Joe Gibbs Racing has won five of the past six Sprint Cup races and has also led 582 of 1,182 laps, and while skill certainly plays a role in their dominance, so does a bit of luck.
Both the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series will race Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Cup cars will start the day’s action by qualifying for Sunday’s playoff race, followed by the Truck playoff race and then the Xfinity playoff race.
Saturday: Sunny. High of 78.
Garage open
Track activity
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Hill will lead the field to the green flag Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway after scoring his first career Xfinity Series pole.
Hill won the pole Friday with a lap of 182.036 mph. He will be joined on the front row by fellow playoff contender Ty Gibbs (181.981 mph).
Playoff drivers will start in seven of the top eight spots. The exception is Sheldon Creed, who will start third after a lap of 181.870 mph. Hill and Creed give Richard Childress Racing the first and third starting spots.
Justin Allgaier (181.529) qualified fourth and Brandon Jones (181.305) completed the top five. Noah Gragson, who has won four races in a row, starts sixth after a lap of 181.134 mph and is followed by playoff drivers Josh Berry (181.052) and AJ Allmendinger (180.932).
The Xfinity Series race is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — John Hunter Nemechek will start on the pole for Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race.
Nemechek earned the pole with a lap of 178.767 mph.
Nemechek is one of four playoff drivers starting in the top six: Chandler Smith (second, 177.732 mph), Zane Smith (fourth, 177.061) and Ty Majeski (sixth, 176.744). Majeski clinched a spot in next month’s championship race at Phoenix with his Bristol win.
Also qualifying in the top five were Carson Hocevar (177.068) in third and Matt Crafton (176.960) in fifth.
Failing to qualify are Tim Viens, Spencer Boyd, Jason White and Natalie Decker.
The second race of the opening round of the Xfinity playoffs takes drivers to Talladega Superspeedway.
Noah Gragson secured his spot in the next round by winning last weekend at Texas. Ryan Sieg holds the final transfer spot. Riley Herbst is the first driver below the cutline, one point behind Sieg. Also below the cutline are reigning series champion Daniel Hemric (-8 points), Brandon Jones (-12) and Jeremy Clements (-28).
START: The command to start engines will be given at 4:09 p.m. … Green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:21 p.m.
PRERACE: Xfinity garage opens at 1 p.m. … Driver introductions are at 3:30 p.m. … The invocation will be given at 4 p.m. … The Brookwood High School choir will perform the anthem at 4:02 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 113 laps (300.58 miles) on the 2.66-mile speedway.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 25. Stage 2 ends at Lap 50.
TV/RADIO: USA Network will broadcast the race at 4 p.m. Countdown to Green begins at 3:30 p.m. on USA Network. … Motor Racing Network coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. and also will stream at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the MRN broadcast.
STREAMING: NBCsports.com
FORECAST: Weather Underground — Sunny with a high of 78 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the race.
LAST TIME: Noah Gragson won and was followed by Jeffrey Earnhardt and AJ Allmendinger.
