NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 Talladega Superspeedway May 4

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Next Race: Aaron’s 499 Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday, May 4 Time: 1 p.m. (ET)
TV: FOX, 12 p.m. (ET) Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 500 miles (188 laps)

NASCAR Nationwide Series
Next Race: Aaron’s 312 Talladega Superspeedway
Saturday, May 3 Time: 3 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN, 2:30 p.m. (ET) Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 311.22 miles (117 laps)

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Next Race: SFP 250 Kansas Speedway
The Date: Friday, May 9 8:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. (ET) Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 250 miles (167 laps)

Aaron’s 499, the second restrictor-plate race of the year at Talladega Superspeedway, is a high-banked 2.66-mile tri-oval – the biggest oval in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Like Daytona this track has a long history of races & crashes that had it’s 1st NASCAR Sprint Cup race in September 1969. With the high speed & close racing due to the restrictor-plate racing, this race always brings excitement & usually produces what the fans call the big one. At 200 mph if something goes wrong you might just be along for the ride & hope for the best, this race like Daytona the spotters can try to guide their car through mayhem on the track. Talladega has come to be known as NASCAR’s ultimate wild-card race with Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 to make the Chase and will in also be back Oct. 19 during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Unlike the Daytona 500 in February which had time trials for the front row & 2 qualifying races for the rest of the field, this race field will be decided by Knockout qualifying. Watch for cars running together to increase speed as the single-car runs are a thing of the past and this might be the most exciting run for the Coors Light Pole Award yet. (Knockout qualifying Saturday, 1 p.m. ET on FOX). Penske Fords & Hendricks’ Chevs have been strong and if not favorites at least contenders for the Coors Light Pole Award.

Favorites to win the race on Sunday you would have Dale Earnhardt Jr. who has a strong restrictor-plate record including winning this year’s Daytona 500. He has won the Talladega race five times in his career and is having a good year.

My other pick would have to be Jeff Gordon who has been so close to winning so many times I think he can almost taste it and was still positive after coming in 2nd at the last race. But this is the wildcard race and there is still a lot of drivers that did not get a win this year and want to make the Chase.

Team Penske: Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are contenders for the Championship with their qualifying and winning races they are pretty likely to make the Chase.

Four Champions to watch for: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth. Neither has a win yet this year and must be felling the pressure to make the Chase, all 4 have won at Talladega and will be trying for one this Sunday.

McMurray is another one to watch for. Jamie McMurray won his seventh career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race last October at Talladega and it was his 4th in the series at a restrictor plate track, twice Daytona and twice at Talladega.

NASCAR Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader and Sunoco Rookie of the Year frontrunner
Chase Elliott was not happy with his performance at Daytona. Chase Elliott said “I didn’t feel like I did a very good job learning the draft as quickly as I needed to. So hopefully I can step up for the guys (at Talladega). The biggest thing there is just trying to stay out of trouble. It’s much easier said than done.”

In addition to Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Darrell Wallace Jr., 10 other drivers will also attempt to start their first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Talladega. They are Dakoda Armstrong, Tanner Berryhill, Ryan Blaney, Chad Boat, Matt Dibenedetto, Joey Gase, Dylan Kwasniewski, Tommy Joe Martins, Ryan Reed and Ryan Sieg. … When Sam Hornish Jr. fills in for Kyle Busch in the No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota this weekend at Talladega it will be the first Nationwide race the Las Vegas native hasn’t started since September 14, 2013, at Kentucky Speedway. Drew Herring filled in for Busch at Kentucky, finishing sixth.

NASCAR Next Class Announced; K&N Pro West Heads To Stockton…

Twelve drivers were announced for the 2014-15 NASCAR Next class on Friday at Richmond International Raceway: Cole Custer, Rubén García Jr., Gray Gaulding, Ryan Gifford, Austin Hill, Erik Jones, Jesse Little, Dylan Lupton, Brandon McReynolds, Ryan Preece, Ben Rhodes and Kenzie Ruston.

The 12 drivers have already won 21 times, a total that Custer added to with his victory in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East’s Blue Ox 100 Saturday morning at Richmond. Custer held off Rhodes for his third career win, while Hill finished fourth.

The newest NASCAR Next class includes youngest winners in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (Custer), NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series (Garcia) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (Jones), as well as youngest NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion (Preece) and highest finishing female in NASCAR K&N Pro Series history (Ruston). The class also includes the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West Sunoco Rookies of the Year (Little and Lupton, respectively).

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West returns to action at Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway on Saturday, May 3. NASCAR Next driver Brandon McReynolds will look to give Bill McAnally Racing its third victory at .25-mile asphalt oval. McReynolds and Lupton trail Greg Pursley by five points after two races in the West.

Last weekend, NASCAR Next alum Daniel Suárez made his Nationwide Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing, the first of three events the 22-year old driver participated in that weekend. He ran the K&N East event at Richmond on Saturday before flying to Monterrey, where he captured his third checkered flag of the year in the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series.

Bobby Santos won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway, his 11th career victory.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html

 

For additional information, contact:

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.