The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of Eight continues at the wild card Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in the YellaWood 500. Talladega serves as the middle race in the Round of Eight for all series.
Denny Hamlin clinched a Championship Four spot following an emotional victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson, who finished second in Sin City, sits 35 points above the postseason cut line. Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, who finished third and fourth at Las Vegas, respectively, round out the playoff field currently in the green. William Byron, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney all sit below the four-driver cut and have two more playoff races to put momentum back in their favor before the Championship Four is final.
Casey Mears returns to pilot the Garage 66 Ford for the third time this season. As driver of the 66, he finished 35th and 29th at Martinsville Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.
The green flag will drop at 2 p.m. on Sunday, and the race is scheduled for 188 laps around the 2.660-miles-tri-oval road course. The last 10 cup races held at Yellawood have produced 10 different winners.
My prediction: A Kyle Busch win and Shane Van Gisbergen gets his first top five in an oval.
Kyle Busch has had a rough 2025 season, making him the underdog for this race. Superspeedway racing, particularly at Talladega, is known for “the big one”—a large, multi-car crash that can change the outcome of a race in an instant. This means that even an underdog can find themselves in position to win if they can avoid trouble.
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