NASCAR Preview: Talladega Spring Race Weekend
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
Written by Gabriel Tsui & Ashleigh McGregor
After a stint of short track racing, the Cup Series heads to their biggest track, the Talladega Superspeedway. This comes after a dominant display from Kyle Larson in Bristol, wherein he led over 80% of the laps enroute to a comfortable victory. With the pack style of racing, however, domination is never certain.
Located in Alabama, Talladega is a 2.66-mile (4.28-kilometre) superspeedway. It has banking of 33 degrees in the turns, 16.5 degrees in the frontstretch tri-oval and two degrees on the straights.
Below are the start times for each race plus lap count:
Xfinity: Saturday, 24 April, 16:00 local (21:00 UK) – 113 laps
Cup: Sunday, 25 April, 15:00 local (20:00 UK) – 188 laps
Below are the defending winners for each race:
Xfinity: No. 2 - Jesse Love (Richard Childress Racing)
Cup: No. 45 - Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
Cup Series: Jack's Links 500 Preview
Written by Gabriel Tsui
After an off week for the field, NASCAR returns to four more weeks of racing before heading to All-Star weekend. We kick off the four weeks with a trip to Talladega, Alabama for a superspeedway showdown. The season opener in Daytona saw Ford put up a strong performance, but William Byron etched out a win in the eleventh hour. Can we see another Chevrolet late win, or will the Fords be able to finally finish the job in the superspeedway?
The field will be driving around the D-shape oval for 188 laps, with 60 laps each in stages one and two, closing off the race with 68 laps, totalling a distance run of 500 miles (805 kilometres).
The weather report indicates there will be precipitation heading into the weekend, but race day will be mostly cloudy with a low chance of rain. The race will commence on the Sunday of April 27th, at 15:00 Eastern (12:00 Pacific, 20:00 British).
Race Predictions
Last year’s Talladega 500 saw a last minute overtake from Tyler Reddick as the drivers were coming around to the checkered flag, extending Ford’s losing streak. So far into 2025, Ford has only gotten one win, with Josh Berry in Las Vegas.
On the other hand, in the initial showing at Daytona, Ford drivers combined a total of 137 laps led in the race, with Custer and Cindric near the lead during the final laps. Unfortunately, a spinning Hamlin took out most of the leaders and gave Byron a clean air to the end, as Byron cruised to the chequered flag.
Despite the past history of Ford’s self sabotaging, I believe they will find a win at Talladega, with Austin Cindric securing his first trip to victory lane in 2025. Cindric has had great performances in superspeedways, and has found the top-ten multiple times when racing in superspeedways. His record in Talladega isn’t pretty, but there is a feeling that the 26-year-old will find the breakthrough sooner or later.
Cindric may not be the popular pick compared to the other Penske drivers or the Hendricks four, but it is time for the No.2 to return to victory lane, and there is no better place to do it than Talladega, a track where the No.2 came through victory lane time and time again.
Three things to look out for
Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s steady season
Ricky Stenhouse Jr, for most of his career, has not been known for consistent performances. Lately, however, Stenhouse has found a run of consistency that lands him 18th place in the championship standings, only 25 points away from 14th place. He has had success in superspeedways recently, with a win in the 2024 Talladega race. If he can replicate his success, he has a huge chance of breaking into the top-15.
Can Brad Keselowski turn it around in Talladega?
Brad Keselowski is currently sitting near the bottom of the standings, while already amassing two DNFs so far into the season. Although his start to the season can be described as disastrous, his history in Talladega suggests that he still has a fighting chance at the track, and the RFK Ford Mustang will give him another boost. We will see if he can finally break out of the bottom and stop his poor run of form.
Kyle Larson keeps it rolling
Kyle Larson returned to his winning ways in Bristol to close out the first third of the regular season, moving himself up to fourth place in the championship standings. Larson hasn’t necessarily been a top performer in superspeedways, but riding on a huge run of momentum, he might find himself in a position to challenge for the win yet again.
Xfinity Series: Ag-Pro 300 Preview
Written by Ashleigh McGregor
Jesse Love had a glorious hard earned victory at Rockingham Speedway, but everything changed when his car was in breach of the regulations post-race. Love had joined Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill as multi race winners for the 2025 season. After an appeal, the car was still found in violation and Love was disqualified.
The win was then transferred to Sammy Smith. This is Smith's first win of the season, it’s unfortunate it was decided this way. With the final dash 4 cash prize taken, the full focus goes onto finishing the regular season. Justin Allgaier is still leading the championship and looks strong every weekend. Looking ahead to the next race, the series moves to Talladega, Alabama.
Race Weekend Guide
Round 11 of the regular season will cover 113 laps. Stages 1 and 2 will both be 25 laps with the final stage making up the remaining 63 laps. Qualifying is taking place on Friday the day before the race at 5:30pm EST. Race day for the Xfinity Series is on Saturday, April 26 at 4:00pm EST. Drivers will be racing a distance of 300.58 miles.
Friday and Saturday will both be cloudy, with the possibility of thunderstorms. Rain on race day is a very real possibility and could lead to a shake up of strategy calls.
Drivers to watch
Love will no doubt be coming back this weekend for vengeance. His first victory was earned at this track last year, so he knows how to win this race and what it will take.
Love is not the only driver going into this weekend, with the experience on how to win this race. Aric Almirola, Jeb Burton and Sammy Smith all have previously won at Talladega. Smith will be looking to join Allgaier with back to back wins this season by building off the momentum of last weekend’s gifted win.
Austin Hill also performs expertly on tracks like Talladega and has secured many wins racing drafting tracks. Winning this weekend would give Hill the chance to break some legendary records and solidify himself as the drafting track champion.
Current championship leader, Allgaier can’t be counted out of the race. Week after week he has proven to have a strong car and the performance to back it up. He has yet to win at this track and only one time came close and finished in second.
Who do you think will win the Talladega race?
Comments