NASCAR Sprint Cup series at Talladega: GEICO 500 facts
This week’s race
GEICO 500
What: 188 laps (500.1 miles)
Where: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, a 2.66-mile banked tri-oval.
When: 1 p.m. Sunday.
TV: Fox
Radio: Motor Racing Network.
Last year’s winner: Denny Hamlin
Also this week: Winn-Dixie 300, Xfinity Series, Talladega, 3 p.m. Saturday, Fox.
Worth mentioning: Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Michael Waltrip will return to racing this weekend in the No. 55 Toyota in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega. After this week, David Ragan is expected to take over the driving duties for that team for the remainder of the season.
Who’s Hot/Who’s Not
HOT
Kurt Busch: Winning cures everything, even NASCAR suspensions.
Kevin Harvick: In nine races this season, he has finished first or second seven times.
Denny Hamlin: Led all but two laps in winning Xfinity race.
Daniel Suarez: Xfinity rookie has two consecutive finishes of sixth or better.
Chase Elliott: Seven top-10 finishes in eight Xfinity races this season. Added a solid 16th-place finish in his second Cup series start.
Clint Bowyer: Picked up his first top-10 finish since Daytona.
NOT
Tony Stewart: Looked to have another good finish until an incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. knocked him out of the race.
Roush Fenway Racing: All three of its Cup teams finished two laps off the pace at Richmond.
Brad Keselowski: Had one of the few cars able to keep pace with Kurt Busch at Richmond until he dropped a cylinder late in the race.
Jim Utter
Points Standings
Sprint Cup
1. Kevin Harvick 314
2. Joey Logano 284
3. Martin Truex Jr. 281
4. Jimmie Johnson 258
5. Brad Keselowski 255
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 241
7. Kasey Kahne 237
8. Matt Kenseth 236
9. Jeff Gordon 227
10. Aric Almirola 226
11. Denny Hamlin 223
12. Jamie McMurray 223
13. Danica Patrick 211
14. Paul Menard 210
15. Carl Edwards 203
16. Ryan Newman 201
17. Clint Bowyer 200
18. David Ragan 197
19. Casey Mears 186
20. Greg Biffle 180
21. Austin Dillon 177
22. Kurt Busch 174
23. Kyle Larson 173
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 172
25. AJ Allmendinger 171
26. David Gilliland 162
27. Trevor Bayne 154
28. Tony Stewart 145
29. Justin Allgaier 145
30. Brett Moffitt 136
31. Sam Hornish Jr. 135
32. Cole Whitt 128
33. Alex Bowman 91
34. Michael Annett 90
35. Michael McDowell 79
36. Josh Wise 63
37. Matt DiBenedetto 57
38. Jeb Burton 45
39. Alex Kennedy 35
40. Brian Vickers 32
41. Bobby Labonte 20
42. Michael Waltrip 18
Xfinity
1. Ty Dillon 293
2. Chase Elliott 285
3. Chris Buescher 282
4. Darrell Wallace Jr. 268
5. Regan Smith 252
6. Elliott Sadler 244
7. Brendan Gaughan 244
8. Ryan Reed 243
9. Brian Scott 243
10. Daniel Suarez 240
Truck
1. Matt Crafton 128
2. Tyler Reddick 126
3. Erik Jones 122
4. Johnny Sauter 112
5. James Buescher 100
6. John Wes Townley 90
7. Ray Black Jr. 89
8. Cameron Hayley 84
9. Spencer Gallagher 84
10. Ben Kennedy 83
This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "NASCAR Sprint Cup series at Talladega: GEICO 500 facts."