Tyler Reddick takes checkered in wild Talladega finish for Michael Jordan’s first win while in attendance: Tyler Reddick prevailed in a typically-frantic Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway run to the checkered flag Sunday in the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race, narrowly avoiding a multi-car crash in the closing 400 yards – coming from third place out of Turn 4, to earn the win by a slight 0.208-second when race leader Michael McDowell crashed trying to block competitors approaching the finish line; McDowell’s move slowing the bottom line and allowing Reddick in the high lane to motor through to his first victory of the year and sixth of his career.[Read More]
#45-Tyler Reddick won the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The win is his 1st win of the year, 1st at Talladega and 6th career win.
#6-Brad Keselowski finished 2nd followed by #10-Noah Gragson, #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #48-Alex Bowman, #62-Anthony Alfredo, #24-William Byron, #38-Todd Gilliland, #31-Daniel Hemric, and #21-Harrison Burton.
Pole winner #34-Michael McDowell was leading off turn four on the final lap. #2-Brad Keselowski moved down the track to try to make a pass for the lead, McDowell moved down to block him and got hooked. He spun out, collecting several other cars. Reddick, who was leading at the white flag and had lead the 5 previous laps, took the lead and the win.
Stage 1 was won by #2-Austin Cindric. Stage 2 was won by #22-Joey Logano.
There were 72 lead changes among 23 drivers and 4 cautions for 21 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 155.977mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Talladega:
Tyler Reddick won the GEICO 500, his sixth victory in 156 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2024.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in nine races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brad Keselowski (second) posted his 15th top-10 finish in 31 races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2024.
Noah Gragson (third) posted his first top-10 finish in four races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Josh Berry (16th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 15 points over Martin Truex Jr..
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Talladega:
Race 10 of 26 in the regular season
1) #24-William Byron [3 wins], 335
2) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 wins], 308
3) #5-Kyle Larson [1 win], 359 [points leader]
4) #9-Chase Elliott [1 win], 337
5) #45-Tyler Reddick [1 win], 316
6) #20-Christopher Bell [1 win], 255
7) #99-Daniel Suarez [1 win], 221
8) #19-Martin Truex, Jr., 344, -15
9) #12-Ryan Blaney, 302, -57
10) #54-Ty Gibbs, 296, -63
11) #1-Ross Chastain, 277, -82
12) #48-Alex Bowman, 261, -98
13) #23-Bubba Wallace, 257, -102
14) #14-Chase Briscoe, 256, -103
15) #6-Brad Keselowski, 254, -105
16) #22-Joey Logano, 245, -114
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag for Reddick. McDowell had the lead, but Keselowski moved down to try to take the lead. McDowell moved to block and spun out. Several cars caught up and the race ends under caution.
Lap 188 – White flag for Reddick. He had a lead of .028 second over McDowell.
Lap 187 – Two to go. Reddick still leads but McDowell is right along side. The third lane has not developed successfully.
Lap 186 – Drivers trying to form a third lane on the outside. Reddick leads McDowell by .007 second. 3 to go.
Lap 185 – Reddick leads McDowell by .005 second.
Lap 184 – Five laps remaining. 31 cars still in the lead group. Reddick leads McDowell by .022 second. Then Truex, Keselowski, and Gragson.
Lap 181 – 8 laps to go. Four Fords up front on the inside, 3 Toyotas up front on the outside.
Lap 179 – 10 to go. Top 5: Reddick, McDowell, Truex, Keselowski, Gragson.
Lap 177 – McDowell back to the lead.
Lap 176 – Reddick was the leader at the line.
Lap 174 – 15 laps to go. Two-by-two through the field. McDowell leads Reddick. 31 drivers in the lead pack.
Lap 169 – 20 laps remaining. McDowell leads Reddick, Keselowski, Truex, and Gragson.
Lap 164 – McDowell moves back to the lead.
Lap 162 – Green flag with 27 laps to go. Top 10: Reddick, Truex, Gibbs, McDowell, Keselowski, Gragson, Berry, Busch, LaJoie, and Chastain.
Lap 158 – Most of the leaders hit pit road again for what could be their final stop of the day. McDowell off first, then Keselowski, Gragson, Berry, and Busch. Hocevar, Reddick, Truex, and Gibbs did not pit. Blaney was too fast on pit road.
Lap 156 – Caution in turn 3. Jones, Wallace, Hamlin, and Nemechek involved. They all had just pitted. McDowell continues to lead.
Lap 153 – Reddick, Nemechek, Wallace, Jones, Truex, Gibbs, and Hamlin (all Toyotas) pit. They can make it the rest of the way without fuel.
Lap 150 – McDowell leads Gilliland, Keselowski, Busch, and Ware. There are 34 drivers in the lead pack.
Lap 143 – McDowell back out front for the third time today after starting on the pole. 46 laps remaining.
Lap 142 – #31-Hemric back to the lead. #1-Chastain second.
Lap 140 – Green with 49 laps remaining. Berry leads.
Lap 139 – The drivers that didn’t pit earlier come down with one to go. Some that pitted also come in to top off.
Lap 137 – Most of the field pits. Logano off first again, then Berry, Gragson, Cindric, Busch, Chastain, McDowell, Gibbs, Hemric, Dillon. Nine drivers stay out. They will likely pit before going back to green.
Lap 133 – Caution is out. Involved: Bell, Briscoe, Haley. Bell with heavy damage and will be done for the day.
Lap 128 – #1-Chastain is the leader at the line.
Lap 127 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 62 laps remaining. Logano, Cindric, Chastain, Dillon Busch the top 5.
Lap 126 – Alfredo now pits and Logano retakes the lead.
Lap 125 – All drivers that stayed out now pit, except #62-Alfredo.
Lap 124 – Most leaders pit. Off pit road it’s Logano, Larson, Cindric, Chastain, Dillon. Seven drivers stayed out: #54-Gibbs, #19-Truex, #6-Keselowski, #16-Van Gisbergen, #14-Briscoe, #7-LaJoie, #62-Alfredo.
Lap 121 – Caution for the end of stage 2 (only end of stage cautions so far today). The top 10: #22-Logano, #2-Cindric, #5-Larson, #3-Dillon, #1-Chastain, #45-Reddick, #17-Buescher, #9-Elliott, #41-Preece, and #54-Gibbs.
Lap 115 – Six laps remaining in stage 2. #17-Buescher, #41-Preece, #22-Logano, #2-Cindric, and #10-Gragson the top 5.
Lap 113 – The rest of the drivers pit. #12-Blaney too fast on pit road.
Lap 112 – Some of the remaining drivers pit. Looks like 7 of them come down pit road. #11-Hamlin overshot his pit. #20-Bell too fast.
Lap 108 – The top 12 drivers have not pitted yet. They all topped off on fuel before the start of the stage. They will need to pit before the end of the stage. 13 laps remaining.
Lap 107 – #11-Hamlin leads.
Lap 105 – #7-LaJoie spun coming off pit road after hitting some water, but continues on. No caution.
Lap 104 – More pit stops with 12 more drivers in.
Lap 103 – #22-Logano leads with #23-Wallace second as pit stops kick off. 11 drivers on pit road, all appear to be Fords.
Lap 102 – Expecting green flag stops to being soon, with 19 laps remaining in the stage.
Lap 96 – #17-Buescher leads for the first time. The pace is starting to pick up to prevent anyone from being able to run the stage without pitting.
Lap 88 – Speeds remain slow as fuel savings continue. Most drivers are running 5 seconds per lap slower than their fastest lap of the day.
Lap 81 – So far, the race has seen 36 lead changes among 15 different drivers.
Lap 76 – Nemechek, Alfredo, LaJoie, Gragson, Dillon the top 5. Much of the field three wide. Fuel saving underway.
Lap 73 – Now #42-Nemechek in front.
Lap 71 – #62-Alfredo to the lead.
Lap 70 – #16- Van Gisbergen takes his turn out front. #3-Dillon second.
Lap 68 – #12-Ryan Blaney leads for the first time today.
Lap 67 – Green flag for the start of the second stage. #8-Busch leads.
Lap 65 – A number of drivers come back down pit road to top off on fuel.
Lap 63 – Leaders pit. Off pit road: #8-Busch, #9-Elliott, #12-Blaney, #2-Cindric, #21-Burton, #24-Byron.
Lap 61 – Caution out for the end of stage 1. The top 10: #2-Cindric, #9-Elliott, #24-Byron, #12-Blaney, #8-Busch, #21-Burton, #20-Bell, #6-Keselowski, #45-Reddick, #48-Bowman. The free pass will be #5-Larson.
Lap 58 – Three laps remaining in stage 1. #2-Cindric leads #21-Burton.
Lap 47 – Pit stops complete it’s now #9-Elliott, #24-Byron, #8-Busch, #2-Cindric, and #21- Burton the top 5.
Lap 46- #6-Brad Keselowski now leads. Pit stops still cycling through. #22-Logano too fast on pit road.
Lap 44 – #11-Hamlin spins coming on to pit road.
Lap 43 – #9-Chase Elliott leads for the first time as pit stops pit up. #71-Smith and #99-Suarez too fast on pit road.
Lap 42 – #10-Noah Gragson leads as some drivers start green flag pit stops.
Lap 40 – #78-B.J. McLeod ran out of gas and had to pit.
Lap 33 – Still three wide throughout the lead pack. Teams are saving fuel, but pit stops coming just past halfway through the first stage.
Lap 31 – The first 37 drivers are still in the lead back. 37th place #12-Ryan Blaney is just 1.6 second off the lead. #5-Larson still the only driver a lap down.
Lap 29 – Truex leads Briscoe, McLeod, Haley and Hamlin. Expect pit stops in the next 10 laps or so.
Lap 18 – Now #51-Justin Haley to the front. There has already been 7 different leaders.
Lap 15 – #14-Chase Briscoe takes the lead.
Lap 14 – Larson is now a lap down.
Lap 11 – 10 laps complete. #78-B.J. McLeod leads #11-Hamlin, #31-Hemric, #7-LaJoie and #14-Briscoe. #5-Larson is 46 seconds back and will be lapped in the next few laps, but no other driver is in danger of losing a lap, keeping Larson in the free pass position.
Lap 8 – #31-Daniel Hemric the leader.
Lap 7 – #19-Martin Truex, Jr is the new leader.
Lap 6 – #2-Austin Cindric leads at the line.
Lap 3 – Larson is half a lap off the leaders with two laps complete.
Lap 1 – Larson serves his pass through penalty.
3:20pm/et: Green flag at Talladega. Radar now looks good. No delays expected at this point.
3:08pm/et: Engines are fired.
3:00pm/et: Pre-race ceremonies are underway at Talladega. There is a bit of rain in the area, but nothing that should cause more than a short delay if it hits the track.
2:00pm/et: The track is dry and cars have been pushed to pit road. The radar looks promising.
11:40am/et: Cars remain in the garage as track drying continues.
10:30am/et: It has rained at the track but drying in underway.
Sunday morning: The forecast for today looks better. While rain is expected in the morning, it appears that rain will move out prior to the start of the race.
Saturday afternoon: It’s less than 24 hours until the scheduled start of the race. NASCAR has not made an announcement about moving up the start so it will remain a 3:20pm/et green flag. The updated forecast is: Showers, mainly before 1pm. High near 59. North wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Saturday morning: The forecast continues to slightly improve. The updated forecast from the National Weather Service: Showers, mainly before 1pm. High near 58. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday afternoon: The National Weather Service forecast for Sunday is now: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm, then showers after 8am. High near 59. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. NASCAR will not make any decision on a postponement before Sunday afternoon because severe weather and emergency situations are not forecasted. They could move the start of the race up by an hour with 24 hours notice (by Saturday afternoon).
Thursday evening: Weather looks like it could be an issue this weekend. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday’s forecast is for a 30% chance of rain in the afternoon. Sunday’s calls for an 80% chance of rain. Monday’s forecast looks good, if it comes to that.
Race details:
Broadcast: FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 188 laps / 500.08 miles
Stages: 60 / 120 / 188
Average time of race: 3:27:16
Pit road speed: 55 mph
Caution car speed: 70 mph
Fuel Window: 45 laps
Cars to the rear: #5-Kyle Larson (unapproved adjustments)
Paint Schemes
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway have been made.
Pole winner #34-Michael McDowell chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #2-Austin Cindric took the 6th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Talladega Pit Stall page.
#34-Michael McDowell won the Busch pole for the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway with a speed of 182.022mph for his 2nd pole of the year, 1st at Talladega and 2nd of his career.
#2-Austin Cindric will start second followed by #38-Todd Gilliland #8-Kyle Busch, #3-Austin Dillon, #19-Martin Truex, Jr., #22-Joey Logano, #17-Chris Buescher, #9-Chase Elliott, and #20-Christopher Bell.
#5-Kyle Larson was not allowed to make a qualifying lap. The team made an unapproved adjustment to the roof rails as they were pushing the car out to the grid.
See the complete qualifying results and the GEICO 500 Starting Lineup.
Talladega Superspeedway – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the GEICO 500 with a lap of 52.609 seconds, 182.022 mph.
This is his second pole in 475 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his second pole and fifth top-10 start in 2024.
This is his first pole in 27 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Austin Cindric (second) posted his sixth top-10 start of 2024 and his second in five races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Todd Gilliland (third) posted his first top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his third in ten races this season.
Josh Berry (29th) was the fastest qualifying rookie
(NASCAR)
Qualifying Order
There will be no practice at Talladega.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is posted, 38 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Some notes: #15-Ware, #16-VanGisbergen, #62-Alfredo, #78-McLeod.
See the full entry list on the GEICO 500 Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Talladega Superspeedway
Race rules and information:
