After a Round of 12 opener at Kansas Speedway on Sunday that featured non-title contender Ross Chastain recording his first 2024 win, the dozen drivers left to compete for the championship could start thinking about the Big One that lies ahead:
Talladega Superspeedway.
The steep-banked, super-fast 2.66-mile track and its YellaWood 500 race Sunday represent the 31st weekend stop, but the 188-lapper is one that gets circled as a potential game-changer when it comes to the points standings because of the lurking, lap-to-lap danger.
Heading into the weekend, ninth-place Tyler Reddick is four points below the new cut line, Daniel Suarez is 14 below, Chase Briscoe is 25 below and Austin Cindric, at 29 under, need help with their championship chances with two more races remaining in the Round of 12.
The chase above the cut line is even more intriguing than the quartet of drivers who could be eliminated from title contention.
Two-time Cup champion Joey Logano and 2020 champ Chase Elliott are tied at a mere four points above the cut line, putting them into the tenuous position of hoping to avoid disastrous difficulties.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman sits in sixth, and at plus-eight, he’s the third driver that is safe by single digits. Fifth-place Denny Hamlin is only plus-11, making the race for fifth through eighth closer than what’s below them.
Despite creating some separation at plus-18 above the line, but struggling through a 26th-place showing at Kansas, fifth-place Kyle Larson, the 2021 title winner, has never been to Victory Lane at the treacherous track just east of Birmingham, Ala.
Just like its spacious sister track, Daytona International Speedway, with its high-banked explosiveness, Talladega will be a major obstacle to overcome. It is a fast-paced puzzle where drivers have tried to figure out the right approach in handling the mammoth track.
Two decades ago, a few teams decided the best way to survive a 400- or 500-miler around the two superspeedways was to ride at the back, essentially keeping everything in front of the drivers and avoiding top-10 mishaps and the sliding, smoke-filled fallout.
Stage racing and bonus points helped put an end to that strategy, as did the Next Gen car’s shortage of passing opportunities, and more drivers find themselves battling for the front and taking risks with the race leaders.
Talladega remains NASCAR’s most unpredictable obstacle, an obvious trap set for any driver’s slip-up, bobble or sudden misuse of acceleration or braking, though brakes don’t factor into the racing as much on the 55-year-old track.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell finds himself third in points, six behind playoff leader William Byron and tied with Ryan Blaney, a three-time Talladega winner.
Bell had a curious assessment of where this race falls next season: inside the Round of 8 on Oct. 19, slotted between the opener in Las Vegas and the penultimate race at Martinsville.
Just two races before the championship in Phoenix.
“We’re in a weird spot right now,” the 29-year-old Oklahoma native said of the championship format. “And it’s just going to get weirder with Talladega in the Round of 8.”
“Weird” may be one way to describe the north central Alabama superspeedway and its placement in the 10-race postseason.
But “the ultimate wild card” might be better.
–Field Level Media
