Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR‘s fastest track, is the next stop for the Cup and Xfinity Series. Denny Hamlin starts on the pole for the third time in Sunday’s GEICO 500, while Austin Cindric leads the Xfinity field to green in Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300.
Cup: Hamlin gets another front-row start
While Hamlin has yet to win a race in 2021, his season has started on an exceptional note. Across the first nine races, he has top-five finishes in all but one (no other driver has five), and he led the most laps in the two latest races. With his strong runs and current position atop the points standing, Hamlin has also frequently started at the front, and his Talladega pole will mark his fifth straight race on the first row. It is his third pole starting spot of 2021 and second at Talladega; the first came in the 2020 fall race, a race he would go on to win.
Joey Logano will start second in his third front-row start of the year. He is a three-time winner at Talladega which includes a sweep of the 2016 races, but Sunday will mark his first career front row at the superspeedway; his previous best starting spot was third in the 2017 fall event.
Alex Bowman, the winner last Sunday at Richmond, starts fifth.
Five changes from Richmond have taken place. Joey Gase will drive the #28 (usually #53) for Rick Ware Racing in a tribute to Davey Allison, while J.J. Yeley replaces James Davison in the #15; Jennifer Jo Cobb was supposed to make her Cup début in the #15 but was forbidden by NASCAR. Kaz Grala and the #16 of Kaulig Racing return to the top level for the first time since the Daytona Road Course with A.J. Allmendinger in February. Harrison Burton gears up for his maiden Cup race in Gaunt Brothers Racing‘s #96, the team’s first race since March’s Bristol Dirt with Ty Dillon. Timmy Hill and MBM Motorsports return after taking the last two races off.
Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
3 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
4 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
6 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
9 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
12 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
13 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
15 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
16 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
17 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
18 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
19 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
20 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
22 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
25 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
27 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
28 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
29 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
30 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
31 | 78 | B.J. McLeod* | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
32 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
33 | 51 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
34 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
35 | 28 | Joey Gase | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
36 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
37 | 15 | J.J. Yeley* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
38 | 16 | Kaz Grala | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
39 | 96 | Harrison Burton* | Gaunt Brothers Racing | Toyota |
40 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
* – Ineligible for Cup points
Xfinity: Cindric gets anotehr front row
Cindric has led the Xfinity standings since winning the season opener at fellow superspeedway Daytona. The pole at Talladega is his best starting spot there, topping his third in the 2020 fall event. In four career Xfinity starts at Talladega, he is batting .500 with top fives in two but crashes in the others.
Daniel Hemric, still seeking his maiden NASCAR win but is second in points, joins Cindric on the front row. He finished fifth in his last Talladega race, while his lone Cup top five came at the track in 2019.
Dillon returns to Joe Gibbs Racing‘s #54 after last racing over a month ago in Vegas. Colin Garrett will make his first start of the year for Sam Hunt Racing while Caesar Bacarella, who finished twelfth at Daytona, is back in DGM Racing‘s #90. SS-Green Light Racing‘s #17, which is fielded in partnership with Rick Ware Racing, has been renumbered to #28 for Gase in the same tribute as his Cup car. Mason Massey is back in the #99 for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, while Natalie Decker and Jason White are in the #23 and #13 for Our Motorsports and MBM Motorsports, respectively; White drove the former at Daytona.
Ronnie Bassett Jr. (#77), Jordan Anderson (#31), and Andy Lally (#03) are the DNQs.
Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
1 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford |
2 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
3 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
4 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
5 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
6 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
7 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
8 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
9 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
10 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
11 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
12 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
13 | 02 | Brett Moffitt* | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
14 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet |
15 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
16 | 54 | Ty Dillon | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
17 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford |
18 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet |
19 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
20 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet |
21 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
22 | 26 | Colin Garrett | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota |
23 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet |
24 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet |
25 | 74 | Bayley Currey | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
26 | 61 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
27 | 66 | Timmy Hill | MBM Motorsports | Ford |
28 | 90 | Caesar Bacarella | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
29 | 28 | Joey Gase* | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet |
30 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
31 | 99 | Mason Massey | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota |
32 | 4 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
33 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
34 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
35 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet |
36 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
37 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
38 | 23 | Natalie Decker | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
39 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
40 | 13 | Jason White | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points