The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 19th.
Michael McDowell captured the pole on October 5, 2024, with a lap of 183.063 MPH (52.310 secs.) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led five times for 19 laps and triumphantly drove his way to Victory Lane after he edged Brad Keselowski in a photo finish during an overtime shootout to win the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 6, 2024.
Track & Race Information for the YellaWood 500
Season Race #: 34 of 36 (10-19-25)
The Purse: $9,797,935
Race Length: 188 laps / 500.08 miles
Track Size: 2.66 miles
Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 33 degrees
Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 33 degrees
Banking/Frontstretch: 16.5 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 2 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 4,300 feet
Backstretch Length: 4,000 feet
Time
October 19 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Stages
Stage 1 & 2 Length: 60 laps (each)
Final Stage Length: 68 laps
NCS 2025 top-8 in the Playoff standings at Talladega
| Rank | Driver | Races | Poles | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | DNFs | Average Finish | Driver Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | 39 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 6 | 16.7 | 80.9 |
| 2 | Kyle Larson | 21 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 78.0 |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 20.9 | 69.5 |
| 4 | Chase Briscoe | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16.2 | 68.5 |
| 5 | William Byron | 15 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 13.7 | 86.3 |
| 6 | Chase Elliott | 19 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 14.1 | 88.9 |
| 7 | Joey Logano | 33 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 19.5 | 88.4 |
| 8 | Ryan Blaney | 22 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 16.9 | 88.3 |
Who and what should you look out for at the Talladega Superspeedway?
Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott lead all active NCS drivers in poles at Talladega Superspeedway with two each. Elliott is the youngest series Talladega pole winner on May 1, 2016, at 20 years, 5 months, 3 days.
In seven starts, Austin Cindric leads all active drivers in the NCS in average starting position at Talladega with a 9.714. Kyle Busch leads all active drivers in starts with 40. Top five in active Talladega starts: Kyle Busch (40), Denny Hamlin (39), Brad Keselowski (33), Joey Logano (33), and Michael McDowell (29).
| Rank | Active Drivers | Average Start | # Races |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin Cindric | 9.714 | 7 |
| 2 | Chase Elliott | 11.316 | 19 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | 11.864 | 22 |
| 4 | Ty Gibbs | 12.5 | 6 |
| 5 | Brad Keselowski | 12.727 | 33 |
| 6 | Christopher Bell | 12.727 | 11 |
| 7 | William Byron | 13 | 15 |
| 8 | Austin Dillon | 14.125 | 24 |
| 9 | Joey Logano | 14.545 | 33 |
| 10 | Denny Hamlin | 14.769 | 39 |
Fifteenth of the 112 NCS races at Talladega have been won from the pole or first starting position, and Denny Hamlin is the most recent on October 4, 2020. The deepest in the field that an active race winner has started at Talladega is 34th, by Hamlin in the 2014 spring race.
| Active Talladega Race Winners | Wins | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Keselowski | 6 | 2021, ’17, ’16, ’14, ’12, ’09 |
| Ryan Blaney | 3 | 2023, ’20, ’19 |
| Joey Logano | 3 | 2018, ’16, ’15 |
| Kyle Busch | 2 | 2023, ’08 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 2 | 2024, ’17 |
| Chase Elliott | 2 | 2022, ’19 |
| Denny Hamlin | 2 | 2020, ’14 |
| Austin Cindric | 1 | 2025 |
| Tyler Reddick | 1 | 2024 |
| Ross Chastain | 1 | 2022 |
| Bubba Wallace | 1 | 2021 |
