April 23, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Christopher Bell hopes Talladega pole plays to his advantage

The one aspect of Talladega Superspeedway that all drivers can agree on is the unpredictability of the 2.66-mile track. 

At some point on Sunday afternoon, there will be a massive wreck.  And even the top speedway specialists are not immune to the possibility of being swept up in the carnage.

Christopher Bell, who won the pole for the Geico 500, believes the best strategy is staying up front with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. 

“That’s definitely going to be the goal—to try to get together and maintain our track position,” said Bell after his second-career Cup pole and his second of 2022. “But with pit strategy and pit cycles something is going to happen where you get shuffled and lose track position. 

“I think team strategy has been very important part of superspeedway racing and all of the Toyotas are going to have to work together if we want to win this one.” 

Certainly, there is strength in numbers at tracks like Talladega and Daytona. And with the addition of 23XI Racing to the Toyota camp, Bell and Company have last fall’s winner Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch added to the mix. 

Bell’s effort could be bolstered by the simple fact that five Toyota drivers will roll off from the first five rows.

“That’s crazy,” Bell said. “This is the first time I’ve ever made the second round qualifying for a superspeedway in a Cup car. That’s really cool. I know that we were really close at Daytona, and they felt like we could make improvements going into Talladega, so really happy with the progress that they made. 

“It’s a really cool stat for them to be able to get a speedway pole. Just all off to TRD, Toyota, the engine that they brought. It obviously runs really well.” 

The other five drivers who qualified in the top 10 came from the Bow-tie Brigade. Third-place qualifier Daniel Hemric was the top Chevy. Daniel Suarez will start from alongside. But the last Chevrolet driver to win at Talladega was Chase Elliott in 2019—just the second win for the manufacturer in seven seasons and the third in a decade. 

"Talladega is one of those places where you just don’t know how your day is going to end up,” Elliott said. “That’s why driving smart and just doing what you can to make it to the checkered flag is the main focus. 

“Your race can change so fast if you’re in the wrong lane or you get caught up in someone else’s mistake. I think if you can avoid those things and finish the race, you’re going to have a decent result."

Elliott starts off 28th—quite the departure for a driver with an average qualifying effort of 5.8. In 12 starts, he’s ended up on the hook three times and finished on the lead lap in eight races. His average finish of 15.9 is solid—and the best among his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. 

For defending NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson, who has endured his own struggles to start the 2022 season, Talladega is by far his worst track on the circuit with an average result of 24.5. He has just two top-10 finishes in 14 starts. Larson’s last top 10—and his career-best finish—was sixth in 2016. He’s wrecked in three of his last six starts and his move to HMS didn’t improve the outcome. 

How does he change his approach? 

"I've watched a lot of superspeedway races to see what I can do differently to be in contention at the end of stages and at the end of the race,” Larson said. “I just never seem to be in a good position at the end – when I make it to the end.”

Austin Cindric not only made it to the end at Daytona, but the NASCAR Cup rookie won the Great American Race in the new car’s debut. Given Team Penske’s history at Talladega—the company has won 10 of the last 20 races—Cindric should feel confident behind the wheel of the No. 2 Ford in his first Cup start at the track. On Sunday, the 23-year-old will rely on the support of his Penske teammates once again in hopes of another stellar run.

“Obviously, it takes a lot of execution and sometimes positioning and sometimes luck at the speedway races to be there at the end and have a shot at winning the race,” said Cindric, who rolls off 18th. “One of those pieces is having fast cars and I think the engine shop puts a lot of effort into these types of races as well as our team, whether that’s from a strategy standpoint or a driving standpoint.”

Much of Ford Racing’s success stems from the ability of the drivers in the Blue Oval stable to stay the course and be true to the “One Ford” concept. Although the Mustangs struggled in qualifying on Saturday, the Ford competitors generally find each other entering the end game.  A push from Ryan Blaney was key to Cindric’s Daytona win. 

“I feel like our two senior drivers, Ryan and Joey (Logano), are two of the best at this type of racing. You look at Talladega, (five) of the 12 wins Penske has at Talladega are from Joey and Ryan. So those guys are really capable of getting that done and learning from that and understanding how I can best do my part, I think you collaborate that with a lot of really quality cars in the Ford camp, I think that’s why you see a lot of Fords at the front. 

“I think we work well together and it’s obviously proven to be successful.”