NASCAR Talladega Sunday, April 18, 2021
TALLADEGA NASCAR CUP SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS
4/25/93: Alex Bowman born
4/25/99: Dale Earnhardt won Talladega
4/25/04: Jeff Gordon won Talladega
4/25/10: Kevin Harvick won Talladega
Talladega wins: 9 Drivers – 17 Wins
Brad Keselowski 5
Joey Logano: 3
Ryan Blaney & Denny Hamlin 2
Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick & Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1
Champions winless at Talladega:
Kurt Busch 0 for 40 & Martin Truex Jr. 0 for 32
First win of season for 12 of last 13 Superspeedway winners
Ryan Blaney:
Talladega 6/20 winner – Started 12th, finished 6th in Stage 1 & 2nd in Stage 2,
10 times led for 63 laps (most), running 3rd entering final lap
Denny Hamlin:
Talladega 10/20 winner – Finished 26th in Stage 1 & 28th in Stage 2, avg. running pos.: 20th, running 6th entering final lap
2 Finished top 5 each Talladega race last season: Denny Hamlin (4th & 1st), Erik Jones (5th & 2nd)
Kyle Busch is only driver to finish top 5 in Stage 1 & 2 at Talladega 6/20 (5th & 3rd)
2 Finished top 5 in Stage 1 & 2 at Talladega 10/20: Chris Buescher (1st & 3rd), Brad Keselowski (4th & 2nd)
1-Kurt Busch: 2004 Champion – Winless in 40 Talladega races
2-Brad Keselowski: 5 Talladega wins – 3 Wins by last lap pass (Most all-time)
2-Brad Keselowski 3-0 in Talladega races settled by last lap pass – Most wins of all drivers
4-Kevin Harvick: 1 Talladega win (4/10) – Winless last 21 Talladega races
4-Kevin Harvick passed for final lead change at Talladega 4 times – All with 3 or fewer laps to go
9-Chase Elliott: 6 Superspeedway top 5 finishes – 3 Straight superspeedway top 5 finishes
10-Aric Almirola: 9 Talladega top 10 finishes – 8 Top 10 finishes last 9 Talladega races
11-Denny Hamlin: 6 Straight superspeedway top 5 finishes – 2 Wins (2020 Daytona 500 & Talladega 10/20)
12-Ryan Blaney: 2 Talladega wins by .007 seconds over 2nd-place
12-Ryan Blaney: Only repeat winner last 8 Talladega races (2 Wins) – 6 Others 1 win each
12-Ryan Blaney: 2 Wins last 3 Talladega races – Finished 25th (10/20)
22-Joey Logano: 3 Wins last 11 Talladega races – 6 Top 5 finishes last 11 Talladega races
22-Joey Logano: 78 Talladega laps led last season (33 June & 45 Oct.) – Led all drivers
17-Chris Buescher: Talladega 10/20 Stage 1 winner – Finished 22nd
18-Kyle Busch: 1 Talladega win (4/08) – Winless last 24 Talladega races
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 2017 Champion – Winless in 32 Talladega races
19-Martin Truex Jr.: Talladega 10/20 Stage 2 winner – Finished 23rd
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Talladega top 5 finishes – 13 Talladega DNFs (10 Due to crashes)
“I feel like I should just race as hard as I can race because I’m probably going to get wrecked anyway.”
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 64 Races at Daytona (32) & Talladega (32) – Winless
21-Matt DiBenedetto: Finished 21st at Talladega 10/20 – Passed for lead on final lap, crossed line 2nd (penalized)
22-Joey Logano: 21 Total times led in Talladega races last season – 11 in June & 10 in Oct.
22-Joey Logano: 3 Wins last 11 Talladega races – 6 Top 5 finishes
24-William Byron: 1 Top 10 finish in 6 Talladega races – Finished 4th (10/20)
43-Erik Jones:
Finished 5th at Talladega 6/20 – Running 8th into final lap & crashed while side-by-side for lead at finish
Finished 2nd at Talladega 10/20 – Started 16th, finished 5th in Stage 1 & 13th in Stage 2, 13 laps led, lap 193 involved in crash
47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.:
Talladega 5/17 winner – First win in 158th career race & closest 2017 finish (.095 Seconds ahead of Jamie McMurray)
48-Alex Bowman: 1 Talladega top 5 finish – 4 Talladega DNFs
49 Different winners in 103 NASCAR Cup Series Talladega races
11 Won first career race at Talladega – Only win for 6 drivers
8 Talladega crashes involved 20 or more
Only 1 driver won Stage 2 & Talladega race – Chase Elliott 4/19
Talladega Stage 1 winner finished outside top 10 last 6 Talladega races
28 Talladega races settled by last lap pass
Fewest laps led by Talladega winner: 1 – Jeff Gordon 10/07, Brad Keselowski 4/09 & Aric Almirola 10/18
First win of season for 5 of last 6 Talladega winners –
Joey Logano (4/18), Aric Almirola (10/18), Chase Elliott (4/19), Ryan Blaney (10/19) & Ryan Blaney (6/20)
Drivers won first race of season at Talladega 47 times
11 Talladega win streaks – Drivers winning consecutive races (Denny Hamlin won last Talladega race)
16 Talladega Overtime finishes
Leader at scheduled distance failed to win 8 of last 11 Talladega Overtime races
Teams finished 1-2 in 13 Talladega races – Henrick Motorsports 5 times
Hendrick Motorsports leads all teams with 13 Talladega wins – 7 Drivers
Richard Childress Racing: 12 Talladega wins – Most of all tracks
Team Penske: 9 Talladega wins
Joe Gibbs Racing: 5 Talladega wins
Stewart-Haas Racing: 1 Talladega win
Brothers finished 1-2 in 2 Talladega races – 5/71 Donnie & Bobby Allison and 10/97 Terry Labonte & Bobby Labonte
15 of 103 Talladega races won from first starting position
Driver starting first failed to finish 26 of 103 Talladega races
Drivers starting first failed to finish more Talladega races than they won
Team Penske won 7 of last 11 Talladega races – 8 Wins last 13 Talladega races
Ford won 9 of last 11 Talladega races – Chevrolet won 4/19 (Chase Elliott) & Toyota won 10/20 (Denny Hamlin)
Toyota won 1 of last 13 Toyota races – Denny Hamlin 10/20
Toyota won only 4 Talladega races
5/4/80: Top 6 finishers Oldsmobile
8/2/81: Top 7 finishers Buick
10/15/00: Top 6 finishers Chevrolet
4 Won Talladega in first try – Donnie Allison, Richard Brickhouse, Pete Hamilton & Brad Keselowski
Michael Waltrip won Talladega for first time in 36th try – Most of all drivers
7 Won Talladega for first time in 10th try
Worst official starting position to win Talladega: 36th – Jeff Gordon 4/00
3 Won Talladega from 34th starting position including Denny Hamlin 5/14
Brad Keselowski won 2 Talladega races after starting rear of field (4/09 & 10/14)
*4/03 Dale Earnhardt Jr. won after taking green from 43rd starting position after starting from the rear of field
*4/09 Brad Keselowski won after starting from the rear of the field
*10/14 Brad Keselowski won after starting from the rear of the field
Most consecutive laps led from start at Talladega: 50 – Ricky Rudd (7/26/92)
Most consecutive laps led to end of Talladega: 71 – Davey Allison (5/3/92)
Most laps led by Talladega non-winner: 142 – Matt Kenseth (5/5/13)
Most consecutive Talladega laps led: 82 – Pete Hamilton (8/23/70)
Dale Earnhardt last career win: Talladega 10/15/00
Michael Waltrip last career win: Talladega 9/28/03
Dale Jarrett last career win: Talladega 10/2/05
Jamie McMurray last career win: Talladega 10/20/13
1 Won Daytona 500 & both Talladega races in same year – Pete Hamilton 1970
Richard Childress Racing: 100th win – Talladega 10/23/11 (Clint Bowyer)