Talladega Superspeedway is known for its unpredictability, and for Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse team, managing that balance between opportunity and risk will be key this weekend. Berry led laps in both races at the 2.66-mile track last season, putting himself in position, but like much of the field, was left trying to avoid the chaos that often defines superspeedway racing.<\/p>\n
As teams prepare for Sunday\u2019s Jack Link\u2019s 500, NASCAR officials have adjusted the stage lengths in an effort to encourage more aggressive racing and reduce fuel-saving.<\/p>\n
For Sunday\u2019s race, the longest segment (98 laps) will open the event, followed by two shorter stages of 45 laps each to close out the race.<\/p>\n
The change is intended to reduce the impact of fuel-saving, which teams have used to shorten pit stops late in races. By conserving fuel, drivers can take on less during green-flag stops, allowing them to gain positions when they cycle back onto the track.<\/p>\n
Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse, said the adjustment is a positive step, but doesn\u2019t expect it to significantly alter how teams approach the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re still going to have to save fuel \u2013 long story, short,\u201d Berry said. \u201cThe first stage is going be longer, so obviously there will still be some fuel saving early in the run to try to shorten your pit stop under green flag, if it goes to green flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question of where it goes from there is if you have two shorter stages \u2013 your second stage and your final stage \u2013 then as much fuel as you can save in the second stage will significantly shorten your pit stop for your final stage, which is when track position matters the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a hard time believing that a majority of the field is going to intentionally burn a lot of fuel that second stage just to try to get stage points and then come out last to start the final stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berry added that it can be difficult to maneuver through the pack, especially at Talladega, which could continue to influence strategy regardless of the format change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Daytona is a different story, but at Talladega it seems to get locked down with two lanes and maybe three,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will definitely look different. Truthfully, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to fix it, but it\u2019ll be interesting to follow. It\u2019ll shake things up a bit and hopefully will make a better race for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Per NASCAR rules for drafting tracks, there will be no practice prior to qualifying this weekend. Qualifying is set for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET with coverage on Prime Video.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s 188-lap, 500-mile race is scheduled for a 3 p.m. ET start time, with coverage on FOX.<\/p>\n
Saturday, April 25<\/p>\n
Berry will be participate in a Q&A session at the Ford Racing activation at 12:00 p.m. local time in the Talladega Superspeedway fan zone.<\/p>\n
Berry will sign autographs at the Team Penske\/Wood Brothers merchandise hauler beginning at 12:15 p.m. local time (pending weather) in the Talladega Superspeedway fan zone. 100 wristbands will be distributed on a first come, first-served basis.<\/p>\n
WBR PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talladega Superspeedway is known for its unpredictability, and for Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,925,10221,84761,374,634,7577,582,82,98034,5794,11574],"class_list":{"0":"post-622512","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-daytona","11":"tag-ford","12":"tag-ford-racing","13":"tag-fox","14":"tag-nascar","15":"tag-qualifying","16":"tag-racing","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-talladega-superspeedway","19":"tag-team-penske","20":"tag-wood-brothers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622512","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=622512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}