Austin Cindric is looking to repeat his Spring 2025 win
| CINDRIC GOING FOR REPEAT WIN Austin Cindric came out with the lead following a late-race green flag pit cycle and was able to outduel fellow Ford driver Ryan Preece at the finish line to win last year’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Cindric and Preece exchanged the lead five times over the final seven laps with Cindric driving the inside lane and Preece the outside. Cindric, who led five times for seven laps, ended up winning by .022 seconds. The win also marked the 200th Cup Series points victory for Roush Yates Engines. |
 TALLADEGA GOOD FOR FORD AND BLANEY Ford’s Ryan Blaney has won three times at Talladega Superspeedway, which is a personal best and one of five tracks where he has registered multiple victories. Phoenix, Daytona, Martinsville and Pocono are the others with two wins each. Blaney’s streak started with consecutive triumphs, winning the playoff race in 2019 and then the following event in the spring of 2020. He capped off the streak in 2023 with a dramatic photo finish victory over fellow Ford driver, Kevin Harvick. The win marked Ford’s 12th win at the superspeedway in the previous 19 races, which included a seven-race winning streak from 2015-18. |
 DECADE OF EXCELLENCE Ford and Team Penske have won 11 of the last 23 NCS races at Talladega Superspeedway. Brad Keselowski started this run by winning in 2014 and registered four victories at the track before joining Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in 2022. Joey Logano won in back-to-back seasons (2015-16) while Ryan Blaney followed suit, winning three times in a five year span (2019-23). Austin Cindric became the fourth Team Penske driver to reach Victory Lane when he won this event a year ago. TEAM PENSKE WINS AT TALLADEGA SINCE 20142014 – Brad Keselowski (Talladega 2)2015 – Joey Logano (Talladega 2)2016 – Brad Keselowski (Talladega 1)2016 – Joey Logano (Talladega 2)2017 – Brad Keselowski (Talladega 2)2018 – Joey Logano (Talladega 1)2019 – Ryan Blaney (Talladega 2)2020 – Ryan Blaney (Talladega 1)2021 – Brad Keselowski (Talladega 1)2023 – Ryan Blaney (Talladega 2)2025 – Austin Cindric (Talladega 1) |
- Michael McDowell will race Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 GUNK Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
- McDowell owns three top-five and four top-10 finishes at Talladega, highlighted by a pair of third-place results in May 2021 and Oct. 2022.
- Over the course of the first nine races in 2026, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner has collected one top-five, two top-10, and five top-20 finishes. To date, the veteran racer has earned an average starting position of 17.7 and a 19.8 average finish, while pacing the field for a total of 15 laps.
- McDowell qualified 14th and led 10 laps enroute to a respectable 11th-place finish in last spring’s Jack Links 500.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NOAPS
Toyota’s incredible run continues … With Tyler Reddick’s triumph at Kansas Speedway last Sunday, Toyota has now captured its seventh win in the first nine Cup Series races in 2026, the best start in as many races for a series manufacturer since 2007. The start is also the best for Toyota in its Cup Series history. For Reddick, he has now won five of the first nine races this season, becoming the first driver to do such since Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1987. Reddick now owns a 105-point lead in the Cup Series driver standings over his 23XI Racing co-owner, Denny Hamlin.
Reddick eyes another drafting track win … Reddick began his historic 2026 Cup Series season with two consecutive drafting track wins at the Daytona 500 and at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) in February. He now heads to Talladega Superspeedway looking for three straight. Reddick has 12 career starts at Talladega, which includes the dramatic win in the 2024 spring race, when he avoided a last-lap tri-oval wreck to claim victory in his No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE.
Briscoe looks for Talladega repeat … After a dramatic win at Talladega last October that put him into the Championship 4, Chase Briscoe returns to the 2.66-mile superspeedway in hopes of a repeat victory this Sunday. The driver of the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) also enters the weekend with two consecutive top-five finishes from Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas, as well as three top-10s in the last five Cup Series races. Sunday will be the 190th career Cup Series start for Briscoe and his 11th at Talladega.
Wallace eager to continue drafting track prowess … Bubba Wallace has established himself as one of the premier drafting track drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, which recent statistics continue to show. Wallace has finished inside the top-10 in the last three drafting track races dating back to last fall’s Talladega race – a fourth-place finish at Talladega in 2025, 10th at this year’s Daytona 500 and eighth at EchoPark Speedway. Wallace is well-positioned to continue the streak this weekend in Talladega, the site of his first career Cup Series win in 2021.
Gibbs extends top-10 streak … Finishing ninth in last Sunday’s race at Kansas, Ty Gibbs hasfinished inside the top-10 in seven consecutive races, the best such run of his career to-date. The streak includes his first career victory at Bristol two weeks ago. Gibbs is tied with Reddick for most top-10s in the Cup Series at seven, as he sits fourth in the Cup Series points standings entering this weekend in Talladega.
