Chase Briscoe locks up Championship 4 spot with overtime victory at Talladega: In a typically dramatic push to the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway checkered flag, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe made a last lap pass on the frantic-field to claim victory in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race and earn his first-ever career shot at the season title. The 29-year old Indiana-native Briscoe will join his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who won last week at Las Vegas, leaving the final two positions in the Championship 4 to be decided in next week’s regular season finale at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.[Read More]
#19-Chase Briscoe won the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The win is his third win of the year, first at Talladega and fifth career win. He is now locked into the Championship race at Phoenix, along with teammate #11-Denny Hamlin.
#34-Todd Gilliland finished 2nd followed by #54-Ty Gibbs, #23-Bubba Wallace, #41-Cole Custer, #77-Carson Hocevar, #45-Tyler Reddick, #20-Christopher Bell, #38-Zane Smith, and #6-Brad Keselowski.
Pole sitter #71-Michael McDowell led 5 laps on the day, earned the fastest lap bonus, and finished 17th.
A late race caution caused by a #17-Chris Buescher spin set up an overtime finish. #24-William Byron and #5-Kyle Larson started up front on the final restart. Wallace lead at the white flag. Larson ran out of fuel on the final lap and Byron spun out in the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag Briscoe jumped to the lead late in the lap and won by .145 second.
Stage 1 was won by #54-Ty Gibbs Stage 2 was won by #19-Chase Briscoe.
There were 77 lead changes among 27 drivers and 6 cautions for 28 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 149.178mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings Before Reset, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Where the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers finished at Talladega:
#19-Chase Briscoe, 1st
#20-Christopher Bell, 8th
#22-Joey Logano, 16th
#12-Ryan Blaney, 23rd
#11-Denny Hamlin, 24th
#24-William Byron, 25th
#5-Kyle Larson, 26th
#9-Chase Elliott, 40th
Race Fast Facts – Talladega:
Chase Briscoe (P) won the YellaWood 500, his fifth victory in 178 Cup Series races.
This is his third victory and 19th top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in ten races at Talladega Superspeedway.
* Todd Gilliland (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2025.
Ty Gibbs (third) posted his first top-10 finish in seven races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Shane Van Gisbergen (11th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Chase Briscoe (P) leads the point standings by 9 points over Christopher Bell (P).
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Talladega:
Race 34 of 36 in the season
Race 8 of 10 in the Playoffs
Race 2 of 3 in the Round of 8
1) #19-Chase Briscoe [win in Round of 8], 4116
2) #11-Denny Hamlin [win in Round of 8], 4103
3) #20-Christopher Bell, 4107, +37
4) #5-Kyle Larson, 4106, +36
Below the Championship Round cutoff
5) #24-William Byron, 4070, -36
6) #22-Joey Logano, 4068, -38
7) #12-Ryan Blaney, 4059, -47
8) #9-Chase Elliott, 4044, -62
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag for Chase Briscoe. He wins over Gilliland Gibbs, Wallace and Custer. On the final lap Larson ran out of fuel and Byron spun in the tri-oval.
White flag. Wallace is the leader over Larson, Briscoe, Byron, Hocevar, Gibbs, Bell, Gilliland, Smith, Custer.
Lap 192 – Green flag for the first overtime attempt.
Lap 189 – Pit road is open. Blaney and Logano have to pit for fuel. Byron’s team says they only have enough fuel for one overtime. Larson’s team says he’s about the same.
Lap 188 – Under caution it’s Byron, Larson, Hocevar, Wallace, Bell, Briscoe, Gibbs, Smith, Gilliland and Suarez.
Lap 187 – CAUTION is out. Accident on the backstretch. Buescher in the inside wall after contact. There will be an overtime finish. Hamlin gets the free pass.
Lap 187 – Two to go. Now Buescher out front over Hocevar, Byron, Wallace, Larson, Gibbs, Briscoe, Bell, Suarez and Smith.
Lap 186 – Now Wallace up front with three laps remaining. Byron second and Briscoe and Larson trailing.
Lap 185 – Four to go. Now it’s Briscoe over Byron, Larson, Gilliland and Wallace. Still three lanes of traffic throughout.
Lap 184 – Larson over Briscoe. Wallace up to third, then Buescher and Bell.
Lap 183 – Briscoe leads Larson at the line.
Lap 182 – Larson leads with Briscoe now second, followed by Byron, Gilliland and Buescher.
Lap 181 – Larson moves back to second.
Lap 180 – Gilliland back to the lead over Smith. Larson back up to third. Most of the field three wide.
Lap 179 – Ten laps to go. Smith, Chastain, Gilliland, Blaney, Buescher, Larson, Byron, Logano Bell, Wallace.
Lap 178 – Now Smith to the lead over Suarez, Chastain, Larson and Buescher. Logano back to 16th.
Lap 177 -Larson back to the lead with Suarez now second. Gilliland back to third.
Lap 176 – Gilliland over Larson by .001 second as they battle for the lead. Larson on the outside.
Lap 175 – Larson leads Gilliland.
Lap 173 – Gilliland leads Larson, Blaney, Suarez, and Logano.
Lap 172 – Green flag with 17 laps remaining.
Lap 169 – Pit road is open. Leaders come in. Mostly fuel only. Off pit road: Blaney, Logano, Gilliland, Larson, Keselowski, Suarez, Buescher, Byron, Preece and Bell.. Hamlin’s team goes under the hood. He loses a lap during repairs.
Lap 167 – Hamlin says his throttle is sticking,
Lap 166 – CAUTION is out for Ware. He blew an engine and spun in turn 1.
Lap 163 – Gilliland and Logano continue to run side by side as the field is double wide. Pit stops could be coming soon. 26 laps to go.
Lap 160 – Logano credited with the lead at the line as he and Gilliland are side by side.
Lap 159 – Third laps remaining: Gilliland, Logano, Hamlin, Blaney, Byron, Keselowski, Buescher, Larson, Preece, Suarez.
Lap 158 – Gilliland takes the lead over Logano.
Lap 153 – Logano back to the lead. Chastain back to 5th.
Lap 151 – Chastain leads. The field is double wide.
Lap 149 – Forty laps remaining. Logano continues to lead. Blaney second, then McDowell, Keselowski and Buescher. Everyone needs to pit once more for fuel. They are now in the fuel window.
Lap 14 – Herbst slows on track and heads to pit road.
Lap 141 – Berry done for the day after a gear oil issue similar to what Logano was complaining about earlier.
Lap 139 – Fifty laps remaining in the race. Logano leads Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher, Reddick, Busch, Preece, Herbst, Alfredo, and Gilliland.
Lap 136 -Logano and Blaney now up front. Keselowski third, then Suarez and Herbst. The field is primarily two wide throughout.
Lap 132 – Nemechek leads Reddick, Gibbs, Busch, and Alfredo.
Lap 127 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 62 laps remaining. Nemechek leads.
Lap 126 – Chastain, Hamlin, Suarez and several others pit and will drop to the rear for the restart.
Lap 125 – Chastain is the leader over Hamlin, and Suarez. They did not pit yet.
Lap 124 – Pit road is open. Leaders are in. Off pit road: Nemechek, Reddick, Busch, Logano, Alfredo, Preece and Hocevar. But Hocevar was speeding.
Lap 121 – CAUTION out for the end of the second stage. Briscoe wins it over Larson, Hocevar, Byron, Bell, Gibbs, Blaney, Gilliland, Nemechek, and Bowman.
Lap 120 – Briscoe back to the lead.
Lap 119 – Larson to lead with two laps left in the second stage.
Lap 117 – Green flag with four laps remaining in stage 2.
Lap 116 – On the restart it will be Briscoe, Hocevar, Larson, Bell, Byron, Blaney, Gibbs, Bowman, Hamlin, and Gilliland.
Lap 115 – Pit road is open. Those that hadn’t pitted, including Logano, and a few others are in. Briscoe back to the lead.
Lap 112 – Pit road busy this time. Much of the field comes in. Reddick takes the lead. CAUTION out when SVG slides coming onto pit road and cannot get restarted.
Lap 110 – This time Buescher, Keselowski, and Preece are in. Buescher too fast entering pit road.
Lap 108 – Busch pits from the lead, he’s joined by Berry, Ware, McDowell and Hill. Briscoe is the leader.
Lap 107 – TDillon and Alfredo pit.
Lap 104 – Teams prepping for green flag pit stops.
Lap 101 – Twenty laps remaining in stage 2: Berry, Busch, Logano, McDowell, Buescher, Blaney, Keselowski, Gilliland, Hill and Preece.
Lap 100 – Josh Berry now leads.
Lap 95 – The race is now halfway complete. Time elapsed: 1 hour, 36 minutes.
Lap 94 – Busch leads this time.
Lap 93 – McDowell leads at the line as the field remains three wide.
Lap 92 – Logano has been reporting a possible gear oil temperature issue. The team will monitor it.
Lap 90 – Busch retakes the lead.
Lap 87 – Ware takes the lead for the first time.
Lap 86 – McDowell back out front.
Lap 84 – Busch back to the lead as the field is three wide throughout. Fuel savings underway.
Lap 82 – McDowell back to the lead.
Lap 80 – Alfredo now the leader. Briscoe second, then Herbst, Hamlin and Busch.
Lap 75 – Busch is back in the lead. Much of the field three wide.
Lap 70 – Berry back to the lead. Buescher back in second.
Lap 67 – Buescher to the lead over Busch. TDillon fell to 11th.
Lap 66 – Back to green for the start of the second stage. TDillon, Buescher, Berry, Busch, Preece, Custer, Briscoe, Ware, Herbst, Hamlin the top 10.
Lap 65 – Several drivers come down pit road to top off on fuel. They will restart at the rear. TDillon the leader. He did not pit under caution.
Lap 63 – Pit road is open. Leaders are in. Off pit road: Buescher, Larson, Busch, Preece, Berry, Briscoe, Herbst.
Lap 62 – Elliott’s team will not be able to repair the car. He is done for the day. Barring any disqualifications, he will finish last.
Lap 61 – CAUTION for the end of stage 1. Gibbs wins it over Reddick, Nemechek, Blaney, Wallace, Logano, Smith, McDowell, Hocevar, and Bell. Elli
Lap 60 – Gibbs leads over Reddick, Blaney, Nemechek and Wallace.
Lap 59 – Green flag with two laps remaining in stage 1.
Lap 56 – Pit road is open. Many of the leaders stay out but several drivers pit. Buescher and Larson off pit road first.
Lap 55 – Cindric, Allmendinger, Gragson, Stenhouse and Haley are out of the race. Elliott’s car going to the DVP area for additional work.
Lap 54 – Logano now the leader over Buescher, Berry, Nemechek, and Gibbs.
Lap 52 – CAUTION out for an accident in turn three. Elliott caught in it as well as Cindric, Allmendinger, Jones, Gragson, Stenhouse, Haley. Heavy damage for Elliott but he drives away. Allmendinger gets out of his car but lays down beside it. before being helped up.
Lap 51 – Gragson to the lead with 10 to go in the first stage.
Lap 50 – Now Allmendinger, Gragson, Logano, Buescher, Jones. Hocevar to pit road with a tire going down.
Lap 49 – Blaney now the leader as pit stops have cycled through.
Lap 48 – More pit stops this time. Chastain too fast.
Lap 47 – Cindric now the leader.
Lap 46 – Busch gets a speeding penalty as well.
Lap 45 – Now many of the Chevys on pit road. Briscoe was too fast on pit road last lap.
Lap 44 – Pit stops begin with mostly Toyota teams.
Lap 39 – Keslowski leads for the first time today.
Lap 38 – Busch back out front. Drivers are getting in position for pit stops.
Lap 35 – Hamlin takes the lead over Berry. The field is back to double wide.
Lap 33 – Berry back out front. SVG in second.
Lap 32 – Nemechek is now the leader. Berry back to second and Hamlin up to third.
Lap 27 – The field is now mostly single file. Green flag pit stops could begin in the next few laps.
Lap 24 – Berry back to the lead. The field is now double wide throughout. No one has lost the draft yet.
Lap 23 – Busch now the leader again.
Lap 17 – Preece to the lead with Bell, Busch, Berry and SVG trailing.
Lap 11 – Berry back to the lead. All 40 cars are still in a pack. Last place McLeod is 2.5 seconds off the lead. Hamlin is running 39th,
Lap 7 – Wallace now the leader.
Lap 5 – Busch to the lead as the field still sorts out.
Lap 4 – Berry to the lead with Logano, Wallace, Gibbs, and Busch following. McDowell back to 9th. Much of the field is three wide.
Lap 2 – McDowell leads the first lap.
• 2:29pm/et – Green flag at Talladega.
• NASCAR says the sundown time is 7:00pm/et. If the race is not completed at that time, the race will continue for two more laps before ending.
• 2:17pm/et – Engines have been fired.
• 2:08pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• 1:30pm/et – NBC had pre-race coverage now.
• 11:50am/et – Rain moved out a while ago. Track drying continues and the race should start on time.
• The forecast generally looks good for today’s race. Morning rain should move out in plenty of time for the race to start as scheduled. According to the National Weather Service, “Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 10am, then a slight chance of showers between 10am and 4pm. High near 75. South wind around 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. .” The chance of rain at 2:00pm/et is just 15%.
YellaWood 500 Race Details
Broadcast: NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 188 laps / 500.08 miles
Stages: 60 / 120 / 188
Average time of race: 2:57:55
Pit road speed: 55 mph
Caution vehicle speed: 70 mph
Fuel Window: 45 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
- Drivers will be introduced on stage at 12:35 p.m.
- Drivers will exit stage, then proceed to parade vehicles. Parade vehicles will drop at TAIL of the field.
Invocation: 1:08:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 1:09:00 p.m.
Command: 1:16:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 1:28:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: #35-Riley Herbst (unapproved adjustments), #42-John Hunter Nemechek (unapproved adjustments), #43-Erik Jones (unapproved adjustments)
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway have been made.
Pole winner #71-Michael McDowell chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #19-Chase Briscoe took the sixth stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Talladega Pit Stall page.
#71-Michael McDowell won the Busch pole for the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway with a speed of 182.466 mph for his second pole of the year, third at Talladega and eighth of his career. McDowell has never won from the pole.
#19-Chase Briscoe will start second followed by #8-Kyle Busch, #2-Austin Cindric, #60-Ryan Preece, #21-Josh Berry, #20-Christopher Bell, #12-Ryan Blaney, #35-Riley Herbst and #23-Bubba Wallace
See the complete qualifying results and the YellaWood 500 Starting Lineup.
Where the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers start at Talladega:
#19-Chase Briscoe, 2nd
#20-Christopher Bell, 7th
#12-Ryan Blaney, 8th
#24-William Byron, 13th
#22-Joey Logano, 16th
#11-Denny Hamlin, 17th
#5-Kyle Larson, 19th
#9-Chase Elliott, 25th
Talladega – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the YellaWood 500 with a lap of 52.481 seconds, 182.466 mph.
This is his eighth pole in 535 NASCAR Cup Series races. This is his second pole and 12th top-10 start in 2025. This is his third pole in 30 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Chase Briscoe (P) (second) posted his 21st top-10 start of 2025 and his fourth in ten races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kyle Busch (third) posted his 13th top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 10th in 34 races this season.
Riley Herbst (ninth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR)
Qualifying Order
No practice at Talladega.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is posted, 40 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Part time teams entered: #33-Austin Hill, #62-Anythony Alfredo, #66-Casey Mears, #78-B.J. McLeod.
See the full entry list on the YellaWood 500 Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Talladega: Cup Series teams will run the same left- and right-side tires used at Talladega’s spring race in April, and at Daytona International Speedway on both visits this season.
Statistical Advance: Analyzing the YellaWood 500: A look at the NASCAR Cup Series statistical performances at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, going into the YellaWood 500 on October 19.
NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Talladega Superspeedway
- This weekend marks the 113th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, the 34th of 2025 and the second of the three races in the Round of 8.
- Talladega hosted a Playoff race in all 22 years of the Playoffs, but this is the first season it was in the Round of 8.
- The April Talladega race started a 28 straight week (189 days) stretch of races to end the season (includes the All-Star race); the longest stretch of consecutive weeks raced in series history.
- Qualifying at Talladega consists of two rounds with the fastest 10 from Round 1 moving to Round 2 to compete for the top-10 starting positions.
- Ford drivers won the pole for the last four races at Talladega; Front Row Motorsports won the pole for the last three.
- See much more
Race rules and information:
