TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY (2.66-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: TALLADEGA, ALABAMA
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 32 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 2:30 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, OCT.25 (NBCSN/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 35 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
18th in standings
31 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
48 laps led
Career
427 starts
17 wins
27 pole positions
86 top-five finishes
155 top-10 finishes
4,589 laps led
Track Career
23 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
5 top-10 finishes
65 laps led
ENJOY BETTER RACING: Time Warner Cable will adorn the hood of Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet SS this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway for the fifth time this season. In addition to competing 500 miles at the 2.66-mile oval on Sunday, Kahne will also pilot the No. 5 Time Warner Cable bumper car Sunday at 11 a.m. in Talladega’s Horsepower Plaza as he bumps and races with fans in NBC Sports’ NASCAR bumper cars arena.
SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS: In 47 starts at the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, Kahne has recorded a combined five top-five finishes and 13 top-10 finishes. 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 – Auto Club Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and two wins at Pocono Raceway.
KAHNE IS A CLOSER: According to NASCAR loop data, in the last 10 years at Talladega Superspeedway, Kahne ranks second in closers, gaining an average of 3.2 spots and moving up 68 positions total in the final 10 percent of races.
No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS / Jeff Gordon
Driver Jeff Gordon Hometown Pittsboro, Indiana
Age 44 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
6th in standings
31 starts
0 wins
3 pole positions
3 top-five finishes
16 top-10 finishes
209 laps led
Career
792 starts
92 wins
80 pole positions
323 top-five finishes
470 top-10 finishes
24,873 laps led
Track Career
45 starts
6 wins
4 pole positions
15 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
894 laps led
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS, is scheduled to visit the Talladega Superspeedway media center at 2:30 p.m. local time Friday.
KANSAS RECAP: Jeff Gordon finished 10th in Sunday’s 400-mile race at Kansas Speedway. The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion now sits sixth in the Sprint Cup point standings following his second consecutive top-10 finish.
ELIMINATION RACE: Following Sunday’s 500-mile race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field will be reduced to eight. No matter where the competition finishes, Gordon can secure a spot with a finish of first or second.
LEADER AT TALLADEGA: Gordon leads active drivers in top-five finishes and top-10s at the Alabama track, while he is tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. for most victories and Joe Nemechek for most pole positions.
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 Earnhardt Jr. is third with 10.
NEARING 25K: Gordon is 127 shy of 25,000 career laps led.
3-FOR-3M: 3M’s new corporate tagline “Science. Applied to Life.” will appear on the No. 24 Chevrolet SS in all three Contender Round events. This weekend marks the 11th time 3M has been the primary sponsor of the No. 24 Chevrolet SS in 2015.
No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 40 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2015 Season
14th in standings
31 starts
4 wins
0 pole positions
12 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
474 laps led
Career
502 starts
74 wins
33 pole positions
205 top-five finishes
311 top-10 finishes
17,625 laps led
Track Career
27 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
7 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
433 laps led
LAPS LED: In just the last two outings at Talladega Superspeedway, Jimmie Johnson has led a total of 134 out of a possible 382 laps. Over his 27 starts at the track, Johnson has an average start of 10.0 and an average finish of 16.9.
THIS CLOSE: Talladega is known for its close finishes. In May, Johnson, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, finished second by 0.159 seconds behind race winner and teammate Earnhardt at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
TALLADEGA DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Johnson has the third-best driver rating at Talladega with a score of 89.0 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
LOCAL TIES: Longtime No. 48 front-tire carrier R.J. 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, jackman for the No. 48 team, is from Tucker, Georgia, and also played football at Samford University, located in Birmingham, Alabama.
JOHNSON AT TEAM CHEVY STAGE: Johnson will be at the Team Chevy stage for a question-and-answer session at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 11 a.m. local time.
PINK FOR OCTOBER: This will be the last weekend that Johnson will sport a special Lowe’s hat and Mission towel in the month of October to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Both the hat and towel will have the color pink in an effort to bring awareness to the disease. Johnson’s hat can be purchased here.
#IDRIVEFOR: From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, Chevrolet is encouraging the community to honor loved ones who have been affected by breast cancer and tell their stories using #IDriveFor on Instagram and Twitter. For every tweet, retweet and Instagram post using #IDriveFor in the month of October, Chevrolet will contribute $5 to the American Cancer Society (up to $500,000). Click here to RT Johnson’s tweet sharing what he drives for.
MARTINSVILLE TICKET PACKAGE: The Jimmie Johnson Martinsville Ticket Package is $48 for adults and $24 for youth and includes a ticket in the Bill France Tower to see the race. Fans who have already purchased a race ticket can add on the Jimmie Johnson Martinsville Ticket package for just $10. The question-and-answer session with Johnson and NASA Rockets 2 Racecars activities will be held in the Martinsville Speedway hospitality area on Sunday, Nov. 1. To purchase call 1-877.RACE.TIX or go to www.MartinsvilleSpeedway.com.
MIAMI TICKET PACKAGE: Johnson will host a Q&A with kids and their parents on Championship Sunday — Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Package price is $148, which includes two tickets, pit passes and a Q&A with the six-time champion. To purchase, click here.
No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS / Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hometown Kannapolis, North Carolina
Age 41 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2015 Season
11th in standings
31 starts
2 wins
0 pole positions
13 top-five finishes
18 top-10 finishes
204 laps led
Career
572 starts
25 wins
13 pole positions
140 top-five finishes
242 top-10 finishes
8,051 laps led
Track Career
31 starts
6 wins
0 pole positions
11 top-five finishes
15 top-10 finishes
899 laps led
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be available to members of the media on Friday, Oct. 23, at 2:45 p.m. local time in the media center at Talladega Superspeedway.
CHASE SCENARIO: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS, finished 21st at Kansas Speedway last week after a loose wheel forced him to make an unscheduled green-flag pit stop. He currently remains 11th in the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 56 points out of first and 31 points behind the eighth-place cutoff for transferring to the Eliminator Round. Talladega Superspeedway marks the final race in the Contender Round, after which four more drivers will be eliminated from championship contention.
E!’S “THE SOUP” LIVE IN ‘DEGA: Earnhardt will join host Joel McHale when “The Soup” goes live from Talladega on Friday, Oct. 23. “The Soup” will air at 10 p.m. ET on E!. The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevy SS joined McHale last month to promote the Talladega live show with a fun clip that featured several costume changes.
WINNING CHASSIS: The chassis the No. 88 team will bring to the track as this weekend’s primary is the same one Earnhardt has driven to three superspeedway wins this season: one in the first Daytona Duel in February, another at Daytona in July and the third at Talladega in May.
SUPERSPEEDWAY DOMINANCE: This season, Earnhardt has been dominant on superspeedways, earning an average finish of 1.7 in three races. At Talladega, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native drove the No. 88 Chevrolet SS to victory in May and has the series’ leading average finish among active drivers of 15.1 in 31 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the 2.66-mile oval. Earnhardt is tied for the most all-time wins at the track among active drivers with six alongside teammate Gordon, but holds the all-time laps led honor among active drivers for himself with 899 laps led.
TALLADEGA LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt has the best driver rating during the last 10 years among active drivers at Talladega with a rating of 92.8. He also has led 410 laps during that period, the most laps of any active driver and one lap more than Matt Kenseth. Earnhardt also ranks in the top five in almost every other loop data category from Talladega, including average running position (second – 13.956), average speed late in a run (fifth – 193.416 mph), green-flag passes (fifth – 7,134), green-flag speed (fifth – 193.522 mph), laps in the top 15 (third – 2,496) and quality passes (third – 4,616).
SPECIAL GUEST: Austin Freeman, a 12-year-old with recurrent Ewing’s sarcoma, will be Earnhardt and the No. 88 team’s special guest on race day in Talladega. Earnhardt met Freeman on his Talladega Victory Tour earlier this month as part of CURE for Childhood Cancer’s wish program, and invited him and his family to come spend the day with the team at the Talladega race. Freeman will hang out with the driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet in the morning when they are interviewed for Fox Sports 1’s RaceDay. He will also get to meet the pit crew, help set up the pit box, tour the hauler and meet No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives.
HALO 5: GUARDIANS RECAP: Last weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway saw Earnhardt sporting the Halo 5: Master Chief paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevy SS. Before the on-track action heated up, he and Jamie McMurray faced off in a friendly Halo 5: Guardians tournament at the track courtesy of Xbox.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT TALLADEGA: In 63 Cup events at Talladega, Hendrick Motorsports has 12 wins, 51 top-five finishes and 75 top-10s. The organization’s 12 victories are tied for first all-time among organizations. Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent Talladega win came earlier this season, when Earnhardt made his way to Victory Lane after qualifying fourth.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 237 victories, 204 pole positions, 973 top-five finishes and 1,624 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 64,776 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“We have good, fast cars for these types of tracks. Results are kind of all over the board, but I would say that is for a lot of people. Sometimes you are in other people’s wrecks there and things like that. I think Talladega is a track I have always liked and look forward to. Sometimes you can’t control everything and that is something that will be the same for all of us at Talladega. It will be interesting how it all works out.”
Kasey Kahne on racing at Talladega
“Talladega is such a wildcard. I’m confident in our race cars and our race team – we have led laps and run well at Daytona and Talladega this year – but there’s always the chance of being in a wreck. We are going to be aggressive and race hard and see where the points end up.”
Jeff Gordon on racing at Talladega
“This time at Talladega I’m in a way different situation than I have been in years past. We have nothing to lose. So we are going to go down there with a focus on being fast, smart and there at the end. Last year I had to win that race to stay in the Chase. We led a ton of laps and came up short. There are four guys in the Chase that have to win – it’s going to be interesting and a great race for the fans.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Talladega
“At Talladega, you give more mentally than you do physically. In a plate race, you need to make decisions with confidence and make them quickly. If you have any kind of hesitation, someone makes that decision for you and takes away that opportunity. We’re taking the same car we won with earlier this year, so it’s got great speed and we feel confident. It really helps when you have a great car. We’ve had a fast car at the last couple of plate tracks — we’ve won at Talladega and Daytona, so it really helps when your car is that dominant. It makes it a lot easier on the driver to do his job and fend off challenges, and get the car to the front in the first place.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on racing at Talladega
“You need to be in the front four at least, if not in the top two on the last restart. The guy that controls the restart, the leader of the race on the last restart, is the typically the guy that has the best shot at winning. I’ve got the car. That car won the 125, ran third in the (Daytona) 500, won Talladega and won Daytona, so it’s a good enough car. I wouldn’t want to be going anywhere else if it’s a ‘win and you’re in’ kind of deal.”
Earnhardt on what it takes to win at Talladega
