NASCAR Playoffs: ‘Talladega Nights’ cars, Round of 12 heating up. How to watch, odds

NASCAR races at Talladega are always intense, and that only increases when 12 of the drivers flying around the superspeedway are chasing a spot in the next round of the playoffs.

Talladega Superspeedway, the 2.66-mile asphalt track that’s hosted NASCAR Cup Series playoff races since 2004, is the site for the fifth race of this year’s postseason. The green flag will wave just past 2 p.m. for Sunday’s nationally-televised race on NBC. Fans can listen on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR.

“It’s got that college football vibe to it,” William Byron, who won his field-best seventh race last week, described the iconic track’s atmosphere on a video call. “Tailgating, a lot of people watching. A lot of excitement. I enjoy that.”

The last seven playoff races at Talladega have yielded seven different winners. In the 19 playoff races held there, none of its winners went on to win the Cup Series title in that same season. In 2021, Kyle Larson finished 37th at Talladega en route to his championship run.

Byron, who’s never won at Talladega in 11 starts, said this track is particularly difficult for drivers to gain track position. It’s important for drivers to get to the front of the 188-lap course early, as it’s especially harder to move through the field.

“Being a playoff race, it’s important to get up to the front and control the race,” Byron said. “It’s not like the spring where there’s a lot of different agendas.”

Sunday’s race marks the second of three races in the Round of 12, which conclude next weekend with the Charlotte Roval. Bubba Wallace (-2), Tyler Reddick (-3), Ryan Blaney (-11) and Kyle Busch (-17) find themselves below the elimination line in the Cup Series standings after Texas, where Busch wrecked out during Stage 1.

Kyle Larson, who wrecked with 20 laps remaining after he’d been dominating, finds himself just two points above that cut line in eighth place. In addition to his win locking him into the Round of 8, Byron currently holds the top spot in the Cup Series standings with 3,083 points, followed by Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher.

Shake and bake!

There will be a bit of “Talladega Nights” on the race track this weekend.

Ryan Preece’s No. 41 Ford will be decked out in white and blue with the Wonder Bread logo, just like Ricky Bobby’s car in the 2006 comedy “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” And like Cal Naughton Jr., Chase Brisoce will have the Old Spice red and blue on the hood of his No. 14 Ford.

The Stewart-Haas Racing drivers’ cars had been unsponsored for this race months ago, and Briscoe a simple idea, according to a release: “We should just do ‘Talladega Nights.’”

Preece made headlines after he flipped 10 times at Daytona about a month ago, flying across the nose of Briscoe’s car before going airborne over the grass.

“Basically, the same thing as during the movie,” Preece said in a teleconference with NASCAR Studios, according to a release.

Spire purchases Kyle Busch Motorsports

Kyle Busch has sold his perennial NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series contender to Spire Motorsports, the teams announced Wednesday.

The acquisition of Kyle Busch Motorsports, founded by the two-time Cup Series champion in 2010, will allow Spire to relocate its shop from Concord to Mooresville, where it will build a 77,000-square foot facility.

“I’m at a different point in my life now than I was back in 2010,” Busch said in a statement. “I never imagined that we would be able to win 100 races with 18 drivers and that one day I’d be racing in the Cup Series alongside so many of the drivers that I once mentored at KBM.”

KBM owns the record for most career Truck Series wins with 100, along with winning 14 races in 2014 to set the single-season record. The team has served as a development step for a number of young Toyota drivers, including Christopher Bell, William Byron, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace, all of whom have gone on to win multiple Cup Series races.

Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing, the primary Cup team that drives Toyotas, at the end of last season for Chevrolet-backed Richard Childress Racing.

Who’s favored to win the YellaWood 500?

Brad Keselowski is the favorite to win Sunday’s race at +1100 (11-1), according to DraftKings Sportsbook. He’s followed by Ryan Blaney (+1200, 12-1), Joey Logano (+1200, 12-1), Chris Buescher (+1200, 12-1) and William Byron (+1400, 14-1).

How to watch the NASCAR Playoffs at Talladega

Race: YellaWood 500

Place: Talladega Superspeedway (Talladega, Ala.)

Date: Sunday, Oct. 1

Time: 2:00 p.m.

TV: NBC (coverage starting at 1 p.m.)

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 500 miles (188 laps)

Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60, Stage 2 ends on Lap 120 and the Final Stage ends on Lap 188.

Purse: $8,806,315