NASCAR race at Talladega: Ryan Blaney’s plan, Alex Bowman’s injury, starting lineup

When the NASCAR Cup Series descends on Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (2 p.m.), all 12 remaining playoff drivers will still be looking for their first win in the postseason.

But one playoff driver will be searching for his first win of the season.

And that guy is Ryan Blaney.

The driver of the No. 12 car — who snuck into the playoffs on points by virtue of some late-lap Daytona luck and whose team’s near-disastrous run at Bristol was erased thanks to a points reset pre-Texas — has found ways to stay in the mix this postseason. He’s currently fourth in the point standings, one behind Kyle Larson and two behind Ross Chastain heading into Talladega this weekend.

Could Talladega be his time to notch a win?

In a media availability earlier this week, a reporter asked Blaney if there was a path to the championship for him if he doesn’t win a race. The Team Penske driver chuckled: “I’d obviously like to win a race.”

“But yeah I do think there’s a pathway,” he said. “We just keep plugging away at it. We’ve been pretty good all year. It’s just a matter of the right things falling into place for us to try to get into Victory Lane. I think we can get to Phoenix in general. I think we can get to Phoenix regardless. I think this group is plenty strong enough to do it, and we’ll start off by trying to do the best we can this weekend, try to survive it, then go into the Roval (in Charlotte next weekend).”

Blaney is one of three drivers in the Cup playoff field who has won playoff races at Talladega. He did so most recently in 2019 and has notched two victories at Talladega Superspeedway in the past three years.

He finished fourth at Texas last weekend — an admirable finish considering his team’s attrition. (Crew chief Jonathan Hassler and a few crew members have been suspended until after the race in Las Vegas after his car lost a tire in Bristol.)

Blaney said working with his interim crew chief, Miles Stanley, has gone well.

“We’ve definitely had a pretty crazy past month and a half, but I feel like everyone has done a good job of persevering past that stuff and overcoming it,” Blaney said. “It got us to this point. And now, you know, obviously with Johnathan and (crew members) Zack (Price) and Graham (Stoddard) not being able to be at the racetrack, that’s just another thing that we’ll face head-on.”

Alex Bowman out with concussion-like symptoms

Alex Bowman announced on Twitter on Thursday afternoon that he was suffering from concussion-like symptoms after wrecking at Texas and that he won’t be driving the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet at Talladega on Sunday.

“I’m disappointed but know my health is the No. 1 priority,” he wrote in a tweet. “I am committed to following all medical guidance to ensure I can return to competition as soon as possible.”

Noah Gragson will drive in his stead, per a release from Hendrick Motorsports, and will earn the No. 48 team owner points for the owner playoffs.

The announcement of Bowman’s injury lit a fury on social media and led to a cascade of drivers again speaking out about concerns of safety with the new Next Gen car — particularly as Kurt Busch continues his recovery from a brain injury he sustained in July.

Chase Elliott was among those who discussed what racing will be like in Talladega in light of the injuries sustained this summer in the Next Gen car. Talladega Superspeedway, of course, is a 2.66-mile tri-oval that’s among the fastest racetracks in the Cup Series. It’s a place where drafting and selective positioning is required, and a place where running bumper-to-bumper isn’t just expected, it’s pretty much mandatory.

Wrecks, therefore, collect in chunks — a risk that’s top of mind for drivers at the moment.

“It’s a tough one, right?” Elliott said in a press conference on Saturday. “I’m not really sure what the right answer is. But you come off a week like we had at Texas and have somebody getting injured, and then you come into here, where odds are we’re probably all going to hit something at some point tomorrow — and probably not lightly at that. Do you just not show up? Do you just not run? I mean, I don’t think that’s feasible to ask.”

He added: “There’s always an inherent risk in what we do. And it’s always been that way. My frustration ... I just hate that we’ve put ourselves in the box that we’re in right now. It’s just disappointing. ... We had years and time and opportunity to make this thing right before we put it on track, and we didn’t, and now we’re having to fix it. And I just hate that we did that. Because, like I said, I think we’re smarter than that.”

Denny Hamlin also weighed in on the issue and didn’t mince his words. In a widely shared video on social media from Matt Weaver of Racing America, the Cup driver and Cup team co-owner said that “bad leadership” was at fault for the car’s issues, and that the Next Gen car has to be completely redesigned.

“It needs to be redesigned everywhere — front, middle, rear, competition, the whole thing needs to be redesigned,” Hamlin said. “We have a tough Martinsville race that’s coming up, and it’s gonna be tough. And this thing’s gonna get exposed for how bad it races.”

Bowman is 12th in points, and his absence very much hurts his chances of advancing in the playoffs. There’s no word yet on if he’ll compete in the final Round of 12 race at the Roval in Charlotte next weekend.

Playoff drivers to keep track of at Talladega

Christopher Bell will start on the pole. This is his second pole in six races at Talladega Superspeedway. Kyle Larson will start alongside him in P2.

Playoff driver William Byron was fined $50,000 and was assessed a loss of 25 driver points and 25 owner points after wrecking the No. 11 car (Hamlin) under caution last weekend. He’ll start ninth in Sunday’s lineup and stands at 10th in the field now (two spots below the cut-line).

Joey Logano, who will start 11th on Sunday, leads the field in points, followed by Chastain (who’ll start in P6).

Other drivers to keep track of this weekend: Chase Briscoe (eighth in standings, P5 in Sunday’s starting lineup); Austin Cindric (ninth, P17); Byron (10th, P9); and Bell (11th, P1).

The last time Talladega Superspeedway hosted a playoff race, Bubba Wallace won his first Cup race for 23XI Racing. Hamlin, who will start in P3 on Sunday, took the checkered flag at Talladega in 2020.

NASCAR race details: YellaWood 500

• Race: YellaWood 500
• Place: Talladega Superspeedway
• Date: Sunday, Oct. 2
• Time: 2 p.m. ET
• Purse: $8,338,881
• TV: NBC, 1 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
• Distance: 500 miles (188 Laps)
• Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60, Stage 2 ends on Lap 120 and Stage 3 ends on Lap 188)

Starting lineup at Talladega

This story was originally published October 2, 2022 at 7:00 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription