Talladega produces familiar frustration for Cup Series field

Sunday produced familiar frustration for NASCAR Cup Series drivers over the state of the seventh-generation race car at superspeedways.

“Pick your poison,” Joey Logano said. “What do you want with this car? Do you want to save fuel or do you want to wreck? It seems like those are the two options right now, and we’ve seen both options today. We’ve got round bumpers and unstable cars, and cars that are able to pop the bubble really easily and get to the bumper, but when you get there, you have to be careful because they’re not stable.

“It’s like pushing two basketballs against each other. It’s not going to push great. It’s two bricks against each other. It’s frustrating.”

Logano was one of 26 drivers that NASCAR listed as being involved in the Turn 3 crash on lap 115 at Talladega Superspeedway. It started at the front of the field when Bubba Wallace moved to the outside to try to cover a run from Ross Chastain. Instead, the bump sent Wallace nose-first into the outside wall to start one of the biggest crashes in the track’s history.

“I just got wrecked there, unfortunately,” Wallace said. “Our Xfinity Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars. We’ve got to debrief, got to be better.

“We were just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage – nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate - it’s a place we come to with a lot of confidence, and it is what it is.”

Wallace thinks the issue is 50/50 between driver mistake and the cars not being able to take a push or push well. But he took responsibility for not anticipating well enough and allowing Chastain’s lane to get a big run.

The first stage went caution-free and saw multiple pit stops for fuel. NASCAR had increased the length of the stage in hopes of combating, but not solving, the fuel-saving strategy. As expected, there was still fuel saving.

Wallace's wreck happened early in the second stage. The second and third stages are shorter than the final stage.

“There’s no bubble,” Ryan Blaney said. “You’re just ramming through the guy in front of you. You have to be very precise with how you lift and drag brake to get on them gently. There’s no bubble at all. It’s just running through people. You’re just trying to take care of the person in front of you and it’s hard to do. We’re just all on top of each other, and that’s what you get when you’re all on top of each other.”

Blaney is among those who want to see changes made to the race car. NASCAR and the industry have been hesitant to make big swings on car components during a season, and that isn’t going to change this season. However, NASCAR has already publicly stated they are aiming to hold a test in January in Daytona to work on car components.

“I feel like we can be better at these speedways just in how the car races and to try to be not as on top of each other and running through each other,” Blaney said. “So, I’ve obviously got my hand up to wanting to make a change because we’re either fuel saving or we’re running all over each other because that’s what this car is, and that’s how you go forward. You’re just running through, and it’s however hard you can push somebody, and the cars are pretty unstable in the back. They get tank swapping, or if you get ping-ponging, they can’t take it. I don’t really see it changing this season at all. I don’t think you can during the middle of the year. You could, but I feel like hopefully that speedweeks deal in January we can try a lot of stuff out.”

There are 250 days until the calendar switches to January 2027.