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Miami Herald
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Zane Smith captures first-career pole for Talladega Cup race
TALLADEGA, Ala. _ Front Row Motorsports maintained its strong position out front at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with 24-year driver Zane Smith convincingly claiming the first pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career -- the third consecutive at the track for his team. Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's Jack Link's 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the sport's biggest track with two-time series champion Kyle Busch starting alongside Smith on the front row -- his best start since earning pole position at Dover, Del. last Spring. Smith earned his first pole position with a lap of 182.174 mph in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford -- bettering Busch's time by a slight .132-second on the 2.66-mile circuit. 'Obviously a lot of speed,' said Smith, who was fastest in opening-round time trials and improved that time in the final round. 'Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break (last week) and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to re-build on. 'And now we're off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we've been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We'll see how it goes.' Seven Fords, a pair of Chevrolets and a single Toyota advanced to that 10-car final round. Reigning series champion, Team Penske's Joey Logano and Roush Fenway Keselowski's Ryan Preece will start from row two. Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon, RFK's Chris Buescher, Penske's Austin Cindric, Wood Brothers's Josh Berry, Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs (the only Toyota) rounded out the second round qualifiers. Defending race winner Tyler Reddick will roll off 26th in the 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota. Championship points leader, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, will start 16th on the 39-car grid. KESELOWSKI'S OPPORTUNITY Brad Keselowski is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion -- claiming the title in 2012 in only his 16th full-time year competing in the series -- and leads all drivers with six Talladega Superspeedway trophies. That's all encouraging, but the 41-year old owner-driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford would really like to resume that big track magic this weekend and jumpstart an uncharacteristically 'off' start to the 2025 season. Keselowski is still racing for his first top-10 of the year -- an 11th place showing at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway is his best result and he sits an uncharacteristic 31st in the championship standings. The 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, however, presents a level of confidence for the former champ. He won his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at the track in 2009. He's got 12 top-five showings -- including three runner-up finishes -- and has finished in the top-10 in half of his 32 starts, a remarkable statistic at a drafting track. 'It's definitely not my best (season) start,' Keselowski allowed. 'It doesn't feel like my best start, but I've got my eternal optimist glasses on and I see the potential. The potential for this team is higher than any team I've had the last four or five years and we just have to recognize it. There's a lot of talent and a lot of fresh faces and the mistakes that come with that. We have to clean that up and recognize our potential.' CHAMPIONSHIP CREW CHIEF CHILDERS OUT AT SPIRE Spire Motorsports announced this week that it and veteran crew chief Rodney Childers had parted ways effective immediately. Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship, was in his first year with Spire after spending 11 years with the Stewart-Haas Racing team which left the series at the end of 2024. He has served as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2005 and has 30 victories and nearly a 50 percent top-10 percentage, his cars scoring 299 top 10s in 685 combined starts. 'I know this is a shock, but also know that not everything works out perfect all the time,' Childers wrote on social media this week, thanking Spire Motorsports for his time there and wishing them 'the best in the future.' 'This was just one of those things that just wasn't working for either of us.' The pairing with Haley at Spire Motorsports, however, was slow to start with only a single top-10 (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. Haley sits 23rd in the championship points standings. He finished 26th and 31st in the championship the previous two seasons. He qualified 37th for Sunday's race. 'For me, just showing up and trying to do my job to the best of my ability each week and obviously it's an unexpected change and not something you ever want to do in the middle of the season, but super proud and thankful to be with a race team and owner like Jeff Dickerson who isn't scared to make some changes for maybe the better,' said Haley, who said he only found out about the situation after a day of regularly scheduled meetings last Tuesday. 'It was just a 'fit' thing, I think, nothing super wrong that stood out or super left or right. I think at the end of the day we're in the Cup Series and to compete on a Sunday in the Cup Series everything has to be perfect and if one little thing isn't perfect, you're not going to win races. And that's what we're trying to do.' LARSON LUCK ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is widely regarded as one of the best race car drivers in the world -- the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion wins in every sort of car he drives and is poised to make his second Indianapolis 500 start next month. The one missing style of trophy in the 32-year old's large trophy case, however, is a superspeedway-type victory. A 31-race winner, he is 0-for-20 on Talladega's high banks with a best showing of fourth last October. He is 0-for-22 at Daytona with no top-fives. His best showing is sixth there. Even bolstered with a pair of wins already this season, he says it doesn't necessarily change his approach for Sunday -- doesn't mean he will race any more aggressively. 'Sure, it's nice to have a win before coming here, but it's kind of been that way for me since joining Hendrick (2021) we've always had a win before going to Talladega,' Larson said. 'I don't know what it would be like mentally if we didn't have a win. So yeah, I just believe in treating every weekend the same. It would be nice to get a win here but you don't put any more or any less emphasis on it than every weekend.' GIBBS RESURGENCE Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs is coming off his best showing of the 2025 season -- a third-place finish at the Bristol Motor Speedway short track as he arrives at the series' biggest track, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. It's a significant uptick for Gibbs who has jumped from 34th place in the championship standings three races ago to 20th coming into Sunday's race at Talladega thanks to the Bristol result and a ninth place the preceding race at Darlington. It marks the first back-to-back string of top-10 finishes of the season for the 22-year old former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and first since last summer when he scored a third place finish at Michigan and a fifth at Daytona. Most importantly, it shows a notable sign of improvement for his No. 54 JGR Toyota team which has a new crew chief this year in Tyler Allen and several new crew members. He was the only Toyota driver to advance to the second round qualifying Saturday at Talladega and will roll off 10th in Sunday's race. 'For us, I feel the results have shown for sure,' Gibbs said of the recent change in tide. 'But there is not a time where I've felt I was down on my team or was bummed out. I just think it's part of the process, we have a new team and I think our guys are really good and I have a lot of faith in our guys. There's a lot of things behind the scenes and everyone makes a judgement call, but I know I can run good and that our team is capable of that. 'Sometimes it takes time, and we'll get there. I have confidence in our team.' Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after Talladega race
Austin Cindric is the sixth driver locked into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs following his win in the Jack Link's 500 on April 27 at Talladega Superspeedway. Cindric beat Ryan Preece by 0.022 seconds to earn his third career Cup Series victory. Advertisement The No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver is the first Penske driver locked into the playoffs and now has wins in three of the last four regular seasons. Here's the updated NASCAR Cup Series points standings: TALLADEGA CON MAN: The long Talladega con: How L.W. Wright talked his way onto NASCAR's fastest track WINNERS AND LOSERS: NASCAR Talladega winners and losers: Austin Cindric wins in a photo finish NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after Talladega race Unofficial after Talladega William Byron: 388 points (1 win, 8 playoff points) Kyle Larson -32 (2 wins, 15 playoff points) Denny Hamlin -53 behind leader (2 win, 12 playoff points) Chase Elliott -73 Christopher Bell -82 (3 wins, 16 playoff points) Tyler Reddick -89 Bubba Wallace -94 (2 playoff points) Joey Logano -102 (2 playoff points) Ryan Blaney -112 (2 playoff points) Alex Bowman -116 Ross Chastain -144 Ryan Preece -147 (1 playoff point) Chase Briscoe -155 Chris Buescher -160 Austin Cindric -170 (1 win, 6 playoff points) AJ Allmendinger -175 Kyle Busch -180 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -181 Michael McDowell -189 Carson Hocevar -196 Josh Berry -199 (1 win, 6 playoff points) Ty Gibbs -199 Austin Dillon -208 Zane Smith -209 Daniel Suarez -211 John Hunter Nemechek -212 Justin Haley -214 Todd Gilliland -216 Ty Dillon -229 Erik Jones -232 Noah Gragson -235 Brad Keselowski -255 Riley Herbst -272 Cole Custer -281 Shane van Gisbergen -284 NASCAR playoff picture after Talladega Through 10 races Christopher Bell (3 wins) Denny Hamlin (2 wins) Kyle Larson (2 wins) William Byron (1 win) Austin Cindric (1 win) Josh Berry (1 win) Chase Elliott +102 ahead of playoff cutline Tyler Reddick +86 Bubba Wallace +81 Joey Logano +73 Ryan Blaney +63 Alex Bowman +59 Ross Chastain +31 Ryan Preece +28 Chase Briscoe +20 Chris Buescher +15 AJ Allmendinger -15 points behind 16th Kyle Busch -20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -21 Michael McDowell -29 Carson Hocevar -36 Ty Gibbs -39 Austin Dillon -48 Zane Smith -49 Daniel Suarez -51 John Hunter Nemechek -52 Justin Haley -54 Todd Gilliland -56 Ty Dillon -69 Erik Jones -72 Noah Gragson -75 Brad Keselowski -95 Riley Herbst -112 Cole Custer -121 Shane van Gisbergen -124 This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after Talladega race
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega: Starting lineup, TV schedule for today's race
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability subject to change. NASCAR is ready to go racing at Talladega. The lineup is set for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the fastest speedway in the sport. Zane Smith is on pole for the April 27 race, with Kyle Busch on outside pole. Advertisement Here's the starting lineup for the Jack Link's 500 NASCAR Cup Series Talladega race. More: Christopher Bell taking big step as one of NASCAR's superstars in 2025 NASCAR Talladega TV schedule, start time for the Food City 500 Green Flag Time: Approx. 2 p.m. CT on April 27 Track: Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile superspeedway) in Talladega, Alabama Length: 188 laps, 500.08 miles Stages: 60 laps, 60 laps, 68 laps TV coverage: FOX Radio: MRN Streaming: FUBO (free trial available); FOX Sports app (subscription required); MAX app for in-car cameras; and SiriusXM on Channel 90 for audio (subscription required) The Jack Link's 500 will be broadcast nationally on FOX. Streaming options for the race include MAX for in-car cameras, the FOX Sports app and FUBO, which offers a free trial to potential subscribers. NASCAR'S GREATEST IMPOSTOR: The long Talladega con: How L.W. Wright talked his way onto NASCAR's fastest track Jack Link's 500 starting lineup Row 1 1. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Advertisement 2. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Row 2 3. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford 4. Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Row 3 5. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 6. Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Row 4 7. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford 8. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Row 5 9. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford 10. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Row 6 11. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12. Cole Custer, No. 41 Hass Factory Team Ford Row 7 13. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 14. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Advertisement Row 8 15. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford 16. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Row 9 17. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 18. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Row 10 19. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 20. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Row 11 21. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 22. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Row 12 23. Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota 24. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Row 13 25. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Advertisement Row 14 27. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford 28. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Row 15 29. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 30. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Row 16 31. Anthony Alfredo, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 32. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Row 17 33. Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford 34. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Row 18 35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet 36. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Row 19 37. Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Advertisement 38. BJ McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Row 20 39. JJ Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NASCAR at Talladega: Starting lineup, TV schedule for today's race
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
What to Watch: Talladega, where opportunity and a variety of victors abound
Track: Talladega Superspeedway Location: Talladega, Alabama Track length: 2.66 miles When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET Where to tune in: FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,055,250 Race distance: 188 laps | 500.08 miles Stages: 60 | 120 | 188 Defending winner: Tyler Reddick, April 2024 Starting lineup: Zane Smith claims Busch Light Pole Ten races, ten faces? At a track where the unexpected regularly takes place, the one thing to count on in recent years at Talladega Superspeedway is new faces in Victory Lane. Advertisement The last nine races at the Alabama speed palace have produced nine different winners, and the specter of another no-repeat outcome looms large in Sunday's Jack Link's 500 (3 p.m. ET FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That nine-race Talladega span precedes the advent of the Next Gen car in 2022. MORE: Cup Series standings | Full 2025 schedule Denny Hamlin began that string in October 2020, and since then (in chronological order) the winners' list has welcomed Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Can someone new add their name to the record books Sunday? The prospects for the Cup Series going 10 for 10 with another different winner are high. 'The field is so close, right, that it just opens up a lot of opportunities,' said Josh Berry, driver of the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Ford. 'A lot of these races just kind of come down to circumstance, and you find the same players up front a lot, but ultimately, it kind of is left up to fate a little bit on how obviously missing the wrecks and executing and it just opens the door for opportunity. So it's definitely a bit of a wild card, I think, from a driver's standpoint.' Advertisement There's some historical relevance for Talladega's good fortune smiling on an array of winners. The track's 'fall' race was traditionally called the Talladega 500, and the first 13 runnings were won by 13 different drivers. That variety and the track's growing reputation as a place where anything can happen fed into the speedway's promotions, where marketers touted '13 races, 13 faces' as a selling point. RELATED: Most wins all-time at Talladega | 'Dega surprise winners Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip was one of those 13 faces, etching his name in Victory Lane in 1979. He nearly broke the streak in 1981, but Ron Bouchard slipped by him for an upset win within sight of the checkered flag. The next year, Waltrip sealed the deal as a Talladega 500 repeater, then showed up for a promotional event for the 1983 race wearing a shirt that read: '14 races, 13 faces. Sorry about that.' The other common thread to the unpredictable nature: the driver leading the most laps has failed to win each of the last nine Talladega races. In both races here last year, that hard-luck leader was Michael McDowell, who crashed out in multi-car tangles — another Talladega trademark — each time. Advertisement That included a melee in this race last spring when McDowell was knocked out while leading on the final lap through the trioval. Last fall brought another massive stack-up, one that thinned 20-plus cars from the herd of contenders. MORE: Full Saturday recap The Cup Series field fans out through the trioval at Talladega Superspeedway From atop the pit box … What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday's race? Superspeedway strategy is as much driven by how drivers work the aerodynamic draft as how teams work in tandem across manufacturer lines. Automakers typically hold pre-race meetings to formulate a game plan for attacking Talladega, developing the best course for how to stick together, pit together and move forward — also together. Advertisement That spirit of teamwork — among organizations and the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) — should permeate Sunday's 500-miler, the first of two stops this season at the massive 2.66-mile circuit. 'It's not really set in stone what the plan or path is for how we approach the race set by the OEM, but we do communicate with the other Chevrolet guys during the race, and more than anything else, we just try to be mindful of each other's situation,' says Luke Lambert, crew chief for the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevy driven by Carson Hocevar. 'Chevrolet has so many cars that they kind of split it up into two different groups of cars that work more closely together, but as you know, the way these races are, cars get eliminated, those numbers can dwindle down and then the plans kind of change in the middle of the race. 'Primarily, we'll be working close with the Spire guys, that's our intentions, and then try to work and cooperate with the Chevrolets. When we have the opportunity to do things that benefit each other, as far as working together in lines, and then also how we pit, we try to do that as much as possible.' Chevrolet's contingent makes up 18 cars in the field of 39 starters, the most of any manufacturer; Ford has 12, Toyota nine. Managing that number is tricky, but to Lambert's point, the ability to call audibles and have some amount of flex or give in the strategy is critical. Advertisement 'The bigger the group, the harder it becomes to execute this stuff, because everybody's running their own race and has different things that pop up as the race goes on, based on how much fuel they're using, or how the car is handling, or possibly having a short fill at one point in time, they get out of sync with the other cars,' Lambert said. 'So you can't really be too locked in. You have to kind of be fluid in how we approach the race. But primarily for us, our approach is to run our race really mindful of what's going on around us and how we can work with other guys and what we can expect for them to do as far as working with us when the opportunity arises.' MORE: Power Rankings for Talladega Toyota teams may not have the strength in numbers, but the size of their group — four cars from Joe Gibbs Racing, three from 23XI Racing and two from Legacy Motor Club — may be more manageable. Charles Denike, first-year crew chief of the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI's Bubba Wallace, said that their strategy wasn't necessarily manufacturer-mandated, but that collaboration stemmed mostly from a team level — save for trying to stack their numbers when executing green-flag pit stops together. Chevrolet has prevailed in four of the last six races here, but Toyota's ability to shift up strategy in winning this race last year was key. Advertisement 'Very much, you have to remain flexible,' Denike told 'So there's kind of two things: You always stay ready for if a caution comes out, and then when you can pit under green varies based off of how fast the pace is going and how much fuel you're burning. So it's a bit of a moving target there on what you want to be prepared for if you need to put under green, and then you always stay ready with your answer of, 'if the caution comes out, now, what would I do?\"' RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday's race Bubba Wallace loads into the No. 23 Toyota for qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway History tells us … Expect Penske fingerprints at the front. Just two drafting-style tracks have hosted races this year (Daytona and Atlanta in February), but Team Penske and its affiliated Wood Brothers Racing team have zoned in on the front of the pack. The Penske/Wood Brothers power combo has run 175 laps in first and second place this season. The next closest on that list is Trackhouse Racing, a distant second with 14 laps running 1-2. He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for … RICKY STENHOUSE JR. The Hyak Motorsports veteran has just one top-five result this season, but that total could grow after Sunday's showdown. Stenhouse won here to play playoff spoiler last fall, and two of his four career Cup Series victories have come at Talladega. The 37-year-old has eight top-five finishes here — the most of any track in his Cup career. Advertisement MORE: Get lineup advice in Fantasy Fastlane Speed reads Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. • NASCAR at Talladega: Key information, links, results through the weekend | Read more • Keselowski 'clawing': RFK driver/owner aims to maximize No. 6 team's potential | Read more • Crew chief change-up: Spire, Rodney Childers go separate ways | Read more • Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday's Jack Link's 500 | Read more • Turning Point to Talladega: Forecasting a Championship 4 … already? | Read more • At-track images: Best photos, scenes from a full weekend at Talladega | View gallery • NASCAR Classics: Rewind with full-race replays from the 'Dega video vault | Watch races • Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs ready to tackle Talladega | View gallery
Reuters
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Zane Smith captures first-career pole for Talladega Cup race
April 26 - TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Front Row Motorsports maintained its strong position out front at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with 24-year driver Zane Smith convincingly claiming the first pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career -- the third consecutive at the track for his team. Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's Jack Link's 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the sport's biggest track with two-time series champion Kyle Busch starting alongside Smith on the front row -- his best start since earning pole position at Dover, Del. last Spring. Smith earned his first pole position with a lap of 182.174 mph in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford -- bettering Busch's time by a slight .132-second on the 2.66-mile circuit. "Obviously a lot of speed," said Smith, who was fastest in opening-round time trials and improved that time in the final round. "Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break (last week) and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to re-build on. "And now we're off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we've been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We'll see how it goes." Seven Fords, a pair of Chevrolets and a single Toyota advanced to that 10-car final round. Reigning series champion, Team Penske's Joey Logano and Roush Fenway Keselowski's Ryan Preece will start from row two. Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon, RFK's Chris Buescher, Penske's Austin Cindric, Wood Brothers's Josh Berry, Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs (the only Toyota) rounded out the second round qualifiers. Defending race winner Tyler Reddick will roll off 26th in the 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota. Championship points leader, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, will start 16th on the 39-car grid. NOTEBOOK KESELOWSKI's OPPORTUNITY Brad Keselowski is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion -- claiming the title in 2012 in only his 16th full-time year competing in the series -- and leads all drivers with six Talladega Superspeedway trophies. That's all encouraging, but the 41-year old owner-driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford would really like to resume that big track magic this weekend and jumpstart an uncharacteristically "off" start to the 2025 season. Keselowski is still racing for his first top-10 of the year -- an 11th place showing at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway is his best result and he sits an uncharacteristic 31st in the championship standings. The 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, however, presents a level of confidence for the former champ. He won his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at the track in 2009. He's got 12 top-five showings -- including three runner-up finishes -- and has finished in the top-10 in half of his 32 starts, a remarkable statistic at a drafting track. "It's definitely not my best (season) start," Keselowski allowed. "It doesn't feel like my best start, but I've got my eternal optimist glasses on and I see the potential. The potential for this team is higher than any team I've had the last four or five years and we just have to recognize it. There's a lot of talent and a lot of fresh faces and the mistakes that come with that. We have to clean that up and recognize our potential." CHAMPIONSHIP CREW CHIEF CHILDERS OUT AT SPIRE Spire Motorsports announced this week that it and veteran crew chief Rodney Childers had parted ways effective immediately. Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship, was in his first year with Spire after spending 11 years with the Stewart-Haas Racing team which left the series at the end of 2024. He has served as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2005 and has 30 victories and nearly a 50 percent top-10 percentage, his cars scoring 299 top 10s in 685 combined starts. "I know this is a shock, but also know that not everything works out perfect all the time," Childers wrote on social media this week, thanking Spire Motorsports for his time there and wishing them "the best in the future." "This was just one of those things that just wasn't working for either of us." The pairing with Haley at Spire Motorsports, however, was slow to start with only a single top-10 (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. Haley sits 23rd in the championship points standings. He finished 26th and 31st in the championship the previous two seasons. He qualified 37th for Sunday's race. "For me, just showing up and trying to do my job to the best of my ability each week and obviously it's an unexpected change and not something you ever want to do in the middle of the season, but super proud and thankful to be with a race team and owner like Jeff Dickerson who isn't scared to make some changes for maybe the better," said Haley, who said he only found out about the situation after a day of regularly scheduled meetings last Tuesday. "It was just a 'fit' thing, I think, nothing super wrong that stood out or super left or right. I think at the end of the day we're in the Cup Series and to compete on a Sunday in the Cup Series everything has to be perfect and if one little thing isn't perfect, you're not going to win races. And that's what we're trying to do." *LARSON LUCK ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is widely regarded as one of the best race car drivers in the world -- the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion wins in every sort of car he drives and is poised to make his second Indianapolis 500 start next month. The one missing style of trophy in the 32-year old's large trophy case, however, is a superspeedway-type victory. A 31-race winner, he is 0-for-20 on Talladega's high banks with a best showing of fourth last October. He is 0-for-22 at Daytona with no top-fives. His best showing is sixth there. Even bolstered with a pair of wins already this season, he says it doesn't necessarily change his approach for Sunday -- doesn't mean he will race any more aggressively. "Sure, it's nice to have a win before coming here, but it's kind of been that way for me since joining Hendrick (2021) we've always had a win before going to Talladega," Larson said. "I don't know what it would be like mentally if we didn't have a win. So yeah, I just believe in treating every weekend the same. It would be nice to get a win here but you don't put any more or any less emphasis on it than every weekend." *GIBBS RESURGENCE Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs is coming off his best showing of the 2025 season -- a third-place finish at the Bristol Motor Speedway short track as he arrives at the series' biggest track, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. It's a significant uptick for Gibbs who has jumped from 34th place in the championship standings three races ago to 20th coming into Sunday's race at Talladega thanks to the Bristol result and a ninth place the preceding race at Darlington. It marks the first back-to-back string of top-10 finishes of the season for the 22-year old former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and first since last summer when he scored a third place finish at Michigan and a fifth at Daytona. Most importantly, it shows a notable sign of improvement for his No. 54 JGR Toyota team which has a new crew chief this year in Tyler Allen and several new crew members. He was the only Toyota driver to advance to the second round qualifying Saturday at Talladega and will roll off 10th in Sunday's race. "For us, I feel the results have shown for sure," Gibbs said of the recent change in tide. "But there is not a time where I've felt I was down on my team or was bummed out. I just think it's part of the process, we have a new team and I think our guys are really good and I have a lot of faith in our guys. There's a lot of things behind the scenes and everyone makes a judgment call, but I know I can run good and that our team is capable of that. "Sometimes it takes time, and we'll get there. I have confidence in our team." --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
