Let the chaos begin. This is the round many drivers feared in the Cup playoffs. After the second round opened at Las Vegas, the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s race (2 p.m. ET on NBC). The round ends next week at the Charlotte Roval.
Talladega and the Roval are the two wildcard races of the playoffs and the point swings could be big as drivers look to advance to the next round. Kurt Busch, who won last weekend at Las Vegas, is the only driver assured a spot in the next round at this moment.
Talladega could send another driver to the next round or provide a non-playoff driver – maybe Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones or Bubba Wallace, among others – with a memorable moment.
Whatever happens, chaos likely will play a key factor.
Here is all the info for the Sunday Cup race at Talladega:
(All times are Eastern)
START: David J. Mollahan, retired United States Marine Corps Colonel, will give the command to start engines at 2:08 p.m. The green flag waves at 2:20 p.m.
PRERACE: Cup garage opens at 7 a.m. Drivers report to their cars at 1:30 p.m. The invocation will be given at 1:49 p.m. by Barbara Embry, chaplain of Citizens Baptist Medical Center. The national anthem will be performed by the 313th United States Army Band at 1:50 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 188 laps (500 miles) around the 2.66-mile track.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60. Stage 2 ends on Lap 120
TV/RADIO: NBC will televise the race. Coverage begins at 1 p.m on NBC with NASCAR America, followed by Countdown to Green at 1:30 p.m. Race coverage begins at 2 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s radio coverage will begin at 1 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the broadcast.
STREAMING: Watch the race on the NBC Sports App
FORECAST: The wunderground.com forecast calls for sunny skies with a high of 69 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the race.
LAST RACE: Kurt Busch scored his first win of the season, claiming the victory last week at Las Vegas. Matt DiBenedetto was second. Denny Hamlin was third.
LAST POINTS RACE AT Talladega: Ryan Blaney beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 0.007 seconds in June. Aric Almirola placed third.
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for starting lineup
CATCH UP ON NBC SPORTS’ COVERAGE:
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What do Dodge, a manufacturer that left NASCAR after the 2012 season, and Toyota have in common?
They both have just one Cup win at Talladega in the last decade.
Toyota enters today’s playoff race at Talladega (2 p.m. ET on NBC) trying to earn its first win at the superspeedway since 2014. That came courtesy of Denny Hamlin in the spring race at the 2.66-mile track.
It’s most recent Talladega victory prior to that was in 2008 when Joe Gibbs Racing swept that year’s races with Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.
In the six years between Toyota wins, Brad Keselowski claimed Dodge’s lone Talladega win during its 12-year Cup tenure.
Toyota goes into today’s race with far fewer cars compared to Chevrolet and Ford.
In addition to JGR’s four cars, it will have Christopher Bell in Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 car, Daniel Suarez in Gaunt Brothers Racing’s No. 96 car and Timmy Hill in the No. 66 car.
Spearheading Toyota’s seven-car effort against Chevy’s 17 cars and Ford’s 15 cars will be Hamlin, who starts from the pole.
“I think that we obviously know that we can win there, it’s just a lot of it is circumstances,” Hamlin said. “A lot of it is kind of putting yourself in the right place, which you don’t always know what that place will be. It’s historically – the playoff race in Talladega – is pretty wild, because you have probably two-thirds of the field has been eliminated that’s really not racing for much except trying to win and you have some other ones that are going to be fighting tooth and nail for stage points.
“I suspect it will be pretty wild again, but I’m confident that all of our cars are good enough to win every time we go there. It’s just sometimes it is a number game. As Toyota as an organization, we are short on numbers from everyone else. We just kind of count on people getting selfish at the end and use them.”
Despite being 58 points above the cutline, Hamlin is mindful of his situation as he tries to advance to the Round of 8.
“I think with our points position, we need to have a good solid day,” Hamlin said. “We are going to try to lock ourselves in just as soon as possible, so that would be the first stage. If we don’t (think) that is a good option for us once the racing gets going, we will alter that strategy and focus more towards the end of the race. I don’t know how it will play it out. It is kind of a wait and see based on how the pack is reacting.”
Not as secure as Hamlin are his teammates, Busch and Truex.
Truex enters the weekend 15 points above the cutline. Busch, who is winless this season, is the first driver below the cutline. He is nine points behind Alex Bowman.
Busch’s 2008 victory is his lone Talladega triumph in 30 starts.
“I’m just going to do what I’m told to do,” Busch said in a media release. “For us and where we’re at, we don’t have anything to lose. We have to go race. We can’t just sit there and ride and protect a cushion like we have been able to do in the past. We’re going to be on the outside looking in, so we have to go for broke and do all we can do to get those stage wins and points and try to get a race win to automatically punch your ticket to the next round. We have been good at the superspeedway races so far this year, but none of them have turned out to be great finishes.”
Busch also noted the importance of manufacturer car count when it comes to winning at Talladega.
“In the June race there, we had a strong car and ran up front, but just didn’t have enough Toyotas running up front at the end to get any help,” Busch said. “That’s what it comes down to a lot at Talladega, getting the help from your teammates, since it’s hard to do that on your own.”
For Truex’s part, he’s never won a points paying superspeedway race.
“I think you’ve got to approach it like any other race and try to get as many stage points as possible and put yourself in position to be up front all day,” Truex said in a media release. “Talladega is always going to be what it is, and things can and probably will happen regardless of where you’re running in the pack. Everyone knows that going in, so we’ll just have to race hard and make the most of the day.”
NASCAR disqualified Michael Annett‘s runner-up finish Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway after Annett’s car failed post-race inspection.
NASCAR stated that Annett’s car failed heights. The car was too low on the left front.
Annett will be stripped of his second-place finish and recorded as placing last in the 37-car field. He will score one point. The penalty costs him 34 points – the difference from last and second place.
He was three points behind Ross Chastain for the final playoff spot before the penalty.
Annett heads into next weekend’s elimination race at the Charlotte Roval all but needing a win to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Annett’s crew chief, Travis Mack, discussed the infraction on social media Saturday night.
My thoughts from Post Talladega. Really proud of @MichaelAnnett and this @JRMotorsports @PilotFlyingJ team! Hate it for everyone involved. We have a lot of racing left to do! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/vMNiin7zQM
— TMack (@Travis_Mack1) October 4, 2020
Justin Haley earned his third win of the season – all on superspeedways – with his victory Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Michael Annett crossed the line second but was disqualified when his car failed inspection after the race.
Ryan Sieg finished second. Noah Gragson placed third, Brandon Jones was fourth and Daniel Hermic finished fifth. ,Ross Chastain overcame an incident shortly before the end of the stage 2 to finish sixth.
Three playoff drivers finished 19th or worse. Chase Briscoe, who already is headed to the next round, was 19th, Harrison Burton was 23rd and Justin Allgaier was 29th.
POINTS
Ross Chastain’s seventh-place finish moved him into the final transfer spot heading into next weekend’s elimination race at the Charlotte Roval. He leads Harrison Burton by seven points.
Michael Annett was three points behind Chastain before Annett’s car was disqualified. Annett is now last among the playoff drivers. He trails Chastain by 38 points.
Chase Briscoe, who won last weekend at Las Vegas, and Justin Haley have both advanced to the next round.
Justin Haley went from 10th to the lead in the final 10 laps to win Saturday’s Xfinity playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway and advance to the next round.
It is Haley’s third consecutive superspeedway win. He won at Talladega in June and at Daytona in August. Only Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had won three consecutive Xfinity races on superspeedways.
“Got this thing into the Round of 8, that’s the most important,” Haley told NBCSN.
MORE: Results and driver points report
MORE: NASCAR disqualifies Michael Annett’s runner-up finish
Haley was leading when the caution came out on the last lap for a crash on the backstretch that collected playoff driver Harrison Burton and four others. On the lap before, Chase Briscoe lost the lead and hit the wall.
Michael Annett crossed the finish line second but his car was disqualified for failing inspection after the race. Ryan Sieg went from 18th with 10 laps to go to finish second. He was followed by Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric.
Ross Chastain entered the race below the final transfer position. He did not score points in the first stage. He was turned on a restart late in stage 2 and then hit by Colby Howard and scored no points in that stage. Chastain rebounded to finish sixth. He goes into next week’s race at the Charlotte Roval holding the final transfer spot. He leads Burton by seven points.
Haley had a great run late to win his third race of the season.
“Once I got to the lead, I was pretty confident, but I don’t even know how I got to the lead,” Haley said. “I was back there for a good bit and I had to kind of hop my way up there and use the draft. When I got to fifth behind Burton, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to ride here and let everyone race, split up and then I’m going to get a good draft and get up there.’ That’s exactly what happened. A good bit of guessing.”
STAGE 1 WINNER: Chase Briscoe
STAGE 2 WINNER: Chase Briscoe
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Ryan Sieg’s second-place finish marked back-to-back top-five finishes. … Noah Gragson’s third-place finish is his sixth top 10 in a row.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Riley Herbst crashed after contact with Austin Hill. Herbst finished 35th. … Austin Cindric was eliminated when he was hit from behind as the field pitted under green. The contact sent Cindric’s Ford into the inside SAFER barrier. He finished 34th. … Justin Allgaier went to the garage on Lap 96 after his car was smoking. He finished 29th.
NOTABLE: Justin Haley’s win means Kaulig Racing and JR Motorsports have combined to win six of the last seven superspeedway races.
NEXT: The series competes on the Charlotte Roval at 3:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 10. The elimination race will air on NBC.
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Sunday Cup race at Talladega: Start time, TV channel - NASCAR on NBC Sports
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