{"id":57433,"date":"2026-04-23T16:43:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=57433"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:43:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:43:32","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-talladega-superspeedway-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/nascar-weekend-preview-talladega-superspeedway-11\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Talladega Superspeedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Tyler Reddick\u2019s five wins echo Earnhardt as Talladega awaits<\/b><\/p>\n

TALLADEGA, Ala. \u2013 After hoisting his series\u2019 best fifth NASCAR Cup Series race trophy last week in just this young nine-race old season, Tyler Reddick and his No. 45 23XI Racing team have decidedly established themselves the team \u201cto beat\u201d with every stop of the schedule.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 19, 2025 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

And even as unpredictable as the big drafting tracks may be there is every reason to believe the 30-year-old Californian is still a favorite yet again this week heading to the sport\u2019s largest venue, the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Sunday\u2019s Jack Link\u2019s 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) \u2013 a race he won in 2024.<\/p>\n

There have been only five winners in the opening nine races \u2013 including a first-timer Ty Gibbs at Bristol, Tenn. – with Reddick\u2019s five trophies the largest haul through this part of the season since similar work completed by the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt in 1987. The excellence has propelled Reddick\u2019s championship lead over his team co-owner and fellow Toyota driver, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to a massive 105 points.<\/p>\n

Even the few races Reddick hasn\u2019t won, he\u2019s still proven to be on-game, posting a series-best average finish this season of 5.0. And he\u2019s been perfect on drafting tracks so far with wins in the season-opening Daytona 500 and then at Atlanta\u2019s EchoPark Speedway the next week.<\/p>\n

Yet if there is any speedway where the rest of the field perpetually feels competitive in the always-unpredictable run-up to the checkered flag, Talladega is unquestionably \u201cthat\u201d place.<\/p>\n

Team Penske\u2019s Austin Cindric won last year\u2019s spring race in the ninth closest margin of victory (.022-second) in track history.  And last fall\u2019s Talladega Playoff race featured the most lead changes (77) since 2011 and the most race leaders (23) since 2010.<\/p>\n

This weekend NASCAR has proactively made a major competitive adjustment at Talladega by changing the stage lengths. The first stage will run 98 laps and the final two are scheduled for 45 laps each. The aim in shortening the second and third stages is to curtail fuel-saving in the final portion of the race eliminating the need to stop for fuel and instead allow the cars to run \u201cfull throttle\u201d to the checkered flag. And the reception has been positive, if cautious.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust curious to see how that’s kind of going to affect the fuel conservation and stuff throughout the race,” conceded two-time and reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Kyle Larson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think you’re going to be saving quite a bit of fuel, but we’ll see when we get there. And then, I think you just study that and see what kind of scenarios might pop up and how to best adapt for it. You\u2019re always trying to position yourself for that final run to the end, so we’ll see if we can do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve done that well in the past at Talladega, especially, and I think it could just look a little different now with stage lengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski is among those expecting a strong showing this weekend. The 2012 series champion\u2019s six wins here are most among active drivers and he has three runner-up finishes since his most recent trip to Victory Lane in April 2021.<\/p>\n

Joining him on the list of Talladega multi-time winners are Team Penske’s championship teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who each own three Talladega trophies. Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Kyle Busch \u2013 who is looking for his first race win since June 2024 – Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Chase Elliott, Hyak Motorsports\u2019 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Hamlin all have two wins.<\/p>\n

23XI Racing\u2019s Bubba Wallace, Reddick, Trackhouse Racing\u2019s Ross Chastain, JGR\u2019s Chase Briscoe join Cindric as the other active former winners.<\/p>\n

Of note, more drivers have scored their first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega than any other track in the sport.<\/p>\n

Busch Light Pole Qualifying is Saturday at 10:30 a.m. (Prime, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Talladega\u2019s AG-PRO 300 sets stage for Dash 4 Cash showdown<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday afternoon\u2019s AG-PRO 300 at Talladega (4 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the third of the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series\u2019 four Dash 4 Cash races with the highest finisher among the four qualified drivers claiming a $100,000 bonus check.<\/p>\n

Haas Factory Team\u2019s Sheldon Creed (No. 00 Chevrolet), Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Jesse Love (No. 2 Chevrolet), JR Motorsports\u2019 Justin Allgaier (No. 7 Chevrolet) and last week\u2019s Kansas winner Taylor Gray (No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) will compete for the big money this weekend.<\/p>\n

It is Allgaier\u2019s record 26th time being eligible for the Dash 4 Cash bonus and conversely, Gray\u2019s first. The 2024 series champ Allgaier leads all drivers having captured the award eight times in his career.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a stellar start for the veteran, whose three victories and eight top-five showings through the opening 10 races are tops in the field. He\u2019s on a streak of seven straight top-five finishes and is the only driver in the series to earn stage points in every single race stage this season.<\/p>\n

And for the effort. \u2026 Allgaier holds a staggering 131-point lead over Creed atop the championship standings. He\u2019s nearly 200 points up on fifth place \u2013 196 points ahead of JGR\u2019s Brandon Jones.<\/p>\n

Love, who sits third in the championship, 149 off Allgaier\u2019s blistering pace, holds the mark for most laps led this season (224) and has proven himself especially good on the big tracks, such as Talladega, where in 2024 he scored his first series victory.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s started from the front row in all four of his Talladega starts \u2013 winning pole position the last three races \u2013 and he\u2019s 4-for-4 in top-10 finishes at the sport\u2019s biggest track leading an impressive 125 laps in that span.<\/p>\n

Both Allgaier and Love know they will have to beat Love\u2019s RCR teammate, Austin Hill for a trophy shot. Hill has won the last two NOAPS races at \u2018Dega holding off another two-time Talladega winner Jeb Burton in last spring\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything can happen at Talladega,” said Allgaier, whose best Talladega finish is runner-up (2016).  \u201cIt\u2019s such an unpredictable style of racing. Thankfully, JR Motorsports has always brought great cars to the superspeedways and I know that we will have another one on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we can keep our nose clean all race long, work well with our teammates, and be in position to fight for both the win and the Dash 4 Cash bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennametal Pole Qualifying is set for Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET (CW App).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Tyler Reddick\u2019s five wins echo Earnhardt as Talladega awaits TALLADEGA, Ala. \u2013 After hoisting his series\u2019 best fifth NASCAR Cup Series race trophy last week in just this young nine-race old season, Tyler Reddick and his No. 45 23XI Racing team have decidedly established themselves the team \u201cto beat\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":55341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,208],"class_list":["post-57433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-talladega-superspeedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2242065932-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eWl","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57433"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57436,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57433\/revisions\/57436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}