Talladega Superspeedway Competition Notes
TEAM AND RACE NOTES:
Front Row Motorsports heads to the high-banks of the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway this weekend.
Talladega has been a great track statistically for Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland and Front Row Motorsports. For McDowell, he has three top-5s and four top-10s in 26 starts, including a third-place finish in the fall of 2022. In four previous Cup starts at the 2.66-mile track, Gilliland has three top-12 finishes. Gilliland has shown much speed this year on superspeedways, leading laps at both the Daytona 500 (16) and at the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway (58) for a combined 74 laps lead.
For FRM, the organization has six top-5s and 20 top-10s, including the historic 1-2 finish with David Ragan and David Gilliland in the 2013 spring race.
McDowell and the No. 34 team will once again have Love’s Travel Stops and their truck care partner, Chevron Delo, racing with them this weekend. Chevron Delo is the maker of top performing heavy duty engine oils, coolants, antifreezes, transmission fluids, gear oils, greases and hydraulic oils. Gilliland will be back in the black and red gener8tor colors this weekend.
The Cup Series will have qualifying only on Saturday, April 20th at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1. The 500-mile event will take place Sunday, April 21st at 3:00 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FOX. Fans can also listen in on the action live from Sirius XM and the Motor Racing Network.
CUP SERIES COMPETITION NOTES:
No. 34 Love's Travel Stops / Delo Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:
"This weekend is a big one for us. We want to take advantage of it. It's going to be a real fight for these playoffs spots now throughout the summer. Every race will matter. We have a good chance at Talladega. It's just a matter of executing, putting ourselves in the right position at the end and being there on the final lap."
CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:
"I feel like we have learned a lot about this car to run up front, we’ve showed we have speed at the superspeedways. At the same time, you never know what you will get out of races at Talladega. We just need to keep out of trouble and position ourselves well for the stage ends and race finish."
No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:
"This is a big weekend. Talladega, like any other superspeedway race, is all about surviving and being there in the end. We've brought speed to Daytona and Atlanta and we plan on bringing it to Talladega as well. Ryan (Bergenty) and the team have worked all week getting this Ford Mustang Dark Horse ready, I just have to execute and hit my marks."
CREW CHIEF RYAN BERGENTY:
"This weekend is big for Todd and Front Row Motorsports. Todd has shown much maturity on these superspeedways, the proof is there, we just need to be there in the end. We're bringing a fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse as usual, Todd just needs to qualify up front and stay out of the chaos. I'm confident we can do that."