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Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
The YellaWood 500 Cup race at Talladega starts 2 p.m.
Kyle Larson leads the points by five with three races left after this one.
Background
The YellaWood 500 is the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, a 188-lap, 500-mile event split into stages of 98, 45 and 45 laps. It closes a Talladega tripleheader weekend that also featured the Craftsman Truck Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, run with no practice sessions — only single-car qualifying before each race. Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, took the pole and is the defending race winner; points leader Kyle Larson starts 10th. The race is the eighth of the Cup Series Chase, with three races remaining after it.
How it unfolded
- Oct 23, 2026The Craftsman Truck Series Love's RV Stop 225 opened the Talladega weekend at 4:00 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX One.
- Oct 24, 2026Cup Series qualifying aired at 1:00 p.m. ET on truTV; Chase Briscoe took the pole with a lap of 51.466 seconds at 186.065 mph, with Austin Hill alongside on the front row.
- Oct 24, 2026The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series The Progress Group 250 ran at 3:30 p.m. ET on The CW/ESPN Unlimited; a JR Motorsports driver passed teammate Carson Kvapil on the final lap to win by 0.084 seconds, ending a 53-race winless streak.
- Oct 25, 2026The YellaWood 500 Cup race is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) on NBC, with radio on MRN/SiriusXM Channel 90 and in-car cameras streaming on HBO Max; NBC's pre-race coverage begins about 1:30 p.m. ET.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- Nashville Tennessean writer Nick Gray notes six Cup drivers are within 59 points of leader Kyle Larson with three races to go, and that Larson's lead is down to five points ahead of Christopher Bell.
- Official
- NBC's race broadcast is set for 2 p.m. ET, following pre-race analysis at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET, with Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte in the booth.
Still unverified
One source lists the Progress Group 250 green flag time as approximately 2:30 p.m. Central on Saturday, Oct. 17, although the race is dated Oct. 24; another source refers to the race winner only as 'Smith' without naming him.