NASCAR at Talladega 2015: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule and More
It's elimination time at NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup as the 12 drivers remaining take to the dangerous Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday for the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega.
Joey Logano enters the event sitting cozy after winning the first two races of Round 2, but everything behind him is up for grabs. Four more racers will bow out of the Chase after the event, and some can only stay alive by outright seizing the checkered flag.
At one of the most volatile locales NASCAR has to offer and with names such as Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. flirting with elimination, Sunday's event isn't one to miss.
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Here's everything to know.
Viewing Details
Where: Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama
When: Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2:30 p.m. ET
Watch: NBCSN
Live Stream: NBC Live Extra
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Sprint Cup Standings
| 1 | Joey Logano | 3,095 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 3,082 |
| 3 | Kurt Busch | 3,077 |
| 4 | Carl Edwards | 3,076 |
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | 3,071 |
| 6 | Jeff Gordon | 3,071 |
| 7 | Brad Keselowski | 3,071 |
| 8 | Martin Truex Jr. | 3,070 |
| 9 | Kyle Busch | 3,064 |
| 10 | Ryan Newman | 3,062 |
| 11 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 3,039 |
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 3,035 |
| 13 | Jamie McMurray | 2,154 |
| 14 | Jimmie Johnson | 2,134 |
| 15 | Paul Menard | 2,109 |
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | 2,086 |
NASCAR at Talladega Lineup
| 1 | Jamie McMurray |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 3 | Austin Dillon |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne |
| 6 | Trevor Bayne |
| 7 | Alex Bowman |
| 9 | Sam Hornish Jr. |
| 10 | Danica Patrick |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 13 | Casey Mears |
| 14 | Tony Stewart |
| 15 | Clint Bowyer |
| 16 | Greg Biffle |
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 18 | Kyle Busch |
| 19 | Carl Edwards |
| 20 | Matt Kenseth |
| 21 | Ryan Blaney |
| 22 | Joey Logano |
| 23 | J.J. Yeley |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon |
| 26 | Jeb Burton |
| 27 | Paul Menard |
| 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 32 | Bobby Labonte |
| 33 | Travis Kvapil |
| 34 | Josh Wise |
| 35 | Cole Whitt |
| 38 | David Gilliland |
| 40 | Landon Cassill |
| 41 | Kurt Busch |
| 42 | Kyle Larson |
| 43 | Aric Almirola |
| 46 | Michael Annett |
| 47 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 51 | Justin Allgaier |
| 55 | David Ragan |
| 62 | Timmy Hill |
| 78 | Martin Truex Jr |
| 83 | Matt DiBenedetto |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 95 | Michael McDowell |
| 98 | Michael Waltrip |
Drivers to Watch
The globe still awaits Jeff Gordon's first win of his farewell season, but for Gordon, Sunday is more about avoiding a letdown than seizing the checkered flag.
Folks will recall last year, when Kyle Busch entered second in the standings and still wound up eliminated by the time the dust settled at Talladega.
Gordon enters seventh. He's looked good in recent weeks, finishing eighth in Charlotte and 10th in Kansas. But car owner Rick Hendrick has his eyes set on even greater sights, citing that a survival this weekend could lead to much bigger things.
"If he can get through Talladega, then he can win at Martinsville [Speedway]," Hendrick said, per Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com. "He should have won the last race, but there was a late caution with 50 (laps) to go and he was speeding on pit road."
Gordon finished 31st at this track back in May, so survival would be the main point of emphasis moving forward.
Matt Kenseth
Look how quickly things can change in the Chase.
Sporting four checkered flags since the beginning of August, Matt Kenseth went from one of the most dominant drivers on the series to the bottom of the barrel in the Chase in just two races.
Kenseth finished 42nd in Charlotte despite leading 72 laps then followed with a 14th-place finish last weekend in Kansas after leading 153 laps. He touched on a controversial spinout late in the race caused by a nudge from Logano, per USA Today's Brant James:
"He just plain wrecked me. He cries on his radio a lot, I guess, about blocking or moving around, but man, you’re leading the race, you can pick whatever lane you want. It’s not like he was alongside of me. To wreck somebody for wanting to be in a lane you wanted to be in seems kind of risky and not very smart, but that’s the decision he made.
"
Regardless of intent, it's now-or-never time for Kenseth, who will have to use desperation and recent momentum before random issues to compensate for the fact he finished 25th here earlier in the season.
Look for Kenseth to leave it all on the track to keep the dream alive.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It seems like another early-exit year for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who sits just one spot above Kenseth and among those in line to exit the Chase.
Then again, it would be foolish to forget Earnhardt is the guy who happens to love Talladega, the guy who stole the checkered flag there earlier this year. It's almost enough to make a 28th-place finish in Charlotte and a 21st-place showing in Kansas seem insignificant.
After the latter, Earnhardt took to Twitter to express confidence going into the event:
“I wouldn’t rather be going anywhere else than Talladega for the next race if we need a win,” Earnhardt said, per USA Today's Mike Hembree. “That is a good opportunity for us. Even over Daytona, I think we can go to Talladega and do the job.”
It seems the Chase has been down this road before, namely with one Kevin Harvick. If Earnhardt is going to pull a similar feat and get a win at a track he likes when only a win will keep him alive, he has to do it Sunday and complete a season sweep.
Or in other words, a feat only a championship contender could pull off.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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