Talladega 2 Preview

The Chase is heating up with only three races remaining and Ford drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano are in hot pursuit as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway. Blaney is 40 points out of first place after gaining 45 points last weekend while Logano is 44 out following a 48-point gain. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Layne Riggs looks to cut into a 39-point deficit on Friday afternoon.

THE SCHEDULE

Friday, October 23 -- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 4 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, October 25 -- NASCAR Cup Series, 2 p.m. ET (NBC)

UP TO SPEED

PROUD TO HONOR
Ford, in collaboration with NASCAR, Blue Star Families, IMSA and HSR, is bringing together motorsports, music and a shared mission of military support all in honor of service members, veterans and their families. It’s a first-of-its kind military tribute race with all six branches of the armed forces being represented. The inaugural Ford Proud To Honor Veterans Day Classic is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Daytona International Speedway. The event will feature 12 Ford Racing drivers representing a variety of disciplines competing in a race on the road course with the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R that is used to compete in the IMSA-sanctioned Mustang Challenge and Mustang Cup series. Another highlight will be a musical performance by Zac Brown Band. Donations and proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit military families through a variety of non-profit organizations. Tickets can be purchased through the official website at fordveteransdayclassic.com.

FORD DRIVERS IN THE CHASE

5th – Ryan Blaney (-40 behind leader Kyle Larson)

6th – Joey Logano (-44)

8th – Austin Cindric (-130)

15th – Chris Buescher (-204)

16th – Ryan Preece (-211)

TALLADEGA PLAYOFF SUCCESS
No track has provided more playoff success for Ford than Talladega Superspeedway, which has seen 10 Blue Oval wins in the postseason. Team Penske has been at the forefront of that success with Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney each winning twice.

FORD PLAYOFF WINS AT TALLADEGA

2005 – Dale Jarrett, Robert Yates Racing

2009 – Jamie McMurray, Roush Fenway Racing

2012 – Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing

2014 – Brad Keselowski, Team Penske

2015 – Joey Logano, Team Penske

2016 – Joey Logano, Team Penske

2017 – Brad Keselowski, Team Penske

2018 – Aric Almirola, Stewart-Haas Racing

2019 – Ryan Blaney, Team Penske

2023 – Ryan Blaney, Team Penske

KESELOWSKI CLIMBING ALL-TIME TALLADEGA WIN LIST
Brad Keselowski, who will be making his 34th career start at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, is the winningest active driver at the track with six NASCAR Cup Series victories. That ties him for second on the all-time list with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon and puts him four behind all-time winner Dale Earnhardt Sr., who won 10 times during his NASCAR Hall of Fame career. In 35 races, Keselowski has registered 12 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes while completing almost 95 percent of the laps (6251-of-6599).

THEY SAID IT - AFTER SUNDAY'S RACE IN PHOENIX

RYAN BLANEY: “We’ll just keep chipping away at it. We did a good job today of getting some good points and finishing well and being in contention to win the race. We’ll just try to do the same thing next week of trying to run well through the stages and find ourselves in a spot to capitalize at the end. It’s better than where we came in, so we just have to keep chipping away at it.”

JOEY LOGANO: “We’re more optimistic than we were coming in, so I kind of thought if we can be 60 out, we’ll probably be in decent shape, and I think we’re 40-something out (44), so, overall, it was a solid day.”

A LOOK BACK

BLANEY’S TALLADEGA SUCCESS
Ryan Blaney heads into this weekend 40 points behind leader Kyle Larson with three races remaining in the season and if he’s looking to cut into that further, Talladega Superspeedway might be as good of a place as any. That’s because the 2023 series champion has three career wins at the track (2019, 2020 and 2023) with all of them having their share of drama. In 2019, it was a photo finish victory over Ryan Newman in a race that had to be completed on Monday due to rain. Like many Talladega events, it came down to a final inch as Newman got past Blaney for the lead coming off turn three, only to see the Team Penske driver battle back on the inside and nip him by a bumper at the stripe. The script was much the same in 2020 as rain forced the race to Monday with Blaney this time beating Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by inches in an overtime finish. In 2023, Blaney outdueled Kevin Harvick in a door-to-door battle for the entire final lap to win in another photo finish.

FORD DRIVERS IN THE CHASE

2nd – Layne Riggs (-39 behind leader Kaden Honeycutt)

4th – Chandler Smith (-117)

5th – Ty Majeski (-135)

9th – Ben Rhodes (-188)

MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Ford holds a 25-point lead over Toyota in the race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series manufacturers' championship with three races remaining. Ford has won that title twice when it posted back-to-back 12-win seasons in 1999 and 2000. Greg Biffle was the driving force behind both of those titles as he won nine times in ‘99 and then provided owner Jack Roush with his first NASCAR championship in 2000.

WHO’S FIRST?
The current Ford driver lineup has combined for 35 wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but none of them have come at Talladega Superspeedway. Ben Rhodes has a pair of runner-up finishes, but to this point the only Blue Oval victories have been by Mark Martin (2006) and Brett Moffitt (2023).

PAST WINNERS

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT TALLADEGA

1975 – Buddy Baker (Sweep)

1976 – Buddy Baker (1)

1979 – Bobby Allison (1)

1983 – Dale Earnhardt (2)

1985 – Bill Elliott and Cale Yarborough

1987 – Dave Allison and Bill Elliott

1989 – Davey Allison and Terry Labonte

1992 – Davey Allison (1)

1994 – Jimmy Spencer (2)

1995 – Mark Martin (1)