Drama-filled short track racing has highlighted the first full month of the NASCAR season and now the series shifts to the superspeedway of Talladega.
Kyle Busch grabbed the lead when leader Tyler Reddick and second-place Chase Briscoe made contact and spun in the final turn on the dirt at Bristol last week.
Busch beat Reddick to the checkered flag by 0.330 seconds to become the eighth different winner in nine races this season. It was his 60th career victory, ninth-best for a career, and tied him with Richard Petty for 18 seasons with at least one win.
In last year's Talladega spring race, Brad Keselowski won after starting 10th.
The top three in the points standings — Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — are winless. The range of winners in the point standings goes from fourth-place William Byron, the only two-time winner thus far this season, to 23rd-place Denny Hamlin.
Qualifying is 10 am Saturday morning and race time is 2 pm Sunday afternoon.
The XFinity Series returns after a week off. Brandon Jones passed teammate Ty Gibbs at the start of a second overtime and won at Martinsville.
Jones’ victory gave Toyota a series-best four wins through eight races, all by Joe Gibbs Racing; Gibbs has the other three. A.J. Allmendinger, with top-10 runs in every race, leads Gibbs by 20 in the standings. Third-place Noah Gragson and Allmendinger share the lead with five top-fives each.
Jeb Burton won last year's spring Talladega race after starting ninth. Qualifying is this afternoon at 4:30 pm and race time is 3 pm on Saturday afternoon.
