Next Race: 1000Bulbs.com 500 The Place: Talladega Superspeedway The Date: Sunday, October 13 The Time: 2 p.m. ET TV: NBC, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 500.08 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 55), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 110), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 188) 2018 Race Winner: Aric Almirola Truex leads Playoff contenders to Talladega wild card Only four races into the 10-race 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and Martin Truex Jr. is thus far turning in a championship run for the ages. He has two victories and a runner-up finish in the four Playoff races and leads the points standings heading into Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 2017 champion Truex leads all drivers with six victories on the season. He has 13 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes and has an average finish of 10.1. He currently holds a 15-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the Playoff standings and leads the series in average finish (2.75) in the first four Playoff events. All of those positive statistics are good – and perhaps especially necessary – for Truex heading to the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway high banks this week. The venue has been a challenge for Truex, historically-speaking. In 29 career Monster Energy Series races at Talladega, Truex has more DNFs (13) than top-10 finishes (eight). He has only a pair of top-five results – both fifth-place finishes (in 2006 and 2015). His average finish of 21.3 is 25th-best among this week’s starting field. He started and finished 20th in the May race – his first top-20 finish since May, 2016. He was 23rd in the October Talladega Playoff race last year. Truex does actually have a bit of positive racing history at Talladega despite his struggle in the Monster Energy Series. He has two Xfinity Series race victories – one each in his 2004 and 2005 championship years. “We feel good about where we’re at,’’ Truex said. “Obviously, we wish we could have won last week and not had to worry about Talladega, but everybody on our team has been doing a good job all year and especially in the Playoffs. “We know this weekend is going to be a huge challenge for us because of how the manufacturers have been working together the last few plate races. Strength in numbers is huge and we don’t really have enough cars to do what those other guys do. We have a lot of smart people at JGR, so I’m confident we’ll come up with a game plan this week and make the best of it.’’ Talladega Redemption Chase Elliott couldn’t be more motivated to match his May victory at Talladega Superspeedway. The second-generation NASCAR star boasts the top Driver Rating (93.4) and best Average Running Position (10.745) into Sunday’s race. And after an uncharacteristic DNF at Dover last week, good vibes and good results are exactly what he needs. Elliott is ranked 11th of the 12 remaining championship-eligible drivers after a 38th-place finish at Dover and is now seven points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in the eighth place “cutoff” position with two races remaining in this Playoff round. Obviously, the disappointing effort has created a situation for Elliott that forces his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team to rally. The encouraging news is that typically when they have needed to overcome adversity, Elliott and his team have. Nine times in his five-year fulltime Cup career, Elliott has answered a sub-30th-place finish with a top 10 in the next race. Twice he’s won a race right after a subpar outing – including this season when he finished 28th at Pocono, Pa. and won the next week at Watkins Glen, N.Y. On the season, Elliott has earned three wins, 10 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. With six races remaining, Elliott has already tied his single-season best victory tally and is only two top-5 finishes shy of his career-best mark set in 2017. He has a win this year at Talladega, three top-five finishes and a pole in seven previous starts at the big track. And he is the defending winner of next week’s race at Kansas Speedway, where he has three top-five finishes in seven starts, all coming in the last four races. Team Penske is ready to tackle Talladega In recent years in particularly, Team Penske and its Ford power have consistently been the class of the Talladega fields. Ford drivers have won seven of the last eight Talladega races and swept the three seasons from 2016-18. Ford has won at least one Talladega race in each of the last five years. Six of the last 10 checkered flags have gone to the Team Penske driving duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Keselowski’s five-trophy haul is most in the field and Logano’s three trophies are second only to his teammate. Logano’s 89.8 driving rating is third-best, teammates Keselowski (89.0) and Ryan Blaney (86.7) are fourth- and fifth-best, respectively. Logano endured a very uncharacteristic race at Dover last week – his No. 22 Team Penske Ford had a mechanical problem on the parade lap – and after challenging for the regular season championship he is now tied with William Byron in points, but sits behind him in ninth in the standings – one spot outside the cutoff – based on the tie-breaker. Only the top-ranked eight drivers will remain Playoff-eligible following next week’s race at Kansas Speedway. Talladega Superspeedway, however, may be the perfect panacea for Logano. He has scored top-five finishes in six of the last eight races, including three wins. He was fifth in this race in October 2018 and fourth this last May. He’s led laps in seven of the previous eight races – in fact 81.5 percent of his career total laps led came here. Keselowski has had a similarly positive relationship with Talladega, scoring his first career Monster Energy Series win in his first series start at the big track in May, 2009. He’s led laps in the last seven Talladega races, but his last top 10 came back in October, 2017 – his last victory there. A three-race winner in 2019, Keselowski earned top-10 finishes in the opening three Playoff races and was 11th at Dover, Del. last weekend. As with his teammate Logano, Blaney had a rough outing in Dover. His No. 12 Team Penske Ford suffered a suspension problem and he had to retire early, taking a 35th-place finish. And after a strong Playoff start – he’s had top-10 finishes in two of the last four races – Blaney is now ranked 12th, 22 points behind Byron in the eighth position. He has not had the same good fortune at Talladega as his two teammates, however, and would love a change in vibe. He has two top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three DNFs. He was 15th this May and 29th in last October’s Playoff race. Comfort in this round may be best found at Kansas Speedway next week where Blaney has five top-10 finishes in nine starts. He finished seventh in the 2018 Playoff race there and led nine laps. Kyle Busch looking to bounce back to Victory Lane Kyle Busch began the 2019 season tying a record mark for consecutive top-10s (11) to open the calendar, then reeled off four wins – back-to-back at Phoenix and Fontana, Calf. then again at Bristol-1 and Pocono-1. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the regular season championship and began the Playoffs with a sizable points cushion, should he need it. Four races into the Playoffs, however, and the 2015 series champion hasn’t won since June at Pocono – while all three of his JGR teammates have hoisted trophies since. He’s had two top 10s and two finishes of 19th or worse in the Playoffs. He was runner-up to his teammate Martin Truex Jr. at Richmond only to have a mechanical issue leave him 37th at the Charlotte ROVAL a week later. He finished sixth at Dover, Del. despite qualifying farthest back (18th) among the 12 Playoff drivers. He is currently third in the standings – behind JGR teammates Truex and Denny Hamlin – but a hefty 52 points above the Playoff’s cutoff that will set the next round of the postseason following next week’s race at Kansas Speedway. Busch is one of nine former Talladega winners in the field this weekend – his victory celebration coming in May 2008 – 11 seasons ago. He has six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 28 starts and his average finish of 20.3 is 19th-best in Sunday’s field. He was 10th at Talladega this May and 26th in the 2018 Playoff race there. “I think you approach it the same way no matter where you in the points,’’ Busch said of the Talladega Superspeedway. “I’ve been in front and been part of a wreck and I’ve been riding in the back and been taken out too. There’s really no place that’s safe. “With this race being the second race of the round, you have to try and run up front and hope that you don’t have some bad luck and just bring home a solid finish.’’ Much to race for Both among those just eliminated from Playoff contention and among those who did not qualify for the championship this year, there has been some significant movement in the standings. Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola – who is actually the defending winner of this week’s Talladega race – is tops among the Playoff drivers who didn’t advance to this Round of 12. He is ranked 13th, 16 points up on Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman. Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kurt Busch is a single point behind Newman. And Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones is ranked 16th, 64 points behind Almirola after suffering four finishes of 36th or worse in the last five races. For the first time in his seven-championship career, Jimmie Johnson did not qualify for the Playoffs. But as you’d expect of an 83-race winner, that hasn’t meant he’s not still working hard. In fact, Johnson and his eighth-place finish last week officially moved him into 17th in the standings – overtaking Daniel Suarez by 10 points – for the top position among those who didn’t make the Playoffs. Johnson hasn’t finished worse than 11th in the four Playoff races. And he is one of only four multi-time Talladega winners, with victories in 2006 and 2011. Competition Highlights Denny Hamlin became the seventh driver to win multiple pole positions this season, out-qualifying the field at Dover on Sunday. His two pole positions are the only ones earned by the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing team in 2019. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron lead all drivers with five poles each. Kyle Larson’s win at Dover makes him the 12th different race winner in 2019. Six teams have won races, led by Joe Gibbs Racing’s 15 wins. All four JGR drivers – Martin Truex Jr. (six), Denny Hamlin (four), Kyle Busch (four) and Erik Jones (one) have wins. Chip Ganassi Racing is the only other team whose entire driver lineup – Larson and Kurt Busch – have victories. While Larson pulled away to a nearly two-second win at Dover, the average Margin of Victory for the 30-race season is 1.696-seconds – with 15 races with a margin of victory of less than a second. The average number of race leaders per race is 8.90 – the most for the opening 30 races since 2014 (9.63). Similarly, the average number of lead changes (17.17 per race) is the highest through 30 races since 2015 (17.53). Green flag passes for the lead are up 38.3 percent from last season – with gains in 20 of the 30 races. Seven races have set green flag passes for the lead records (Las Vegas-1, Bristol, Tenn.-1, Kansas-1, Chicago, Kentucky, Indianapolis and Charlotte ROVAL). In addition, total green flag passes are up 23.8 percent over last season and 17 of the 30 races to date have seen increase compared to last season. The number of green flag passes for the lead is up 14.8 percent in the four Playoff races so far. Next Race: Kansas Lottery 300 The Place: Kansas Speedway The Date: Saturday, October 19 The Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 2:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) 2018 Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek Next Race: Sugarlands Shine 250 The Place: Talladega Superspeedway The Date: Saturday, October 12 The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 250.04 miles (94 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 40), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 94) 2018 Winner: Timothy Peters Gander Trucks are back on track With three consecutive off-weeks behind them, NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series begins the Round of 6 at Talladega Superspeedway this Saturday, Oct. 12 with the Sugarlands Shine 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Talladega has hosted 13 Gander Trucks races with the first coming in 2006, which was won by Mark Martin in a Ford. That also happened to mark Ford’s only victory at the 2.66-mile behemoth. The track has seen four multi-race winners, led with three victories by Timothy Peters (2014, 2015, 2018). Todd Bodine (2007, 2008), Kyle Busch (2009, 2010) and Parker Kligerman (2012, 2017) each have two wins. Kligerman is the only multi-race winner to not post consecutive trips to Victory Lane. With the exception of Peters’ most recent win last season, all of the multi-win drivers notched their victories in a Toyota (including Peters’ first two wins). Overall, Toyota leads the OEM race with nine wins at Talladega while Chevrolet has three wins. In total, eight different drivers have recorded wins at the Alabama track. Grant Enfinger (2016) and Johnny Sauter (2013) are the only current full-time Gander Trucks drivers who have a previous win there. The eighth driver not mentioned above? Mike Wallace – who won in 2011. Enfinger and Kligerman both recorded their first career Gander Trucks wins at Talladega. Defending winner Peters is not entered in this weekend’s race, nor is Kligerman, the 2017 winner. Only two previous Talladega victors – Enfinger and Sauter – are on the entry list for Saturday’s event. There has yet to be a multi-time pole winner in the Gander Trucks at Talladega Superspeedway – 13 races, 13 different pole winners. And we’re guaranteed to get a 14th different pole winner this weekend, as none of the former pole sitters are entered. The youngest pole winner at Talladega was Cole Custer in 2016 – 18 years, eight months, 29 days old; the oldest was Ron Hornaday Jr. in 2010 – 52 years, four months and 10 days old. The most recent pole winner was David Gilliland. Tyler Reddick (2014) is the only driver who recorded his first career Gander Trucks pole at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. The Round of 6 field Following the Gander Trucks’ last race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, regular season champion Grant Enfinger and his ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter were eliminated from postseason contention, narrowing the field to the six drivers who will begin the next round of the Playoffs on Saturday. This will mark the first time since the elimination-style Playoff format was introduced to the Gander Trucks in 2016 that Sauter will not be part of the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Brett Moffitt came out of Las Vegas as the top seed moving into the next round and has 3,034 points with the reset. Austin Hill, the winner from Las Vegas, trails him by 17 points at 3,017 points, while Ross Chastain is just one more point back with 3,016 points. Stewart Friesen is fourth with 3,014 points. Matt Crafton (3,011 points) and Tyler Ankrum (3,005 points) round out the group of six drivers who will battle over the next three races for the shot at the title in Miami. Winning the pole en route to the 2019 Playoffs It appeared this season that if you were fast before the race started, that was a good indication you would put yourself in a position to contend for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series title. Ten different drivers have combined to win 16 pole awards in the Gander Trucks through the opening 19 races of the season (qualifying was canceled due to weather for three races – Atlanta, Iowa, World Wide Technology Raceway) – and six of those drivers qualified for this year’s series Playoffs. The lone 2019 Gander Trucks Playoff drivers who haven’t yet collected a pole are Tyler Ankrum (who is still in title contention) and Johnny Sauter (who was eliminated after the opening round). And all Playoff drivers with a pole won at least one of them during the regular season. Brett Moffitt leads the pack with three poles this season – with two of them coming in the opening round of the Playoffs (Bristol, Canadian Tire). His third pole was earlier this season at Dover. Austin Hill has a pair of poles (Daytona, Michigan) as does Matt Crafton (Kansas, Charlotte) and eliminated Playoff driver Grant Enfinger (Texas-1, Kentucky). Ross Chastain (Michigan) and Stewart Friesen (Martinsville -1) have each led the field to green once. source – NASCAR communications
