After a string of short track and intermediate races, NASCAR finally gets back to a Superspeedway this Sunday! The upcoming Cup Series race at Talladega will be the 10th one of the ongoing season and present a formidable challenge in the chase for the championship. A mere number of days away from the visit to the fastest track on the land, here’s the schedule of things.
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The upcoming weekend will feature races from the Arca Menards, Xfinity, and Cup Series. Engines will stutter to a start with the Arca Menards Series practice at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by qualifying for the Xfinity Series race at 5:30 p.m. ET. The qualifying session can be watched live on Fox Sports 1.
When the sun rises at the Dega on Saturday, fans will be greeted by the Cup Series cars with a qualifying session at 10:30 a.m. ET. Past noon on the same day, the main races of the Arca Menards and Xfinity Series will flow through at 12:30 p.m. ET and 4:00 p.m. ET, respectively. The clock will include two press passes in between the day’s events.
The weekend’s core purpose will be attained on Sunday. The best drivers in North American Motorsports will line up to compete against each other in the infamous GEICO 500 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The race’s checkered flag after 188 laps will be followed by the usual post-race interviews and draw the curtains to a close.
Who could win Sunday’s race at the Talladega Superspeedway?
The latest superspeedway race was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event blew minds with less than a feather’s thickness separating Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a similar type of race at Talladega on Sunday.
The defending winner of the track is the 2023 Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney. He won there last October and pushed himself deeper into the playoffs, where he ultimately won the title. Was it not for Ford’s relative incompetence this season, he could very well be considered a strong favorite to win.
The Texas winner, Chase Elliott, has 8 top ten finishes in the superspeedway and could keep his momentum running. A back-to-back win is all that is required to catapult the energy at the #9 Hendrick Motorsports camp to further heights. Other drivers whose recent superspeedway performances put them on the radar are Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Kyle Busch.
