TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY (2.66-MILE SUPERSPEEDWAY)
LOCATION: TALLADEGA, ALABAMA
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 10 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 1 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, MAY 3 (FOX/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 35 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
6th in standings
9 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
4 top-10 finishes
35 laps led
Career
405 starts
17 wins
26 pole positions
84 top-five finishes
150 top-10 finishes
4,576 laps led
Talladega Career
22 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
5 top-10 finishes
62 laps led
SEASON-TO-DATE: After the first nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season, Kasey Kahne currently ranks first in quality passes (731), second in average running position (9.509), second in laps in top 15 (2,707), third in fastest speed in traffic (6.667 average rank), fourth in fastest drivers on restarts (8.333 average rank), fifth in fastest drivers late in a run (7.750 average rank), sixth in fastest drivers early in a run (8.000 average rank), seventh in driver rating (97.5), seventh in green-flag speed (7.375 average rank) and seventh in fastest laps run (121).
TALLADEGA LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR loop data in the last 20 Sprint Cup Series events at Talladega, Kahne ranks fourth in the closers category with 67 positions moved up and also ranks sixth in green-flag passes (6,430). In the October 2012 event, Kahne won his first pole position at the 2.66-mile track.
SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS: In 45 starts at the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega, Kahne has recorded a combined five top-five finishes and 13 top-10s. He recorded back-to-back seventh-place finishes in the Daytona 500 in 2007 and 2008, posted a career-best second-place finish at Daytona in July 2010 and earned two runner-up finishes in the fall races at Talladega in 2006 and 2009. Four of Kahne’s 17 career wins happened on tracks two miles or longer — Fontana, California, Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway.
TALLADEGA CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Keith Rodden has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-856 for Sunday’s race at Talladega. Notably in 2014, Kahne drove the car to finishes of eighth place and 12th place in two races at Talladega. Most recently, Kahne raced the chassis in the Daytona 500 in February, where he finished ninth.
FARMERS INSURANCE / FARMERS RACING ART SERIES: Farmers Insurance will adorn the hood of Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet SS this weekend at Talladega, and will be the primary sponsor on the car for seven more Sprint Cup Series races this year: Dover International Speedway (May 31), Pocono Raceway (June 7), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 26), Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 16), Darlington Raceway (Sept. 6), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Sept. 27) and Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 8). This year, Farmers has partnered with Paseo Academy High School in Kansas City, Missouri, to create a series of racing-related hero cards and posters that will be designed by the school’s art students. Farmers is making a donation to the school’s art program. Through ThankAmericasTeachers.com, Farmers has been committed to recognizing teachers and providing resources for educational initiatives throughout the country. For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/FarmersRacing.
TALLADEGA DOUBLE: In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS this weekend, Kahne will pilot JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet in the 300.58-mile NASCAR event on Saturday. In six previous starts at the superspeedway, Kahne has qualified inside the top 10 three times, including an outside pole position in 2003. In 2013, Kahne drove the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, where he led 16 laps and finished third.
No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS / Jeff Gordon
Driver Jeff Gordon Hometown Pittsboro, Indiana
Age 43 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
10th in standings
9 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
1 top-five finish
6 top-10 finishes
114 laps led
Career
770 starts
92 wins
79 pole positions
321 top-five finishes
460 top-10 finishes
24,778 laps led
Talladega Career
44 starts
6 wins
3 pole positions
15 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
847 laps led
SIX-FOR-SIX FOR GORDON: Jeff Gordon is the only competitor to finish in the top 10 in each of the last six races.
ACTIVE LEADER AT TALLADEGA: The driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet leads active drivers in wins, top-five finishes, top-10s and laps led at Talladega Superspeedway.
ALL-TIME RESTRICTOR-PLATE WINS LEADER: Gordon is the all-time leader in restrictor-plate victories with 12. Dale Earnhardt Sr. ranks second with 11 while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. is third with eight.
TALLADEGA CHASSIS: No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 24-916 for this Sunday’s race. The chassis has been raced once to a seventh-place finish in this year’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway.
TV ANALYST: On Saturday, Gordon will join the FOX Sports broadcast of the XFINITY Series race as an analyst – his third and final broadcast this year. In April, he participated in the Texas and Bristol FOX Sports 1 XFINITY broadcasts.
DRIVE TO END HUNGER AT TALLADEGA: Gordon will drive the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS in this Sunday’s race, and AARP’s “Real Possibilities” will again be featured on the car. AARP and its Foundation are helping to combat hunger by coordinating with local agencies and food banks and sponsoring innovative teaching programs and more. Thanks to these efforts, they have already donated more than 30 million meals. To learn more about Drive to End Hunger, please visit aarp.org/possibilities. If you don’t think “Feeding the Hungry” when you think AARP, then you don’t know “aarp.”
No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 39 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
4th in standings
9 starts
2 wins
0 pole positions
5 top-five finishes
6 top-10 finishes
304 laps led
Career
480 starts
72 wins
33 pole positions
198 top-five finishes
298 top-10 finishes
17,455 laps led
Talladega Career
26 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
6 top-five finishes
10 top-10 finishes
383 laps led
1, 2, 3: Since his win at Texas three races ago from the fifth-place starting position, Jimmie Johnson finished second at Bristol — where he started 28th — and then third at Richmond — where he started 36th. Johnson has five top-five finishes in the first nine races of the season.
DEGA STATS: Johnson has the fifth-highest driver rating (87.5) at Talladega in the past 10 years. He has an average finish of 16th at the 2.66-mile track in Alabama.
TALLADEGA CHASSIS: For this weekend’s event, crew chief Chad Knaus has selected chassis No. 48-915 which is a brand new car. The backup car is 48-853, which last raced in the Sprint Unlimited in Daytona.
LOCAL TIES: Longtime No. 48 front tire carrier RJ Barnette hails from nearby Pinson, Alabama, and played football at Samford University. Barnette has been on the Lowe’s team for six seasons and has earned two championships with Johnson behind the wheel. Andrew Childers, jack man for the No. 48, is from Tucker, Georgia, and also played football at Samford University located in Birmingham, Alabama.
HELMET OF HOPE WINNERS ANNOUNCED: The Jimmie Johnson Foundation announced the five recipients of this year’s $25,000 grants. The Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope is a program that allows fans and consumers across the country to nominate not-for-profit (501c3) organizations that support K-12 public education for the chance to win one of five (5) available grant packages. The five winners voted for the 2015 Helmet of Hope are: 9 Dots in Los Angeles; BackPack Beginnings in Greensboro, North Carolina; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland in Sioux City, Iowa; Carolina Raptor Center in Charlotte, North Carolina; and The Be Kind People Project in Phoenix. Approximately 2.2 million votes were cast for the 10 semifinalists during the voting period. Johnson will wear the helmet on June 7 at Pocono Raceway.
No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS / Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hometown Kannapolis, North Carolina
Age 40 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
8th in standings
9 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
4 top-five finishes
5 top-10 finishes
37 laps led
Career
550 starts
23 wins
13 pole positions
131 top-five finishes
229 top-10 finishes
7,884 laps led
Talladega Career
30 starts
5 wins
0 pole positions
10 top-five finishes
14 top-10 finishes
832 laps led
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, will be available to members of the media on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. local time in the media center at Talladega Superspeedway.
TALLADEGA SUCCESS: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s five wins at Talladega are the most for him at any track and rank him third all-time among drivers at the Alabama superspeedway. Earnhardt’s father Dale Earnhardt Sr. earned 10 wins at the track, while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has recorded six.
RECORD-SETTING AT TALLADEGA: Earnhardt Jr. set a record for most consecutive wins at the Alabama track with four at the 2.66-mile superspeedway from October 2001 to April 2003.
LEADING LAPS: Earnhardt has led in all but three of the 30 Sprint Cup races he has entered at Talladega for a total of 832 laps. He has led a lap in 13 of his 14 starts behind the wheel of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. The 40-year-old has led more career laps at only one other venue, short track Martinsville Speedway (972 laps).
TALLADEGA CHASSIS: This weekend at Talladega, crew chief Greg Ives and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-872. Earnhardt most recently raced the chassis to a third-place finish in the Daytona 500.
SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS: In 61 combined Cup starts on the superspeedways of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega, Earnhardt has recorded eight wins, one pole position, 22 top-five finishes and 32 top-10s. He has led a total 1,314 laps on NASCAR’s current restrictor-plate tracks.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT TALLADEGA: In 62 Cup events at Talladega, Hendrick Motorsports has 11 wins, 49 top-five finishes and 73 top-10s. The organization’s 11 victories rank second all-time behind Richard Childress Racing (12). In Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent Talladega win, Earnhardt pushed Johnson to Victory Lane in April 2011. Johnson, the outside pole-sitter, matched the closest margin of victory recorded — 0.002 seconds — since the use of electronic scoring.
RESTRICTOR-PLATE VICTORS: Among drivers all-time at the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega, Gordon ranks first with 12 victories and Earnhardt is third with eight. Gordon’s seven pole positions rank him tied for first all-time in that category at restrictor-plate tracks. With a pole this weekend, Gordon could move into sole possession of first, moving past Sterling Marlin.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 233 victories, 202 pole positions, 953 top-five finishes and 1,583 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 64,331 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“We had a great car for the Daytona 500 in February and earned a solid top-10 finish, so I’m looking forward to going to Talladega this weekend to see how we can improve the car and our results. Talladega is a track I have always liked and look forward to. At times, you can’t control everything and that is something that will be the same for all of us there, but it’s always an exciting race.”
No. 5 team crew chief Keith Rodden on Talladega
“Restrictor-plate racing is a white-knuckle experience where we race in big packs while trying to avoid the ‘big one’ – the big wreck that collects a lot of race cars. It’s hectic. It’s physical. It’s mental.”
Jeff Gordon on restrictor-plate racing
“We have had some solid finishes lately and I’m so proud of this Lowe’s team, but we have to get better on Fridays – we practice fast and then have a bad qualifying session. Qualifying poorly hurts us for race day – we’ve had fast cars, we just need to qualify better so we don’t have so much work cut out for us on Sunday.”
Jimmie Johnson on improving during qualifying sessions
“The guy that’s leading the race really is the guy controlling everything. He can block and he can do whatever he needs to do as far as getting in front of the line that’s coming to be able to get the push to maintain his speed. He can do so much more than everyone else in the field. And that’s just the best place to be.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on leading the race at Talladega
