TALLADEGA, Ala. – Drafting tracks in the NASCAR Next Gen era have brought an added onus to fuel saving in addition to the chaos and multiple lines of pack racing that have always existed. 

For Hendrick Motorsports, that means plenty of time and strategy possibilities to find the front of the field. 

Qualifying for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway went into the books on Saturday afternoon. Saturday’s qualifying session was made up of two rounds with the top 10 speeds from round one advancing to round two. 

Alex Bowman turned in the 11th-best lap to lead the Hendrick Motorsports contingent in a time of 52.769 seconds. William Byron will lineup just behind him in 13th after a lap of 52.774. Kyle Larson will roll off 19th (52.871) and Chase Elliott will start 25th (52.959). 

The race will be the second in the Cup Series Round of 8. Larson enters Talladega 35 points above the cutline while Byron (minus 15) and Elliott (minus 23) have a bit of work to do over the next two events to advance to the Championship 4. 

Sunday’s Cup Series main event at Talladega is set for 2 p.m. and will air on NBC. An Xfinity Series race was set to follow Cup qualifying. 

Here’s a look at Sunday’s starting lineup as well as the remaining weekend schedule:

ARTIFACT OF THE WEEK: Win a Jimmie Johnson artifact with this week’s trivia quiz!

NASCAR starting lineup for Sunday
Michael McDowell, No. 71, 52.481Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 52.5Kyle Busch, No. 8, 52.558Austin Cindric, No. 2, 52.563Ryan Preece, No. 60, 52.582Josh Berry, No. 21, 52.614Christopher Bell, No. 20, 52.66Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 52.679Riley Herbst, No. 35, 52.692Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 52.694Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 52.769Cole Custer, No. 41, 52.773William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 52.774Chris Buescher, No. 17, 52.802Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 52.81Joey Logano, No. 22, 52.819Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 52.821Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 52.854Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 52.871Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 52.889Austin Dillon, No. 3, 52.918Justin Haley, No. 7, 52.937Zane Smith, No. 38, 52.945Ross Chastain, No. 1, 52.955Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 52.959Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 52.981Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 52.996John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 53.0Ty Dillon, No. 10, 53.009Erik Jones, No. 43, 53.022Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 53.098Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 53.113Austin Hill, No. 33, 53.115AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 53.122Cody Ware, No. 51, 53.245Noah Gragson, No. 4, 53.327Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 53.43Anthony Alfredo, No. 62, 53.483BJ McLeod, No. 78, 53.632Casey Mears, No. 66, 53.93
What time is NASCAR on today?

Saturday, Oct. 18

4 p.m. – Xfinity Series race (CW)

Sunday, Oct. 19

Where is NASCAR racing this weekend? 

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series are both running at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. 

Where is Talladega?

Talladega Superspeedway is in the state of Alabama. 

NASCAR points standings
DriverMargin1. Denny Hamlin
ADV
2. Kyle Larson
+35
3. Christopher Bell
+20
4. Chase Briscoe
+15
————–
—–
5. William Byron
-15
6. Chase Elliott
-23
7. Joey Logano
-24
8. Ryan Blaney
-31