NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Make the Right Chess Moves at Talladega?
The biggest, fastest, and most unpredictable track on the NASCAR calendar is up next–Talladega. The 2.66-mile central Alabama high banks offer all drivers a chance at a season or career-defining victory, as well as a Playoff berth. Who can master the draft in Sunday’s Geico 500? Here are a few contenders whose Talladega stats already have them seeing checkers.
Ryan Blaney
Talladega’s most recent winner enters Sunday as the co-favorite. Ryan Blaney owns three Talladega trophies, most recently last fall’s nail-biter photo finish over Kevin Harvick. This was only the latest in a string of three straight top-two results on the superspeedway. Still riding a winless drought for this season, Blaney is well aware that Talladega could turn the tides of 2024.
“We have had good fortune over the years at Talladega,” Blaney said. “We have good teamwork, fast cars, and good engines and seem to excel at those places. Really we do a good job of being there for each other when we need to be and just finding ourselves there at the end of race and giving ourselves a shot. I look at that when we go to Talladega: trying to give yourself a chance at the end and capitalize on it or not. We have done a good job of doing that and have a good mindset, which has worked out for us sometimes. Good teamwork and good cars go a long way.”
“It would be a great little birthday gift for Ford to put a Mustang in victory lane just after the 60th birthday. Not many things have been around for 60 years, let alone a model of car. That is tough to do with times changing and people wanting new things. Ford has done a good job of always innovating while also sticking to its roots. Hopefully, we can put Mustang in victory lane a few days after the birthday; that would be a pretty cool present for sure.”
Ford as a manufacturer still has a zero in the win column entering race 10 of 2024. Blaney has still been their standout performer in spite of the struggles. He is currently ranked seventh in points with four top-fives. Team 12 is seemingly on the precipice of finding victory lane again, and Talladega is arguably their best track.
Chase Elliott
Can the fan favorite possibly take back-to-back victories? Chase Elliott does have two Talladega wins, including his most recent win before last Sunday. Elliott is a perfect .500 batting average for Talladega top-10s as well, with eight in 16 starts complimenting his 209 laps led. Team No. 9 no longer has to worry about a Playoff berth or a winless streak. Elliott now fully shifts his focus to finding superspeedway success once again.
“Superspeedway racing is one of those things that, I don’t know that we all love to do it all the time, but it’s something that I’ve tried to embrace and I’ve tried to try to get better at and put time into,” Elliott said. “I think it’s easy to look at those events and just kind of skip over them and be like, ah, you know, it’s just a superspeedway race. But they do offer a race win and they offer a lot of points and all those things are still on the line. So, I’ve tried to put emphasis on them. I enjoy going over there (to Talladega). It’s close to home for me.”
Team Hendrick has been the group to beat more weekends than not so far in 2024. The juggernaut organization has the last two victories, with Elliott looking to make a company threepeat. HMS did sweep the top two spots in February’s Daytona 500, their Camaros should be stout at Talladega.
Denny Hamlin
Despite no Next Gen superspeedway wins, Denny Hamlin can never truly be counted out at Talladega. The two time winner in the No. 11 Toyota does have two Talladega top-fives since 2022 though. The veteran is still yearning to fundamentally figure out how this car reacts in the draft. Hamlin puts extra responsibility on Toyota pit crews this weekend if a Camry is to win.
“We have seen that the Next Gen car is a lot more difficult to get a third lane going compared to the previous cars,” Hamlin said. “Because of that, it’s going to be a lot of side-by-side, two-wide racing and you don’t really have anywhere to go. That forces you to race as hard as possible every lap to try to put yourself in the best position possible and then you have to execute on pit road. That will certainly be a point of emphasis getting everyone on and off pit road as fast as possible and as coordinated as possible. As a Toyota group, we didn’t do that as well as we needed to at Daytona. So it’s definitely going to be something we need to focus on going into this weekend to put ourselves in the best position possible, especially after the final pit stop.”
Both of Hamlin’s Next Gen Talladega top-fives came in each of the last two October races. The last five spring races have only yielded a lone top-10 for the 11, coming in 2020. Hamlin will also try to become Talladega’s first winner over age 40 since Dale Jarrett in 2005. The past superspeedway ace has the best crew on pit road behind him. This alone may be enough to seal another Talladega triumph.
Brad Keselowski
Coming off one past champion erasing a losing streak, Brad Keselowski eyes to end his own drought at Talladega. Keselowski’s most recent victory was this race three years ago, his sixth Talladega checkered flag. This win is now a distant 107 races ago however. Keselowski still has yet to win since joining RFK Racing.
BK was in position late to capitalize at the Daytona 500, before being wrecked out. Keselowski has a best Next Gen Talladega result of fifth. Should the typical RFK superspeedway pace return Sunday, the 6 could be top of the boards again.
Bubba Wallace
Another clutch superspeedway driver who can never be overlooked is Bubba Wallace. While his 2021 Talladega win is his only top-10, he was in position on the last lap a year ago. A bad block thrown by Wallace sent him spinning off the bumper of Blaney, giving the win to Kyle Busch.
Wallace has since studied every possible angle of that last lap sequence. Should the No. 23 Toyota be in a similar spot Sunday, Wallace will be aiming for a drag race to the line.
Joey Logano
Three time Talladega victor Joey Logano is slowly inching towards the front of the pack again. Second, sixth, and a pair of 11th-place results show team 22’s last four weeks, where Logano said speed has been found. Logano now heads to a track where the flow of the race can be in his control. Driver 22 is eager to be leading the 200 mph freight train again.
“Talladega has been a great track for Ford, Penske, and all of us,” Logano said. “We have been in contention every time we go down there. Our superspeedway program is our strength right now. We have seen that in qualifying and have seen the performance at Atlanta and Daytona so far. I have a lot of confidence going there. A lot of things can happen at Talladega, as we have seen before, but if we can do our jobs perfectly, I am sure we can get one in victory lane, and it would be an added bonus to do it just a couple of days after Mustang celebrates its 60th birthday. That would be a really cool celebration.”
The past month alone has seen Logano rally from 26th to 15th in points. The veteran Penske team desires a return to regular weekly contention. Talladega provides a golden chance at erasing their year-plus long winless slide.
Knowing past superspeedway prowess from Ford, Mustang teams have Talladega circled as all but must-win. Chevrolet and Toyota both have equally capable drivers though, giving Talladega a long list of possible winners. The Geico 500 goes green Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
Be sure to follow us on Twitter/X
Be sure to follow the writer on Twitter/X
Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images
