Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Talladega II

Roush Fenway takes its stout Superspeedway program to the high banks of Talladega this weekend, where Jack Roush has eight wins all-time, including five in the NASCAR Cup Series. In the last 14 events, Roush has eight top-10s and five top-fives, with one win.

Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-Mile)

YellaWood 500

Sunday, Oct. 4 | 2 p.m. ET

NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

• Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
• Chris Buescher, No. 17 SunnyD Ford Mustang

Sweet Home Alabama, Talladega On Deck

• The final Superspeedway race of the 2020 season is on tap for this weekend, as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega for a Sunday afternoon event. It marks the second race in the Round of 12, with the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend as the cutoff race.
• The starting lineup will continue to be set by three competition-based metrics, rewarding both season-long and single-race performance. Buescher will line up 15^th for Sunday’s race, while Newman will fire off 19^th.
• Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.

Vegas Recap, Talladega Preview

• Newman found himself in the thick of the action late in Sunday’s race in Vegas, before being shuffled back on a final restart to finish 15^th.
• Buescher also was well inside the top-five for a series of late restarts in Vegas, and went on to finish ninth in the SunnyD Ford.
• Guaranteed Rate returns to Newman’s machine for the Sunday afternoon race, where he finished second in a photo finish a year ago in the fall.
• SunnyD is back on Buescher’s No. 17 Ford Mustang in Talladega for the second leg of the #SUNNYDouble. During #SUNNYDouble race week, fans will have the opportunity to win a virtual photo with Buescher and their very own personalized SunnyD bottle. Fans will also have the chance to win spectacular SunnyD giveaways like lanyards, t-shirts, hats, laptop stickers and more.

Photo Finish at the Line Last Fall

It came down to the final few inches for Newman at Talladega last fall, as he finished second behind Ryan Blaney by .007 seconds, the sixth-closest finish in NASCAR history. Newman lined up fifth on the inside line for the final restart with three laps to go. After a four-car group went single-file coming to the white flag, Newman took the lead and led coming out of turn four and through the tri-oval before Blaney snuck to his inside just before the start/finish line. It was a long 188 laps for the entire field as rain set in after 57 laps were completed, postponing the finish to Monday afternoon.

Running Clear Across Alabama

Roush Fenway has seen its fair share of success at the Alabama track, amassing 271 starts, eight wins, 44 top-fives and 93 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

Roush Fenway 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 Roush Fenway 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 three years ago when the NCS rolled through Talladega for the organization’s eighth win at the historic track.

Fastest Chicken in the South

Former Roush Fenway 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

Roush Fenway has started 212 NCS races at Talladega with 76 top-10 and 37 top-five finishes along with three poles. Former drivers Mark Martin (1995, 1997), Jamie McMurray (2009), Matt Kenseth (2012) and Stenhouse are responsible for RFR’s combined five Cup wins and overall a Jack Roush Ford has led 1502 laps at the 2.66-mile track.