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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
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
What to Watch: Fresh from Martinsville win, Denny Hamlin aims to double up at Darlington
Track: Darlington Raceway Location: Darlington, South Carolina Track length: 1.366 miles When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET Where to tune in: FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,055,250 Race distance: 293 laps | 400.2 miles Stages: 90 | 185 | 293 Defending winner: Brad Keselowski, May 2024 Starting lineup: William Byron seals Busch Light Pole Time for 2-for-2 for Hamlin? Denny Hamlin has some momentum on his side, and the forward progress is well-timed. On the heels of his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season last weekend, this week's stop at Darlington Raceway provides another welcome opportunity. Advertisement Hamlin possesses plenty of positive indicators heading into Sunday's Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at venerable Darlington, where he's a four-time Cup Series winner. The 44-year-old dominated like the days of old last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, leading 274 of the 400 laps and collecting his sixth grandfather clock trophy. This week's venue is another stronghold for the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, and he's predicted to be atop the heap in Racing Insights' full-field projections. 'I think last week was a great week for the team, no doubt about it,' Hamlin said. 'To get a win early, just to start to get some playoff bonus points, that's always a great thing. When we come here, absolutely. I know what I need out of the car. I'll know within the first few laps of practice whether it's got the 'it' that it needs to be good and if not, we'll go to work on it. But the confidence I have is knowing exactly what I need at this track. I know how to enter the corner; I know how to exit it. I know how much gas and brake to apply to make good speed here. It's just a matter of whether the car's working directly on that day and if it isn't, we can get it pretty close usually.' MORE: Cup Series standings | Full 2025 schedule Hamlin will start third in the 38-car field after putting his No. 11 Toyota on the second row in Saturday's Busch Light Pole Qualifying. He'll start behind polesitter William Byron, a Darlington winner in the spring of 2023, and a resurgent Ryan Preece, who continues to make the most of his first campaign with RFK Racing. Joe Gibbs Racing has already had one driver go on a tear this year, with Christopher Bell reeling off three consecutive wins spanning Atlanta, Circuit of The Americas and Phoenix. Hamlin could be the next with back-to-back success. The No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin speeds along the front straight at Darlington Raceway Hamlin has led laps in 19 of his 25 career Cup Series starts at Darlington, including a string of the last 10, and he's been a top-five finisher here 52% of the time with an all-time best average finish of 8.2. Three of his Darlington wins — including his most recent in 2021 — were in the longer 500-mile classic, the Southern 500, but he's not selling this weekend's 400-miler short in terms of its punishing nature. Advertisement 'Even though this is a 400, it's still grueling,' Hamlin says. 'I think Darlington is by far one of the most grueling race tracks that you go to simply because it's going to be a warm one this weekend. It's going to be mentally taxing knowing that you have to hit your marks just perfect at this track and then, just knowing the mental side of it, you have 35 other guys out there that don't want to let you win.' MORE: Full Saturday recap From atop the pit box … What do crew chiefs and pit crews have in focus to win Sunday's race? Pit-stop strategy for teams at Darlington doesn't lend itself to experimentation or alternate gambits. With the tendency for rapid tire wear on the gritty 1.366-mile track, the call for crew chiefs is virtually always for fresh Goodyear rubber at all four corners of the car. Advertisement Sunday's springtime edition at Darlington is 100 miles shorter than the 500-mile Labor Day classic, and the stages are split into near-even thirds. The timing of the pit stops may be a variable, but the type of pit-crew service should be a constant. 'You know when you pit here, you're going to come down and get four tires, every opportunity you get,' Randall Burnett, crew chief of Richard Childress Racing's No. 8 Chevrolet for Kyle Busch, told 'Last year was real unique. You had a couple back-to-back cautions there in the fall race where it was only a lap or two on tires. Some guys stayed out, but that lap or two made a difference. We came and pitted and put some tires on and were able to make up some spots just by a couple-lap different gain on tires there. So, yeah, tires are such a crucial thing here. It's gonna be really hot tomorrow, which is gonna make them even more valuable. So, yeah, you just do four tires here. 'How you break up the stages is a little unique. A lot of guys will short-pit and then try to run the second half of a stage longer. Some guys will run it to halfway and split it perfectly, so you've got the same amount of laps on your tires and try to use your tires equally. So there's a lot of different bearing strategies. It kind of depends on your pace and your fall-off and all that.' A 100-year commemoration of the Goodyear Blimp is on the sidewalls for this weekend\ When drivers do come to pit, the track's demanding 'Too Tough to Tame' reputation also extends beyond the hard-edged racing surface down to a particularly tricky pit road. Pit entry is a difficult task, with drivers needing to slow their cars' momentum and navigate the wide apron to reach pit lane. It's a gritty area of the track, and pit road also has those same slick, sandy characteristics — especially as the weather turns warmer during the heat of the afternoon. Advertisement MORE: Darlington Stripes through the years | Power Rankings So while there might not be much guesswork with four-tire stops being the norm, the premium on precision in trying to change all four quickly is high. 'I think for us, it's always a big race for the pit crews, obviously, because you know what you've got in front of you — you're going to do four tires,' says Chris Burkey, Joe Gibbs Racing athletic director and a former pit-crew coach. 'There's really no strategy. Very rarely are you going to do the two-tire or fuel only. You're going to come down here and it's a man's race, not only on the track, but for us. And we really look forward to races like this, because you're going to do seven to eight pit stops this weekend. It's 100 miles shorter than the one in the fall when you're going to do 10 to 15 pit stops, right? But you know what you've got this week, and we really focus in on just doing four-tire pit stops. 'Man, if you can come out of here feeling good about what you did on pit road, you probably finished pretty well on the track, but we always look forward to Darlington. We always circle Darlington because it's really a man's race for us.' Advertisement Pit-stall selection — the reward for a solid qualifying lap — stands out as another key. Burkey said choosing a stall closer to the exit in Turn 1 is preferable, but that the spots to avoid are further toward the entrance at Turn 4. A section of six stalls in that area have a slight curvature to the wall, plus another barrier that juts out before teams make their way down the rest of pit road. 'Those are the more challenging ones,' says Burkey, who describes those half-dozen stalls as 'an island.' 'Obviously, we want our guys to qualify well, so we can get up toward the front and be on that frontstretch there. It's pretty straightforward if you're down there, but if you're down on that Turn 4 exit there, they can be challenging.' The 23XI Racing pit crew for Bubba Wallace\ RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday's race History tells us … Expect a veteran presence up front. According to Racing Insights, every Darlington winner since 2006 has had a minimum of 100 career Cup Series starts. That was the case with both of last year's Darlington victors — Brad Keselowski, who turned his 534th Cup Series start into his 36th win, and Chase Briscoe, who prevailed in the Southern 500 in Cup start No. 134 for his second premier-series victory. He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for … ERIK JONES. The Legacy Motor Club driver currently sits 29th in the early Cup Series standings, but his racing acumen at Darlington is among the circuit's best. Two of Jones' three Cup Series wins have come at Darlington (2019, 2022), and the track ranks tied for his best in top fives and top 10s and second-best in average finish (12.8). The 28-year-old driver has gone 86 starts since his last win, but Darlington has traditionally been one of his strong suits. Fantasy update NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup. Advertisement Like Martinsville last week, Darlington is among the toughest tracks for building the best fantasy lineup because of the changing track conditions throughout practice. However, a few cars stood out, particularly Ryan Blaney who had the fastest car on 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages by nearly a tenth of a second on fellow competitors that made an extended run. Ryan Preece and Kyle Busch also performed well over the long haul, which Darlington is known for having. My only lineup changes this week are dropping Chris Buescher in favor of Busch and flipping William Byron to outrun Denny Hamlin in the featured matchups. Lineup: William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson. Garage: Kyle Busch. RELATED: More deep dives in Fantasy Fastlane Speed reads Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. • Darlington Stripe's history: The track's outside-wall toughness, a 75-year tradition | Read more • Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday's Goodyear 400 | Read more • Turning Point to Darlington: Keselowski the next veteran in line? | Read more • Scenes and snapshots: Best photos from Darlington's Throwback Weekend | View gallery • NASCAR Classics: Rewind with full-race replays from the Darlington archives | Watch races • Paint Scheme Preview: All the vintage designs ready to hit the track | View gallery
