William Byron Ends With A Strong Top-Five Finish At Talladega

William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports had an up-and-down day during the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Beginning the race from the 16th position, Byron quietly rode with the pack during the race's first stage until the first set of pit stops. Byron had his first pit stop under caution after a few other drivers […]

Ryan Blaney's Bad Luck Continues With Talladega Crash

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney looked to have a quality finish for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, but left the race early after unfortunate circumstances. In the first stage, Blaney started from the ninth position, but quickly shuffled back to the middle part of the pack as other racers passed him. The […]

Kyle Larson Has A Career-Best Performance At Talladega

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson finished Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in the second position. Starting from the 25th position, Larson quietly kept up with the pack for most of the first stage and kept his car clean. After executing on some pit strategy to gain track position by lap 49, Larson made […]

Brad Keselowski's Talladega Run Ends Early After Crashing

Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing had high hopes for a strong performance at Talladega Superspeedway, but ended with disappointment through a finish of 36th during Sunday's Jack Link's 500. Beginning the race from the 22nd position, Keselowski quickly made his way up through the field at the start of the first stage. The No. 6 […]

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. […]

Chase Elliott Is One OF The Top Overall DFS Picks Of The Week

Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports will start 30th after qualifying for Sunday's Jack Link's 500. This marks the lowest-ever Cup Series starting position for the No. 9 Chevrolet driver at the Alabama track. In 18 Cup starts in his career at Talladega, Elliott has 13 top-20 finishes, with eight inside the top 10, and two […]

Could Joey Logano Finish A Race With A Top Finish At Talladega?

Team Penske's Joey Logano will start third for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This marks the fifth consecutive race where Logano has a top-10 starting position at the site. In 32 starts at Talladega, Logano has three wins, 11 top-10 finishes, and 509 laps led, which is the most of all active drivers […]

DFS Players Should Like Bubba Wallace For Talladega This Week

Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing obtained a starting position of 20th for Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway. This will be the third time since 2022 that Wallace will start a race 20th or lower at the Alabama track. In 14 starts at Talladega in his Cup career, Wallace has eight top-20 finishes, including a win […]

Should DFS Players Roster Christopher Bell At Talladega?

Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing will start 11th for Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It will be the eighth time in his Cup career that he will start inside the top 15 at Talladega. In 10 previous starts at the Alabama track, Bell has three top-10 finishes, including his last appearance during […]

Is Austin Cindric Worth Rostering For Talladega DFS Lineups?

Team Penske's Austin Cindric will start seventh after qualifying for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It will be the fourth consecutive Talladega race where Cindric will have a top-10 starting position. In six previous races at the site, Cindric has two top-10 finishes, but he also led 15 or more laps in each […]

Shane Van Gisbergen Is A Solid, Safe, DFS Choice For Talladega Lineups

Trackhouse Racing's Shane Van Gisbergen will start 36th for Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It is a new career-worst starting position for Van Gisbergen at the site, as well as his first race there where he will start outside of the top 30. In two previous starts at Talladega in the Cup Series, […]

Is Austin Dillon A Viable DFS Play At Talladega This Week?

Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing starts in the fifth position for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It will mark the fifth time in his Cup Series career that Dillon will start inside the top five at the site, with his last top-5 start coming from last year's April race. In 23 starts […]

Josh Berry Qualifies Too High At Talladega To Be Worth Rostering In DFS

Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing will start eighth for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This starting position is a new career-best as well as his first top-10 starting spot for Berry at Talladega. In two past starts at the Alabama track, Berry has a best finish of 16th, which he obtained in […]

Should DFS Players Take A Shot On Michael McDowell At Talladega?

Spire Motorsports driver Michael McDowell will start 14th for this week's race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Jack Link's 500. This will mark the fourth consecutive week this season where McDowell will start a race inside the top 15. In 28 prior Talladega races, McDowell has eight top-20 finishes, including four of the last eight Cup […]

Noah Gragson Could Be A Sneaky DFS Play For Talladega

Noah Gragson of Front Row Motorsports acquired a starting position of 27th after qualifying for the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This will mark the fourth time in his Cup career that he will start better than 30th at Talladega. In five previous Cup starts at the Alabama track, Gragson has three top-20 finishes […]

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 […]