Chase Elliott Recovers from Speeding Penalty to Finish Fifth

Chase Elliott had another typically quiet finish at Talladega yesterday, finishing 7th on track but being promoted to 5th after Ryan Preece and Joey Logano's disqualifications. Although his pass differential of 52 was the second-highest in the race behind only his teammate Kyle Larson, Elliott only factored for the lead a couple times and only […]

Joey Logano Finishes Last at Talladega After Disqualification for Missing Spoiler Brace

Arguable pre-race favorite Joey Logano had arguably the best run at Talladega, leading 24 laps, posting the race's best average running position of 7, and finishing fifth on track before being disqualified for a missing spoiler brace. Although Logano ran in the top ten for most of Stage 1, he burned more fuel while running […]

Ryan Preece Loses Talladega Race First in Photo Finish Then in Post-Race Inspection

In a race where Ryan Preece's two RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher both crashed early, it was left to Preece to carry the mantle for the organization, Preece took the lead four times and lost to Austin Cindric by a mere .022 second on track before being disqualified for a rear spoiler […]

Poor Toyota Strategy Arguably Cost Bubba Wallace Winning Chances at Talladega

Although Bubba Wallace only finished eighth at Talladega and led only five laps, he had one of the best drives in a lowkey way. After finishing fourth in Stage 1, Wallace then outdueled Joey Logano's illegal car on the last lap to win Stage 2, but he was let down by bad Toyota strategy rather […]

Christopher Bell Unhurt After Hard Contact with Inside Retaining Wall

After winning the previous drafting track race at Atlanta, Christopher Bell was unable to repeat the feat at Talladega after a hard crash on lap 52. Bell had driven from his 11th starting position to second behind Chase Briscoe for most of the first stage when the Toyotas worked together to drive from the field. […]

Denny Hamlin Probably Qualified Too Well for DFS Consideration

While Denny Hamlin was arguably the best drafting track driver in the Gen-6 era of NASCAR, he hasn't seemed to have the same speed with the Next Gen chassis on these tracks. Since 2020, he's had an odd streak where he has finished outside the top ten in each of the last four spring races […]

Kyle Larson Increasingly Undervalued Due to His Crashing, but Still a Great DFS Option

Kyle Larson has become something of an agent of chaos in NASCAR as he can either dominate a race or crash anywhere and no one is surprised by either. Whenever he crashes (as he did two days ago in Indy 500 practice) there's always a lot of social media hubbub mocking people who call him […]

Kyle Busch Nearly Always Leads at Talladega, but Rarely Leads Much

Although Kyle Busch seems to have faded from regular contention recently, he earned a somewhat surprising second-place qualifying run at Talladega, his best since Dover nearly one year ago. Talladega is the site of his penultimate win two years ago, but that race had more to do with the brilliant pit strategy he called himself […]

Tyler Reddick's Drafting Track Record Worse Than It Looks

Tyler Reddick is last year's defending winner at Talladega, but he kind of backed into it as the crash that eliminated most of his fellow Toyotas after they had pitted but before anyone else had allowed Reddick to take the lead on the restart in a boxed-in 2X2 formation alongside Michael McDowell, who crashed coming […]

Daniel Suarez Likely Motivated at Talladega Since Trackhouse Cars Likely Too Slow for Him to Win On Regular Tracks

In a year when Trackhouse Racing has seemed to have lost a lot of speed, Daniel Suárez probably needs to place more emphasis on drafting tracks this year than in previous years since he is unlikely to have the speed to win anywhere else. He qualified 24th, highest of any of the three Trackhouse drivers. […]

Ryan Preece Qualifies Fourth Due to Ford Dominance, but Don't Expect Him to Finish There

Even though Ryan Preece is surprisingly running as well as his lead RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher this year and qualified fourth for today's race at Talladega, it's very risky to start him since he is almost certain to lose positions since he averages fewer than one top five of a year. Admittedly, his first […]

Justin Haley Qualifies 37th in First Race After Rodney Childers's Departure

In one of the year's biggest surprises to date, champion crew chief Rodney Childers announced last Wednesday that he had resigned as Justin Haley's crew chief. Perhaps this served as a distraction since Haley ended up qualifying 37th, slowest of all the full-time chartered teams. However, the crew chief doesn't really matter in forecasting races […]

Post-Daytona 500 Penalty Results in Much Worse Talladega Qualifying for Chase Briscoe

In one of the more amusing anecdotes from qualifying, Chase Briscoe qualified 17th (slowest of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars) after being penalized for a spoiler modification at the Daytona 500, where he had shocked everyone by winning the pole. Even though the penalty was rescinded, his inexplicable pole interrupting the perennial Ford qualifying […]

Alex Bowman Starting Too Well for Place Differential Points, but Not Well Enough for Leader Points

Alex Bowman qualified 18th at Talladega yesterday, which is consistent with his relatively bland performance there as this marks his seventh consecutive starting position outside the top ten after six consecutive top ten starts before that. While qualifying certainly doesn't matter there and he has had laps in every other race at Talladega, he isn't […]

Chris Buescher Qualifies Sixth Thanks to Ford Dominance, but Probably Won't Lead Enough to Be Valuable in DFS

While Chris Buescher has seemed to maintain his consistency of recent seasons, he and RFK Racing in general have seemed to lose a lot of speed as he has not led a lap in the first nine races of 2025. Even though he qualified sixth at Talladega, a track which is traditionally conducive to a […]

Despite Current Momentum, Ty Gibbs Qualified Too Well for DFS Consideration

Ty Gibbs has slightly recovered from a disastrous start to the season with three consecutive good runs elevating him from 34th to 20th in the points standings. He qualified 10th ahead of all other Toyota drivers for today's Talladega race. However, that is not a good thing for DFS lineups because he qualified too well […]

Carson Hocevar's Poor Qualifying and Second at Atlanta Make Him a Viable DFS Option

Although Carson Hocevar only qualified 28th at Talladega yesterday and was genuinely rather slow in most of last year's drafting track races, he earned his best career finish (a second) in the previous drafting race at Atlanta despite starting 26th, which means he seems to be driving less conservatively now and is more willing to […]

Too Few Crashes at Talladega Recently for JJ Yeley to Hold DFS Value

J.J. Yeley starts 39th and last at Talladega for the NY Racing Team. If there is any track type where he might have value for DFS purposes, it is the drafting track as the only chance he might have a decent finish for that team is if he doesn't crash and many of the drivers […]

Denny Hamlin Cuts Into William Byron's Points Lead

When Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin started on the second row in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol, most people expected one or the other to dominate and overtake front-row starters Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. It turned out to be Larson, who led over 400 laps for the second consecutive Bristol race, but […]

William Byron Makes Best Of His Mediocre Qualifying Run With Sixth-Place Finish

Despite blowing his qualifying lap after expecting to win the pole, William Byron recovered from 26th to finish sixth at Bristol, which would've been called a good points day in the Latford points system era. It doesn't matter as much in today's playoff points system where wins and stage wins are vastly more important, but […]

Despite Engine Failure, Alex Bowman's Improved Speed Looks Promising

In a virtual repeat of last year's Bristol Night Race, Alex Bowman won the pole for Sunday's race at Bristol before Kyle Larson passed him early in Stage 1 and led the rest of the race, with the exception of pit-stop exchanges. The difference is Bowman had an engine failure in Sunday's race. However, Bowman's […]

A.J. Allmendinger Enters Playoff Picture With Surprise Bristol Top-10 Finish

Although A.J. Allmendinger famously won an Xfinity race at Bristol in 2021 while crashing across the finish line with Austin Cindric, his Cup Series performances there had never been too strong until Sunday. Allmendinger quietly earned a ninth-place finish at a track where he had only ever earned two top-10s in his previous 25 starts. […]

Crew Chief Change Suggests Ty Gibbs Won't Lead Enough To Be A Strong DFS Option

Ty Gibbs has arguably been 2025's biggest disappointment because normally young drivers on top teams are supposed to rapidly progress while Gibbs has been significantly slower in 2025 since losing his old crew chief Chris Gayle to Denny Hamlin's No. 11. However, Gibbs is starting to turn it around as his Martinsville run was solid […]

Joey Logano's Recent Bristol Runs Have Surprisingly Been Lackluster

Joey Logano has had a pretty baffling season as he ranks third in laps led this year and ninth in points despite only posting a single top-10 finish. He's had numerous unforced errors that usually resulted in finishes just outside the top 10, and he made another one on Saturday in Bristol qualifying, where he […]

Poor 2025 Performance Will Probably Override Brad Keselowski's Recent Bristol Record

Unlike his contemporary Kyle Busch whose speed at Bristol markedly declined after he switched from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing, Brad Keselowski has retained a lot of his speed there even after switching from Team Penske to RFK Racing. The three-time Bristol winner led 109 laps in the 2022 Bristol Night Race, the […]

Chase Briscoe Qualifies Worse Than Usual At Bristol Despite Faster Car

Although Chase Briscoe qualified 14th at Bristol, which doesn't sound terrible when you compare it to how the 23XI Racing Toyotas qualified, he was by far the slowest of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars as his three teammates all qualified in the top seven. Briscoe is an agent of chaos who seems almost impossible […]

Kyle Busch Unlikely To Contend At Bristol After Qualifying Spin

Despite spinning out on his second qualifying lap on Saturday, Kyle Busch qualified 15th at Bristol. He is one of the track's all-time greats with eight wins and 2,598 laps led, but he has fallen on hard times since his arrival at Richard Childress Racing. Although Busch still frequently has speed on superspeedways and road […]

Despite Uptick In Speed, Austin Cindric Likely Won't Run Better At Bristol

Despite only ranking 21st in points, Austin Cindric has looked consistently faster in 2025 than any previous season, so it's certainly plausible that he could get an unexpectedly strong result. However, the former road-course specialist has now steadily turned into a superspeedway specialist, and short tracks are not typically his specialty. He also qualified 21st […]

Michael McDowell Should Sustain Bristol Qualifying Performance Better Than Expected

Short tracks have typically been Michael McDowell's Achilles heel throughout his career but he does seem to have figured something out at Bristol recently with the Next Gen chassis. Although he has still never led a lap here, he started 4th and finished 6th in the 2023 Bristol Night Race and ran in the top […]

Justin Haley Will Likely Slide Back From 10th-Place Starting Position

Justin Haley qualified 10th at Bristol alongside his teammate Carson Hocevar, marking his best starting position ever at the track. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise as his Spire Motorsports cars are probably the fastest he has ever had here and Hocevar and Haley's predecessor Corey LaJoie both qualified in the top ten at […]