FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: TALLADEGA NOTES

The NASCAR playoffs continue with a second straight tripleheader weekend, but this time the venue is Talladega Superspeedway. The NASCAR Camping World Truck and NASCAR XFINITY Series will highlight a Saturday afternoon doubleheader while the NASCAR Cup Series headlines the finale on Sunday. Here’s a look at where Ford drivers stand in each series and how the manufacturer has fared at NASCAR’s biggest track.

This Week’s Schedule:

Saturday, Oct. 2 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, 1 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, Oct. 2 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 4:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Sunday, Oct. 3 – NASCAR Cup Series, 2 p.m. ET (NBC)

FORD IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES AT TALLADEGA

• Ford has 31 all-time series wins at Talladega, including 10 of the last 12, and 11 of the last 14.
• Ford has won at least one Talladega Cup race each of the last 10 years.
• Brad Keselowski is going for a Talladega season sweep this weekend.

ROUND OF 12 NCS PLAYOFF STANDINGS (Top 8 advance after Charlotte)

5- Ryan Blaney +24
7- Joey Logano +6
8- Brad Keselowski +4
10- Kevin Harvick -7

FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT TALLADEGA

• Ford has 6 series wins at Talladega.
• The first Ford victory in the series was by Chad Little in 1995.
• Six different Ford drivers have series wins at Talladega.

ROUND OF 12 NXS PLAYOFF STANDINGS (Top 8 advance after Charlotte)

1- Austin Cindric +66
11- Riley Herbst -32

FORD IN THE NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT TALLADEGA

• Ford has 1 series wins at Talladega.
• That victory came in the inaugural series race when Mark Martin won in 2006.

TEAM PENSKE ROLLING AT TALLADEGA

Team Penske drivers Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney have combined to win 9 of the last 14 NCS races at Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski started this run by winning in 2014 and has registered four victories at the track during this stretch. Logano won this weekend’s event in back-to-back seasons (2015-16) while Blaney has followed suit, winning twice in the last three years at Talladega.

KESELOWSKI CLIMBING ALL-TIME TALLADEGA WIN LIST

Brad Keselowski will be going for a season sweep this weekend after taking the checkered flag in the spring for his sixth career win at Talladega Superspeedway. That victory makes him the winningest active driver at the track and is tied for second on the all-time Talladega Cup win list with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. The track’s all-time winner is Dale Earnhardt Sr., who won 10 times during his NASCAR Hall of Fame career.

ALMIROLA ALRIGHT AT TALLADEGA

Stewart-Haas driver Aric Almirola has had his share of success recently at Talladega Superspeedway, having posted eight top 10 finishes in the last 10 races at NASCAR’s biggest track. Almirola, who won the playoff race at Talladega in 2018, had his streak of eight straight top 10 finishes come to an end last year in this event when an accident on lap 58 ended his day with a 37th-place result.

TALLADEGA TOP 10’s FOR NEWMAN

Ryan Newman has competed in five NASCAR Cup Series events at Talladega Superspeedway since joining Roush Fenway Racing in 2019 and produced three top 10 finishes. Newman was seventh in his first outing with the team, and then later that year had the lead coming off turn four before getting nipped at the finish line by Ryan Blaney in a photo finish. Last season, he finished 24th in the first race and sixth in the playoff event. He narrowly missed extending that streak this past spring when he finished 13th. This weekend will mark Newman’s 40th career series start at TSS.

Ford Talladega Highlights:

WINNING IN THE CLUTCH

Needing a win to advance in the Playoffs, Brad Keselowski did exactly that in winning the Geico 500 on Oct. 19, 2014. The win was Keselowski’s sixth of the year, most for any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, and enabled him to move into the next round. Keselowski got a push from Penske teammate Joey Logano on the final green-white-checker restart and held off Matt Kenseth for the win.

ROUND OF 12 SWEEP

Joey Logano made history in 2015 when he came to Talladega Superspeedway and completed a three-race Round of 12 sweep by surviving a green-white-checker finish to win the CampingWorld.com 500. Logano became the first driver to sweep an entire round in only the second year of the format and won for the sixth time in 2015. In order to do it, he had to survive an aborted green-white-checker restart and then the official restart after it was determined by NASCAR that the original attempt had not gone green before an accident back in the pack occurred. The cars lined up again and shortly after Logano passed the start-finish line, a multi-car wrecked ensued that involved Kevin Harvick, who was having engine issues which brought the caution out and gave Logano the win.

BAKER PROVIDES MOORE SUCCESS

The first time Ford went to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway was May 4, 1975 when Buddy Baker, driving for Hall of Fame car owner Bud Moore, held off David Pearson on the final lap. The win was Baker’s ninth career victory and came after he took the lead with 18 laps to go. One of the key decisions in getting Baker to the checkered flag first came when his team opted for two tires on its final pit stop of the day while Pearson and the Wood Brothers decided on gas only. Even though Pearson steadily gained ground on the final lap, Baker was able to hold on by half a car length to win. That started a streak which saw Baker and Moore win three straight Talladega races.

DAVEY ALLISON’S FIRST WIN

Ford has had many milestone moments at Talladega Superspeedway, including the first NASCAR Cup Series win for the late Davey Allison, who won the Winston 500 on May 3, 1987. The race came down to a restart with 10 laps to go in which Allison found himself behind Dale Earnhardt in the outside lane. Earnhardt bolted to the lead when the green flew and Allison tucked in right behind him through turns one and two. As they came off the second corner, Allison went to the inside and easily passed Earnhardt for what proved to be the winning pass. Terry Labonte ended up finishing second with Earnhardt third. Allison went on to win 19 NCS races, including three at Talladega.

ROBERT YATES RACING’S FINAL WIN

When Dale Jarrett won the UAW-Ford 500 on Oct. 2, 2005 it ended up being the final trip to victory lane for Robert Yates Racing. This race came down to a green-white-checker restart, where Jarrett was positioned fourth. He was still in that spot when they came around to start the final lap, but quickly moved to the outside as Tony Stewart grabbed the lead on the inside lane. The two drivers battled side-by-side down the backstretch before Jarrett powered his way in front. Seconds after getting the lead, Kyle Petty was involved in a single-car accident that brought out the caution as the cars entered turn three. Jarrett was declared the winner after NASCAR verified that he was in front at the time the yellow flag was thrown. The win was RYR’s 57th triumph in the NASCAR Cup Series, and came six years after the team won its only championship with Jarrett in 1999.

DAVID RAGAN’S SURPRISE VICTORY

And then there was David Ragan, who became the 11th driver to win a NASCAR XFINITY and NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway when he took the checkered flag in the 2013 Aaron’s 499. The win was his second series victory and first for Front Row Motorsports, and it ended in typical Talladega fashion. As the cars came to the white flag it was Carl Edwards in the lead while Ragan was fifth and tucked in the middle lane behind Aric Almirola. When Almirola moved to the high side, it enabled Ragan and teammate David Gilliland to work together and push their way forward. The duo was behind Edwards off turn two, but they made their move to the inside on the backstretch and made what proved to be the decisive pass.

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT TALLADEGA

1975 – Buddy Baker (Sweep)
1976 – Buddy Baker (1)
1979 – Bobby Allison (1)
1983 – Dale Earnhardt (2)
1985 – Bill Elliott and Cale Yarborough
1987 – Davey Allison and Bill Elliott
1989 – Davey Allison and Terry Labonte
1992 – Davey Allison (1)
1994 – Jimmy Spencer (2)
1995 – Mark Martin (1)
1997 – Mark Martin (1)
1998 – Dale Jarrett (2)
2005 – Dale Jarrett (2)
2009 – Jamie McMurray (2)
2012 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2013 – David Ragan (1)
2014 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (2)
2016 – Brad Keselowski (1) and Joey Logano (2)
2017 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1) and Brad Keselowski (2)
2018 – Joey Logano (1) and Aric Almirola (2)
2019 – Ryan Blaney (2)
2020 – Ryan Blaney (1)
2021 – Brad Keselowski (1)

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT TALLADEGA

1995 – Chad Little
1997 – Mark Martin
2002 – Jason Keller
2009 – David Ragan
2015 – Joey Logano
2017 – Aric Almirola

FORD’S NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT TALLADEGA

2006 – Mark Martin

KYLE BUSCH
What a Difference a Year Makes

HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (Sept. 28, 2021) – When looking at the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, Kyle Busch sits in a much different position than he did one year ago.

Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), earned 22 playoff points during the regular season, and while the first round of the playoffs was not what he had hoped for, the Las Vegas native started the Round of 12 much closer to how he’s run all season. In fact, not only did Busch bring those previous playoff points into the 2021 Cup Series playoffs, but with 18 stage points and a strong third-place run at his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, Busch finds himself with a 35-point cushion over the eighth-place cutoff position.

Contrast this to Busch’s position one year ago, when he sat eight points below the cutline. However, the most unpredictable track in the playoffs is looming this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Sunday’s YellaWood 500. Busch and his fellow competitors know the racing outcome at the mammoth, 2.66-mile high-banked oval is more of an unknown than any of the others on the schedule. Busch has found fortune there, both good and bad. With lessons learned from his now 17-season career, the two-time Cup Series champion knows anything can happen at Talladega.

With Busch’s strong third-place finish at Las Vegas last weekend, he and his M&M’S team know that every point matters in the NASCAR playoff format. He maximized his stage points at Las Vegas and has a much more optimistic outlook heading into Talladega than one year ago. Still, nothing is a given at a place like Talladega. So far, only JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, by virtue of his win at Las Vegas, is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs’ Round of 8. At Talladega, one lap, or even one corner, could change a driver’s fortunes one way or another, and quite quickly.

Busch has conquered Talladega just once in his career, his lone win coming in April 2008. In his 32 starts at the track, he has 13 other top-15 finishes, and six outings that ended in an accident. So, the Las Vegas native knows the winner of Sunday’s 500-mile race will need to have a strong car and some good fortune at NASCAR’s longest track. If Busch could bring home a solid finish, it could bolster his chances of making it to the next round of the playoffs following next weekend’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

So, as Talladega looms, Busch hopes to stay out of the chaos with his M&M’S Camry, then head to Charlotte the following week with a shot at advancing in the tightly contested Cup Series playoffs.

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:

How will you and the team approach this weekend at Talladega?

“I’m just going to do what I’m told to do. I’ve been in front and been a part of a wreck, and I’ve been riding in the back and been taken out, too. There’s really no place that’s safe. With this race being the second race of the round, you have to try and run up front and hope that you don’t have some bad luck and just bring home a solid finish. We’ll do the best we can this weekend with our M&M’S Camry and see where the points fall for us afterward, then focus on what we need to do at the Roval.”

Do you try and duplicate what worked at Talladega before?

“There are obviously times when you feel like you want to push hard and go get a win, or go get a better finish than where you’re currently running. But, you know you’ve just got to do what you can in order to let these races kind of fall into place, and sometimes it’s just worth taking the finish that’s coming to you and moving on and going to the next one. It doesn’t always help to push too hard, either, at times. There’s a balance there, for sure. It can also help to just sit back, relax and finish where you can, so we’ll see how it plays out for us. For example, we had a strong car and ran up front there last year in the first race but just didn’t have enough Toyotas running up front at the end to get any help. That’s what it comes down to a lot at Talladega, getting the help from your teammates, since it’s hard to do that on your own.”

What does it do for you mentally to be above the cutline going to Talladega?

“I don’t know. I’ve said it and I’ll say it all the time – if you can go to Talladega and you can come out of there with a 12th-place finish with no stage points, that’s a successful day. I’ll take that right now if you told me I can take that finish and move on.”

What did you learn about the current superspeedway racing package at Daytona and Talladega so far?

“Everything is just a bit slower. The runs are slower, so it takes more momentum to get built up and takes more energy behind you in order to make a move for the win. But it keeps everyone packed up a bit tighter, and also strength is in numbers. I think that’s kind of still the same as the past. You can have 10 guys on the inside and 15 guys on the outside and it’s all going to venture up to the outside because the outside is faster with a bit more cars. It’s superspeedway racing, every time we are in it we are not far enough from the front that we are always crashing. Heck, you can be leading and get wrecked. That’s happened twice this year from guys behind you.”

Event Overview:

● Event: YellaWood 500
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 3
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 188 laps, 500.08 miles
● Format: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC/ MRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Meet the No. 18 M&M’S / Joe Gibbs Racing Team

Primary Team Members:

Driver: Kyle Busch
Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Ben Beshore
Hometown: York, Pennsylvania

Car Chief: Nate Bellows
Hometown: Fairfax, Vermont

Spotter: Tony Hirschman
Hometown: Northampton, Pennsylvania

Over-The-Wall Crew Members:

Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Front Tire Changer: Blake Houston
Hometown: Enochville, North Carolina

Jackman: T.J. Ford
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Joe Crossen
Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Rear Tire Changer: Jeff Cordero
Hometown: Salem, Connecticut

Road Crew Members:

Race Engineer: Seth Chavka
Hometown: Soldotna, Alaska

Truck Driver: Chris Miko

Hometown: Bronx, New York

Truck Driver: Tom McCrimmon
Hometown: Spicer, Minnesota

Mechanic/Tire Specialist: Justin Peiffer
Hometown: Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Mechanic: Scott Eldridge
Hometown: Warsaw, Indiana

Notes of Interest:

● Round of 12: Busch was able to survive and advance to the Round of 12 of the 2021 Cup Series playoffs, and started strong in the first race of the round last weekend at Las Vegas, finishing in third. Busch has racked up 22 important playoff points he can take with him through each round. He sits third on the playoff grid with a 35 point cushion over the eighth-place cutoff with his 12 top-five finishes and 18 top-10s.
● All in the Stats: Busch has one win, six top-five finishes and eight top-10s and has led a total of 256 laps in 32 career Cup Series starts at Talladega. Busch’s average Talladega finish is 20.8.
● Alone in Ninth: With Busch’s win at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June, the two-time Cup Series champion scored his 59th career win in NASCAR’s top series as he moved past Kevin Harvick into sole possession of ninth on the all-time win list. Next up on the win list is Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer who won 76 races during his storied career.
● 222 and Counting: Busch will be aiming to add to his record 222 overall wins among NASCAR’s top three series this weekend at Talladega. In addition to his 59 Cup Series wins and 102 in the Xfinity Series, Busch has 61 wins in the Camping World Truck Series.

Aric Almirola
Talladega Advance
Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 30 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 3
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 188 laps/500.8 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● With his third-place finish in the June 2020 race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Aric Almirola tied the record of eight consecutive Talladega top-10s set by Dale Earnhardt Jr., from April 2001 to October 2004. Despite seeing his streak come to an abrupt end thanks to a multicar accident on lap 57 of last October’s race on the 2.66-mile oval, followed by his 15th-place finish there April 25, Almirola’s average finish in his last 10 Talladega outings is 9.3 – best in the NASCAR Cup Series.
● History at Talladega: In 23 career starts, Almirola has one win, nine top-10 finishes, five top-fives, and has led 71 laps. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega, Almirola visited victory lane in May 2017.
● Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Almirola ran as high as eighth place before finishing 19th. It was his eighth Las Vegas top-20.
● Almirola locked himself into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with his July 18 victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. He led 46 laps around the flat, 1.058-mile oval en route to his third career NASCAR Cup Series win. After a year full of adversity and bad luck, the victory put the No. 10 team, which was 27th in the standings and facing a must-win situation if it was going to compete for this year’s championship, in prime position to earn one of the 16 coveted berths in the 10-race playoffs. Almirola’s award-winning YouTube series “Beyond the 10” captured his entire race day here.
● Although Almirola did not advance to the Round of 12, this year marked his fifth playoff appearance and fourth consecutive playoff appearance since joining Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). While he can no longer compete for a championship, Almirola has set his sights on a top-10 points position after the checkered flag drops at the season finale Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway. Fans and media can watch the “Beyond the 10” episode of his playoff run on YouTube here.
● Smithfield celebrates 10 years of partnership with Almirola this season with a special campaign called Taste Victory.As one of the most active partners in NASCAR, Smithfield engages fans all year long by hosting a microsite that provides the opportunity to win when Almirola wins or finishes inside the top-10. When Almirola wins, one fan wins $10,000, and 10 fans win a gift card for each top-10 finish. The microsite also doubles as an Aric Almirola fan page and entertainment source where fans can get behind the wheel of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford with a custom racing game, and learn more about Almirola with fast facts, favorite recipes and custom content about his life on and off the track. Visit www.tastevictory.com to learn more. Thanks to Almirola’s Feb. 11 win in his Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500 and his July 18 win at New Hampshire, two lucky fans have already won $10,000 each.
● Career Stats: Almirola has career totals of three wins, two poles, 26 top-five finishes, 82 top-10s and 893 laps led in 382 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
● Beyond the 10 YouTube Series: In 2021, Almirola continues to share his life beyond the No. 10 Ford with season three of his award-winning YouTube series. Fans and media can subscribe on YouTube to see Almirola’s personality on and off the track. Episodes have already featured life as a dad, a husband and an athlete, and it gives fans a unique perspective on what goes on in the life of a professional NASCAR driver. Fans can also follow Almirola’s social media channels: @Aric_Almirola on Twitter and Instagram, and @AricAlmirola on Facebook. =
● Point standings: Almirola is currently 15th in the driver standings with 2,093 points.

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What would it mean to you to pull off another win this year, especially at a track that you’ve seen so much success at in the past?

“It would really just solidify this season for us. We came into the year expecting to compete for multiple wins. Our year as a whole has not been what we expected, but to put another win under our belt for 2021 would give us such a sense of accomplishment. It would mean the world to put Smithfield in victory lane again there, too. We have a few other races left this season that we can be competitive at, but Talladega is always circled on my list.”

What is it about Talladega that clicks with you so well?

“I always had to go to these races and be aggressive because, back then, they were our only realistic options to win races. It was the only way I could make it into the playoffs and we were able to do that in 2014. They’ve been good to me. I’ve always gone into those races with that mindset. It’s such a high-speed chess match and I like that about these tracks. I like the strategy aspect, but you just have to be at the right place at the right time and we’ve been able to do that a lot.”

Walk us through that Talladega win in 2018.

“I just so happened to be the guy who ran third and fourth the whole race and saved a ton of fuel. Kevin (Harvick) was going to line up third and the plan was that we were going to finish one-two-three-four as an organization. Harvick ran out of fuel and the plan was over. I knew I was on my own. Paul Menard gave me a hell of a push and I got to second. When I heard they were wrecking behind me, I thought I would finish second, but I kept it wide open because my spotter told me to keep digging. I ran Kurt (Busch) down and I didn’t know if I was going to beat him, but I was damn sure going to make it exciting. When I pulled next to him, I heard his car starting to run out of fuel. We finally won after a strand of bad luck that year.”

No. 10 Smithfield Ford Team Roster

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 26, 2021) – Ryan Newman finished 20th Sunday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Guaranteed Rate Ford in a 400-mile race that saw just one natural caution.

Newman, in his 24th Cup start in Las Vegas, started from the 29th position but began his slow maneuver through the field as the two opening stages ran 80 laps each, with a competition caution 30 laps in. Newman ran 20th at the time of that first yellow and went on to finish 23rd in the opening segment.

He began the second stage from the 22nd spot and elected to stay out under the yellow flag at lap 91, which ultimately allowed the team to stretch the fuel strategy to the end of stage two where he finished in 12th.

The race’s final stage would run caution-free and included a round of green-flag pit stops as Newman crossed the line 20th.

Newman and the No. 6 team are back in action next weekend when NASCAR visits Talladega Superspeedway. Race coverage next Sunday afternoon is set for 2 p.m. ET on NBC, and can also be heard on MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.