Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Jack Link’s 500 Media Availability
Thursday, April 24, 2025

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the winningest active driver at Talladega Superspeedway with six career NASCAR Cup Series victories. Keselowski was invited by NASCAR to meet with motorsports media at the NASCAR Production Facility in Concord, NC, earlier this week to talk about his season so far.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – DO YOU GO INTO THIS WEEKEND FEELING LIKE YOUR SEASON COULD TURN AROUND IMMEDIATELY OR HAS THE RACING CHANGED TO WHERE THAT CAN’T HAPPEN? “I still think Talladega is one of those racetracks where anybody can win. Next Gen has been a little bit fickle at Talladega in the way that it values different things than the car before did. It seems to really value the last pit stop and executing that at a very high level and then the fuel saving stuff, which I think is gonna be the word everybody hates after this weekend. So, it’s different. It’s a different type of racing than what Talladega was four or five years ago before the Next Gen car, but I think that’s part of what makes Talladega special is just how the racing there has evolved at least a half dozen times since I’ve been in Cup and it’s different eras of racing that values different things. I appreciate that. There are certainly types that you like more than others of racing there, but I do think that it’s a place where I think of the 39 entries, 33 of them have a realistic shot of winning.”

DO YOU STILL FEEL YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR DESTINY AND MAKE THOSE MOVES THAT TAKES EVERYBODY’S BREATH AWAY AND YOU CAN WIN THERE, OR HAS IT CHANGED WITH THE CAR? “Yes and no. This car is more reliant on getting a physical push, where we went through an era where the cars were not quite as reliant on that. This car has shown time over time, I guess over this six race sample size at Talladega and arguably over a few races at Daytona, that really it’s about the front two lanes and how they are able to get off of turn four and the physical contact between the cars. And how that all plays out is really dictated by the third, fourth, fifth and sixth-place cars, so I feel a little less in control. Last year, we finished second in both races and I felt like coming off of turn four I was in position to win both of them, and the pushes just didn’t come from where I needed them to come from. It didn’t materialize behind me, so I didn’t have control over those pieces. I had control over where I was at and felt like I was in the most likely position to win the race, but it didn’t happen. That’s a little different than maybe five or six years ago where the cars tended to push more with a bubble than a physical push, so it’s evolved. It will continue to evolve with different changes.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE ELEMENTS OF BEING A PUSHER? WHEN IS THE BEST TIME? WHEN IS THE WORST? “On the last lap I like everybody who pushes me. There’s no sacred cows. There’s no bad pushers on the last lap. It’s kind of funny how that works out. What do they say? There’s no atheists in a hospital. There’s no bad pushers on the last lap at Talladega. There are different spots that you’d rather be pushed. The cars tend to really like being pushed down the backstretch and the Next Gen car is pretty forgiving about accepting a push as a whole, particularly when they put the wicker on the car – the wicker that was put on to keep it from flipping I thought made the cars just a little bit easier to drive and to take a push, but it can still go sideways. Last year, I was involved in a crash down the backstretch and I was pushing a car in front of me and we were kind of changing lanes and I got hit from behind while I was pushing and changing lanes and it was Austin Cindric that I think caused a crash, so it’s not a given that you can just push. It’s actually a pretty nice balance of some level of comfort.”

ARE THERE GOOD PUSHERS AND BAD PUSHERS OR IS EVERYBODY PRETTY GOOD? “I don’t really think there is anybody who is bad at pushing, there are just some that are more aggressive than others and you could argue that I fit into the more aggressive side, but that’s what the racing is. That’s what it wants.”

DID YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET TO HOW YOU APPROACH THESE RACES? “You definitely are more reactive at Talladega than you used to be. I felt like I could be proactive and now I’m more reacting to moves. It’s a different type of game. That’s the thing that I always try to explain to fans who maybe don’t have a lot of knowledge of the sport or are newer to the sport of what makes, particularly NASCAR, so difficult of all the motorsports and it’s a really simple premise that the first one to the checkered flag at the end of x, y, z laps or miles wins. That’s unchanged at every event, but the nuances of how you get there are so unique week to week and are so controlled by this chaos theory of variables, where it’s like one small thing can completely change what it takes to win and sometimes that’s very hard to see. Two weeks ago when we were at Bristol, the temperature increased by 10-15 degrees over what it was in practice and that made the tires to where they wouldn’t wear out so quickly. That made the cars to where you had to drive them differently. That made the car setups to where you had to set them up differently to optimize, so this one small, uncontrollable variable of weather within plus or minus five or 10 degrees swing so many things. We were preparing before the race at Bristol to have 10 stops. I think we had four, so all of their preparation changed. For the driver, you watch the film and you value – ‘hey, this is how I want to drive the car,’ and all that changed. I’m backing up to Bristol so I can fast forward to Talladega. The same thing holds true on any given week. A small variable can change what’s valued to win the race. If an early yellow comes out in the stage, which, for example, happened in the last fall race at Talladega and it hit right at the fuel number. So you’re like, ‘All right, we’re gonna have to run the next forty-some laps, it’s gonna be like a 45-lap run,’ and that’s ultimate fuel save. That was the first stage of the race last fall. That variable changed the complete dynamics of that stage. It made the third lane develop because the pace was so slow and it made guys that were running towards the middle of the pack get towards the front of the pack at the end because they had enough fuel to do so. So, they’re just so variable-driven, where I feel most sports aren’t that way. An example I use is like a football game. Outside of maybe a snow game, the variables are fairly controlled. NASCAR is one of the last-variable controlled sports out there and becoming a master at it is not just something you aspire to do, it’s something you have to do to be good at it – trying to quickly discern the variables and use them to your advantage. Talladega is a great example of that. The variables of how another driver drives their car is completely out of your control, but you have to find a way to master that to your advantage.”

THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO THE CAR FOR TALLADEGA, BUT THERE COULD BE FOR THE FALL. ARE YOU SURPRISED THERE AREN’T ANY FOR THIS RACE AND WHAT SHOULD WE BE LOOKING AT? “RFK was part of the test at Michigan probably three or four weeks ago, where we explored different options to help the cars at tracks at very high speed and Michigan is very speed. The options, unfortunately, didn’t pan out that NASCAR had worked to develop, so it wasn’t a surprise that there weren’t any changes. I knew there was effort being put into it and, candidly, not everything you try is gonna work, but I appreciate that there was effort put into it and I think there’s very much a back to the drawing board mentality. I don’t feel like it’s not being worked on, but we’re not gonna skip the race just because we haven’t figured something out, so the show goes on.”

HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH THESE FIRST NINE WEEKS WHERE THE TEAM CARS ARE RUNNING PRETTY WELL AND YOU GUYS ARE SCRATCHING AND CLAWING? “Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of scratching and clawing. Our company went through a lot of changes. My team went through a lot of changes and we haven’t recognized the step forward. Hopefully soon we’ll recognize the two steps forward with all the changes we made, but we definitely took a step backwards in the process. I feel like that can strike at any moment and we just need to trust our process. We’re developing a lot of people and they’re not all clicking together yet, but there’s a lot of signs that say they can and should, whether if that’s on pit road or with the team and the mechanics and engineers. All of those pieces have to click to have a great race and to win on any given weekend, and we haven’t experienced that yet, but we see these glimpses of being able to get there. I feel like Darlington was our best race so far this year and we had a shot to win that race and we kind of lost it on pit road, but it showed a lot of potential for us. I felt like we had a couple other races this year where we’ve had a lot of potential and we haven’t recognized it. Daytona was one. We were running up front in the stages and had some issues again on pit road that put us behind and ended up getting caught up in wrecks, so we have to work to clean that up, and certainly there are things I can do better too, but I think that can click at any moment.”

THE STATS SHOW THIS IS YOUR WORST START SINCE 2010, BUT IT DOESN’T FEEL THAT WAY? “No. I mean, it’s definitely not my best start. It doesn’t feel like my best start, but I’ve got my eternal optimist glasses on and I see the potential. The potential for this team is higher than any team I’ve had the last four or five years and we just have to recognize it. There’s a lot of talent and a lot of fresh faces and the mistakes that come with that. We have to clean that up and recognize our potential.”

HOW DOES A DRIVER GO INTO AN EVENT LIKE TALLADEGA WHERE THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT EVEN IF YOU DO EVERYTHING RIGHT FOR 95 PERCENT OF THE RACE, YOU COULD END UP IN A WRECK? “I think, first off, when you know that’s probably a reality, you have to, one, get over yourself and not allow your own ego to put you in a place where you get your feelings hurt. My ultimate feeling on plate races is I pretty much accept the fact that we’re gonna crash out of half of them. Statistically, that seems pretty accurate and my goal is the ones that we don’t crash out of is to put ourselves in a position where we can contend for a win. The days I feel the worst about at speedway races are the ones where we don’t crash and we finish outside the top 10. Those are the real losses, to me at least. When you don’t get crashed and you don’t finish in the top 10, you need to take the races where you don’t get crashed and you need to run and finish in the top 10. That’s the game to me.”

CAN YOU GO INTO THE WRECK THAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR WITH THE PACK GOING THROUGH A WILD GYRATION AND WHY A SLOWER CAR THAT EVERYONE IS PASSING ON THE INSIDE CONTRIBUTES TO A BUNCH OF CARS WRECKING? “The butterfly effect for sure, right? I think in general if you can think of racing on a plate track like a series of rubber bands that are all pulling at one time and when too many of them get stretched, they snap back and that’s a perfect example. That’s how I conceptualize it in my brain. A scenario like last year, one car in the wrong place at the wrong time stretched all these rubber bands and they snapped back in one moment. It’s more energy than the field can take and when the energy level becomes too high, that’s when the crashes happen and that energy manifests itself in different ways. More often than not, particularly with the Next Gen car, it’s contact based, but before the Next Gen car you would see similar accidents happen that weren’t necessarily contact based. There was a race, I think in the fall of ‘19 where to give you an example of it before the Next Gen car, where there was a three-wide battle for the lead and the inside car came up and side drafted – it didn’t even touch, just side drafted the middle car and took the air off of him and he spun out and caused a huge wreck. That one stands out to me. That’s the one where Brendan Gaughan was flipping down the backstretch and the wreck started without any contact at all. The rubber band stretching there was just an air rubber band, but all of these things conflated at one time. The energy got too high and the wreck happens. To your example, the one last fall, it’s more contact based, where you had that Newton’s cradle effect of four or five cars coming together at one time, a big energy transfer to the car at the very front, and he crashes. In practice, NASCAR is this gigantic science and physics event happening at one time and probably no more so than, at least the physics part than Talladega in the draft when all of these pieces are coming together. The crash at Talladega last fall started with a slow car on the bottom and stretched the inside car, which was Austin Cindric, to me, which was the second car – it stretched us a car length and a half, two car lengths.”

WHY DID IT STRETCH? “It pulled him forward, so he caught a draft off the 38 car and pulled him forward from me, so he got a car length and a half, maybe two car lengths gap, which pulled me a car length in front of the car behind me, and then it pulled the third car, which I think was the 22, a car length in front of the fourth car, which pulled him a half a car length in front of the fifth car and then they all converged together – all the runs converged together in one moment down the middle of the backstretch from the fifth car hitting the fourth car to the third car to the second car to the first car and all the energy transferred in just one big shot. It was not particularly any one person’s blame, but a reality nonetheless.”

IN THAT SITUATION ARE YOU THINKING IT’S A DANGER POINT? “Absolutely. Yeah. You can feel it happening. I knew as soon as the rubber band effectively stretched, which is the gap to the cars in front and behind me, and it was gonna snap. You just hope that it doesn’t exceed the energy of what your cars can take.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE TO THE CASUAL FAN ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES MENTALLY TO DO THE RIGHT THING THERE? “Going fast at Talladega, if I placed the average person, I’m pretty confident they could run in the back at Talladega, but that’s never anybody’s goal. The goal is to be in the middle of the bees nest and come out on top, and that’s actually really hard. The gaps are very small and the commitment level is very high. You have to get comfortable with the fact we have an extremely limited visibility, and that’s not just because of the helmets or the head surrounds or even the car itself, it’s because you’re in the middle of a pack and you can’t see through the cars you’re around. In a lot of ways, you’re driving at 190-plus miles an hour and your reference points are very poor, so it’s a really unique environment that it’s hard to get comfortable with. It’s intentionally hard to get comfortable with and I think that’s the challenge and that’s part of the fun about it is being in this really difficult environment and trying to come out on top of it, and I think that’s super rewarding too.”

DO YOU FEEL YOUR EXPERIENCE ALLOWS YOU TO STAY CALM AND OBJECTIVE WHEN THINGS AREN’T GOING AS WELL AS YOU LIKE? “Yes, that’s part of it, for sure. You get a feel for what it takes to be good or bad and you know when you should be panicked and when you shouldn’t be. And then some of it is with the points format, we saw this last year with the 22 car. I mean, up until I think Nashville they were effectively not a contender at all and they went and won a race and got locked into the playoffs and parlayed that into a better effort in the playoffs than what they had at the start of the season and the next thing you know, they go all the way. So, the current format, for better or worse, doesn’t particularly value the start to the season. It values the end of the season and a small amount in between. In that case, you’re just looking to put together all the right pieces to get hot when it matters and that’s the format. Whether that’s right or wrong, it is the format, and I think over the years I’ve come to better terms with that.”

YOU FINISHED SECOND IN BOTH TALLADEGA RACES LAST YEAR. DOES THAT MAKE YOU APPRECIATE THE SIX WINS YOU’VE HAD THERE EVEN MORE? “I feel like at Talladega I can say with full transparency that I feel like I’ve won some races there I probably shouldn’t have, and I feel like I’ve lost some races I probably should have won. In some ways, it just feels like it’s netted out even. I feel like I should have won the last two races there. I look back at some of the other races that I’ve won there and I’m like, ‘I don’t know. That one was maybe a little questionable.’ So you’re like, ‘All right, that’s part of the deal.’ You don’t get your name on the trophy for the races you should have won, but conversely, they do put your name on the trophies of the ones you probably shouldn’t have and you just have to accept that.”

HOW MUCH DOES THE SHORT OFF-SEASON IN NASCAR IMPACT A TEAM WHEN YOU HAVE A LOT OF NEW FACES LIKE YOU REFERENCED? “Honestly, not that much. The bigger impact is this trailing effect of Covid. If you look back at the 2020 season, 2021 season most all of the teams made significant cuts to be able to sustain business, whether that be by financial need or by regulation. The people that were most susceptible to those cuts were the most junior people across the industry as you could probably imagine, and now the entire industry is reaping what they sowed, where there’s just no depth to the industry at all. So, whenever you’re a team in transition who is looking for positional talent, you’re just wholly reliant on that depth. The industry as a whole is not in a spot to be able to pull from anywhere, so I think it’s a big challenge that is a bit universal. It’s not limited to just RFK or the 6 team. We somewhat consciously took that risk and accepted the fact we were going to have to take steps backward to go forward.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE HUMAN SAFEGUARDS YOU HAVE IN PLACE TO MANAGE THIS STRETCH OF 28 STRAIGHT WEEKENDS OF RACING? “More and more, and this is me putting on my team ownership cap, we have to protect people from themselves. We try to do right by people. I can’t say we’re perfect at it, but you try to encourage people to take their weekend off, like last weekend, or take multiple days during the week off to go with that. There are some people in different seasons of life who they don’t really want a week off. There are other people who are in seasons of life who are like, ‘No, I’d like to get three or four weekends off.’ There are a lot of people trying to find an illness they can have the week of Mexico (laughing), but then there are other people who are like, ‘Man, I’d give anything to go to that race.’ So, the different seasons of life is real. In particular for RFK, having three teams gave us a little more depth that I think makes it a little easier for us, whether it be with pit crew guys or road mechanics in the sense that we now have a little more of a shop base to be able to interchange. It isn’t uncommon, but we had a couple pit crew members this year that we gave weeks off kind of preemptively, whether it be a family member’s wedding or whatever that might be. It’s like, ‘No, you should just go take that now because you’re gonna wish you’d never missed that.’ And we’ve intentionally built the depth to be able to do that and not crumble to our knees as a company because one person is missing. I think you try to be thoughtful with how you build the company out to be able to handle those challenges. They’re still not easy, but we’re committed to doing what we can for our people when we can and it’s give and take on both sides.”

YOU SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH RICHARD PETTY A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO IN D.C. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE WITH HIM AND WHAT DID YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT? “I can’t remember where I was or what I was doing, but it was sometime last year that I was thinking about him and how special he is to our sport. He’s a really unique person, and I could get on my soap box here because my personal opinion of Richard Petty is probably different than a lot of people’s opinion of Richard Petty. I feel like Richard Petty is the greatest race car driver that ever lived and the reason why I feel that way is broader than just his persona, which I think is pretty cool. It’s broader than his 200 wins, and I think it connects back to something that makes racing very unique compared to other sports, it’s the aspect of he raced in an era where the contemporaries that he had, that at least could win or were top level drivers, would, candidly, not make it out every year. He himself, multiple times, barely made it out of big crashes. We have the one in Darlington and the Cup one in Daytona, and not only did he survive those, but he kept racing and he didn’t just keep racing, he kept winning. Nobody else can really claim that, at least not at the NASCAR level. Maybe you could look at Mario Andretti or somebody of that nature, so, to me, even though there are drivers that are gonna have amazing resumes of championships, amazing resumes of big race wins or total race wins, but he has the quintessential race car driver story of success, persona and guts. All three of those together are just legendary, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that, particularly nowadays when we’ve become so stat based with everything. We forget just how impressive it is that this guy at one point in his career had won multiple races, multiple championships, had been through crashes that he barely lived through, watched other people of similar nature die at races. After experiencing all of that, he got back in the car and won races and championships. There’s nobody like that that I can put a finger on, so I was thinking about that sometime last year and what I was really thinking about was, ‘Brad, what are the things in your life that you take entirely for granted that you’re gonna totally regret 10-20-30-40 years from now?’ And one of them as I was kind of mentally making this list was I had access to Richard Petty and didn’t do anything with it, like didn’t get to know him or didn’t get to build a relationship with him, which was entirely true up until I went on that trip, you know, for the last decade or more of my life. I was like, ‘Man, I’m gonna really regret that one day. I don’t know when or how, but one day I’m gonna really regret that.’ I remember making a mental note of that and not necessarily having an answer to it, and so when the opportunity came up to go to D.C. for the trip with NASCAR and the congressional committee and I saw his name was on the list I was like, ‘That’s great. Maybe I’ll get to spend some time with him.’ And just by complete happenstance it ended up being that I was on the airplane with him. I don’t want to undersell, but Toni Breitinger was on the plane with me and Rajah was on the plane with me, so they were there too. It wasn’t just Richard and I, but it was me sitting in front of Richard for three, four or five hours. It was, ‘Tell me about this. Tell me about that. What was this like? What was that like? How would you handle this? What’s your opinion on that?’ And it was awesome. I wish that we had the Google glasses. We just bought a pair and I wish I was wearing them for that plane ride and pushed the record button, so that was a real blessing and a real treat. I would extend that same thought to all of us in the room. What are the things that 10-20 years from now you’re gonna say, ‘I wish I would have taken advantage of that opportunity and regret I didn’t do it.’ Richard was one of them for me and, given what I know about this room, probably the same. He’s got so many amazing stories and has lived the fullest of lives. He’s lived 20 people’s lives.”

WHAT WAS THE ONE THING YOU CAME AWAY WITH THE MOST? WHAT DID HE SAY THAT STOOD OUT? “I’m still blown away by the same thing, which is, ‘Richard, how did you get back in the car after winning all these races, championships, having two or three kids, and after seeing the Ned Jarrett’s win and retire, and Fireball Roberts perish on the racetrack. How did you endure? How did you keep going?’ How did you not just say,’ You know what, I’ve made my money. I’ve got my farm. I’ve got my wife and kids. I’m just gonna pack it up.’ ‘How did you keep enduring and enduring at a high level because you could just keep enduring in the sense of I’m just gonna keep racing, but when the tires look like they’re gonna blow out and it looks a little hairy, I’m just gonna fall on back. He could have done that, but he didn’t. Asking him, maybe less candidly, those questions and just hearing him and his commitment to the sport and how NASCAR is and what he was and what he always wanted to be. That’s what just blew me away. Nowadays, people aren’t so much committed to things as I think he was and his generation was, but full send.”

AND HE’S STILL AROUND. “He’s still around. He hasn’t packed it up. It’s the same thing right now. He could pack it up and sit on the farm. Certainly, nobody would hold it against him, but he doesn’t.”

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE THIS YEAR TO SEE CHRIS AND RYAN DOING WELL AND OUTPERFORMING YOU? “They’re pushing me, which is good. I don’t want it to be a one directional relationship where I was pushing them. Maybe I got a little more than I hoped for (laughing), but I really like the intensity that both of them have. Ryan has brought a level of thoroughness that is very impressive and effort that comes with that. Ryan and Chris are two great race car drivers. My goal for them is to put them in equipment and surround them with a team to where they can display that they’re elite race car drivers. I don’t feel like I’ve fully realized that yet. I’m pretty happy with the teams we’ve built around them. I’m not quite as thrilled with the equipment we’ve put around them, but they show the ability that when we do hit on those pieces, they can connect and get results out of them. That’s really exciting for me to see that for them. It’s not quite the same as watching your kids succeed, but in a similar vein it has a lot of correlation, so I can find ways to be happy with them beating me, which the competitor in me probably plugs his nose when I say that, but I’m proud of them nonetheless.”

BUT YOU STILL THINK YOU CAN BEAT THEM, TOO. “Yeah. I do (laughing). You have weekends like Darlington and you sit down after the race and you’re like, ‘Yeah, you should have made that move I made.’ We all have our egos.”

Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday, April 27, 2025
2.66-Mile Tri-Oval
3:30 PM ET
Location: Talladega, Alabama
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (10 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 32 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 1st (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 4th

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

2025	Cup Career	Talladega
Races	9	375	20
Wins	2	31	0
Poles	0	21	0
Top 5	5	124	2
Top 10	6	188	4
Laps Led	503	9,759	55
Stage Wins	4	66	0
Average Finish	12.3	14.1	21.9

• Kyle Larson pulled off a NASCAR Cup Series/Xfinity Series sweep at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago, logging both victories in dominant fashion. He is now the laps-led leader in both series, having paced 503 circuits in the Cup Series and 408 more in just two starts in the Xfinity Series.
• En route to his second premier series victory of the year and second straight at Bristol, Larson swept both stages. The last four times a driver won stage one, stage two and the race was done by Larson. The two stage victories tied Larson with Martin Truex Jr. for the most all time at 66.
• Larson matched his career-best finish at Talladega Superspeedway with a fourth-place run last fall. Along with a third-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, he has notched two top-five finishes in his last three starts at drafting tracks.
• The 32-year-old has earned 190 points at Talladega in the Next Gen era, third most in the Cup Series.
• Larson enters the weekend with the fifth-best average finish (12.33) and fifth-best average running position (11.28) so far this year. He is also tied for the series lead in top fives (five), top 10s (six) and laps run in the top 10 (1,744).

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 15th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 5th

 No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet

2025	Cup Career	Talladega
Races	9	331	18
Wins	0	19	2
Poles	0	12	2
Top 5	2	106	5
Top 10	5	176	8
Laps Led	44	5,570	215
Stage Wins	0	38	3
Average Finish	11.6	12.9	14.6

• Chase Elliott is the only NASCAR Cup Series driver to finish in the top 20 in all nine races this season.
• This weekend, the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway where Elliott is a two-time winner (Spring 2019 and Fall 2022) with 215 laps led across 18 starts.
• The 29-year-old is tied with teammate William Byron for the most points earned (240) at Talladega in the Next Gen era.
• Elliott has three total wins on drafting tracks, with a 2022 victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway sandwiched between his Talladega triumphs.
• He has the second-most wins behind Byron on drafting tracks in the Next Gen era (two).
• This season, Elliott has the fourth-best average finish (11.56), eighth-best average running position (13.54) and is tied for the fifth-most top-10 finishes (five).
• Talladega marks the first of three race weekends with new primary partner Prime Video on board the No. 9 Chevrolet. Prime Video will also serve as the team’s sponsor at Kansas Speedway and the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 6th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 1st

No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet

2025	Cup Career	Talladega
Races	9	261	14
Wins	1	14	0
Poles	2	15	0
Top 5	4	58	4
Top 10	6	110	6
Laps Led	354	3,332	109
Stage Wins	3	26	2
Average Finish	9.1	15.0	14.4

• Before the NASCAR Cup Series off week, William Byron raced his way to a sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. It marked his sixth top 10 of the season, tied for the most in the field.
• So far in 2025, Byron leads the Cup Series in average starting position (9.67), average running position (9.25) and average finish (9.11). He’s also collected the second-most stage points with 92.
• In addition, Byron has run 1,089 laps in the top five (second most), 1,636 laps in the top 10 (fourth most) and led 354 laps (second most) in 2025.
• In the Next Gen era, Byron has four wins on drafting tracks, most among all drivers. Overall, the 27-year-old has five drafting wins which is tied for the third most among active drivers.
• In his Cup Series career at Talladega Superspeedway, the driver of the No. 24 has two runner-up finishes, tied for second most by a driver without a win. He also has four consecutive top-10 finishes, the longest active streak.
• With 14 starts at the Alabama-based track, Byron has an average finish of 14.43, sixth-best all time

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 31 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 37th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 10th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

2025	Cup Career	Talladega
Races	9	334	18
Wins	0	8	0
Poles	2	7	0
Top 5	1	41	2
Top 10	5	101	5
Laps Led	107	1,475	68
Stage Wins	0	7	0
Average Finish	17.3	19.3	22.4

• Alex Bowman secured his seventh career NASCAR Cup Series pole at Bristol Motor Speedway with a time of 14.91 seconds, a new fastest lap in the Next Gen era. He finished fourth place in stage one and second in stage two, but an issue in the final stage resulted in a 37th-place finish.
• Bowman enters this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway 10th in the Cup Series points standings, 101 points behind leader and teammate, William Byron.
• The Tucson, Arizona, native has earned two top fives and five top 10s at Talladega, including a career-best, runner-up result in April 2019.
• For Best Friends Animal Society programming, Ally and Bowman will be partnering with Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as the selected shelter for this weekend at Talladega. 
• Ally and HendrickCars.com are teaming up again to give fans the chance to win prizes with this year’s “Open Road Sweepstakes.” Fans can win VIP experiences at various races throughout the season and one lucky winner will hit the open road in a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss with an Airstream camper. To enter, fans can stop by the Ally Fan Zone and check out the camper. To enter online, visit ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar. 

Hendrick Motorsports

2025	All-Time	Talladega
Races	9	1,390	82
Wins	3	315*	14*
Poles	4*	257*	13*
Top 5	12	1,291*	67*
Top 10	22*	2,209*	103*
Laps Led	1,008*	83,320*	3,091*
Stage Wins	7*	122	5

 
*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

• Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in NASCAR Cup Series events at Talladega Superspeedway in wins (14), poles (13), top fives (67), top 10s (103) and laps led (3,091).
• The organization has led 693 of 797 laps across the last two Cup races (Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway). That upped the team’s total to 1,008 this year, the third-most through a season’s first nine races and the most since 1996.
• With Alex Bowman setting a new fast lap at Bristol Motor Speedway in a Next Gen car, Hendrick Motorsports won its second consecutive pole and its fourth in the last six events.
• With William Byron at Darlington and Kyle Larson at Bristol, a Hendrick Motorsports driver swept the stages in both events. The company’s four straight stage wins are just one shy of the all-time series record.
• Including Byron’s victory in the season-opening DAYTONA 500, Hendrick Motorsports is the only organization to have won at a drafting track in all four seasons in the Next Gen era. Its six wins at drafting tracks in that time are the most.
• Hendrick Motorsports is the only team with at least one car finishing in the top five of each of the season’s nine races. No other team has had a car finish in the top 10 of every event. All told, a Rick Hendrick-owned entry has finished in the top five in 17 consecutive Cup Series races, tied for the team’s third-longest such stretch and the longest since a string of 24 spanning the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

 
QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “Talladega is probably the best drafting track for myself and our team, even if the results don’t show it. We were able to get a top five earlier this year at Atlanta (Motor Speedway) so I’m hoping that with Cliff’s strategy we can once again have a good showing.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “Yeah, this track has always kind of been, to me, a second home track in a lot of ways, because of the distance. And I feel like the fans here have always been really good to us and good to me. I’ve always recognized that and appreciated that, and it’s one of the reasons why I always look forward to coming here. I’ve always enjoyed coming over here. It’s close to home.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “Talladega is the only drafting track I haven’t been able to win at. We’ve been close a lot, especially the last couple races. I think we really have our drafting package in a good place. It would be nice to come back from the break and start it off with a win, but the main goal is to survive and get a good showing in the end.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “Talladega is a mental game. It’s one of those tracks where you have to be locked in from the start. Any mistakes – whether it’s a poorly timed move, losing focus, or getting caught in the wrong lane – can cost you big time. I feel like they’re magnified because of how quickly things change in the draft. The goal is to minimize those mistakes, trust your strategy, and keep your mind right. The end of the race is usually chaotic, so staying mentally sharp and ready to adapt is just as important as having a fast car.”

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
Talladega Superspeedway
April 26-27, 2025

Returning from its one and only off-weekend of the season, the NASCAR Cup Series is now full throttle towards the race for the championship, with the trek to Talladega Superspeedway marking the 10th points-paying race of 2025.

Chevrolet Newsroom

The doubleheader weekend, which also features the Xfinity Series, is the first of two stops for NASCAR’s top two divisions at the 2.66-mile Alabama venue, with all three series returning to the superspeedway in October for the penultimate race of the final playoff elimination round. Chevrolet returns to the sports’ biggest and fastest track as the winningest manufacturer, as well as the track’s defending winners, in both the Cup and Xfinity Series.

Numbers in the Next Gen Era:

Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the most recent driver to add to Chevrolet’s winning ways at Talladega Superspeedway – delivering the manufacturer its 45th all-time Cup Series win at the Alabama venue (Oct. 2024). Chevrolet’s success at Talladega spans across NASCAR’s 55-year history at the track, including a record-setting streak of 13-straight trips to victory lane (April 1999 to May 2005). That success carried over into the series’ Next Gen era, with the Bowtie brand collecting wins in four of the six races since the car’s competition debut – a record earned by four drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.

Stringing Together a Double-Digit Streak:

JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith continued Chevrolet’s dominance in the Xfinity Series at Talladega Superspeedway last fall by earning the manufacturer its 25th all-time victory at the venue. The win also extended the brand’s active record-setting streak to 11-straight Xfinity Series victories at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. The run began in April 2018 with Spencer Gallagher behind the wheel of a GMS Racing Chevrolet entry, and over the past seven years, nine different drivers have added to the Bowtie brand’s now double-digit streak.

 ALLMENDINGER MAKING THE MOST OF CUP SERIES RETURN

After completing a full-time Xfinity Series campaign in 2024, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger made the jump back up to NASCAR’s top division this season and the veteran is proving that he hasn’t missed a beat. The 43-year-old California native will enter the 17-race stretch of the regular season with a trio of top-10 results earned in the past five races, with the most recent coming just before the off-weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway where the driver took the No. 16 Chevrolet entry to a ninth-place finish. Despite being known as a road course phenom, Allmendinger has become a silent threat on a variety of track configurations, with two of his top-10 finishes this season coming on an intermediate oval. While superspeedway-style racing presents a platter of unknowns, the Kaulig Racing driver has a boost of confidence as a past winner at Talladega Superspeedway – earning a Xfinity Series victory with the Chevrolet organization in Oct. 2022.

 STACKING SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS

Chevrolet’s uncanny success on superspeedways in recent years spans across both of NASCAR’s top two divisions.

With the introduction of a new car and era of racing at the beginning of the 2022 season, Chevrolet quickly found its footing in the art of superspeedway-style racing – collecting wins in five of the six superspeedway races. Now entering the fourth season of competition for the Next Gen car, the Bowtie brand continues to pave the way for its manufacturer competitors with 12 wins in 20 superspeedway-style races – earned by seven drivers representing four different Chevrolet organizations. The Bowtie brand has earned at least one trip to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway since the car’s competition debut, including a sweep of the 2022 events with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain (April) and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (Oct.).

Chevrolet shares an even greater success in superspeedway-style racing in the Xfinity Series with 10 drivers from six different Chevrolet organizations garnering wins in 18 of the past 23 superspeedway-style races. Over that time span, Chevrolet is the only manufacturer among its competitors to earn multiple superspeedway triumphs each season. Heading into the Alabama race weekend, the Bowtie brand sits at a streak of four-straight superspeedway wins in the division – dating back to Austin Hill’s Atlanta win in Sept. 2024. This season, it’s been an all-RCR victory lane on superspeedway’s with Jesse Love’s win in the series’ season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and Hill’s win at Atlanta Motor Speedway just one week later.

 HILL, LOVE AMONG SUPERSPEEDWAY STUNNERS

To no surprise, the pair of Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Hill and Jesse Love, have commanded every major statistical category on superspeedway’s this season. The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season opened with a set of superspeedway-style events, with each RCR driver earning his first win of the season and an early berth into the playoffs (Love – Daytona International Speedway; Hill – Atlanta Motor Speedway). Other notable achievements included stage win sweeps by Hill and the No. 21 Chevrolet team for both events, as well as a pole win by Love at Atlanta. The pair also topped the laps led count in each event, with Love and Hill leading a combined 86 of 125 laps at Daytona, as well as 159 of 163 laps at Atlanta just one week later. Love is one of just three full-time competitors that is a past Talladega winner in the Xfinity Series, with the 20-year-old California native picking up his first career win at the track one year ago.

 FULL THROTTLE IN RACE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP

With just one idle weekend on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, drivers and teams will be nonstop in the race for the championship title, with this weekend’s trip to Talladega Superspeedway marking a 17-race stretch to the end of the series’ regular season and a guaranteed ticket into the playoffs.

Here’s a look at a few of Chevrolet’s early season highlights:

• Chevrolet leads its manufacturer competitors in a variety of statistical categories including: pole wins (five), laps led (1,167) and top-10 finishes (41).
• Kyle Larson’s dominating Tennessee triumph marked Chevrolet’s third NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2025 season, each of which have been recorded on a distinctly different track configuration. Among that list includes William Byron’s win at the 2.5-mile superspeedway of Daytona International Speedway, as well as Larson’s win at the 1.5-mile intermediate oval of Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Chevrolet has earned at least four top-10 finishes in six of the nine points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races thus far this season, with five of those events seeing representation by three or more different Chevrolet organizations in those results. The manufacturer hit a season-high seven top-10 finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – earned collectively by three different Chevrolet organizations. The series’ second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway saw a season-high five different Chevrolet organizations represented in the top-10. At the conclusion of just the fifth points-paying race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, every full-time Chevrolet organization had scored a top-10 finish this season.

Chevrolet’s season statistics with nine NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 3
Poles: 5
Laps Led: 1,167
Top-Fives: 17
Top-10s: 41
Stage Wins: 7

Chevrolet’s season statistics with nine NASCAR Xfinity Series races complete:

Wins: 8
Poles: 7
Laps Led: 1,477
Top-Fives: 33
Top-10s: 64
Stage Wins: 15

Chevrolet’s season statistics with six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races complete:

Wins: 4
Poles: 2
Laps Led: 456
Top-Fives: 17
Top-10s: 32
Stage Wins: 4

BOWTIE BULLETS:

Active Chevrolet drivers with a NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – two wins (2017 & 2024)
Kyle Busch – two wins (2023 & 2008)
Chase Elliott – two wins (2022 & 2019)
Ross Chastain – one win (2022)

• Chevrolet is the winningest manufacturer in both of NASCAR’s top two divisions at Talladega Superspeedway, heading into the weekend with 45 Cup Series wins and 25 Xfinity Series wins.
• Since the debut of the Next Gen car in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, Chevrolet has won 12 of the 20 superspeedway-style races – recorded by seven drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.
• Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Chevrolet has won 18 of the past 23 superspeedway-style races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – recorded by 10 drivers from six different Chevrolet organizations.
• Chevrolet continues to dominate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with Sammy Smith becoming the sixth different Chevrolet driver to earn a victory this season with his win at Rockingham Speedway. In 10 races, Chevrolet has also amassed a manufacturer-leading seven pole wins; wins in 15 of the 20 stages; 33 top-fives; 64 top-10s; and 1,477 laps led.
• In 117 points-paying races in the Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 55 victories – a winning percentage of 47%.
• With its 43 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships, and 869 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.

 
TUNE-IN:

NASCAR Cup Series
Jack Link’s 500
Sunday, April 27, at 3 p.m. ET
(FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Ag-Pro 300
Saturday, April 26, at 4 p.m. ET
(CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

 
QUOTABLE QUOTES:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

What are your thoughts on Talladega?

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Talladega because it’s one of those track where everything is so unpredictable but that can also make it fun. I’ve been on both sides of it at Talladega. The win in 2022 is obviously a memorable moment but there’s been a few times where I’ve been in the garage well before the end of race. Talladega is one of those tracks where you have to expect the unexpected and just take everything as it comes. Jockey is on the car this weekend and I would love nothing more than to take them to victory lane.”

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

You’ve won on superspeedways. What kind of race do you expect we will see at Talladega Superspeedway?

“I love racing at Talladega Superspeedway and can’t wait to get on track in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet. At Talladega, there’s a lot of movement in the draft, the packs are big and wide, and with the way this package works, there is more two-lane racing around the bottom. You can do certain things throughout that race to put yourself in a better position, but it’s one of those tracks you go into knowing that there’s probably a 75% chance that you could be in a wreck.”

How does racing at Talladega Superspeedway compare to racing at Daytona International Speedway?

“Talladega Superspeedway is a little bit different real estate than Daytona International Speedway. At Daytona, you’re packed in there, and it’s hard to get to someone’s inside or outside, and there is less movement in the draft. You’re kind of holding on at times, waiting to see what happens. Everybody is pushing, and you’re hoping you can get through the mess.”

Do you feel the “big one” coming, or does it happen so fast that you’re just in it?

“It depends. Sometimes you’re in it, and there is nothing you can do about it because you know time is running out and you’re in it either way. It’s an odd feeling knowing your putting yourself out there and something is about to happen. It’s an issue of timing. You’re hoping you just get through it. I’ve been fortunate to sneak through some of them, or be in front of some of them. You usually know when the intensity is rising and the pack is starting to get a little bit out of control. You try to do your best to give yourself an out or be in front of it.”

Did you enjoy the Cup off weekend? Does it provide a nice break, or stall the momentum your team has been building?

“I definitely enjoyed the off weekend. Just spending time with family, getting outdoors and recharging. We have some great momentum heading into Talladega following our performance at Bristol Motor Speedway, and I still think we will be able to build on that this weekend.”

Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

You’ve seen plenty of success at Talladega. What do you need to get the job done this weekend?

“We need to qualify fast, stay up front and hope for the best. But, you can’t be too far up front because you have to save fuel. It’s honestly more mind games than it’s ever been. There is a balance of frustration and challenges. Winning it would be rewarding because you did everything right. That’s the goal.”

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

How do you utilize the draft to make runs and can you explain that kind of process to fans that might not know what drafting is?

“The draft is a big deal and honestly the energy in the draft now is not necessarily coming from ahead of you, it’s more so coming from behind you. Two, three, four, five cars behind you is where that energy really develops and you get pushed forward from that energy. So, the draft is different than what it used to be. Years ago, you would suck up to the guy in front of you and slingshot past him and make him move that way. Now, you’re really relying on everything happening behind you and building from behind.”

Talk about the importance of a spotter and communication at superspeedways. What is that communication like and how important is that to you?

“Communication with your spotter is the ultimate. There’s nothing else that you really use as much as your spotter on speedway racing. You can use your mirrors and look in the camera and look behind you and whatnot. But, trying to figure out a way of being able to understand the energy that’s coming rows back behind you, the only way to get that is from your spotter. When you’re in traffic and you’re three or four rows back, you’re trying to understand what the gaps are in front of you so you know how hard to push the guy in front of you to get your lane moving forward.”

Pit stops are big at plate tracks as well. You wouldn’t think about a superspeedway as just about going fast, but also coming down pit road, that communication and the team communication and working together. What is that like in a superspeedway race nowadays with fuel savings and things like that?

“The strategy to superspeedway racing has entirely changed. The fuel save action and what you have to do to try to prolong your time on track, to cut your time on pit road, to do the leapfrog strategy is what we call it. It is really different. I would say we all want to go out there and run as hard as we can, as fast as we can, pass and mix it up and do all that sort of stuff. But a lot of times it’s just better and it’s easier and it’s safer to just ride in line, part throttle and save fuel. So it’s definitely a whole new arena that we’ve got to get used to of what speedway racing is.”

Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

“Talladega has been a track that I have been quite successful at in my career. I’ve had a really good average finish at Talladega over the years and come close a few times but just haven’t been able to cross the finish line first yet. I did win an ARCA race at Talladega a few years back. I think we’re going to have a good chance this weekend. Our car was very fast at Daytona; we led laps and ran up front. Hopefully we have that same speed for qualifying on Saturday and then on Sunday we’ll be able to keep our car up front and have a shot at the win.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

“Talladega is a place that has been very hit or miss for me. It still comes down to execution and a bit of luck to not be involved in the big one. All we can do is show up with the speed we had in Daytona, and I feel confident that that’s what we’re going to do.”

Anthony Alfredo, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet

Explain what the process is like racing at the superspeedway tracks.

“Superspeedway racing is high-speed chess. That’s why I love it, but that’s also why it’s difficult. It’s fun because of the strategy and knowing when to be aggressive and when to be patient. Obviously, it can be very difficult to control the outcome of your race because so much can happen that’s out of your control – more so at those races than any other. It’s not solely just about having raw speed. It’s also about having teammates, having help and a little bit of luck.”

You’ve raced at both Talladega and Daytona a number of times. While the tracks are similar in style, they can produce very different types of races. What is so different about the two tracks?

“Talladega is different from Daytona for a few reasons. I think the first and most obvious thing is the characteristics of the track. Talladega is wider. It’s a little bit longer and provides a little more room for three- and four-wide racing. What also comes with that is that it’s a little bit less of a handling track than what Daytona is. Daytona gets hot and slick where, at Talladega, handling is not as important. I think, with this NextGen car, you have to have good drive quality to be able to get over the bumps, to be able to push and be pushed aggressively. It’s a little bit less chaotic in the draft because there is a little more room. You can run three-wide around there pretty comfortably, whereas at Daytona it’s pretty tight. It’s not uncommon to even see four-wide at Talladega. I think that’s just the plain difference. As far as the strategy and the job behind the wheel, though, it kind of remains the same because superspeedway races ultimately come down to that manufacturer battle, teammates and, really, fuel mileage. That’s been everything the last few years.”

Even after all of that, where does Talladega rank among your favorite tracks?

“It is definitely one of my favorites. I have a really good track record there with top-five finishes in Xfinity and multiple Cup Series top-10 finishes. Last year, we finished sixth there with the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevy. There are a lot of positives to build on and I have a lot of confidence heading into Talladega. I feel like I know what I need to do behind the wheel to execute, or at least to position myself. From there, it’s a matter of seeing what happens. Sometimes all you can do is put yourself in position and hope that it works out. We’ve learned some things now the last few races at Talladega and Daytona as far as what we can do as a team at Beard Motorsports. And with the cars we’ve been bringing, I think we all expect to be competitive and have a shot.”

How much does your performance at Talladega last spring boost your confidence going into the weekend?

“It’s a big confidence boost because last year there were a lot of unknowns for the team, and me. I was a new driver to them. We had gone to Daytona, so that got the ball rolling but, going to a new track together, I was still learning the NextGen car on a superspeedway-style track and I think there was just a lot of learning going on, and it still went exceptionally well. So I think this time we have a higher expectation. We certainly had that going into Daytona, it just didn’t work out there. But going into Talladega, we still have the same goal and it’s to go there and put ourselves in position to win the race.”

Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

What have you learned about the challenges of winning at a superspeedway in your last handful of starts?

“You only get one move and you’re only one bad block away. We were fast, and last year I could obviously see the checkered flag, but I didn’t get there. We have a lot of confidence going into Talladega. I’ve been in position to win those races, and I’ve finished second, third and fourth, but we have been close to seeing that that checkered flag. I enjoy the challenge of going there and putting yourself in position to fight for the win on the last lap. Hopefully we’ll have another opportunity to do it again. You always learn what you could have done differently, how you would approach that differently and whether you think you’re right or wrong. It doesn’t matter; we didn’t win. If you didn’t win, you didn’t do it right. You always go back and analyze how you would do it differently, how you could make better choices and what led to those choices. We feel confident going back there and look forward to having a shot at it.”

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

The last time the Cup Series visited a drafting track, you left Atlanta with a runner-up finish and a change of view on your approach to superspeedways. Explain what changed between the first race at Daytona and the second at Atlanta, and how that applies at Talladega.

“I’ve just never been a fan of superspeedways and drafting. That type of racing isn’t something I enjoyed, up until this year. Even at Daytona, my approach was stay out of trouble and hope to be there at the end when everyone else starts wrecking. That didn’t really work out for us and we ended up not finishing the race. Then at Atlanta, I decided I was just going to race as hard as I could and get as many points as I could. I don’t know if that will always work. These tracks are so different and Talladega is different from Daytona. It really just comes down to what the racing is like that day and how well your car is handling in the draft. I’d love to say we’re going to get stage points and battle for a win, and I hope that is the case. This type of racing is just so unpredictable and you never know what you’re going to get until you’re there.”

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

What are your thoughts on Talladega?

“Oh, Talladega is epic! There is nothing else like it. The drafting tracks have been a challenge for me because it’s just a different type of racing. I remember my first start at Talladega, people would put me four wide just to leave me out to dry, because I guess they didn’t want me in there. Now I feel like I can flow with the guys, have the right momentum, and judge the runs a bit better. The last Talladega I was pushed to the lead and held it a while. Definitely feel like I’m part of it and that I’m better at it now. Happy that I don’t have yellow stripes on my car.”

You have to make very quick decisions at superspeedway tracks. How do you balance being analytical versus committed and knowing that you have it without overthinking?

“It’s all in the preparation. You got to have a clear mind when you’re racing, things become instincts. There’s a lot of teamwork, too, with the spotter because he is going to be guiding me. Spotters are probably the most important thing when superspeedway racing. I just trust Josh’s (Williams) guidance. But you also have to make sure you have friends in this kind of racing, make sure you got the right kind of cars behind you, make sure it’s a teammate or a Chevrolet. It’s just a different kind of racing.”

Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

What are your thoughts on Talladega this weekend?

“I love Talladega. At first I really didn’t like superspeedway racing but the more I did it the more I started to enjoy it. We have been so close so many times on the superspeedway. One of these days we are going to win one of these races and I hope it is Sunday.”

How did you spend your off weekend?

“I spent the off-week in Mexico. I was working in Mexico City, where we did a lot of race promotion and unveiled the Telcel Chevrolet we will be racing there, and then it was vacation time in Monterrey, where I got to see my family and just hang out with everyone I hadn’t seen in a while. It was good to kind of get a break, recharge, and get ready for Talladega and other upcoming races.”

Connor Zilisch, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

“I’m looking forward to Talladega this weekend. This race can be a tossup, but I know all of the JR Motorsports drivers and teams are going to work together and try to get good results for everyone. My goal is to survive and make it to the end of the race in our WeatherTech Chevrolet. I’ve run three superspeedway races in my career and I’ve yet to finish one. Hopefully we can get some stage points and stay upfront all day on Saturday and stay out of the mess, but you never know at Talladega.”

 

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:

Total (1949-2024): 43

First title for Chevrolet: 1958

Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)

Most recent: 2024

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, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Drivers Championships:

Total (1949-2024): 33

First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)

Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)

Most recent: Kyle Larson (2021)

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, 2020, 2021

Event Victories:

Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)

2025 STATISTICS:

Wins: 3
Poles: 5
Laps Led: 1,167
Top-Fives: 17
Top-10s: 41
Stage Wins: 7

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:

Total Chevrolet race wins: 869 (1949 to date)

Poles won to date: 758
Laps led to date: 253,878
Top-fives to date: 4,386
Top-10s to date: 9,048

Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:

General Motors: 1,203

Chevrolet: 869
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 841
Ford: 741
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 194

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.