Drafting Ahead: NASCARs High-Speed Chess Match Returns

Yesterday at 02:17 PM

Following the only "off weekend" of the season, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action this week at one of the sport‘s most iconic venues, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Expectations are always high – and variable — for the high-speed, anything-goes brand of racing on a drafting track such as Talladega and Sunday‘s Jack Links 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will undoubtedly add to the track‘s storied history.

Will the season‘s most dominant drivers — Hendrick Motorsports‘ Kyle Larson and William Byron, Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin — add to their victory total? Will a driver from the perpetual championship contending Team Penske organization finally get that organization its first win of 2025? Or will Talladega produce a long-shot victor able to get it done in the frantic closing laps that make Talladega one of the most exciting venues on the schedule?

That unpredictability and genuine suspense is exactly what has made this race so compelling. Nine of the last 16 Talladega races have been decided on a last-lap pass. And there have been at least 66 lead changes in the last three races on the sport‘s largest oval.

There are, however, drivers that have proven themselves favorites on the big track.

23XI Racing‘s Tyler Reddick is the defending winner of this Spring Talladega race and HYAK Motorsports‘ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. claimed his second Talladega win in the Fall.

It‘s been 10 races since someone claimed back-to-back Talladega wins, however. That nod belongs to Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who has an impressive three Talladega wins, claiming trophies in 2019, 2020 and 2023.

He could really use a strong showing this weekend. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion has endured a series of bad-luck showings this season — the results hardly matching the day‘s effort on track. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford is ranked sixth in the championship — one of six drivers in the top-10 without a victory yet.

His teammate, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano is in a similar situation. The driver of the No. 22 Ford has had strong showings in-race but yet to earn a top-five finish in the opening nine events of the season.

This year‘s Daytona 500 winner — and current championship points leader — Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron is the only repeat winner on the big drafting tracks such as Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta with three wins in the last 12 races. But the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has never won at Talladega.

Hamlin, a two-race winner, sits 30 points behind Byron in the standings. The longtime driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is considered a drafting track master with three Daytona 500 victories and a pair of Talladega trophies (2014 and 2020). Hamlin is the only driver to finish on the lead lap in all nine races of this season. His JGR teammate Christopher Bell — a series best three-race winner in 2025 — is ranked third in the championship and the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota is looking for his first Talladega win.

Hendrick‘s Kyle Larson, a two-race winner this season, is another racing for his maiden Talladega series win. As dominating as the 2021 series champion has been throughout his career, he‘s never won at a drafting style track. His teammate, 2020 series champ Chase Elliott, sits fifth in points and is racing for his first win of the year. He won at Talladega in 2019 and 2022.

Only five drivers have won this year — Byron, Hamlin, Bell, Larson and Wood Brothers Racing‘s Josh Berry. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski leads all active drivers with six Talladega trophies, including the first of his championship career in 2009. He finished runner-up in both Talladega races last year. He‘s currently ranked 31st in the points and badly needing a good showing to get back in the title talk.

"I still think Talladega is one of those racetracks where anybody can win. Next Gen has been a little bit fickle at Talladega in the way that it values different things than the car before did,” Keselowski explained. "It seems to really value the last pit stop and executing that at a very high level and then the fuel saving stuff, which I think is gonna be the word everybody hates after this weekend. So, it‘s different.

"It‘s a different type of racing than what Talladega was four or five years ago before the Next Gen car, but I think that‘s part of what makes Talladega special is just how the racing there has evolved at least a half dozen times since I‘ve been in Cup and its different eras of racing that values different things. I appreciate that. There are certainly types that you like more than others of racing there, but I do think that it‘s a place where I think of the 39 entries, 33 of them have a realistic shot of winning."

Two-time series champ Kyle Busch is also a multi-time Talladega race winner, last taking a trophy at the big track in 2023. The driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sits 15th in the standings and is looking for his first win in the series since that 2023 season.

Defending Spring race winner Reddick and his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace are winless in 2025 but also considered drafting track favorites. They are ranked seventh and eighth — respectively — in the standings. Wallace claimed his first series trophy at Talladega in 2021.

Of note, the driver that led the most laps in the last nine Talladega races failed to win.

Busch Light Pole Qualifying is Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Spire Motorsports driver Michael McDowell is the defending pole-winner. Interestingly, the pole winner hasn‘t finished better than 17th in the last six Talladega races.

— NASCAR News Wire —