TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Brad Keselowski felt the utmost confidence entering Talladega Superspeedway this weekend \u2014 even while knowing his car doesn\u2019t have the speed to keep up with the Cup Series leaders.<\/p>\n
Keselowski has six wins at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, tying him with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon for second in NASCAR history. Only Dale Earnhardt Sr., who won a record 10 times at the Alabama track, has more victories there.<\/p>\n
Keselowski will try to move into sole possession of second place Sunday in the first of two \u2018Dega races this season. It\u2019s far from a sure thing, especially given Toyota\u2019s dominance through the first nine races.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust need a little bit of luck,\u201d he said. \u201cI had two great races at Talladega in \u201924 and two just OK or bad races in \u201925. I guess that means I\u2019m probably on the other side of the cycle. So I\u2019m hopeful to make it count and hope we\u2019re on the positive side of that cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keselowski was the runner-up in both events in 2024. He wrecked out of the April race a year ago and then notched a 10th-place finish in October. His last win at NASCAR\u2019s longest track came in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cRacers tend to count their losses more than they count their wins,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why that is, probably because you have more losses than you have wins. But I feel like there\u2019s probably a few races at Talladega that I should have won and I didn\u2019t. And then there\u2019s probably a few I shouldn\u2019t have won that I did.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo maybe it all kind of works out in the wash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cup Series points leader Tyler Reddick, who drives for 23XI Racing and NBA great Michael Jordan, has five wins through the first two months. Toyota has claimed seven of the nine events, with Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs picking up two for Joe Gibbs Racing.<\/p>\n
Reddick\u2019s pace has been matched four times previously in NASCAR\u2019s top series and not since Earnhardt Sr. started off the 1987 season that way. The Intimidator went on to win six more times while claiming the third of his seven championships, and there\u2019s little to make it seem that Reddick can\u2019t do the same thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the Fords have any chance of beating the Toyotas right now until they get a new car or rules concessions,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cThe only opportunity we have to beat them is in areas where aerodynamics aren\u2019t as important on the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could be Talladega, where pack racing in a draft negates aerodynamic advantages. Keselowski pointed to superspeedways and short tracks as the best shot at upsetting anyone in a Toyota.<\/p>\n
Then again, Reddick won the season-opening Daytona 500 and the following week at Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other tracks, they just have so much more speed,\u201d said Keselowski, who is ranked 10th in points through nine events. \u201cEven when they don\u2019t execute very well and we execute at a high degree, the speed differential makes up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qualifying gets rained out<\/p>\n
NASCAR canceled qualifying for the Jack Links 500 because of rain. The sanctioning body pulled the plug early Saturday after overnight rain continued into the early morning hours.<\/p>\n
The weather is expected to improve throughout the day, but scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast.<\/p>\n
Reddick will start from the pole based on NASCAR\u2019s qualifying metrics. Kyle Larson will start second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe. Keselowski will start sixth.<\/p>\n
Casey Mears was the lone driver to not qualify.<\/p>\n
Oddsmakers list Blaney as the race favorite<\/p>\n
Despite Toyota\u2019s dominance, oddsmakers installed Ford drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano as the prerace favorites. Blaney is plus-1000 to win, following by Logano (plus-1200) and William Byron (plus-1400).<\/p>\n
Reddick is the next choice at plus-1500. Keselowski is plus-1600.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/p>\n
The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Brad Keselowski felt the utmost confidence entering Talladega Superspeedway this weekend \u2014 even while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-628089","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-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628089","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=628089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}