StatChat 2025 - YellaWood 500 at Talladega
- Adam Carabine
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Lincoln, Alabama for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega SuperSpeedway.
Talladega is the largest oval on the NASCAR circuit, at 2.66 miles long. The track opened in 1969, and Richard Brickhouse was the first to win a NASCAR race at the facility that same year. Last year, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won this race in the fall. Earlier this season, the race was won by Austin Cindric.
Tomorrow’s race will be 188 laps long (for a total of 500.08 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 60 – 120 – 188. Pit road speed is 55 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 75 mph. The fuel window is between 40-50 laps.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 8,568 laps, for 11,764.51 miles so far this season. No driver has completed every single lap - Tyler Reddick is closest, running 15 laps down.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Talladega:
William Byron | 13.67 over 15 races |
Chase Elliott | 14.05 over 19 races (2 wins) |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 14.42 over 24 races (2 wins) |
Todd Gilliland | 14.71 over 7 races |
Brad Keselowski | 15.64 over 33 races (6 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Talladega:
Cody Ware | 26.80 over 10 races |
Zane Smith | 26.50 over 4 races |
Josh Berry | 26.00 over 3 races |
Michael McDowell | 26.00 over 29 races |
Ty Gibbs | 25.67 over 6 races |
Talladega is a Super Speedway.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Super Speedways:
JH Nemechek | 16.50 over 11 races |
Bubba Wallace | 16.97 over 32 races (1 win) |
Chase Elliott | 17.25 over 39 races (2 wins) |
Denny Hamlin | 17.33 over 79 races (5 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 17.55 over 43 races (5 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Super Speedways:
Carson Hocevar | 23.38 over 8 races |
Michael McDowell | 23.28 over 58 races (1 win) |
Cody Ware | 23.07 over 19 races |
Daniel Suarez | 22.18 over 35 races |
Ryan Preece | 22.17 over 23 races |
Dale Earnhardt is the winningest driver at Talladega, with 10 wins over his Cup Series career. His son, Dale Jr. is tied for second all-time with Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski – they each have 6 wins.
Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Talladega:
Justin Haley | 2019, P32 |
Drivers who WON their first Cup Series race at Talladega:
Brad Keselowski | 5th career race |
Bubba Wallace | 143rd career race |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 158th career race |
Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Talladega:
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 38 races ago, 2024 |
Austin Cindric | 23 races ago, 2025 |
Notable drivers who have not won at Talladega:
Kyle Larson | (has won at 18 other tracks) |
William Byron | (has won at 11 other tracks) |
Christopher Bell | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Alex Bowman | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Based on average finish, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon list Talladega as their BEST track. No drivers list it as their WORST.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2024
Chase Briscoe | +342 pts |
Ryan Preece | +228 pts |
JH Nemechek | +222 pts |
Erik Jones | +176 pts |
Zane Smith | +114 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024
Brad Keselowski | -193 pts |
Noah Gragson | -187 pts |
Daniel Suarez | -158 pts |
Ty Gibbs | -115 pts |
Alex Bowman | -69 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
Christopher Bell | 11.42 |
Chase Briscoe | 12.12 |
Ryan Preece | 16.21 |
JH Nemechek | 20.15 |
Worst Career Year
Cole Custer | 24.30 |
Carson Hocevar | 21.58 |
Zane Smith | 21.09 |
Ty Gibbs | 18.39 |
Rookie of the Year Battle
SVG | 2,146 (5 wins) |
Riley Herbst | 379 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 1,205 |
Toyota | 1,177 |
Ford | 1,107 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Joe Gibbs | 1,147 |
Hendrick | 1,134 |
Penske | 952 |
RFK | 939 |
Trackhouse | 904 |
23XI | 873 |
Spire | 828 |
Legacy MC | 749 |
RCR | 744 |
Front Row | 742 |
Kaulig | 688 |
Wood Bros | 501 |
Hyak | 482 |
Haas Factory | 419 |
Rick Ware | 220 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
William Byron | 290 |
Ryan Blaney | 282 |
Kyle Larson | 271 |
Denny Hamlin | 227 |
Tyler Reddick | 202 |
Bubba Wallace | 197 |
Christopher Bell | 187 |
Chase Elliott | 178 |
Chase Briscoe | 169 |
Alex Bowman | 164 |
Milestone Watch
Kyle Larson | This will be his 400th Career Cup Series Start |
Brad Keselowski | Looking for his 160th Career Top 5 |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 60th Career Top 5 |
William Byron | Looking for his 120th Career Top 10 |
Ross Chastain | Looking for his 70th Career Top 10 |
Bubba Wallace | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10 |
Michael McDowell | Looking for his 50th Career Top 10 |
Zane Smith | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Scorigami Update
Las Vegas was the first time that:
Noah Gragson finished 13th
Ty Dillon finished 37th
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 174 races |
Cole Custer | 130 races |
Erik Jones | 112 races |
Kyle Busch | 90 races |
Michael McDowell | 81 races |
Daniel Suarez | 67 races |
Brad Keselowski | 56 races |
AJ Allmendinger | 53 races |
Alex Bowman | 49 races |
Chris Buescher | 41 races |
The race begins Sunday, October 19th at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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