When you drive for a small team and are faced with racing at high-speed superspeedways like Talladega or Daytona, sometimes you have to use your head more than your right foot. Such is the case for Corey Ware, who drives for his father’s team, Rick Ware Racing.
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The younger Ware comes into this weekend’s Jack Link’s 500 NASCAR Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway a lowly 36th in the NASCAR Cup standings — the lowest ranking of all full-time Cup drivers.
But Ware is aware, no pun intended, that if he stays back in the pack at ‘Dega and avoids the inevitable crashes that are sure to occur — especially one or more “Big Ones” — he could leave Talladega Sunday afternoon with one of his best finishes of the season — if not his career — as well as see a significant jump upward in the standings.
Admittedly, doing so won’t be easy, especially with Talladega’s massive 2.66-mile layout, its 33-degree turns, and the propensity for ultra-close pack racing. But Ware still thinks he can become ‘Dega’s 13th first-time Cup winner.
“It takes talent, it takes skill, and it takes consistency to run well at Talladega,” said Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “And it’s a chance for challenger teams like ours to be competitive and fight for a win.”
Ware came close to winning — or at the very least, earning his best career Cup finish ever — in this year’s season-opening Daytona 500. He was running fifth when he was collected in a last-lap, multi-car wreck.
After Coming So Close, Ware Finished a Disappointing 25th in February at Daytona
“We’ve typically had good speed at the superspeedways,” Ware stated. “The Daytona 500 didn’t play out quite how we wanted it to, but we were in contention when it mattered.
“So we’re keeping our same approach at superspeedways, which is putting ourselves in contention with a couple of laps to go. One of these days, we’re going to be able to capitalize.”
And “one of these days” could be Sunday, Ware hopes.
“When you’re in that top-10, top-five bubble, lane choice has a lot to do with who you’re going to work with and who’s going to be safe versus potentially unsafe,” Ware said.
“Looking back at that race (Daytona), on the last lap coming down the backstretch, William Byron, the winner, was on my outside. If we were in a little bit different of a spot, if we were on the outside lane versus the inside lane, we could’ve been in contention for the win.
“So it’s not just a matter of where we want to be and where our car likes to handle better versus the top or bottom, it’s also about who we’re racing with and who we’re working with to get to the checkered flag.
“It’s important because, whether you’re seventh or eighth on the inside lane or the outside lane, that was the difference between winning the race and ending up on a wrecker. It’s something I’ll have in the back of my mind this Sunday at Talladega.”
That means having a strategy for all 188 laps – or more, if the event goes into overtime.
“I think it all comes down to what the tone of the race is,” Ware mentioned. “Once the green flag drops, we want to make sure we’ve got a good racecar, so I’d like to get up to the front and lead some laps like we did last fall at Talladega.
“Once we know we’ve got a good piece, we kind of go into defense mode. We still want to race hard and get some stage points, but the most important thing is to be there at the end.”
Ware earned a career-best fourth-place finish last summer at Daytona International Speedway. His second-best finish, sixth, was also at Daytona in the summer race in 2022.
As for Talladega, Ware has made nine career Cup starts there and finished eight of the nine times. That’s promising for the 29-year-old native of Greensboro, North Carolina.
His best finish ever at ‘Dega was also his most recent: 12th in last fall’s playoff race there.
“When you’re patient and hang out at the back of the pack, you’re able to see some tells of how the race will play out,” Ware said.
“You can see what drivers are making aggressive moves, who’s pushing the envelope, who’s making clean passes and clean bumps versus who is jacking people up and causing issues. So you’re able to take some mental notes to prepare for those last laps.
“You want to be working with the right guys and in a good position. You don’t want to be in front of somebody who’s going to give you a bad bump and cause the ‘Big One.’ Once you get in position to race, you have a solid plan to try and execute onto the checkered flag.”
And if Ware does “execute onto the checkered flag” and wins his first career Cup race on Sunday, while almost everyone else will be surprised, Ware will not because he planned for it.
