Erik Jones Hopes Crew-Chief Change Will Elevate Performance

Although Erik Jones finally earned his first top five in over a year at Talladega, he still ran very poorly, especially for a drafting expert. He only finished fifth at Talladega because he lost the draft, which enabled him to miss the Big One. His performance has not improved, which explains why crew chief Dave […]

Daniel Hemric's Best Hope Is Piggybacking Off Shane van Gisbergen's Setups

Although Daniel Hemric has never done much on the Charlotte roval at the NASCAR Cup Series level, he was a reliably consistent driver there in the Xfinity Series with four top-10 finishes, including two third-place finishes along with starting fourth or better in every one of his starts. But the Cup Series is another beast, […]

Noah Gragson Solid At Charlotte Roval In Xfinity Series

Noah Gragson qualified 32nd for the Charlotte roval in a session where none of the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers did very well. Although Gragson did not compete here last year because he was fired by Legacy Motor Club before this portion of the season, he did compete once here in 2022 where he started 29th and […]

Austin Cindric's Road-Course Record Weaker Than People Think

After Austin Cindric's crash at Talladega, he fell 29 points behind Chase Elliott for the final transfer spot to make the Round of 8. Cindric winning his way into the Round of 8 can't entirely be ruled out since he is starting fifth, but he also isn't as good on road courses as people seem […]

Harrison Burton Has No Motivation To Run Well After Playoff Elimination

Although it's hard to imagine Harrison Burton contending in Sunday's Charlotte roval race, especially since he is a lame-duck driver and starting 26th, it is worth noting that he did finish third on the short-lived Indianapolis roval as a rookie in 2022, which was his best finish before his win at Daytona this year. He […]

Chase Briscoe's Cinderella Story Will Likely End At Charlotte

Chase Briscoe is almost certainly not going to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs since he enters Sunday's race at the Charlotte roval 12th in the standings, 32 points behind Chase Elliott for the final transfer spot. Briscoe does have solid runs on road courses periodically and just finished […]

Ryan Blaney Should Be Safe To Advance Despite Inconsistent Road-Course Record

Ryan Blaney has tended to struggle on road courses with the Next Gen chassis and has been slightly faster on road courses this year than in 2023, particularly at Sonoma, where he started third and finished seventh. Although he won the inaugural Charlotte roval race after Jimmie Johnson wrecked Martin Truex Jr. and himself while […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins At Talladega To Salvage Lackluster Season

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is considered one of the foremost NASCAR Cup Series drafting specialists and he backed that up with a win in Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega. He also won Stage 1 after a last-lap pass of Chris Buescher. Although he has had a low-key very disappointing season, as his speed percentile of 34.69% […]

Joey Logano Triggers Big One At Talladega, Falls Below Cut Line

Joey Logano had an unexpectedly disappointing run at Talladega on Sunday, although most people expected much more from him, especially after his win at Atlanta. Although Logano was one of the dominant drivers for most of Stage 3, making seven on-track passes for the lead in an epic duel with his teammate Austin Cindric and […]

Chase Elliott Maintains Playoff Position Despite Talladega Crash

Chase Elliott had a so-so run at Talladega by his standards, but he did what he needed to do to maintain his position on the playoff bubble, where he leads Joey Logano by 13 points for the final transfer spot. Despite qualifying 11th, Elliott had a disappointing Stage 1 when he was consistently outrun by […]

Austin Cindric Fights For The Win At Talladega Before Late-Race Crash

Despite his fluky Gateway win, Austin Cindric is generally lackluster outside of drafting tracks and to a lesser extent road courses. Since he was well below the cutline and the Penske cars have been so fast on drafting tracks, Cindric likely knew that a win at Talladega would be his best shot at advancing to […]

Chase Briscoe Runs Decently But Crash Likely Eliminates Him From Round Of 8

Although Chase Briscoe isn't particularly noted as a great driver on drafting tracks, he tried his best and looked poised to have a good run at Talladega on Sunday. After finishing eighth in Stage 1, he emerged in the top 10 on Lap 133 and remained there until he and nearly all the other Fords […]

J.J. Yeley Too Slow to Be a Solid Underdog Play

Despite never being a very successful driver in NASCAR, J.J. Yeley has had a surprisingly long career in the NASCAR Cup Series and it has continued this year with the underfunded and wildly off the pace New York Racing Team. How far off the pace? He qualified 40th and last for today's Talladega race and […]

Daniel Suarez Unlikely to Repeat Atlanta Triumph at Talladega

Daniel Suarez was pretty lucky to advance to the playoffs while his teammate Ross Chastain didn't even though Chastain has arguably outrun Suarez even worse this year than in 2022 and 2023, so it shouldn't be surprising that Suarez now sits 14 points below the cutline and is unlikely to advance to the Round of […]

Spire Motorsports Too Far Off the Pace for Zane Smith to Contend

Zane Smith has definitely had a significant uptick in performance in the second half of 2024, particularly as he sees tracks a second time, although this is overstated to some extent as he is usually finishing better than he is running of late and that is not necessarily sustainable. However, all three Spire cars were […]

Ryan Preece Will Probably Be an Afterthought at Talladega

Ryan Preece qualified 18th for what might be his last NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega. Although he is in a Ford and the Fords have had a significant speed advantage, the Stewart-Haas Fords have been nowhere near as fast as the Penske-affiliated Fords and it seems likely the team will be focused on trying […]

Michael McDowell Consistently Fails to Get Finishes After Drafting Track Poles

Michael McDowell's qualifying dominance on drafting tracks continued as he won the pole for this afternoon's YellaWood 500 at Talladega, his fifth straight pole on this track type and sixth this season, the most of any driver. However, he has struggled to maintain his position in those races as his average finish after winning the […]

Despite Inconsistent Record, Joey Logano a Likely Favorite at Talladega

Joey Logano qualified 6th for this afternoon's Talladega race and sits four points above the playoff cutline in a tie with Chase Elliott. Although he has not run very well at most tracks this season relative to his usual standard, he has been very strong on drafting tracks as he led the most laps at […]

Erik Jones's Season Struggles Will Probably Override Talladega Record

Erik Jones's season has been one to forget after suffering a fractured vertebra in the spring race at Talladega when his teammate John Hunter Nemechek triggered a multi-car crash. Despite looking like a playoff contender as recently as 2022, Jones has not led a lap this season nor has he finished in the top ten […]

Ty Gibbs Might Overcome Joe Gibbs Racing's Questionable Drafting Track Speed

Although Ty Gibbs was eliminated from the playoffs, he can still salvage his season with a win at Talladega, but the Joe Gibbs Racing cars have been slower than you'd expect on drafting tracks lately. Although his teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin have been two of this season's most dominant drivers, three out of […]

Chase Elliott Should Finish Well at Talladega Without Seriously Contending

Chase Elliott starts 11th at Talladega and enters the race in a tie with Joey Logano four points above the playoff cutline to reach the Round of 8. Elliott has consistently had speed at Talladega from the beginning as he won the pole for his first race there and won there twice in 2019 and […]

Ross Chastain Looks to Become First Back-to-Back Winner in Over a Year

After winning at Kansas, Ross Chastain looks to become the first back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series winner since Chris Buescher over a year ago at Talladega today. Although he only starts 27th, Chastain has been strong at drafting tracks in the past as he won the spring 2022 Talladega race, but that was mostly because Erik […]

Harrison Burton Looks to Repeat Improbable Daytona Victory

After improbably winning the summer Daytona race in August, Harrison Burton looks to duplicate that performance at Talladega. Since his Wood Brothers car is prepared by Team Penske and Penske and its satellites have been dominating on drafting tracks all season, there is a slight possibility that Burton could win again and his 9th place […]

Stewart-Haas Racing Likely Not Fast Enough for Chase Briscoe to Advance

After his dismal run at Kansas last week, Chase Briscoe is probably doomed in terms of making into the Round of 8 on speed as he sits 25 points below the cutline and qualified 36th, worst of all the Ford drivers on a track type where Fords tend to dominate both in qualifying and in […]

Kaulig Racing Has Some Speed, but Probably Not Enough for A.J. Allmendinger to Contend

Although Kaulig Racing has not had much speed on most tracks other than road courses this year with any driver in either the NASCAR Cup Series or the Xfinity Series, they have been decent on the drafting tracks in both series as A.J. Allmendinger did finish 6th in the Daytona 500 where he made a […]

Daniel Suarez Comes Back From Lap Down To Finish 13th At Kansas

Although Daniel Suarez was not very fast at Kansas, he salvaged a 13th place finish. Despite starting 10th, he plummeted through the field in Stage 1 and actually got lapped before receiving the free pass on the first stage caution. Although he only ranked 19th in speed and 17th in average running position and as […]

Loose Wheel Spoils Joey Logano's Potential Top-Five Run At Kansas

Although Joey Logano hasn't had the best season this year and has been well off his teammate Ryan Blaney's pace, he had a better run than usual on a non-drafting superspeedway on Sunday at Kansas, as he ran no worse than sixth before having to pit again due to a loose wheel. Although he still […]

Denny Hamlin Recovers From Three Botched Pit Stops To Finish Eighth At Kansas

Although Denny Hamlin finished eighth at Kansas, the same position where he started, that box score does not properly convey the topsy-turvy ride he took to attain that result. Hamlin seemed to have the fastest car at times and ranked fourth overall in speed, but was repeatedly let down by his pit crew with three […]

Austin Cindric Likely Out Of Playoff Contention After Kansas Crash

Austin Cindric probably took himself out of playoff contention on Sunday at Kansas when he spun out after making side-by-side contact with Kyle Busch's car, which resulted in Cindric finishing 34th and scoring a mere seven points, fewer than any other playoff contender. The situation could have been even worse if he hadn't scored points […]

Chase Briscoe Unlikely To Advance To Round Of 8 After Mediocre Kansas Run

Intermediate tracks have recently been Chase Briscoe's Achilles heel, and Sunday's Kansas race was no exception. Although Briscoe unexpectedly qualified ninth, he did not have the speed of a playoff contender per usual on intermediates, as he finished 24th, had an average running position of 23rd, and only ranked 26th in speed. His race was […]