Roger Diez: NASCAR playoff heading to Talladega

For the second time in the first four NASCAR Cup playoff races a non-playoff driver has won a race. Ross Chastain bested the field at Kansas Speedway, taking the checker ahead of a charging William Byron, who closed to within three tenths of a second in the closing laps.

Among the playoff drivers, Kyle Larson blew a tire and hit the wall, dropping him to 26th while all three Penske teams had loose wheel issues. I’m sure Roger Penske has been running lots of drills with the tire changers last week.

Byron’s second place puts him at the top of the playoff standings, 34 points above the cut line. Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell are both +28, Larson is +18, Denny Hamlin +11, Alex Bowman +8, with Chase Elliott and Joey Logano both four points to the good. Below the cut line are Tyler Reddick at -4, Daniel Suarez -8, Chase Briscoe -25, and Austin Cindric -29.

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This week NASCAR races at Talladega, the longest oval on the schedule at 2.66 miles. It’s a track where anything can, and does, happen and where any driver can win.

Brad Keselowski tops all active drivers with six Talladega victories and Blaney has three wins there. Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Elliott, and Logano have two each, while one-time winners include this year’s spring race winner Reddick, Elliott, Chastain, Bubba Wallace, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

It’s a race that could scramble the point standings when the inevitable “big one” takes out one or more playoff contenders. The oddsmakers are hedging their bets on this one, with Blaney, Logano, and Keselowski tied at 9-1 in the opening odds. Busch is 10-1, Byron and Elliott both 13-1, and Hamlin 16-1. There’s a four-way tie at 18-1 between Reddick, Larson, Wallace, and Chris Buescher, with Chastain and Cindric both at 20-1 odds.

The USA network will broadcast Xfinity qualifying at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and Cup qualifying at 10:30. The United Rentals 250 airs on the CW at 1 p.m. Sunday’s Yellawood 400 will air on NBC at 11 a.m.

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In other news, Bubba Wallace and wife Amanda welcomed their newborn son, Becks Hayden Wallace, to the world last Sunday. Wallace flew home from Kansas to be there for the happy event, then flew back to race at the Speedway where he finished 17th.

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And in legal news, 23XI team owner Michael Jordan has joined forces with Front Row Racing owner Bob Jenkins to file an antitrust lawsuit last Wednesday against NASCAR over the sanctioning body’s charter system. Both teams are planning to expand from two-car to three-car teams in 2025.

The suit was filed in federal court in North Carolina by noted antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler. Kessler is noted for success in gaining equal pay for women’s soccer players and for enabling college athletes to be compensated for use of their name and image.

The complaint reads, in part, "The France family has realized monopoly profits through its ownership and control over the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), which has exploited its economic power as the sole premier stock car racing organization in the United States." And Jordan released a statement, saying in part, "I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans.”

NASCAR had not responded to requests for comment by press time.

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This action also raises the question of how long will it be before an IndyCar team owner decides to take similar action against that series’ recently implemented charter system? Stay tuned.