Talladega Superspeedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor “Talladega: World’s Fastest Junkyard,” quipped FOX Sports announcer Mike Joy after an 18-car crash broke out on the backstretch of the 2.66-mile superspeedway with 19 laps to go in Sunday’s GEICO 500. Couldn’t have summed it up any better. After a relatively quiet race by Talladega standards through the first 170 laps, the inevitable “Big One” was coming and when it came, it certainly was big. Coming off Turn 2, AJ Allmendinger, who was running third, made contact with the second-place driver, Chase Elliott, turningRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After scoring his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega on Saturday afternoon, Aric Almirola parlayed the momentum from the day before into Sunday’s GEICO 500 as Almirola tied his best finish of the season with a fourth-place run, matching his finish from the season opening Daytona 500. “I thought I was right where I wanted to be,” said Almirola.  “My car was really good through the middle of the pack and I didn’t want to get shuffled to the bottom.  I was adamant aboutRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Anytime the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visits the restrictor plate tracks of Talladega and Daytona, Jamie McMurray is always a threat and in Sunday’s GEICO 500, McMurray was once again a threat, but came up just short with a runner-up finish. Even though he didn’t get the win, McMurray’s second place run at Talladega marks his best finish of the season. Starting the day in 23rd, McMurray had his work cut out for him when the green flag flew, but as he has alwaysRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season marked a return to Front Row Motorsports for David Ragan, who last drove for the organization in the 2015 Daytona 500. Entering the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Ragan had yet to finish better than 19th this season. In the abbreviated first practice, Ragan and his No. 38 Camping World/Good Sam team elected to make single car runs. He placed his No. 38 Ford Fusion 30th on the speed charts of the 31 teams that took time.Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was an adventure for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Of the five ROTY contenders, two drivers, Corey LaJoie and Gray Gaulding, have no previous experience at Talladega. Gaulding has no previous experience at any restrictor plate track. Ty Dillon placed his No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS 28th on the starting grid. A caution midway through Stage 2 allowed Dillon to take an alternate strategy. he moved up toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega, two fan favorites will make up the front row, with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. scoring his first pole since Atlanta in September 2013 by beating out Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who will join him on the front row. Stenhouse and Earnhardt set the fastest times in the first round of qualifying and when the final round began, Earnhardt went out and backed up his first round time to scores of cheers from the Talladega faithful. As the last car on track,Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Before the season began, Jeff Green, the 2000 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion announced another full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season with BJ McLeod Motorsports. Entering the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, Green had a season best finish of 25th at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the first practice session, Green’s unsponsored No. 8 Toyota Camry was the slowest of the 41 cars. In the final practice, he improved to 16th out of the 20 cars that took time. In qualifying, Green had to utilize his PastRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Ben Kennedy had been out of the cockpit of a race car for five long months, but as he made his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, the 25-year-old driver for Richard Childress Racing certainly didn’t show any rust as he drove his way to a fourth-place finish at Talladega. Making his first start in the Xfinity Series since Iowa last summer and first start at all since the end of the 2016 season, Kennedy started Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 in fourth placeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Entering Talladega, the NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader, Elliott Sadler, was one of the favorites to be able to score back-to-back wins at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, but after sustaining some damage early in the race, Sadler had his work cut out for him to be able to come back finish as a runner-up in the Sparks Energy 300. “That’s a good finish for us,” said Sadler. “I made a huge mistake there coming to the white. Me and my spotter were so focused on whereRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As is the case anytime NASCAR visits the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega, the chance of a multi-car crash is high and in Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega, the first multi-car crash of the day struck early, sweeping several contenders up in the melee. Heading down the backstretch on lap 20, last year’s runner-up at Talladega, Brennan Poole, who had already sustained some front-end damage earlier in the race, tried to move into the outside lane, but there was no room toRead More