TALLADEGA, Ala. — Following the one off weekend of the season, the NASCAR Cup Sequence returns to motion this week at one of many sport’s most iconic venues, Talladega Superspeedway.
Expectations are all the time excessive – and variable – for the high-speed, anything-goes model of racing on a drafting observe reminiscent of Talladega and Sunday’s Jack Hyperlinks 500 will undoubtedly add to the observe’s storied historical past.
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 complete? Will a driver from the perpetual championship contending Crew Penske group lastly get that group its first win of 2025?
Or will Talladega produce a long-shot victor in a position to get it completed within the frantic closing laps that make Talladega one of the crucial thrilling venues on the schedule?
That unpredictability and real suspense is strictly what has made this race so compelling. 9 of the final 16 Talladega races have been selected a last-lap go. And there have been not less than 66 lead modifications within the final three races on the game’s largest oval.
There are, nonetheless, drivers which have confirmed themselves favorites on the large observe.
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 within the Fall.
It’s been 10 races since somebody claimed back-to-back Talladega wins, nonetheless. That nod belongs to Crew Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who has a powerful three Talladega wins, claiming trophies in 2019, 2020 and 2023.
He might actually use a robust exhibiting this weekend. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Sequence champion has endured a collection of bad-luck showings this season – the outcomes hardly matching the day’s effort on observe. The driving force of the No. 12 Crew Penske Ford is ranked sixth within the championship – one in every of six drivers within the top-10 and not using a victory but.
His teammate, reigning NASCAR Cup Sequence champion Joey Logano is in the same state of affairs. The driving force of the No. 22 Ford has had robust showings in-race however but to earn a top-five end within the opening 9 occasions of the season.
This 12 months’s Daytona 500 winner – and present championship factors chief – Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron is the one repeat winner on the large drafting tracks reminiscent of Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta with three wins within the final 12 races. However the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has by no means gained at Talladega.
Hamlin, a two-race winner, sits 30 factors behind Byron within the standings. The longtime driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is taken into account a drafting observe grasp with three Daytona 500 victories and a pair of Talladega trophies (2014 and 2020).
Hamlin is the one driver to complete on the lead lap in all 9 races of this season. His JGR teammate Christopher Bell – a collection finest three-race winner in 2025 – is ranked third within the championship and the motive force of the No. 20 JGR Toyota is on the lookout for his first Talladega win.
Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, a two-race winner this season, is one other racing for his maiden Talladega collection win. As dominating because the 2021 collection champion has been all through his profession, he’s by no means gained at a drafting fashion observe. His teammate, 2020 collection champ Chase Elliott, sits fifth in factors and is racing for his first win of the 12 months. He gained at Talladega in 2019 and 2022.
Solely 5 drivers have gained this 12 months – Byron, Hamlin, Bell, Larson and Wooden Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski leads all energetic drivers with six Talladega trophies, together with the primary of his championship profession in 2009. He completed runner-up in each Talladega races final 12 months. He’s at present ranked thirty first within the factors and badly needing a great exhibiting to get again within the title speak.
“I nonetheless assume Talladega is a type of racetracks the place anyone can win. Subsequent Gen has been slightly bit fickle at Talladega in the way in which that it values various things than the automobile earlier than did,” Keselowski defined. “It appears to essentially worth the final pit cease and executing that at a really excessive stage after which the gas saving stuff, which I feel is gonna be the phrase everyone hates after this weekend. So, it’s completely different.
“It’s a unique sort of racing than what Talladega was 4 or 5 years in the past earlier than the Subsequent Gen automobile, however I feel that’s a part of what makes Talladega particular is simply how the racing there has advanced not less than a half dozen instances since I’ve been in Cup and its completely different eras of racing that values various things. I respect that. There are actually varieties that you simply like greater than others of racing there, however I do assume that it’s a spot the place I consider the 39 entries, 33 of them have a practical shot of successful.”
Two-time collection champ Kyle Busch can be a multi-time Talladega race winner, final taking a trophy on the huge observe in 2023. The driving force of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sits fifteenth within the standings and is on the lookout for his first win within the collection since that 2023 season.
Defending Spring race winner Reddick and his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace are winless in 2025 but additionally thought of drafting observe favorites. They’re ranked seventh and eighth – respectively – within the standings. Wallace claimed his first collection trophy at Talladega in 2021.
Of notice, the motive force that led probably the most laps within the final 9 Talladega races did not win.
