NASCAR at Talladega 2016: Start Time, Ticket Info, Entry List, TV Schedule, More
Call NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series the Carl Edwards show as it heads into Sunday's GEICO 500 at the legendary Talladega Superspeedway.
Edwards now has back-to-back checkered flags after last week's win in Richmond, taking the honor from Kyle Busch, who posted a pair of consecutive wins before him.
Will great things keep coming in pairs? The series opens up a bit and lets loose the horsepower at a big track Sunday, and with so many notable names still needing an automatic bid into the Chase, one has to wonder if this is the weekend a new face touches down in Victory Lane.
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Before the saga gets underway, here's everything to know.
Viewing Details
Where: Talladega Superspeedway
When: Sunday, May 1, at 1 p.m. ET
Watch: Fox
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Sprint Cup Standings
| 1 | Carl Edwards | 331 | 2 |
| 2 | Kevin Harvick | 324 | 1 |
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 310 | 2 |
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 302 | 2 |
| 5 | Joey Logano | 299 | 0 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | 279 | 0 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 278 | 0 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | 258 | 1 |
| 9 | Brad Keselowski | 255 | 1 |
| 10 | Martin Truex Jr. | 246 | 0 |
| 11 | Chase Elliott | 234 | 0 |
| Austin Dillon | 234 | 0 | |
| 13 | Jamie McMurray | 224 | 0 |
| 14 | Kasey Kahne | 222 | 0 |
| 15 | Matt Kenseth | 212 | 0 |
| 16 | Ryan Newman | 205 | 0 |
NASCAR at Talladega Lineup
| Car No. | Driver |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 3 | Austin Dillon |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne |
| 6 | Trevor Bayne |
| 7 | Regan Smith |
| 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 | David Ragan |
| 24 | Chase Elliott |
| 27 | Paul Menard |
| 30 | Josh Wise |
| 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 32 | Bobby Labonte |
| 34 | Chris Buescher |
| 35 | David Gilliland |
| 38 | Landon Cassill |
| 41 | Kurt Busch |
| 42 | Kyle Larson |
| 43 | Aric Almirola |
| 44 | Brian Scott |
| 46 | Michael Annett |
| 47 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 55 | Michael Waltrip |
| 78 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 83 | Matt DiBenedetto |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 95 | Michael McDowell |
| 98 | Cole Whitt |
Drivers to Watch
Matt Kenseth
Another week, another question about Matt Kenseth.
The red-hot racer from a year ago who secured five checkered flags only has two top-10 performances to his name this season, though one did come last week in Richmond.
Set this year's shaky start aside and Kenseth could look like one of the drivers to beat Sunday considering he's won the Daytona 500 twice, a triumph capable of preparing anyone for Talladega.
As NASCAR pointed out, Kenseth continues to remain among the greats at the track, too:
Yet it's hard to ignore the struggles thus far. Kenseth hasn't had the dash of luck necessary to reel in wins, this line of logic no better evidenced than his performance in Bristol on April 17, when he led 142 laps but wound up 36th.
Still 15th with the leaderboard sorted by points, Kenseth would love nothing more than to go ahead and secure an automatic bid. Sunday might be one of his best opportunities of the year.
One can't talk Talladega without Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt is simply the best around at the lengthy track, with last year serving as a good brief example—in last year's May event he took the checkered flag, then followed in October with a second-place finish.
For Earnhardt, this weekend is not only a chance to get his first win of the season, but to break in the No. 88 Amelia, as he told Rea White of SportingNews.com:
"We're going to have "Amelia." She is fixed and [crew chief Greg Ives] says she is going to be the primary. He's fired up his Twitter account recently … and he let all the fans know that Amelia is coming back. I'm excited about that — we know how she ran last year. We just have to run Talladega like we have to win it, just like we did the last time we were there. We did a good job. If we run it like that, we'll be up front at the end.
"
Call it bad news for the rest of the field, even though Earnhardt didn't exactly look unstoppable at Daytona in February, finishing 36th.
Alas, no driver has a record like Earnhardt's at Talladega. Hungry to get over the proverbial hump considering he's finished second three times already this year, one can expect Earnhardt to put on one of his best performances of the year Sunday.
Carl Edwards
Expect someone else?
The leaderboard's top name, Edwards won in Bristol and Richmond, leading 276 and 151 laps, respectively. As if that wasn't enough, he's started from the pole position in two of his last three outings ahead of Saturday's qualifying.
Edwards in a word? Unstoppable.
In fact, this might stand as the most dominant stretch of Edwards' career, something he somewhat accredits to NASCAR's new downforce rules this year.
“I think it’s too soon to tell, but I believe that the lower downforce has been better across the board,” Edwards said, according to Autoweek. “Like I said over and over, I applaud NASCAR for doing it. I think that direction is the right direction."
Something's obviously clicking for Edwards, who has yet to finish worse than seventh more than once.
While bigger names have greater histories at Talladega, it wouldn't be any sort of shock to see Edwards right in the thick of things near the end as he continues to ride this incredible wave of momentum.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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