladega. Hamlin has 97% of the handle on 96% of the tickets.

Bubba Wallace (-130) vs. Chris Buescher (+100)

Bubba Wallace crashed the party at last year’s race, earning his first career Cup Series win in his 143rd career start and ending the four-race winning streak for playoff drivers to open the 2021 playoffs.

At +1600 in race-winner odds, Wallace isn’t far back from the favorites. He’s led at least five laps in each of his last four starts at Talladega, though he actually led fewer laps (five) en route to last year’s win than Chris Buescher (seven), who tied a career-best finish (sixth) that day.

Neither Wallace nor Buescher is in the top 10 for race-winner ticket share, though Wallace does rank 10th in handle share at 3.3%. Bettors are picking Buescher in this matchup; he has 86% of the handle on 67% of the tickets.

(UPDATE: Bowman ruled out for this week’s race)
Christopher Bell (-120) vs. Alex Bowman (-110)

Christopher Bell’s top-five streak ended at three races with a crash and 34th-place finish in Fort Worth. It was just the fourth time he finished outside the top 20 in his last 20 starts, a run that followed a 22nd-place finish in April at Talladega.

Bell has finished higher than his starting position only once in his last four starts at the track — a fifth-place finish after starting 12th last fall. Similarly, this week’s opponent Alex Bowman has finished higher than his starting position only three times in his last eight starts at Talladega.

Bowman has 76% of the featured matchup handle on a 50-50 ticket split.

You can view updated YellaWood 500 odds and more online sports betting opportunities at the BetMGM online sportsbook.

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

With Layne Riggs having earned the 2022 national championship in Division I of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, the title winners for Divisions II, III, IV and V have been revealed.

Tim DeVos, Austin Paul, Luke Ramsey and Jacob Brown are the national champions of Divisions II through V, respectively, in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series for 2022.

Below is more on each of the champions.

RELATED: 2022 DI regional champions | Rookies of the Year

National champions

2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division II champion

Tim DeVos

The 2022 season was huge for DeVos, who grew up just a few miles from Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.

Not only did DeVos win this year’s Division II national championship with 24 starts at his home track, but he also achieved a personal goal in tying Bob Senneker for the all-time wins record at the 7/16-mile paved oval when he notched his 103rd victory at Berlin in its season finale.

“Winning races never gets old,” DeVos told NASCAR.com in early September when asked about his pursuit of Berlin’s wins record. “It always makes your weekend better if you won on Saturday.”

Including the season finale on Sept. 10, DeVos won 10 races in Berlin’s Model Coverall Service, Inc. Limited Late Model division, giving him enough points to win the 2022 track championship in his division over Tyler Rycenga. DeVos needed all of those victories to secure the national championship, a title he earned by just two points over David Greenslit, the 2021 Division II national champion.

All 24 of DeVos’ starts in 2022 came at Berlin. Including the 10 victories, he picked up 21 top fives and 22 top 10s in those 24 races for a total of 454 points in the Division II national standings.

The final 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division II national standings can be found here.

2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division III champion

Austin Paul

In 2022, Paul was the man to beat in Adams County Speedway’s B Modified division. He made that clear early in the season, when he won the first three B Modified features of the year on consecutive weekends at the half-mile dirt track in Corning, Iowa.

Paul would go on to win eight NASCAR-sanctioned B Modified races at Adams County in 2022. That doesn’t include his third consecutive victory in the B Modified portion of the track’s annual NAPA Auto Parts “Tradition” event to close the year on Sept. 16.

With those eight victories in 16 starts at Adams County, Paul earned the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division III national championship by a comfortable 18 points over Bobby Ozman of Irwindale Speedway in California.

Paul finished in the top 10 in all 16 of his starts at Adams County this year, and 15 of those resulted in a top five.

The final 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division III national standings can be found here.

2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division IV champion

Luke Ramsey

Like Paul, Ramsey in Division IV won a 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship thanks to his dominance at Adams County Speedway. The difference is he didn’t do all of his damage at the Corning, Iowa, track.

In addition to the 10 NASCAR victories Ramsey picked up at Adams County en route to the track championship in the Hobby Stock division, he won two races at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.

In all, Ramsey won 12 races in 19 starts at Adams County and I-80, including 17 top-five finishes. His 476 national points in Division IV of the Weekly Series were 10 more than the points second-place Jaylen Hardbarger picked up in 18 starts at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Ramsey won Adams County’s track championship in the Hobby Stock division by an astonishing 209 points over second-place Tom Myers.

The final 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division IV national standings can be found here.

2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V champion

Jacob Brown

Brown is yet another 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion who found all of his success at Adams County Speedway and I-80 Speedway. Though almost all of it came at I-80.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Brown won seven races in 16 NASCAR starts in 2022, all of which came in the Bragging Rights Late Model division at I-80. He also picked up a pair of top-10 finishes in the two starts he logged at Adams County, one of which was a top five.

Brown won the Division V national championship by 24 points over last year’s champ, Chris Vannausdle, despite starting in almost half the amount of races.

In total, Brown logged 15 top-10 finishes in his 16 starts, 12 of which were top fives.

The final 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V national standings can be found here.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: Tune in or set your DVRs for Episode 5 tonight at 10 ET on USA Network.

Episode five of USA Network’s unscripted series “Race for the Championship” airs tonight at 10 ET, and the fifth of 10 episodes provides exclusive looks and sounds with three drivers who qualified for this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Each episode throughout the series will feature multiple drivers and their lives and stories away from the track. Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez will be the three spotlighted tonight as the series focuses on both their stories off the track and on the iconic Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In tonight’s episode, you can also expect to see:

• Samantha and Kyle Busch discussing their infertility journey — and their first morning home with new baby Lennix;

• Meanwhile, the series gives an in-depth look at Busch’s pending free agency as it begins to look like he may not return to Joe Gibbs Racing;

• Ross Chastain shows off the family watermelon farm in Alva, Florida;

• Behind the scenes at Trackhouse Racing, where Justin Marks is attempting to build more than just a race team.

—

How to find USA Network | USA Network streaming on the go

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are set to roll into the wild card of all wild cards — Talladega Superspeedway.

Thirty-seven cars dot the entry list for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), serving as the middle race of the Round of 12.

With no driver locked into the penultimate playoff round yet, the organized chaos of superspeedway racing is sure to provide tense, close-quarters action. Get set for the weekend here:

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

ONE SHOT

With no practice scheduled for Sunday’s race, the only pre-race track time teams will have this weekend will be qualifying.

The teams will be broken into Groups A and B for two rounds of single-car, single-lap qualifying set to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET (NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) to set the starting lineup.

With the postseason underway, playoff drivers and teams will be ordered by their previous race metrics and assigned to Group A or B by the usual odd/even metric procedures. Playoff teams will be the final cars to qualify in their respective groups.

The five fastest overall drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will each set one more timed lap to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award.

MORE: Paint Scheme preview | Qualifying order

TALLADEGA HISTORY

— Talladega Superspeedway was completed in 1969, built in a soybean growing area. Today, the facility covers about 3,000 acres, the most of any Cup track (Daytona is 482 acres). It cost $6 million.

— Bill Ward, an Alabama insurance salesman and part-time racer, convinced NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. to build the track in Alabama despite France’s initial ideas to build in South Carolina.

— Richard Brickhouse won the inaugural Cup race on Sept. 14th, 1969 at Talladega, an event run after most of the regulars decided not to compete due to concerns over the tires’ capability of withstanding the high speeds.

— The track was last repaved before the fall race in 2006. Mark Martin won the Truck Series’ inaugural race at Talladega in the first race on the fresh asphalt.

— Talladega is the largest oval on the schedule at 2.66 miles with the steepest banking (33 degrees), longest backstretch (4,000 feet), most lead changes (88, Spring 2010 and 2011), first-time winners (11) and is tied for the closest margin of victory (0.002 seconds, April 2011; top eight separated by 0.145 seconds).

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

Teams have plenty of tire data to work with heading into Sunday’s race at Talladega. Goodyear is bringing the same tire setup to the high-banked, 2.66-mile superspeedway that was used here in April as well as the two events at Daytona International Speedway.

“This is the fourth superspeedway race we’ve had on this tire setup this season and we’ve had good results in the first three,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “What we see at Talladega, as well as at Daytona, is teams being able to use tire strategy throughout the race to, depending on the situation, limit their time on pit road. With teams employing different strategies, it potentially jumbles up the field and leads to more passing, depending on the length of a run.”

TALLADEGA STORY LINES

— Nineteen different drivers have won this year, tied for the most all-time.

— Tyler Reddick has won three of the last 13 races, with teammate Austin Dillon picking up another victory (Daytona) for Richard Childress Racing in that span.

— The last seven races have each been won by different drivers — Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and Reddick.

— William Byron was penalized following last week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway for spinning Denny Hamlin under caution, losing 25 driver and owner points and dropping him from third (+17 to the elimination line) to 10th (-8) ahead of Sunday’s race at Talladega. Byron was also fined $50,000. Hendrick Motorsports is appealing the decision.

— The driver leading the most laps won the last two races after winning only one of the prior nine.

— Non-championship-eligible drivers have won the last four playoff races, the longest stretch in series history.

— Kyle Busch ranks third in laps led in 2022 but ranks 30th in laps completed. He is also the only driver to finish inside the top 10 in all three superspeedway races in 2022.

— Chase Elliott has one top-10 finish in the last five races, his worst stretch this season.

Source: Racing Insights

PREDICTABLE UNPREDICTABILITY?

Superspeedways provide plenty of pack racing, with competitors frequently side-by-side and often three-wide for position from green flag to checkered.

That makes picking favorites all the more difficult — evidenced by this week’s DraftKings odds, which list a half-dozen drivers as favorites at 12-1 odds: Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson.

While there are never any truly safe picks at Talladega, the Team Penske duo of Blaney and Logano provides a pair of smart plays. Blaney is a two-time Talladega winner seeking his first triumph of 2022 while Logano enters in search of his fourth Talladega win.

Defending race winner Bubba Wallace enters at 18-1 odds but is worth consideration after finishing inside the top two in three of his last five superspeedway starts. There’s also Austin Dillon (25-1), the most recent superspeedway winner who won his way into the Cup Series Playoffs in August at Daytona.

MORE: Complete list of odds for Sunday

FANTASY LIVE

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which reset 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 playoff winner.

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,018), Joey Logano (923), and Ryan Blaney (916).

In addition to Fantasy Live, NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortgage during the playoffs.

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

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

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

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Posted on by Brandon White

A veteran dirt racer like Granby, Quebec, native Steve Bernier does not exactly fit the typical narrative associated with a NASCAR rookie.

Autodrome Granby and RPM Speedway falling under NASCAR sanctioning this year enabled Bernier to compete in the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series for the first time. Bernier made the most of the opportunity by winning the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Rookie of the Year presented by Jostens following efficient seasons at both tracks.

Steve Bernier
(Photo: 360NitroTv)

In a competitive Modified class at Granby and RPM, Bernier was one of the few to separate himself from the competition. He ended up tallying eight victories and 20 top fives between the facilities, which enabled him to finish fourth in the Weekly Series Division I national standings behind Layne Riggs, Peyton Sellers and Craig Von Dohren.

RPM is where Bernier found most of his success in 2022, as he ended up claiming the track championship with a comfortable, 19-point advantage over David Hebert, who ended up denying Bernier his third title at Granby by just two points.

The stellar campaigns Bernier put together at Granby and RPM enabled him to join a notable list of drivers who have won Weekly Series Rookie of the Year honors that includes last year’s recipient in Gunner Martin, as well as Travis Braden and current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Chase Purdy.

Outside of the local shows at Granby and RPM, Bernier’s career has seen him compete in numerous high-profile dirt races across Canada and the United States. Among his accomplishments include two DIRTcar Sportsman Series wins in 2013, as well as titles in the DIRTCar 358-Modified Starter Series and the Series Canadienne Side Panel.

Bernier was not the only rookie to be recognized by NASCAR for efficiency in 2022, as the sanctioning body handed out Rookie of the Year honors to the best newcomer in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and West, respectively.

Below is the complete list of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Regional Rookie of the Year recipients.

Weekly Series Rookies of the Year

  • Midwest Rookie of the Year: Bryce Blohm

In his debut season competing in Division I of the Weekly Series, Blohm started in every race at Elko Speedway. In 23 features, he tallied one victory to go along with seven top-10 performances against drivers like 2019 Weekly Series champion Jacob Goede.

  • Northeast Rookie of the Year: David Hebert

Like the driver he defeated for the Autodrome Granby title this year, Hebert is anything but an inexperienced competitor. Between Granby and RPM, Hebert visited Victory Lane on seven different occasions to claim the Northeast Rookie of the Year award.

  • Southeast Rookie of the Year: Junior Snow

For most of the 2022 season, Snow was merely a witness to the intense championship battle at Bowman Gray Stadium between Tim Brown and Brandon Ward. Despite this, Snow still managed to score a victory in his rookie campaign and claim three top fives.

  • West Rookie of the Year: Caity Miller

Miller spent her first season in the Weekly Series’ top division splitting time between Meridian Speedway and Magic Valley Speedway in Idaho. She stood out in Meridian’s Modified division by tallying four top fives, including three runner-up finishes.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

A quartet of drivers who enjoyed successful NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series seasons now have additional reason to celebrate.

Layne Riggs, Craig Von Dohren, Jacob Goede and Neal Latham have been confirmed as regional champions of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series for 2022.

NASCAR reintroduced regional championships last season for the first time since 2004, giving drivers from across the country who might not be able to contend for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship something else for which to race. Each regional champion earned $15,000 for his season-long efforts.

The regional championships are broken into four regions: Southeast, Northeast, Midwest and West.

Below is a closer look at each of the four NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Regional champions.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Southeast Region champion: Layne Riggs. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)

Southeast Region: Layne Riggs

A fantastic season for Riggs continues to get better, as the driver from Bahama, North Carolina, can now add the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series southeast region championship trophy to his case alongside the 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship trophy.

Riggs, who recently was confirmed as the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion by four points ahead of Peyton Sellers, secured the southeast regional championships by eight points.

Riggs’ season included 16 victories at four tracks, including Dominion Raceway and South Boston Speedway in Virginia, plus Hickory Motor Speedway and Wake County Speedway in North Carolina. He also secured his first track championship at South Boston this year.

Sellers ranked second in the southeast region standings, followed by Doug Barnes Jr., Wake County Speedway champion Clay Jones and Bowman Gray Stadium champion Tim Brown.

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NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Northeast Region champion: Craig Von Dohren. (Photo: Grandview Speedway)

Northeast Region: Craig Von Dohren

For the second straight season, the king of the northeast is Von Dohren.

A veteran dirt Modified driver from Oley, Pennsylvania, Von Dohren dominated his competition at Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway this season. In 23 NASCAR-sanctioned starts this year at Grandview, Von Dohren collected 11 victories and only finished outside of the top 10 once.

In addition to collecting his second straight NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series northeast region championship, Von Dohren also secured his third straight Grandview Speedway track championship and 13th overall.

David Hebert, competing at RPM Speedway and Autodrome Granby in Canada, fell 18 points shy of the northeast region championship. Another Canadian driver, Steve Bernier, was third ahead of a pair of Grandview regulars, Brett Kressley and Jeff Strunk.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Midwest Region champion Jacob Goede. (Photo: Courtesy Madison International Speedway)
NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Midwest Region champion: Jacob Goede. (Photo: Jeff Taber/Madison International Speedway)

Midwest Region: Jacob Goede

When it comes to NASCAR racing in the Midwest, Goede continues to set the bar.

The driver from Carver, Minnesota, collected his second straight NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series midwest region championship this season following another banner year of Late Model racing.

Competing at three tracks — Minnesota’s Elko Speedway, plus Wisconsin’s LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway and Madison International Speedway — Goede scored six victories in 29 starts. He scored 20 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes in those 29 starts and secured his ninth consecutive Elko Speedway track title.

The 2019 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion bested Adams County Speedway competitor Jesse Dennis by 18 points to secure the midwest region crown. Elko Speedway competitor Jake Ryan was third, followed by LaCrosse and Elko racer Chad Walen and Elko’s Jeremy Wolff.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series West Region champion Neal Latham. (Photo: Courtesy Latham Motorsports)
NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series West Region champion: Neal Latham. (Photo: Courtesy Latham Motorsports)

West Region: Neal Latham

For the first time in his career, Latham can call himself a NASCAR champion after laying claim to the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series west region championship this season.

Latham, who competes in the Modified division at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway, scored six victories in 21 races to put himself in position for his first regional championship. His results also included 16 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes.

Latham had the biggest advantage in the final standings of any regional champion, besting Irwindale Speedway racer Linny White by 30 points to claim the west region championship.

Another Irwindale racer, Trevor Huddleston, was third, followed by Magic Valley Speedway and Meridian racer Caity Miller and Meridian’s Colton Nelson.