The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this weekend for Sunday\u2019s 500\u2011mile race on the iconic 2.66\u2011mile tri\u2011oval.<\/p>\n
Talladega Superspeedway opened in 1969 on the site of a former World War II airfield and was designed to be one of the longest and fastest tracks in stock\u2011car racing. The track has produced some of the closest finishes in NASCAR history, including margins as tight as 0.002 seconds.<\/p>\n
For Sunday\u2019s race, NASCAR has adjusted the stage lengths:<\/p>\n
Stage 1: 98 lapsStage 2: 45 lapsFinal Stage: 45 laps<\/p>\n
The changes are intended to allow the final two stages to be run without a fuel stop, reducing fuel\u2011saving strategies that have slowed superspeedway pack racing.<\/p>\n
Last weekend at Kansas Speedway, Kaulig Racing drivers AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon finished 31st and 33rd, respectively.<\/p>\n
This weekend:<\/p>\n
Grizzly Nicotine Pouches returns as the primary sponsor for both the No. 16 and No. 10 ChevroletsKaulig Racing remains the only Cup Series organization without a technical alliance<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfa Broadcast: FOX
\ud83d\udcfb Radio: MRN & SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
\ud83d\udd52 Start Time: Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
AJ Allmendinger \u2013 No. 16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches ChevroletWeekend NotesGrizzly Returns: Grizzly Nicotine Pouches returns as the primary sponsor for the No. 16 at Talladega.The brand debuted with Allmendinger at Bowman Gray Stadium (The Clash) and has also appeared at Atlanta, Darlington, and Martinsville.Allmendinger most recently finished 15th in the Grizzly\u2011branded Chevrolet.Grizzly will serve as primary sponsor for 14 races in 2026.Talladega in 2025:April: Started 19th, finished 24thOctober: Started 34th, finished 37th (accident while leading the pack on Lap 51)Talladega Cup Career:23 starts1 top\u2011five3 top\u201110sBest finish: 5th (May 4, 2014)O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts & Truck Series:O\u2019Reilly Series: 1 win (Oct. 1, 2022), 3 top\u2011fives, 4 top\u201110sTruck Series: Best finish 5th (2006)Season So Far (2026):Kansas \u2013 31st (pit\u2011road incident)Bristol \u2013 15thMartinsville \u2013 27thDarlington \u2013 30thLas Vegas \u2013 24thPhoenix \u2013 19thCOTA \u2013 9th (best of season)EchoPark (Atlanta) \u2013 12thDaytona 500 \u2013 19thCareer Highlights:3 NASCAR Cup Series wins22 top\u2011fives, 88 top\u201110s, 5 poles18\u2011time O\u2019Reilly Series winnerWill make his 500th Cup Series start at SonomaCrew Chief: Trent Owens (joined Kaulig in 2022)AJ Allmendinger Quote<\/p>\n
On his Talladega game plan:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the new stage lengths, I think the first stage is similar to before, but the second and third stages will be more intense. Track position is going to be huge, especially since there are no pit stops if it stays green. We\u2019ve had fast superspeedway cars all year, including Daytona. The potential is there \u2014 it\u2019s about making the right decisions, surviving, and being there at the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ty Dillon \u2013 No. 10 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches ChevroletWeekend NotesBest Superspeedway Finish in 2026: 14th in the Daytona 500Talladega Cup Career:14 starts1 top\u2011five2 top\u201110s10 top\u201120sAverage finish: 16.9Notable finishes: 10th (2019), 11th (2017), 12th (2020)Talladega in 2025:April \u2013 23rdOctober \u2013 20thCareer Highlights:Best Cup finish: 3rd (Talladega, Fall 2020)3 Truck Series winsO\u2019Reilly Series win at Indianapolis (2014)Truck Series: Two starts in 2026 in Kaulig Racing\u2019s No. 25 Ram 1500Crew Chief: Andrew Dickeson, former RCR engineerIn\u2011Season Tournament Lore:2025 Cinderella run from No. 32 seed to finalsUpsets over Hamlin, Keselowski, Bowman, and Nemechek2026 Tournament Seeding: Locks after June 14 at Pocono RacewayTy Dillon Quote<\/p>\n
On racing at Talladega:<\/p>\n
\u201cTalladega has always been a strong track for me because I\u2019m comfortable with this style of racing. The key is patience. You have to avoid trouble and make it to the end. If you\u2019re there at the finish, anything can \u2014 and usually does \u2014 happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaulig Racing PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this weekend for Sunday\u2019s 500\u2011mile race on the iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,716,7574,925,374,73229,634,13257,582,721,722,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-620582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-channel","11":"tag-chevrolet","12":"tag-daytona","13":"tag-fox","14":"tag-kansas-speedway","15":"tag-nascar","16":"tag-october","17":"tag-racing","18":"tag-series","19":"tag-speedway","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}