04/16/2024

RFK Advance | Talladega I

Talladega Event Info:
Date: Sunday, April 21
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Talladega, Alabama
Format: 188 Laps, 500.8 miles, Stages: 60-60-68
TV: FOX
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 10:30 a.m., Qualifying (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Talladega hosts its first of two race dates this weekend as the Cup Series embarks on its third Superspeedway race of the 2024 season.
• Chris Buescher carries the team’s best Speedway finish of the season thus far – a ninth-place result back in Atlanta in race No. 2 of 2024.
• In the Talladega spring race a year ago, both RFK cars finished inside the top five with Buescher coming home third and Keselowski fifth.
• Overall Jack Roush has eight wins at Talladega including five in the Cup Series.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Castrol Edge

• ‘Month of the Military Child,’ an initiative run through Brad’s Checkered Flag Foundation, continues this weekend in Texas. Katherine Kinard will ride along on the No. 6 on the passenger side name rail as part of the campaign meant to recognize a military child’s name during each race in April.
• Katherine – daughter of Lt. Col. Jonathan Kinard – was born into the Air Force in 2005 and is now on her sixth duty station and seventh school. She spent five of hear 18-year life overseas and will soon enroll at Mississippi State University to study bioengineering.

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal

Keselowski at Talladega
Starts: 30
Wins: 6 (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021)
Top-10s: 14
Poles: —

• Keselowski enters the weekend as the winningest active driver at Talladega with six wins in the NCS, tied for second all-time with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.
• Since 2014 Keselowski has four wins – two each in the spring race (2016, 2021) and two each in the fall race (2014, 2017). He’s coming off a fifth-place finish last spring, and crashed in last fall’s event.
• Keselowski won his first-ever start at Talladega back in 2009 in the No. 09 car, and again won the spring race three years later in 2012.
• He has an average starting position of 12.1 with 14 starts inside the top-10.
• Keselowski also made five Xfinity Series starts at Talladega with one win (2010).

Buescher at Talladega
Starts: 17
Wins: —
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his 18^th Cup start on the high banks of Talladega this weekend where he has three top-10s. He’s coming off his best finish to date at Talladega, a P3 result last spring. He finished sixth twice, first in the 2020 spring race, and again in the 2021 fall event.
• Buescher has an average starting position of 25.5 with a career-best 10^th starting spot in this race a year ago.
• He also made a pair of NXS starts in the No. 60 with finishes of second (2014) and sixth (2015).

RFK Historically at Talladega
Cup Wins: 5 (Mark Martin, 1995, 1997; Jamie McMurray, 2009; Matt Kenseth, 2012; Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2017)

• Running Clear Across Alabama: RFK has seen its fair share of success at the Alabama track, amassing 285 starts, eight wins, 46 top-fives and 97 top-10s across NASCAR’s three major touring series. Roush machines have also tallied seven poles, including three in cup action, and have led more than 1500 laps.
• Winning in Greenbow: RFK has won in all three of NASCAR’s major series at Talladega. The team won its first race at Talladega in the NCS event in the spring of 1995. Former RFK driver Mark Martin won for the organization in all three series at the 2.66-mile oval. Most recently, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. piloted his Fifth Third Bank Ford to victory lane four years ago when the NCS rolled through Talladega for the organization’s eighth win at the historic track.
• Fastest Chicken in the South: Former RFK driver Mark Martin won the fastest Cup race ever recorded on May 10, 1997 at Talladega piloting the No. 6 Ford. Martin, who held off NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, started from the 18th position and led 47 laps en route to the victory. The race saw 26 lead changes and had an average speed of 188.354 mph.
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 226 NCS races at Talladega with 80 top-10 and 39 top-five finishes along with three poles. Former drivers Mark Martin (1995, 1997), Jamie McMurray (2009), Matt Kenseth (2012) and Stenhouse are responsible for RFK’s combined five Cup wins and overall a Jack Roush Ford has led 1537 laps at the 2.66-mile track.

RFK Talladega Wins

1995-1   Martin                  Cup
1997-1   Martin                  Cup
1997       Martin                  NXS
2006       Martin               Truck
2009       Ragan                    NXS
2009-2   McMurray           Cup
2012-2   Kenseth               Cup
2017-1   Stenhouse          Cup

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Texas: Keselowski earned a P2 finish in Fort Worth after driving into the top-5 late, while Buescher finished 15^th – his sixth-straight top-15 result.

Points Standings (17: 13^th, 6: 17^th): Buescher remains P13 through nine races, while Keselowski jumped one position to 17^th.

By the Numbers at Talladega

Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles

226         5              39           80           3              38699    1168       18.2        18.4        102939.3

49           2              5              14           1              4634       245         12.5        12.4        12326.4

10           1              2              3              3              865         124         3.0          15.9        2300.9

285         8              46           97           7              44198    1537       16.8        17.3        117566.6