This Weekend in NASCAR – Storylines – Talladega

Next Race: GEICO 500
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
The Date: Sunday, June 21
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 2 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 500 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 188)
2019 Race Winner: Chase Elliott

Talladega Superspeedway with fans

NASCAR announced a plan to introduce the return of fans to its race events last week, which includes the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, June 21 (on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR’s modified event procedures, protocols and number of attendees have been finalized with guidance from public health officials, medical experts and local, state and federal officials. In order to adhere to local social distancing guidelines, a limited number of guests (5,000) will be allowed in the frontstretch grandstands/towers for the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. In addition, there will be limited motorhome/5th-wheel camping spots available outside the track high atop the Alabama Gang Superstretch.

“Our frontstretch grandstands and towers are massive, measuring an incredible eight tenths of a mile long,” said Talladega Superspeedway President Brian Crichton. “That provides us ample room to be able to welcome race fans back with plenty of safe distancing between guests. NASCAR and the track staff will continue to work with health and government officials and be ready to provide a safe experience for the NASCAR fans in attendance.”

The offer is open exclusively on a first-come, first-served basis to fans who purchased tickets or reserved camping for the originally scheduled GEICO 500 on April 26 and live within 0-150 miles of the track. The geographical limitations are being implemented to limit travel and reduce risk. Eligible fans may use their April event credit to select new seats or may purchase seats, if preferred, through the following options:

• Visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/return for complete details or click here

• Respond to an email offer sent to Alabama TSS spring ticket customers within the 150-mile radius

• Call 1-877-Go2-DEGA

This weekend will be the 103rd NASCAR Cup Series race hosted at Talladega Superspeedway, dating back to the very first series event at the track on September 14, 1969 – a race won by Richard Brickhouse. Since then, the 102 Cup races at Talladega have produced 44 different pole winners, led by NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott with eight poles. The Cup Series has also seen 49 different race winners at Talladega, led by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt with 10 victories. Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins at Talladega with 13 victories, with Chase Elliott’s victory in this race last season breaking the tie they had held with Richard Childress Racing (12 wins). Twelve of the 49 different winners are active this weekend, led by Brad Keselowski with five wins.

Notable series facts about Talladega:

Since the advent of electronic scoring, the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway is the April 17, 2011, race won by Jimmie Johnson over second-place Clint Bowyer with a margin of victory of 0.002 second – the margin of victory is tied with the 2003 Darlington race as the closest finishes in the series using electronic scoring.
Talladega Superspeedway leads the series all-time in the number of lead changes in a race with 88 (happened twice, most recently in 2011) and the number of leaders in a race with 29 (April 2010).
There have been 14 NASCAR Cup Series races resulting in NASCAR Overtime at Talladega – most recent was the Oct. 2018 event.
Prior to this weekend, only one NASCAR Cup Series race held at Talladega Superspeedway was not run on its scheduled date. The April 27, 1997, race was postponed due to inclement weather to May 10, 1997 – Mark Martin won the event.
A total of 11 different drivers have won their first NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5/7/2017), Brad Keselowski (04/26/2009), Brian Vickers (10/08/2006), Ken Schrader (07/31/1988), Phil Parsons (05/01/1988), Davey Allison (04/30/1987), Bobby Hillin Jr. (07/27/1986), Ron Bouchard (08021981), Lennie Pond (08/06/1978), Dick Brooks (08/12/1973) and Richard Brickhouse (09/14/1969). Twenty drivers entered this weekend at Talladega are still looking for their first career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

New Rules Package for ‘Dega: What you need to know

The NASCAR Cup Series cars will have a new rules package this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway aimed at improving the overall safety of the vehicles. These rules changes were implemented in a May 1 technical bulletin and include lessons learned from the investigation into the No. 6 car incident at Daytona.

The changes are as follows:

Addition of a lower main roll bar support bar #20 / intrusion plate and upper main roll bar support bar #21 (mandatory superspeedways, optional elsewhere).
Elimination of aero ducts at superspeedway tracks.
Reduction in size of throttle body from 59/64″ to 57/64″ (superspeedways only).
Updated roll bar padding specifications (mandatory at all tracks beginning June 1).
Oil reservoir tank or overflow expansion tank must contain a check valve (mandatory at all tracks beginning with Talladega).
Slip tape must be applied along the entire length of the lower rearward facing surfaces of the rear bumper cover and extension (superspeedways only).

Joe Gibbs Racing regains form

Joe Gibbs Racing has put everyone on notice that they have regained their winning form when Martin Truex Jr. collected his second Martinsville Grandfather clock of his career on Wednesday, and then on Sunday in a weather delayed event at Homestead-Miami, Denny Hamlin captured his third victory of the season (Daytona, Darlington). And as a result, Joe Gibbs Racing has tied Team Penske for the series-most wins in 2020 at four each.

Heading into Talladega this weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing is hoping to build off of the early success. Not only does Hamlin lead the series in wins this season, he also leads the JGR stable in wins at Daytona and Talladega (all-time) with four (three Daytona 500 wins and 2014 May Talladega); followed by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart with three (2008 Oct. Talladega and 2005, 2006 July Daytona), two-time series champ Kyle Busch with two (2008 July Daytona, 2008 April Talladega), NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett (1993 Daytona 500) and Erik Jones (July Daytona) each have one. The only current JGR driver still looking for his first win on a superspeedway is Martin Truex Jr., but he does have two runner-up finishes at Daytona.

Though two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are locked into the Playoffs on wins (Hamlin and Truex), all four JGR teammates will be looking to advance their position in the driver standings – Truex (sixth, -53 back from the points lead), Hamlin (seventh, -68), Kyle Busch (ninth, -104) and Erik Jones (18th, -190). Both Busch and Jones are still looking for their first wins of the season.

While the momentum might be at their backs following Homestead-Miami, the organization will still look to snap a Talladega winless streak that dates back to Hamlin’s win in 2014 – the last time a Toyota visited Victory Lane at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Last season in this race, Kyle Busch was the highest-finishing JGR driver in 10th; followed by Erik Jones (19th), Martin Truex Jr. (20th) and Denny Hamlin finished 36th after being involved in an incident.

Unpredictability is one of the assets of Talladega that has fans so intrigued by the races, and that might be even more ramped-up without practice leading into the race this Sunday, but the series season wins leader (Hamlin) seems unphased.

“. … We’ve run a different package at superspeedways almost every other year,” said Denny Hamlin following his win in Miami. “We’ll adapt pretty quickly. So, for me there is not really any concerns. … These drivers are so good; they’re going to figure it out pretty quick.”

Hamlin also leads his teammates in average finishing position at Talladega heading into the weekend with a 19.0; followed Busch (20.2), Truex (21.4) and Jones (28.1)

Team Penske is tops at Talladega

You do not have to be a statistician to know who the best at Talladega has been as of late – Team Penske. Over the last 11 races at Talladega Superspeedway, Team Penske has celebrated in Victory Lane in seven of them (63.6%); including the most recent – last October’s race, when Ryan Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a thrilling photo finish.

In total, Team Penske has eight wins at the Alabama track among three drivers – Brad Keselowski (four wins: 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017), Joey Logano (three: 2015, 2016, 2018) and Ryan Blaney (2019).

Despite the crew chief shake up to start the season, all three Team Penske drivers are in the top five in points with a third of the season in the books. Leading the way are veterans Keselowski and Logano, who have both secured their spots in the Playoffs with wins this season (two wins each) and both have racked up Playoff points through stage wins. Logano is currently third in the driver standings, 29 points back from Kevin Harvick in the standings lead, and Keselowski is fourth in the standings; 51 points back from Harvick.

But this weekend, could be the one Blaney takes the spotlight and gets his first win of 2020. Just one point behind his teammate Keselowski, in fifth in the driver standings, Blaney is the highest ranked driver without a win this season. But he has been incredibly consistent posting six top fives (tied for series-most) on the year.

“I enjoy speedway racing. It’s just kind of a different deal,” said Blaney. “I’m excited to see the new rules package. We are going to get a firsthand look at it right in the race, no practice. I’m excited to see what that does.”

Blaney has made 11 starts at Talladega posting one win, two top fives, three top 10s and an average finish of 19.0.

He continued, “As far as the momentum side, yeah, you feel good for sure, stringing together some decent runs. But it is hard to kind of carry that over to Talladega. You just never know what can happen.”

Team Penske finished fifth (Logano), 13th (Keselowski), and 15th (Blaney) in the Spring Talladega race last season, then in the Fall they finished first (Blaney), 11th (Logano), and 25th (Keselowski).

Next Race: Unhinged 300
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
The Date: Saturday, June 20
The Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 5 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300.58 miles (113 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 25),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 113)
2019 Winner: Tyler Reddick

Xfinity goes Superspeedway racing in Alabama

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Talladega Superspeedway for the Unhinged 300 on Saturday, June 21, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Coming off a double-header weekend in South Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway, the series will hit the pavement for 300 miles of excitement and hard racing at the 2.66-mile track.

The first of the two race’s last weekend was won by Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Harrison Burton in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The win marked the second of the season for the rookie, the first one coming at Auto Club Speedway.

Then Sunday’s Xfinity race was won by Chase Briscoe. The victory was Briscoe’s third of the season and a nice comeback after suffering a major penalty the day before as well as the ejection of his crew chief, car chief and engineer after dropping a ballast during the race’s pace laps. Greg Zipadelli stepped in as the interim crew chief and got his first Xfinity Series win atop the pit box.

Briscoe’s three wins (Las Vegas, Darlington and Homestead-Miami) are the most in the series.

However, because it was Dash 4 Cash race, Briscoe wasn’t the only winner in Miami. AJ Allmendinger, who runs a part-time schedule for Kaulig Racing, took home the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for being the highest-finishing driver (fourth) among all four Dash 4 Cash competitors. Briscoe was not in the running for the money.

Noah Gragson dominated both races at Homestead-Miami Speedway but ended up losing the front spot during late race restarts. He was also competing for the Dash 4 Cash on Sunday for the second week in a row.

Briscoe’s win at Homestead puts him in the running for this weekend’s Dash 4 Cash installment at Talladega Superspeedway along with Brandon Jones, Ross Chastain and Allmendinger.

Talladega Superspeedway is always home to some of NASCAR’s most exciting racing. The series was originally supposed to race at the superspeedway on April 25, 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talladega has hosted 28 NASCAR Xfinity Series races dating back to the inaugural event in 1992 won by Ernie Irvan. The 28 races have produced 23 different race winners and 21 different pole winners. Martin Truex Jr. has the most wins at the track with three and Joe Nemechek has the most poles with five. Nemechek is tied with Joey Logano for the most top fives (seven) and leads the way in most top 10s (nine).

Chevrolet has the most wins by a manufacturer at the track with 16 and Joe Gibbs Racing has the most wins by a car owner with five victories.

Talladega has a 4,300-foot frontstretch and 4,000-foot backstretch with 33 degrees of banking in corners. There are 16.5 degrees of banking on the front and two degrees of banking on the back.

Saturday’s race will be 300.58 miles and 113 laps. The first stage will end on 25, second stage on 50 and the final stage will conclude on Lap 113.

Dash 4 Cash update
The Dash 4 Cash program is back for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and this time the schedule is a little different compared to past years due to a revised 2020 schedule as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dash 4 Cash kicked off at Atlanta Motor Speedway two weekends ago where Noah Gragson won the season’s first installment.

Last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, AJ Allmendinger grabbed the second $100,000 bonus.

As the Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the Unhinged 300 (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones and Ross Chastain will be the drivers competing for the prize money.

Xfinity is making donation in each Dash 4 Cash race market to reaffirm their companywide commitment of connecting families, veterans and seniors to the digital tools necessary for navigating these challenging times.

At Talladega Superspeedway the donation will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Alabama, which gives young people in need the developmental tools to achieve great futures as productive, responsible citizens in the community. The donation will help with academic and character-building programs to continue through the crisis.

Burton continues breakthrough season

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton broke another record last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He became the first Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender to finish inside the top-10 in the first 10 races of the Xfinity Series season. His finish at Homestead broke the previous rookie record of nine consecutive races to start the season with top-10 finishes by Carl Edwards in 2005.

Overall, the driver of the No. 20 Toyota, has dominated the rookie standings.

This weekend will be Burton’s series track debut at Talladega Superspeedway. Burton made one start at Talladega in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2019 and finished 11th after starting from third.

Burton is currently sitting in third in the series points standings, behind leader Noah Gragson and second-place Chase Briscoe.

Burton also joins them on the list of multi-race winners this season in the Xfinity Series. Combined, Burton, Gragson and Briscoe make up seven wins in the 10 races run so far.

Plus, don’t forget Burton kicked the season off with a runner-up finish at Daytona; right behind Gragson.

Cindric closing in

Austin Cindric is still on the hunt for his first win in the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and Talladega Superspeedway could be where he gets it done.

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has five top fives and seven top 10s so far this season. He has an average start of 7.7 and an average finish of 10.9.

Most recently, he finished second at the first of two races last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Cindric has finished in the top-10 in all but three races so far this season.

He’s led 230 laps and is currently in fourth in the championship points standings for the series – the highest-ranked driver without a win. But he has been upfront, Cindric has led the third-most percentage of laps this season (12.57%) sitting behind a pair of JR Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier.

This weekend’s Unhinged 300 on Saturday, June 20 (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be Cindric’s third Xfinity Series start at the track. Last season, he finished fifth for Team Penske in this event.