Talladega Superspeedway has been a site of “the big one” with some spectacular crashes over the years.  And from the results of the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, this weekend is likely to be the same.

It will be a full field for the YellaWood 500 with 40 drivers scheduled to start the race with Xfinity Series drivers  Anthony Alfredo, AJ Allmendinger, and Shane van Gisbergen “doing the double” and running in the race.

The drivers will make a qualifying run without the benefit of any practice.  There will be two rounds of qualifying with the top 10 moving on to a second round to set the pole.

The first driver on the track to make a qualifying run is AJ Allmendinger who posted a time of 53.044 seconds.

Josh Berry is the first driver to break the 53 second mark with a time of 52.932 seconds.

In an effort to keep the cars on the ground, NASCAR has made a few aerodynamic adjustments to the cars.  There have been a number of incidents this season where drivers have gotten airborne during a crash and NASCAR is trying to keep the cars grounded.

In the spring, the pole sitter posted a time of 52.690; in round one of qualifying, Michael McDowell just ran a time of 52.344 seconds!

Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, and Daniel Hemric will be moving on to round two of qualifying.  Only four of the top 10 drivers are in the playoffs.

The first driver in the top 10 on the track is Daniel Hemric who posted a time of 52.912 seconds.

With a time of 52.310 seconds, Michael McDowell puts his number 34 car on the pole for the sixth time this season.  Austin Cindric will start alongside McDowell on the front row.

The starting lineup for the YellaWood 500:
Michael McDowell
Austin Cindric
Todd Gilliland
Kyle Busch
Ryan Blaney
Joey Logano
Austin Dillon
Denny Hamlin
Harrison Burton
Daniel Hemric
Chase Elliott
Kyle Larson
Brad Keselowski
Tyler Reddick
Ty Gibbs
William Byron
Shane van Gisbergen
Ryan Preece
Josh Berry
Chris Buescher
Christopher Bell
Noah Gragson
Alex Bowman
Martin Truex Jr
AJ Allmendinger
Bubba Wallace
Ross Chastain
Corey La Joie
John Hunter Nemechek
Erik Jones
Daniel Suarez
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Anthony Alfredo
Cody Ware
Justin Haley
Chase Briscoe
Carson Hocevar
BJ McLeod
Zane Smith
JJ Yeley

After inspection, the crew for Daniel Suarez made adjustments to the roof area of the car.  As a result, NASCAR assessed a major penalty on the 99 team.  Suarez will start the race from the back of the field and will have to serve a passthrough penalty once the green flag drops.  The 99 team’s car chief has also been ejected from the track.  Suarez is currently in 10th place, 14 points below the cut line in the playoffs.

Christopher Bell will also start the race from the back of the field after the crew made some unapproved adjustments to the car.

Stages one and two are 60 laps each with stage three lasting 68 laps for a total of 188 laps around the 2.66 mile track.

Drivers can run around 45 laps on a single load of fuel.  They will have to make a pit stop during every stage.

Michael McDowell brings the field down for the green flag start of the race from the inside lane with Austin Cindric alongside.  McDowell gets out in front after a push from behind form teammate Todd Gilliland.

Divers in the back of the field have spread out three and four wide.

Lap two Michael McDowell leads the race with Austin Cindric in second; Todd Gilliland, Kyle Busch ,and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Drivers are four wide going in to turn one.

Daniel Suarez has served his passthrough penalty and remains on the lead lap but he has lost the draft and the pack and could get lapped.

Lap four, the drivers have formed three lanes with Michael McDowell in the lead.

Lap six, Michael McDowell leads the race from the outside lane with Brad Keselowski in second; Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece round out the top five.

Lap eight, Michael McDowell has led every lap so far but Todd Gilliland on the inside lane is challenging for the lead.

Lap eleven, the drivers are three wide and are so far fairly orderly.  The field is approaching Daniel Suarez who is in danger of going a lap down.

Lap 12, Daniel Suarez has gone a lap down and brings out the caution flag as he falls through the field.  He makes contact with BJ McLeod and spins out and makes a run through the grass before coming to a stop on an access road.

Since Daniel Suarez was a lap down and caused the caution, there is no “lucky dog”.

At the edge of their pit window, many of the drivers come down pit road for service with some drivers taking fuel only.  Brad Keselowski wins the race off of pit road.

Brad Keselowski brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 17 with Michael McDowell alongside.  Keselowski and McDowell are side by side in a battle for the lead.

A third lane begins to form on the outside with Michael McDowell in the lead on the inside.

The top five are Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, and Austin Dillon.

Lap 19, Kyle Busch leads the outside lane.  Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski have broken away from the field a bit.  Kyle Busch now lead the middle lane.

The drivers depend on their spotters to help them know what is going on around them.  But Talladega is so big that the spotters are a mile away when the drivers hit the backstretch.

Lap 21, Michael McDowell leads the race from the outside lane.

Lap 22, Ryan Preece driving the Wonder Bread Ricky Bobby car leads the inside lane.

Lap 23, Michael McDowell leads the race with teammate Todd Gilliland giving him a push.

Daniel Suarez is two laps down but is running at the back of the field.

Lap 25, Michael McDowell leads the ace with Todd Gilliland in second; Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece round out the top five.

Lap 29, Michael McDowell continues to lead the race with Todd Gilliland on his bumper; Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece round out the top five.

Lap 31, halfway through stage one, Michael McDowell continues to lead the lad with his teammate Todd Gilliland on his bumper.

Daniel Suarez is the only driver not on the lead lap.

Lap 35, after starting from the back of the field, Christopher Bell has only been ablet to move up to 29th place.

Not satisfied to run with the pack, the drivers are beginning to shift around and trying to form a fourth lap to advance their position.

Lap 37, the drivers are four wide in some places on the track.

Riding the high line in a four wide group, Kyle Larson has advanced 20 spots.

Lap 39, Justin Haley takes the lead from the middle lane and moves down to the inside lane by himself.

Twenty laps remain in stage one with Justin Haley leading the field.

Lap 41, Ross Chastain takes the lead running the high line.

Lap 43, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, and Alex Bowman run side by side in a three way battle.  Denny Hamlin moves up to make is a four way battle.

Drivers are four wide seven deep and running nearly 200mph around the track.

The double yellow line on the apron is a no go line.  Drivers cannot go below that line and advance their position; if they do, it is a penalty.

Lap 46, Ross Chastain has the lead with Kyle Larson in second; Alex Bowman, Justin Haley, and Austin Cindric round out the top five.

Lap 48, the drivers have gotten four wide once again.

Lap 50, the field is three and four wide with Ross Chastain edging out for the lead.

Just nine laps remain in stage one and the drivers are three wide through the field with Ross Chastain out in front.

Lap 53, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs battle for the lead.

The drivers are getting four wide again with Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman battling for second.

With five laps  remaining in stage one, Christopher Bell is in the top 10.

The field has narrowed down to two and three wide with four laps remaining in stage one.

Talladega is the fifth race in the playoffs, Alex Bowman has scored points in every stage so far.

Three to go and Ross Chastain is in the lead but Kyle Larson is pushing Ricky Stenhouse Jr to the front.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr takes the lead with Kyle Larson in second.

Chris Buescher passes Ricky Stenhouse at the end of the stage to win stage one.

The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Chris Buescher
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
William Byron
Kyle Larson
Christopher Bell
Tyler Reddick
Ross Chastain
Chase Briscoe
Austin Cindric
Ryan Blaney

Daniel Suarez is the “lucky dog” and gets one of his laps back and is now one lap down.

Drivers come down pit road for service with William Byron winning the race off of pit road.

Kyle Larson had a slow pit stop and had to back up to get out of his pit box.

Several of the drivers make a second trip down pit road to top off the fuel cells.

There are signs of cording on the tires of a number of the drivers.

Chris Buescher brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two with Tyler Reddick alongside on lap 67.  The drivers are already forming a third lane.

Lap 67, the top five are Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe.

Lap 68 there are now three lanes on the track with Chris Buescher leading the race on the inside lane.

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen is running the race today and ran in the Xfinity Series on Saturday where he got in a big wreck.  Van Gisbergen, used to road course racing, was asked how he like Talladega.  His response was he liked it…until it went wrong.

Lap 72 Chris Buescher leads the race with Christopher Bell in second after having to start the race at the back of the field; Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Lap 74, Michael McDowell comes up to battle Chris Buescher for the lead.

Lap 75, Corey LaJoie leads the race.

Lap 76, three wide through the field, Corey LaJoie leads the field but is in a battle for the lead with Chris Buescher.

 Lap 78, in his second race with Rick Ware Racing, Corey LaJoie leads the race with teammate Cody Ware in second.

Lap 79, Michael McDowell passes Cody Ware for second.

On the inside lane, Michael McDowell takes the lead with Chris Buescher in second.

Lap 80, Chris Buescher takes the lead on the inside lane but Michael McDowell comes up from the middle lane to retake the lead.

Three wide with Ryan Blaney taking the lead on the outside, corey LaJoie leads the middle lane, and Michael McDowell leads the inside lane.

Lap 83, Ryan Blaney leads the race with his teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano right behind him.

Lap 84, several of the drivers come down pit road for fuel.

Todd Gilliland, Cody Ware, and Brad Keselowski missed pit road and have to go one more lap around to make their pit stop.  They have lost the draft.

Lap 85, Ryan Blaney leads the race with Austin Cindric in second; Shane van Gisbergen, Joey Logano, and Ross Chastain round out the top five.  There are 37 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 87, Shane van Gisbergen battle with Ryan Blaney for the lead.

Lap 89, road course racer Shane van Gisbergen leads the race at Talladega!  He is running speeds of over 190mph.

Lap 91, Shane van Gisbergen leads the race with Ryan Blaney in second; Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, and Austin Cindric round out the top five.

Lap 93, the field is approaching Brad Keselowski, Cody Ware, and Todd Gilliland to put them a lap down.

Lap 94, more drivers come down pit road for service.  Martin Truex Jr spins out and slides down pit road.

With pit stops the field has gotten spread out and are back to rows of two.

Lap 99, the bigger pack of drivers has caught the smaller pack of drivers who have made a pit stop.

Another group of drivers come down pit road for fuel.

Lap 100, the final group of drivers make their green flag pit stops.  Austin Dillon had issues getting into his pit box.

Justin Haley is the new leader with Austin Cindric in second.  Justin Haley has some sort of issues with his car.

With all of the pit stops, the drivers are no longer in “form” and are very disorganized across the track.

Lap 103, the field has gotten single file.

Austin Cindric passes Justin Haley for the lead with the field behind him.

Lap 105, the drivers have begun forming lines with three lanes forming.

Lap 107, Chase Elliott comes form the inside lane to take the lead.

Austin Cindric retakes the lead.

Lap 111, Austin Cindric leads the race with Chase Elliott in second.

Lap 112, the top five are  Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Shane van Gisbergen, and Kyle Busch

Daniel Suarez has lost the lap but if he can stay where he is, he will be back on the lead lap.

Seven Laps remain in stage two with Austin Cindric leading the race but Chase Elliott is on the inside lane and battling for the lead.

Shane van Gisbergen is right behind Chase Elliott and he has radioed asking what can he do to help.

Lap 116, AJ Allmendinger goes one lap down.

Chase Elliott leads the race from the inside lane.

Michael McDowell is short pitting the end of the stage.

Three laps remain in stage two, Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott continue to battle for the lead.

There are five playoff drivers in the top 10 and will earn points at the end of the stage.

Austin Cindric wins stage two.  Big crash at the end of the stage!  Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney make contact, sending Blaney into the wall.  Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, and Corey LaJoie were also involved.  There was a fire in Chastain’s car.

Austin Cindric wins stage two.

The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Austin Cindric
Chase Elliott
Kyle Busch
Shane van Gisbergen
William Byron
Alex Bowman
Bubba Wallace
Ryan Blaney
Kyle Larson
Ross Chastain

Drivers come down pit road for service with Kyle Busch winning the race off of pit road after taking fuel only.

Ryan Blaney is stopped on the track with track workers working to hook it up to the tow truck and is out of the race.

Kyle Busch brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 128 with Bubba Wallace alongside.  Busch takes the lead.

Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch battle for the lead.  A third lane is forming back in the field.

Ross Chastain is out of the race.

Lap 130, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch continue to swap the lead back and forth; each leading a lane of cars.

Lap 133, the top five are Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, and William Byron.

There are three full lanes on the track with Chris Buescher the new leader.

Lap 138, Joey Logano leads the race from the inside lane.

Fifty to go!  Joey Logano leads the race with Todd Gilliland in second and pushing Logano; Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.

Drivers have gotten four wide but drop it back to three wide.

With 47 laps remaining in the race, Joey Logano leads the race from the outside lane, Todd Gilliland leads the middle lane and AJ Allmendinger leads the inside lane…and takes the lead of the race.

With 45 laps to go, there are 35 cars on the lead lap with two drivers out of the race.

Joey Logano takes the lead.

Joey Logano and AJ Allmendinger battle for the lead.

Forty to go, three wide with Joey Logano and AJ Allmendinger battling for the lead.

A fourth lane has formed back in the field.

Lap 152, Austin Cindric comes up on the outside to battle with Joey Logano for the lead.

There are once again four lanes of traffic on the track with 36 laps remaining in the race.

Four wide traffic, Noah Gragson gets loose but saves the car and the track stays green.

Lap 158, AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric all battle for the lead; swapping it back and forth.

Thirty to go, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Cindric continue their battle for the lead.  The drivers are back to three wide racing.

Lap 162, drivers are getting four wide back in the field.

Lap 164, the drivers continue their three wide racing with Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Cindric battling for the lead.  The drivers till need to make a pit stop for fuel.

With 22 laps to go, AJ Allmendinger is the first driver to come down pit road for service and brings just a few cars with him.

Twenty to go, Austin Dillon leads the race and only three drivers come down pit road for service.

Todd Gilliland takes the lead with 19 laps remaining in the race.

Drivers are working their way to the bottom to get in line for pit stops.  With 18 to go, another group of drivers comes down pit road for fuel.

With 16 laps to go, another group of drivers comes down pit road for fuel.  Michael McDowell leads the race with Carson Hocevar in second; Zane Smith, Justin Haley, and BJ McLeod round out the top five.  The top five have yet to make a pit stop.

The top five drivers make their pit stops with Michael McDowell leading the race.

Leaders are single file with the remainder of the field just two wide.

Austin Cindric is the leader.

Todd Gilliland has to serve a passthrough penalty after speeding on pit road.

The drivers have gotten two wide through the field with 13 laps to go.

Twelve to go, Ricky Stenhouse Jr takes the lead briefly before Austin Cindric comes up to battle for the lead.

Ten to go, Austin Cindric leads the race with Ricky Stenhouse Jr on the outside lane battling for the lead.

Eight to go, Tyler Reddick pulls out to try and form a third lane.

Six lap remain n the race with Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr continuing their battle for the lead.

Five to go, after serving a passthrough penalty, Todd Gilliland goes a lap down.

“The Big One” takes out most of the field and brings out the caution flag.  Austin Cindric spins out after a push and the melee begins.  Austin Cindric is out of his car and out of the race. Many of the cars spun and hit the wall but they ALL stayed on the ground! 

Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe, Shane Van Gisbergen, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Corey LaJoie, Anthony Alfredo, Zane Smith, and Daniel Suarez were all involved the crash.  A total of 28 cars were involved in the crash!  It is the largest wreck in Talladega history.

NASCAR has red flagged the race.

The red flag has been pulled and the caution displayed but NASCAR is still working to clear the cars and determine who is still in the race.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr is listed as the leader of the race with four laps to go.  There are 22 cars listed on the lead lap.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a number of complaints by drivers who were involved in crashes and NASCAR towed their cars to the garage.  After the 28 car pile up, three cars with damage were towed to the pit stalls.

The race has gone into overtime.

There is a question of whether all of the drivers have enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr brings the field down for the overtime shootout to the end with Brad Keselowski alongside.  Brad Keselowski takes the lead but Ricky Stenhouse Jr gets out in front on the outside lane.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr takes the white flag.

Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr battle for the lead.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr survives a three way battle to win by six thousandths of a second.  Stenhouse had a birthday last Wednesday; what a birthday present!  Stenhouse is climbing all over the fences and flag stand.

The unofficial results of the YellaWood 500:
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Brad Keselowski
William Byron
Kyle Larson
Erik Jones
Christopher Bell
Justin Haley
Austin Dillon
Bubba Wallace
Denny Hamlin
Martin Truex Jr
Cody Ware
Ty Gibbs
Carson Hocevar
Shane van Gisbergen
Alex Bowman
Chris Buescher
Corey LaJoie
Kyle Busch
Tyler Reddick
Zane Smith
BJ McLeod
Todd Gilliland
Anthony Alfredo
Noah Gragson
Daniel Suarez
JJ Yeley
AJ Allmendinger
Chase Elliott
Chase Briscoe
John Hunter Nemechek
Austin Cindric
Joey Logano
Harrison Burton
Ryan Preece
Josh Berry
Michael McDowell
Daniel Hemric
Ryan Blaney
Ross Chastain

After the big crash there was a shakeup in the playoffs;
William Byron has secured a spot in the next round of the playoffs.

Playoff Point Standings:
William Byron  
Christopher Bell
Kyle Larson
Denny Hamlin
Alex Bowman
Ryan Blaney
Tyler Reddick
Chase Elliott

Below the cut line:
Joey Logano
Daniel Suarez
Austin Cindric
Chase Briscoe