Talladega Superspeedway Tag

At what point does a restart take place? This is the question running through my mind as I attempted to digest what has taken place at Talladega Superspeedway at the end of NASCAR’s Camping World 500. A caution came out for Jamie McMurray blowing an engine and the field was lined up for a green/white/checkered finish. The difference was that NASCAR had stated heading into the week leading up to Talladega that there would only be one attempt while other races had three, due to the nature of restrictor-plate racing.Read More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – The roof came open and the bottom fell out. That was Denny Hamlin’s day in a nutshell. Hamlin was second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings coming into Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, but a disastrous 37th-place finish left him on the outside looking in as the Eliminator Round begins with eight surviving drivers. The No. 11 FedEx Toyota suffered a fluky mechanical issue early, then was victimized on a last-lap restart when he was caught up in a massive pileup that left Hamlin irate withRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Through no fault of his own, Joey Logano may have achieved the most unpopular sweep in NASCAR history on Sunday afternoon. Why? Because his victory in the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—by a matter of inches. When NASCAR threw the third caution of the race moments after the first bona fide attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 195—with Kevin Harvick’s engine turning sour and cars wrecking behind him—Logano was inches ahead Earnhardt. ThatRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a knockout qualifying session dominated by Hendrick Motorsports on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, the outgoing king of restrictor-plate time trials—Jeff Gordon—won the pole position for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500, the final race in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Gordon toured the 2.66-mile oval in 49.234 seconds (194.500 mph) to earn his fourth Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his fifth at Talladega and the 81st of his career. Gordon has claimed the top starting spotRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Timothy Peters finished Saturday’s fred’s 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway exactly where he started—at the front of the pack—despite an extraordinary ebb and flow between the opening green flag and the checkers. Peters was out front when NASCAR called the sixth caution of the race on the first lap of the only attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, after contact between the trucks of John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher sent both crashing hard into the outside wall. The victory was Peters’ firstRead More

When safety is at the forefront of conversation in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Carl Edwards stirred the pot with how drivers navigate through accidents, speeding by cars at full speed on restrictor plate tracks. On the final lap of the Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday Edwards was spun out running in the top 10, sliding sideways for what seemed like an eternity while the field sped by to race for the finish with NASCAR officials deciding not to throw a caution. The JGRRead More

Martin Truex Jr. continued his career best start to the season with another top 10 finish, this time with a fifth place in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Furniture Row Racing driver started 36th, hanging among the front of the field until pushing towards the front on the last lap. His fifth place finish tied his career best finish in 21 starts at the 2.66-mile tri-oval. “Talladega is a wild card, and any time you can come out of here with a fifth place finish that’s a goodRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It’s a toss-up which is greater, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s passion for Talladega Superspeedway or the Talladega fan base’s passion for Dale Earnhardt Jr. On a glorious afternoon, Earnhardt offered a one-word order to his team over the radio, a message that could be shared with the thousands of his devotees in the stands: “Celebrate!” he proclaimed. Earnhardt, his team and Junior Nation could celebrate his 0.159-second victory over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500 Sunday afternoon, his sixth Sprint CupRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Fresh from an “intense” final eight laps, Joey Logano parked his No. 22 Ford, caught his breath and proclaimed that it was “cool to get this thing in Victory Lane.” This, then, can be pronounced a season of “cool” for Logano, who’ll turn 25 later this month. His triumph in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Winn-Dixie 300 at Talladega Superspeedway was his third in five series starts, to go along with two runner-up finishes. Couple that with a victory in the Daytona 500 and eight top 10s inRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala.—Change the rules, change the format – but they can’t change history. Jeff Gordon, who has won more Talladega Superspeedway poles than any active driver, put together a lap of more than one mile per hour faster than the next-quickest to earn the Coors Light Pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1 p.m. ET on FOX) at the 2.66-mile trioval. Gordon posted a time of 49.160 seconds (194.793 mph), bettering his time of 49.171 that won him the top spot in the first round ofRead More