TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
YELLAWOOD 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
LINCOLN, ALABAMA
OCTOBER 4, 2020
TALLADEGA: RACE #31
The pressure builds and intensity ramps up as NASCAR’s three national series head to NASCAR’s longest oval, Talladega Superspeedway, for a Playoff tripleheader. For the second time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) will pay a visit to the 2.66-mile Alabama track for the 500-mile, 188-lap YellaWood 500, marking the second of three races in the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff battle. The famed superspeedway has been a staple stop on the NCS schedule since its first event in 1969, with this weekend’s event making it the 103rd NCS race at the venue.
The first event of the tripleheader weekend will be an appearance by the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with the Chevrolet Silverado 250 on Saturday, October 3rd, at 1:00 p.m. ET. The 250-mile event will be a Playoff elimination race for the series, cutting the championship contenders from 10 to eight drivers. In addition, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be on tap for the Ag-Pro on Saturday, October 3rd, at 4:30 p.m. ET, marking the second race of the Round of 12 for the series. Rounding out the action-packed weekend will be the NASCAR Cup Series’ YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 4th, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
In compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions, a limited number of fans will be in attendance for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event.
ROUND OF 12 – RACE TWO OF THREE:
Going into the race weekend, Talladega Superspeedway will enter its fourth consecutive year of hosting the fifth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Since the launch of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs into the series in 2004, the 2.66-mile superspeedway has been the host of a Playoff event every year thus far.
Four Team Chevy drivers remain in the 12-driver field that are left vying for the title of the NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Coming off his recent victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chip Ganassi Racing and Chevrolet driver Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Camaro ZL1 1LE, has punched his ticket to secure a spot in the Round of 8. Entering into the second of three races for the Round of 12, here are where the Team Chevy drivers currently sit in the Playoff standings:
Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Camaro ZL1 1LE – Round of 12 win (3,041 points)
Victories: 1 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
Top-Fives: 5; Top-10’s: 16; Laps Led: 140; Average Finish: 12.9
Stage Wins: 1
At Talladega: Wins: 0; Top-Five’s: 8; Top-10’s: 21; Average Finish: 15.935
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE – 6th in Standings (3,053 points)
Victories: 2 (Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona Road Course)
Top-Fives: 11; Top-10’s: 17; Laps Led: 742; Average Finish: 12.9
Stage Wins: 8
At Talladega: Wins: 1; Top-Five’s: 3; Top-10’s: 4; Average Finish: 16.000
Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Patriot Foundation Camaro ZL1 1LE – 7th in Standings (3,052 points)
Victories: 1 (Auto Club Speedway)
Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s: 11; Laps Led: 394; Average Finish: 15.9
Stage Wins: 4
At Talladega: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 3; Average Finish: 24.300
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE – 12th in Standings (3,020 points)
Victories: 1 (Texas Motor Speedway)
Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s 9; Laps Led: 135; Average Finish: 16.3
Stage Wins: 0
At Talladega: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 3; Average Finish: 20.786
BOWTIE BULLETS:
· Victories by active Team Chevy drivers at Talladega Superspeedway include:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE has two wins (May 2006, April 2001)
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (April 2019)
Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (October 2012)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hungry Jack Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (May 2017)
· Of the 102 NASCAR Cup Series events held at Talladega Superspeedway, Chevrolet has recorded 41 victories at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, more than any other manufacturer. Other statistics of note include 192 top-five’s, 369 top-10’s and 7,959 laps led in NCS history at the track.
· Eight different manufacturers have sat on the pole in the NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega, with Chevrolet leading the way capturing 37 poles. Chevrolet’s most recent pole winner was Chase Elliott, who led the field to the green in the 2019 Talladega Playoff event. Elliott also leads all active series drivers in poles at Talladega with two (2016, 2019). In his 9-career starts at the superspeedway, he leads all active NCS drivers in average starting position with 5.333.
· Chevrolet team Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins at Talladega with 13 victories among seven different drivers: Ken Schrader (1988), Jeff Gordon (1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007 sweep), Terry Labonte (1997), Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2011), Brian Vickers (2006), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2015) and Chase Elliott (2019).
· Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hungry Jack Camaro ZL1 1LE, is known for his superspeedway success. His first career victory in NASCAR’s premier series came in May 2017 at Talladega Superspeedway, making him one of just 11 drivers who have scored their first career win at the superspeedway. In his 15 career starts at the venue, he leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series with an average finishing position of 10.9.
20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY MARK
This year’s NASCAR Cup Series fall trip to Talladega Superspeedway holds a significant milestone in the history books: the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s 76th and final win of his NASCAR career. During the 2000 Winston 500, longtime Chevrolet ambassador Dale Earnhardt piloted his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo to victory lane in dramatic fashion, edging out Kenny Wallace by a margin of .119-seconds. Earnhardt’s lasting legacy at Talladega Superspeedway includes a record for wins (10), top-five finishes (23), top-10’s (27) and laps led (1,377) in his 44-career starts at the venue, records that still stand today.
STARTING LINE-UP:
For the remainder of the 2020 NCS season, the starting lineups will be determined by a competition-based formula, combining the following metrics from the previous race event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the Owner points position.
Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters for Sunday’s YellaWood 500:
2nd Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Camaro ZL1 1LE
4th Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Patriot Foundation Camaro ZL1 1LE
10th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
12th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE
17th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE
20th Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE
TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 4th, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the 500-mile, 188-lap event for race two of three for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold app, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 6th IN STANDINGS
“This is an interesting round, no doubt. We are trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves and are taking it one race at a time. Talladega is going to be what we normally see at Talladega. We just have to do our best to avoid the trouble. Hendrick Motorsports always brings really fast Chevys, so I have a lot of confidence that the car is going to be capable of running up front. We just have to put ourselves in the right position throughout the race and see what happens.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/PATRIOT FOUNDATION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGS
“Going to Talladega this weekend, we know that we need to have strong stage finishes and a clean, solid finish. We have to be smart about things and have a good day. Hendrick Motorsports always builds strong superspeedway cars and we have been pretty good at Talladega in the past.”
GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/PATRIOT FOUNDATION CAMARO ZL1 1LE
“Hopefully the Patriot Foundation being on the car this weekend brings us some luck. We just have to go to Talladega and execute. Finding our teammates and working together is going to be a big portion of our race. I think we can come out of Talladega, maybe without a win, but definitely in a position to point ourselves in the next round. We can’t create our own bad luck, so we just have to be smart about it and ultimately want to put ourselves in a position to win and gain a large number of points.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 12th IN STANDINGS
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEWAY?
“Anything can happen at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s a little bit of a coin flip, but my No. 3 team will be doing everything we can to try and win and earn maximum stage points. We really need that right now after having some misfortune at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. We’re still in this NASCAR Playoffs battle and we’re not giving up. In order to succeed at Talladega, you have to have a little bit of luck, and use momentum at the very end to take advantage of positions. Its speedway racing. Its drafting. And its chaos, but we’re up for the challenge.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 16th IN STANDINGS
BYRON ON PAST SUPERSPEEDWAY SUCCESS:
“The last few superspeedway races have been really good for us. I feel like we’ve done what we need to do at those type of races, such as winning and advancing into the playoffs at Daytona. Talladega is a whole different place though. I feel like we can have a really great run there though and try build off of what we did at Daytona in terms of the speed and competitiveness that we had.”
BYRON ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA:
“I think in terms of comparing Daytona and Talladega that Daytona relies a little bit more on the handling of the car. Talladega is just so wide and there’s so much room to run that guys don’t really run as tight in terms of lane to lane. I feel like Talladega you can use a lot more bump drafting too. Your car doesn’t have to handle well to do that. It’s just a much different animal for sure.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT NEXT GEN DOZERS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGS
“We definitely are looking to bounce back as an organization this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway after a tough run at Las Vegas. RCR and ECR always put together some great superspeedway cars, so I expect our No. 8 Cat Next Gen Dozers Chevrolet Camaro to be really strong on Sunday. We had a good race earlier in the year at Talladega, where I was able to get my first Stage Win in the NASCAR Cup Series and lead a handful of laps. The strategy just didn’t play out for us that weekend, but we have a good set of notes to head into this race with. I’d obviously love to win this weekend, but it’ll be important to work well together with Austin Dillon and the No. 3 team as well. Luckily, Talladega is a place where it’s important to have people work with you, so the two of us will be sticking together a lot. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put ourselves into a position where one of us be there at the end to win.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 31
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016
Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)
2020 STATISTICS:
Wins: 6
Poles: 3
Laps Led: 1,756
Top-five finishes: 40
Top-10 finishes: 99
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 792 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 717
Laps led to date: 236,062
Top-five finishes to date: 4,054
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,381
Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date
General Motors: 1,126
Chevrolet: 792
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 803
Ford: 703
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 150
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
