2021 NASCAR thread

Talladega. Playoffs. Tapered spacer reduced from 57/64-inch to 53/64-inch to knock off another 10mph. I wasn't planning to go but figured I would see the Gen 6 cars run one last time on the big superspeedway. We'll be perched up on Mt. Cheaha for the weekend, then sitting behind the flag stand come Sunday.

• The weather looks good. I hope for a tight, clean race, tandem passing, and a first-time winner among the guys who ran well here last October (21, 23 come to mind).
• While Talladega isn't Toyota's strong suit, Hamlin has become a formidable threat at the superspeedway and is the defending winner of this event. I still can't believe he won last year.
• The Chevy's have some raw speed that is hard to touch. Larson and Elliott will be formidable opponents come Sunday.
• Penske has historically been stout here winning 10/15 past Talladega events. This is possibly Brad K's last chance to put the #2 in victory lane, which he did in April. If Blaney keeps his nose clean, he'll compete for the win, too. Logano has been very quiet all season. Certainly due to the new baby in the household.
• The same goes for Dibenedetto in #21. I truly hope to see the Wood brothers get win #100, which is the main reason I'm attending this weekend.
• I don't expect much from SHR here. Harvick's CC is ejected for one race due to two missing lug nuts at Vegas.

My picks: 2, 9, 11

Manufacturer wins over last ten years:

• Ford- 13
• Chevy- 5
• Toyota- 2

Source: https://www.racing-reference.info/tracks/Talladega_Superspeedway/

Active driver wins:

• Keselowski- 5
• Logano- 3
• Blaney- 2
• Hamlin- 2
• Stenhouse- 1
• Almirola- 1
• Elliott- 1

Source: https://www.racing-reference.info/tracks/Talladega_Superspeedway/

Top Driver averages:
(an awful measurement for success at Talladega, as it's often checkers or wreckers)

• 6 Kaz Grala*
• 11 Chase Briscoe*
• 11.3 Reddick
• 12 T. Dillon
• 12 Preece
• 12 Alfredo*
• 14 Stenhouse
• 15.6 Keselowski
• 15.7 Elliott
• 15.7 Almirola
• 15.7 Harvick
• 16.2 Ku Busch
• 17.1 Byron
• 17.1 Hamlin
• 17.4 Blaney

* Only competed in one Cup event at Talladega

Source: https://www.driveraverages.com/nascar/track_avg.php?trk_id=20#all

https://www.instagram.com/p/CF8KS2BBHAq/

 

Well 21 was "officially" 20something last year in this race. But we all know what really happened here.

He was top five earlier this year and had he not got wrecked out for one reason or another in the Daytona race has he stood a good chance of winning those as well. So my biggest hope for the 21 lies in this race.

 

He has a bigger monkey on his back than Harvick but If either one of them has a shot on the last lap, they'll do whatever they can to cross the line first.

 

Peep the new NASCAR decal. Not much more I can find outside of the JGR cars

 

I feel like JGR is trolling or this has something to do with some sort of special event. NASCAR changed the logo too recently to make any permanent changes.

 

Yeah... could be. I've searched and can only find what was posted for the 18.

 

It's a meme from tiktok:

 

That would explain why no one knows what it is lol

 

Pretty good looking car. Wild to see a blue oval below the Bird:

https://twitter.com/joshbilicki/status/1442986159118901248?s=20

 

I'm headed to Talladega today. The weather forecast is changing fast. It was going to be a perfect weekend (sunny, mid-70s) but moisture is moving in with thunderstorms Saturday evening and a 40-60% chance of showers Sunday afternoon. Gonna be humid and mid-80s.

 

Safe Travels! Lots of pictures too please

 

Dega ready!

 

ONLY because this is one good looking hot rod

@Taco critter - may the best driver win this weekend!

 

It is WET here. Steady showers since 4:30am. Heavy clouds. Finally stopped raining.

 

Bruh that was a nightmare yesterday. Woke up to rain but it cleared out. They got the track dry quickly. There were blue skies to the southeast, then a lite sprinkle as they were about to go green then NASCAR just called it. It didn't rain another drop until 9pm. They could've gotten the race in. On top of this, parking services stacked cars three-deep, boxing people in. They were not directing traffic until cars got to the main road, so the parking was a muddy, chaotic mess of angry people stuck in a sea of cars. it took us an hour just to get to the pavement (and we paid for preferred parking). What normally takes us 2.5 hours to drive took us 7 hours to get home last night. Kiddo had school and I had work. Camping on Cheaha was great.

 

Yeah. We raced home from being camping all weekend. Pulled in our driveway around noon our time thinking we were only going to miss an hour at most. Tuned in only to find out it's been postponed to today. One of the very few races we will watch ever single second of, undisturbed.

Glad you all made it home safe and also glad you made the best of a weekend that should have seen the race.