Event: GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)
Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 21
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Layout: 2.66-mile oval
Laps/Miles: 188 laps/500 miles
Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
SHR Fast Facts:
– Noah Gragson brings his quiet consistency to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Sunday’s GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. The driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing comes into the 10th race of the season with three straight top-20 finishes. While none of those performances will be mounted over the mantle, that kind of solid consistency is key to emerging from Talladega with points in hand as opposed to being in a points hole. The 2.66-mile oval is notorious for sending drivers to an early exit via The Big One, the perfunctory multicar accident that dashes any hope of victory and leaves drivers with just a handful of points and a garage full of mangled parts. In three career Cup Series starts at Talladega, Gragson has two top-20 finishes. His most recent Talladega start in last year’s GEICO 500 ended on lap 190 when he was collected in a seven-car melee.
– Back-to-back top-10 finishes have vaulted Chase Briscoe from 18th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings to 12th heading into the GEICO 500 Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The six-position gain has come via a 10th-place drive April 7 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and a sixth-place run last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. That sixth-place finish in the Lone Star State was Briscoe’s fourth top-10 of the year and his best result in the nine races held so far this season. The driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing is eyeing another solid points tally despite Talladega being a track where drivers often end up pointed in the wrong direction.
– For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Josh Berry and the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse will take on the high-banked, 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway during Sunday’s Geico 500. The 33-year-old native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, has raced twice during the Cup Series’ NextGen era at Talladega’s sister track, the 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway oval. His first outing at “The World Center of Racing” came with Legacy Motor Club and resulted in a 22nd-place finish last August. He then kicked off his official Cup Series rookie season in the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing in February’s 66th running of the Daytona 500. Berry held his position in the lead pack until he was spun on pit road, which relegated him to the tail of the field and out of the draft. He finished 25th.
– After a solid 12th-place finish last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Ryan Preece carries that momentum to a track where momentum is paramount – Talladega Superspeedway. The sweeping 2.66-mile oval in eastern Alabama hosts the GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race this Sunday, and when Preece last turned laps there in October, he finished eighth after leading eight laps.
OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:
WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:
Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
How does the chemistry you have built with your teammates off the track help you at a place like Talladega Superspeedway?
“Having good chemistry with your teammates is a really important part of speedway racing, especially on green-flag pit stops. Being able to trust each other and lean on each other to get back up to speed is really important to staying competitive. On track, it can be challenging to stay together, but being able to help each other off pit road is crucial.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Talladega marks the 10th race of the season and you came into this year as the most tenured Stewart-Haas driver. How has it been so far this year with two new teammates in Josh Berry and Noah Gragson?
“It’s been really good. Honestly, it’s probably been my favorite year at Stewart-Haas. All of my teammates are relatively the same age as me. We’re all kind of the same, where we’re at career-wise, and it’s just been a lot of fun from the camaraderie side and just getting to know them better. I just feel like from a teamwork standpoint, we’re way better than we’ve ever been as far as working together. I would say 10 races in we’re farther ahead from a teamwork standpoint, so hopefully we can continue to grow that.”
Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Daytona was your first points-paying race with Stewart-Haas Racing and Talladega marks your 10th race with the team. What’s the journey been like so far?
“It’s been a lot of good times, some bad times, struggled some of the weekends, but overall I feel like we learn from those challenging weekends and it seems like we’ve been able to rebound and put some solid races under our belts. A couple of top-10s, a few 12th-place finishes, we just want to keep building on that and minimize the mistakes. I’m excited to get down to Talladega. It’s crazy that we’re already 10 races into it.”
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse
What are your expectations for Talladega, especially considering your strong performance at the track last fall?
“Whenever our team goes to a superspeedway, I feel pretty confident. Racing at superspeedways is like playing a game of chess, and I like to think a lot of us play that game pretty well. At superspeedways, passing and making runs is really tough, so positioning yourself within the first couple of rows is important to have a shot at the end to win. Talladega is also a great opportunity to score stage points, and we see the value in those. We just have to do our best to accomplish those things this weekend because this is a good shot for us to have a really strong result.”
