Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (scheduled to take place at 2:00 PM ET on NBC) marks the second of three races in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8.
While Denny Hamlin secured his place in the Championship 4 last weekend at Las Vegas, the seven remaining Playoff drivers are still fighting for a chance at the Bill France Cup. Sunday’s event at Talladega Superspeedway will be a nerve-racking affair for all seven drivers as the race will bring the opportunity for them all to win, but it will also have a high probability of them being swept up in a big crash.
RELATED: Previewing the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500
Welcome to the Racing America On SI live-race updates page for the YellaWood 500. This page will serve as your guide leading up to and throughout Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff event. This page will be updated with key pre-race updates, in-race updates such as lead changes, and video highlights of crashes or incidents. Also included will be stage and race results, and much more. Continue checking back for additional updates.
Three Cars to Rear
NASCAR has officially confirmed that three cars will drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag in the YellaWood 500 due to unapproved adjustments following Saturday’s qualifying session. The three that will drop to the rear are No. 35 Riley Herbst (qualified ninth), No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek (qualified 28th), and No. 43 Erik Jones (qualified 30th).
Pre-Race Festivities Schedule Revealed
11:45 AM ET: Weather is Rolling Out
After a batch of early-morning rain was dumped onto the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, the sun is starting to appear, and NASCAR’s Air Tundras are circling the race track for track drying efforts. As of now, there is no expected delay to the start of Sunday’s YellaWood 500, and weather is not expected to be a factor for the remainder of the day.
YellaWood 500 Pre-Race Information
The YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will be televised on NBC and can be streamed on the HBO Max streaming platform, as well as the NBC Sports App and on Peacock. The race broadcast will begin at 2:00 PM ET on Sunday, October 19.
The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will provide the radio broadcast of Sunday’s event. For subscribers of the HBO Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today’s race.
The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday’s event in Alabama amounts to a total of $9,797,935.
The race distance is a total of 188 laps around the 2.66-mile superspeedway, which equates to a race distance of 500.08 miles. The YellaWood 500 will be broken up into three stages. Stage 1 will end at Lap 60, Stage 2 will end at Lap 120, and the final stage of the race will conclude at the end of Lap 188, barring an overtime finish.
Sunday’s event is the second race of the three-race Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Should a playoff-eligible driver win the race, they will be automatically locked into the Championship 4 and will compete for the Bill France Cup at Phoenix Raceway next month.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending winner of the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500. Denny Hamlin is the lone Playoff contender currently locked into the Championship 4 field.
McDowell Rockets to Pole Over Briscoe
Michael McDowell scored his second pole of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season as he topped Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe for the top qualifying spot in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. For McDowell, this is his eighth pole since the start of the 2024 season, he had no career poles prior to 2024.
Briscoe, who was looking for his eighth pole of what has been a successful first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, had to settle for second, which is the highest starting spot of any Playoff contenders in the 40-car field.
Starting Lineup
|
Pos |
Car |
Driver |
Lap time |
Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
71 |
Michael McDowell |
52.481 |
182.466 |
|
2 |
19 |
Chase Briscoe (P) |
52.500 |
182.400 |
|
3 |
8 |
Kyle Busch |
52.558 |
182.199 |
|
4 |
2 |
Austin Cindric |
52.563 |
182.181 |
|
5 |
60 |
Ryan Preece |
52.582 |
182.116 |
|
6 |
21 |
Josh Berry |
52.614 |
182.005 |
|
7 |
20 |
Christopher Bell (P) |
52.660 |
181.846 |
|
8 |
12 |
Ryan Blaney (P) |
52.679 |
181.780 |
|
9 |
35 |
Riley Herbst # |
52.692 |
181.735 |
|
10 |
23 |
Bubba Wallace |
52.694 |
181.728 |
(P) indicates Playoff contender
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
Click here for the full official starting lineup.
Heading into the second race of the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, there is only one Playoff contender feeling ‘Comfortable’ and that is Denny Hamlin, who won last weekend’s race at Las Vegas to secure his place in the Championship 4 field.
Hamlin can go for broke on Sunday at Talladega, while everyone else will hope to score a Championship 4 berth-clinching win, and on the path to said win, will hope they don’t find trouble at the chaotic 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Kyle Larson, who has notably had a rough career on superspeedways, heads into the day 35 points above the cutline, while Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe sit 20 and 15 points above, respectively.
Below the cutline are four drivers, who have a rich history of finding victory lane on drafting tracks — William Byron, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney.
Playoff Standings Heading Into YellaWood 500:
1. Denny Hamlin (Locked Into Championship 4)
2. Kyle Larson, +35 points
3. Christopher Bell, +20
4. Chase Briscoe, +15
CUTLINE
5. William Byron, -15
6. Chase Elliott, -23
7. Joey Logano, -24
8. Ryan Blaney, -31
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