LINCOLN, Ala (EETV) – The NASCAR playoffs are in full swing, and the eight drivers left have found themselves forced to face the dreaded Talladega Superspeedway in the YellaWood 500.
Only Denny Hamlin can strap into his race car a little more relaxed after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week, punching his ticket to the Championship 4. Talladega, however, is a little less predictable and known as a wildcard around the garage.
Yes, a playoff driver can win and secure their seat in the next round, but here it’s anyone’s race. In fact, it’s statistically more likely that a non-playoff driver wins and plays spoiler.
As for the remaining playoff drivers – Kyle Larson (+35), Christopher Bell (+20), Chase Briscoe (+15), William Byron (-15), Chase Elliott (-23), Joey Logano (-24) and Ryan Blaney (-31) – it will be an uphill battle.
Hendrick Motorsports (Byron, Elliott, Larson, and Alex Bowman) has dominated the drafting tracks – EchoPark, Daytona and Talladega – in the NextGen era, with seven wins. While Byron has the best average finish here, only Elliott has a win.
“The top level of any sport is always detail-oriented,” said Elliott. “I think that can be said for anything, whether it's racing or football, baseball, all of it. That last one or two percent is all in the details. Everybody here is pretty good at what they do. I feel like HMS [Hendrick Motorports] does a good job fine-tuning all the details that it takes to be successful in every part of the shop.”
While Hendrick has dominated the win column at these tracks, Team Penske has arguably shown the best average speed and even won the last trip to Talladega with Austin Cindric.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top-2 teams seem to agree that good communication and teamwork are the most important keys to success.
“I think it starts with fast cars, that’s number one,” said Blaney. “Ford’s done a good job understanding what it takes to go fast here. That’s where it starts, then it continues over to communication and teamwork within our building. How the drivers talk to each other, how the crew chiefs communicate, all the pieces come together. I just feel like we do a great job. I can’t speak for anyone else. I just know our preparation is top-notch.”
His teammate Cindric seems to be in agreement.
“You really have to know and understand the person you’re trying to help. Because you could easily do the opposite of what you’re intending to do," Cindric said. "That’s why we have all these meetings… and you need your spotter to be on the same page. It’s definitely an ever-evolving organism, even as the race changes. Joey and Ryan both race a speedway very differently. I have to understand what those differences are to best help them. Because otherwise I could be doing nothing, while exhausting all this effort, to potentially not make an impact.”
This race marks the first time that Talladega – or even a superspeedway-style track– has appeared this late in the playoffs, leaving a few questions as to what strategy teams will use to put themselves in the best position to move on.
We’ve seen a mix of strategies in the last few races, but, last time in particular, we saw the Toyotas break the norm and burn extra fuel early in the race to get to the front, where they hoped they could hold onto it. Ultimately, the cautions didn't fall where Toyota needed them to, and the strategy didn’t quite work out.
So, will we see another shakeup? Or will it be a more run-of-the-mill race?
“I definitely think you’ll still see teams trying things, just because it all comes down to fuel mileage,” said Briscoe. “Anything we can do to figure out a way to cheat the system or just be smarter than the other guys, you’re gonna try to, as a manufacturer, figure that out. I definitely think you’ll see differing strategies throughout the field and even on different teams. Some teams aren’t in the playoffs at all, so they can be more aggressive. Who knows what the best one is, cause it all changes so fast.”
Teams and drivers can try to predict all they want, but the only thing that matters is the race itself. At a track like Talladega, anything you have planned can go out the window in a split second, or just as quickly, fate can fall right into your lap and change your life forever.
The YellaWood 500 at Talladega airs Oct. 19, on NBC at 1 p.m. CDT.
