NASCAR CUP Series

Driver Positions at Talladega Superspeedway

Explore race-by-race start and finish positions for drivers at Talladega Superspeedway. Featuring historical start and finish positions, projected start and finish positions, driver race history sparkline, averages over the last 2-, 4-, 6-years, alongside visual charts highlighting the top and bottom performers over the last n years.

Related Statistics: Track information and race winners at Talladega Superspeedway

Toggle Graphs

Trending Drivers at Talladega Superspeedway

To capture how drivers have performed over time at Talladega Superspeedway, I calculate the trend of their start and finish positions using linear regression. This method plots each race as a data point and draws a trend line that best fits all the data over a 6-year period. The slope of this trend line helps us understand performance trends:

How to read these graphs

6-Year Trend of Driver Start Positions

6-Year Trend of Driver Finish Positions

Filter drivers displayed in table.

Entry List

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Displaying All Drivers from the result set.

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Start

Finish

2-year

4-year

6-year

Sparkline

Displaying data from 11 races. View races used

Hover the table column header numbers to see race information.

* 'Asterisk Races': The driver is listed as DNF or was 2+ laps down.

The numbers in the table header (... 3, 2, 1) correspond to the races numbered here. Races are ordered chronologically from newest (1) to oldest.

2024
1 #10 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 21st, 2024
2023
2 #31 Talladega Superspeedway YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 1st, 2023
3 #10 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 23rd, 2023
2022
4 #31 Talladega Superspeedway YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 2nd, 2022
5 #10 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 24th, 2022
2021
6 #31 Talladega Superspeedway YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 3rd, 2021
7 #10 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 25th, 2021
2020
8 #31 Talladega Superspeedway YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 4th, 2020
9 #13 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, June 21st, 2020
2019
10 #31 Talladega Superspeedway 1000Bulbs.com 500 on Monday, October 14th, 2019
11 #10 Talladega Superspeedway GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 28th, 2019

Improving: Average position has improved.

Declining: Average position has worsened.

Stable: Little to no change in average position.

No Data: Insufficient race data to calculate.

Driver Track History of Positions at Talladega Superspeedway
																							Understanding the Sparkline	START POSITION 2-, 4-, 6-YEARS						FINISH POSITION 2-, 4-, 6-YEARS
DRIVER																							START FINISH	PRJ	BST	2	4	6	TRND	PRJ	BST	2	4	6	TRND
AJ Allmendinger																	19	29*	31	20				31.5	19	25.0	25.0	25.0		19.6	20	24.5	24.5	24.5
Aric Almirola	2	9	5	4	15	3	11	37*	14	15	20	26	23	13	4	14	2	22	1	17				3.5	1	1.5	10.7	9.7		20.1	3	19.5	17.8	16.0
Brad Keselowski	4	13	6	25*	6	19	7	18	10	1	7	2	15	23	18	24	20	5	5	32*	22	2		18.1	4	15.7	13.9	10.9		13.3	1	13.0	12.7	14.9
Clint Bowyer	3	29*	8	23	10	25	9	33*																10.6	3			7.5		29.8	23			27.5
David Ragan	15	23*	17	29*									36	24										36.1	15		36.0	22.7		24.3	23		24.0	25.3
Denny Hamlin	23	36*	40	3	2	4	1	1	1	32*	1	7	7	18	3	5	1	17	12	3	23	37*		10.2	1	12.0	6.9	10.4		19.3	1	19.0	17.0	14.8
Greg Biffle													35	35*											35		35.0	35.0			35		35.0	35.0
JJ Yeley					34	36*			37	26			38	25*	36	31*	38	11	27	36*				32.8	27	32.5	35.2	35.0		23.3	11	23.5	25.8	27.5
Jimmie Johnson	21	33*	4	38*	4	13	17	29*																9.8	4			11.5		22.6	13			28.3
Joey Logano	8	4	10	11	9	17	8	26*	2	39*	8	3	13	32*	11	27	8	30	2	24	7	19		6.1	2	5.7	7.3	7.8		26.8	3	24.3	24.9	21.1
Kevin Harvick	19	38*	15	17	5	10	5	20	16	4	9	8	24	10	24	29	11	21	11	38				13.7	5	11.0	15.8	13.9		28.2	4	29.5	18.3	19.5
Kurt Busch	14	6	24	28*	7	9	2	32*	15	35*	14	4	6	16										5.9	2		11.7	11.7		18.2	4		18.3	18.6
Kyle Busch	22	10	26	19	3	32	6	27*	9	18	2	27	12	3	26	20	17	1	25	25	4	26		15.2	2	15.3	13.6	13.8		16.8	1	17.3	17.1	18.9
Martin Truex Jr	20	20	18	26*	1	23	3	23	3	31	6	12	2	5	22	26	7	27	16	18	6	11		9.5	1	9.7	8.9	9.5		16.9	5	18.7	18.6	20.2
Matt Kenseth					13	40*	20	16																20.3	13			16.5		15.0	16			28.0
Michael McDowell	12	40*	22	5	26	18	24	36*	23	3	22	17	21	8	29	3	21	35*	18	21	1	31*		13.2	1	13.3	19.3	19.9		26.5	3	29.0	16.9	19.7
Paul Menard	17	16	14	16																				13.9	14			15.5		16.0	16			16.0
Reed Sorenson	37	18	38	22																				38.0	37			37.5		22.2	18			20.0
Ryan Newman	24	7	13	2	14	24	19	6	28	13	25	21												24.6	13		26.5	20.5		18.4	2		17.0	12.2
Stanton Barrett	39	35*																							39			39.0			35			35.0
Brendan Gaughan	29	8	28	27*	39	21	39	35*																40.2	28			33.8		34.6	8			22.8
Landon Cassill	32	34*	25	14							40	24	39	19	33	11								37.4	25		37.3	33.8		14.5	11		18.0	20.4
Austin Dillon	1	14	20	6	17	39*	12	12	11	8	16	11	14	2	20	13	14	38*	14	33*	5	30		11.5	1	11.0	13.4	13.1		32.9	2	33.7	19.3	18.7
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	6	25*	7	9	20	2	26	38*	17	33*	21	16	26	30*	25	22	33	15	35	22	33	4		36.6	6	33.7	27.1	22.6		14.1	2	13.7	20.3	19.6
Timmy Hill					38	33*	37	15	40	29														39.4	37		40.0	38.3		23.5	15		29.0	25.7
Justin Allgaier											33	40*			31	30								31.0	31		32.0	32.0		29.9	30		35.0	35.0
Kyle Larson	10	24*	12	39*					12	40*	5	37*	5	4	2	18	9	33*	4	15	38	21		17.6	2	17.0	10.7	10.8		19.4	4	23.0	24.0	25.7
Parker Kligerman	35	27	32	15																				31.9	32			33.5		14.4	15			21.0
Alex Bowman	9	2	2	37*	8	7	4	14	5	38*	11	38*	27	9			27	13	20	28	12	5		21.8	2	19.7	17.0	12.5		14.5	2	15.3	21.8	19.1
Ryan Blaney	7	15	9	1	12	1	14	25*	7	9	4	15	22	11	19	2	5	2	10	1	21	20		14.4	4	12.0	12.6	11.8		7.8	1	7.7	8.6	9.3
Corey Lajoie	36	11	33	7	25	16	29	28*	26	22	29	22	33	14	32	35*	34	25	36	4	31	18		33.8	25	33.7	31.6	31.3		17.5	4	15.7	20.0	18.4
Joey Gase			36	36*	36	37*	36	17	35	34*	36	25												35.6	35		35.5	35.8		24.6	17		29.5	29.8
Ty Dillon	13	17	21	10	33	12	28	3					20	33*	30	23	32	14	33	27				32.8	13	32.5	28.8	26.3		23.9	3	20.5	24.3	17.4
Chase Elliott	11	1	1	8	11	38*	10	5	8	24	3	18	28	7	16	1	29	12	23	7	9	15		22.3	1	20.3	16.6	13.5		10.1	1	11.3	12.0	12.4
Matt DiBenedetto	26	31*	31	30*	23	26	13	21	13	5	15	35*												11.4	13		14.0	20.2		20.4	5		20.0	24.7
Chris Buescher	31	30*	23	20*	21	6	15	22	21	21	24	6	30	38*	23	25	10	3	24	19	8	25		13.6	8	14.0	20.0	20.9		17.7	3	15.7	19.6	19.5
Erik Jones	27	19	11	34*	18	5	16	2	22	27*	26	9	16	6	12	6	24	6	26	26	28	35*		25.6	11	26.0	22.0	20.5		21.5	2	22.3	16.4	15.9
BJ McLeod					30	31			31	25	32	30	37	26*	35	33*	37	18	37	29	37	32		38.0	30	37.0	35.1	34.5		26.7	18	26.3	27.6	28.0
Jeffrey Earnhardt	33	22*																							33			33.0			22			22.0
Ryan Preece	30	3	30	18	31	15	25	10	29	14	27	32*					16	34*	19	8	11	14		13.7	11	15.3	20.4	24.2		19.4	3	18.7	20.4	16.4
Gray Gaulding					29	30																			29			29.0			30			30.0
Daniel Suarez	16	12	19	32*	37	28	31	34*	19	23	18	23	4	31*	14	8	22	9	28	10	25	27		23.0	4	25.0	18.6	21.2		14.7	8	15.3	18.7	21.5
Cody Ware	40	28*					34	19	33	28	31	28	34	28*	37	32*					34	24		33.7	31	34.0	33.8	34.7		25.8	19	24.0	28.0	26.7
Ross Chastain	34	26	34	12					18	16	23	33	19	1	6	4	23	23	32	37*	32	13		26.5	6	29.0	21.9	24.6		21.6	1	24.3	18.1	18.3
Bubba Wallace	28	39*	27	24*	24	14	27	24*	24	19	19	1	9	17	27	16	12	28*	9	23	14	36*		9.9	9	11.7	16.3	20.0		27.9	1	29.0	20.0	21.9
Daniel Hemric	5	5	29	21									3	36*	13	34*					19	9		16.0	3	19.0	11.7	13.8		17.7	5	9.0	26.3	21.0
William Byron	25	21	3	33*	19	11	21	4	4	2	10	36*	8	15	9	12	18	7	8	2	13	7		11.6	3	13.0	10.0	12.5		4.0	2	5.3	11.6	13.6
Brennan Poole					27	35*	32	9											29	30				29.1	27	29.0	29.0	29.3		29.5	9	30.0	30.0	24.7
Cole Custer					28	22	18	31*	27	10	28	13	29	29*	28	21								28.8	18		28.0	26.3		23.1	10		18.3	21.0
Garrett Smithley					40	34*					37	29												37.0	37		37.0	38.5		28.9	29		29.0	31.5
Blake Jones			35	31*																					35			35.0			31			31.0
Josh Bilicki									36	36*	34	31												33.9	34		35.0	35.0		30.8	31		33.5	33.5
Tyler Reddick					16	20	30	7	20	7	13	39*	10	39*	8	28	13	16	13	16	18	1		13.1	8	14.7	13.6	15.7		12.1	1	11.0	20.9	19.2
Matt Tifft	18	37*	16	13																				15.9	16			17.0		11.9	13			25.0
Quin Houff					32	27	33	13	32	37*	35	19												34.2	32		33.5	33.0		23.9	13		28.0	24.0
Justin Haley	38	32*					35	11	34	30	38	20	11	12	21	15	26	19	30	6	27	34*		24.6	11	27.7	26.7	28.9		18.7	6	19.7	19.4	19.9
Austin Theriault			37	35*																					37			37.0			35			35.0
Spencer Boyd			39	40*																					39			39.0			40			40.0
John Hunter Nemechek					22	8	23	8													20	33*		20.0	20	20.0	20.0	21.7		33.0	8	33.0	33.0	16.3
Christopher Bell					35	29	22	39*	6	17	12	5	1	22	1	17	6	8	15	14	10	38*		7.1	1	10.3	7.3	12.0		19.9	5	20.0	17.3	21.0
James Davison							38	30*			39	34												39.0	38		39.0	38.5		34.1	30		34.0	32.0
Kaz Grala									38	6															38		38.0	38.0			6		6.0	6.0
Austin Cindric													18	21	17	9	15	26	7	5	2	23		6.1	2	8.0	11.8	11.8		18.5	5	18.0	16.8	16.8
Austin Hill																	31	24							31	31.0	31.0	31.0			24	24.0	24.0	24.0
Chase Briscoe									25	11	17	14	17	37*	5	10	4	4	3	13	26	12		10.4	3	11.0	13.9	13.9		10.1	4	9.7	14.4	14.4
Harrison Burton									39	20			25	34*	15	36*	25	36*	21	31*	16	10		18.1	15	20.7	23.5	23.5		25.2	10	25.7	27.8	27.8
Noah Gragson													31	20	7	19	30	32*			36	3		34.5	7	33.0	26.0	26.0		15.2	3	17.5	18.5	18.5
Riley Herbst																	36	20	6	9				4.7	6	21.0	21.0	21.0		8.5	9	14.5	14.5	14.5
Anthony Alfredo									30	12	30	10									24	6		24.0	24	24.0	28.0	28.0		6.0	6	6.0	9.3	9.3
Zane Smith																	35	37*			30	29		30.0	30	32.5	32.5	32.5		28.9	29	33.0	33.0	33.0
Josh Berry																					29	16			29	29.0	29.0	29.0			16	16.0	16.0	16.0
Ty Gibbs															10	37*	3	31*	22	34*	15	22		14.2	3	13.3	12.5	12.5		27.2	22	29.0	31.0	31.0
Todd Gilliland													32	27*	34	7	28	10	17	12	3	8		12.4	3	16.0	22.8	22.8		8.7	7	10.0	12.8	12.8
Chandler Smith																			34	11					34	34.0	34.0	34.0			11	11.0	11.0	11.0
Carson Hocevar																			38	35*	35	17		35.0	35	36.5	36.5	36.5		16.8	17	26.0	26.0	26.0
Shane van Gisbergen																					17	28			17	17.0	17.0	17.0			28	28.0	28.0	28.0

POSITIONS BY TRACK

Follow the links to see position by track at other tracks.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course Chicago Street Race Circuit of The Americas Darlington Raceway Daytona International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway Homestead Miami Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Iowa Speedway Kansas Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Martinsville Speedway Michigan International Speedway Nashville Superspeedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway

North Wilkesboro Speedway Phoenix Raceway Pocono Raceway Richmond Raceway Sonoma Raceway Talladega Superspeedway Texas Motor Speedway Watkins Glen International World Wide Technology Raceway

X-Axis (Horizontal Axis)

This axis represents the sequence of races at this track. The leftmost point is the earliest race in your dataset, and the rightmost point is the most recent race.

Y-Axis (Vertical Axis)

This axis represents the positions in the race. Lower on the axis corresponds to a lower numerical position (i.e., closer to 1st place), and higher on the axis corresponds to a higher numerical position (i.e., farther from 1st place).

Blue Line (Start Positions):

This line shows where the driver started each race. Each point on this line corresponds to the starting position of the driver for a particular race.
Lower Points: Indicates that the driver started closer to the front of the grid (better starting position).
Higher Points: Indicates that the driver started farther back on the grid (worse starting position).

Red Line (Finish Positions):

This line shows where the driver finished each race. Each point on this line corresponds to the finishing position of the driver for a particular race.
Lower Points: Indicates that the driver finished closer to the front (better finishing position).
Higher Points: Indicates that the driver finished farther back (worse finishing position).

Interpreting the Lines Together

Consistency: If both lines are relatively flat and near the bottom of the chart, it indicates that the driver consistently starts and finishes in good positions.
Improvement: If the red line is generally below the blue line, it indicates that the driver tends to finish races in better positions than they start. This can be interpreted as the driver making significant progress during races.
Decline: If the red line is generally above the blue line, it indicates that the driver tends to finish races in worse positions than they start. This can be interpreted as the driver losing positions during races.
Variability: Large fluctuations in either line indicate variability in starting or finishing positions. This can highlight inconsistency in the driver's performance or qualifying results.

Example Interpretation

Let's take an example of a driver's sparkline with the following data:

Start Positions: [18, 14, 25, 30, 21, 16]
Finish Positions: [10, 8, 14, 20, 11, 9]

Analysis:

1. Start Positions (Blue Line):

The driver started races in positions 18, 14, 25, 30, 21, and 16.
The start positions indicate that the driver often begins races in the mid to back of the field, with some races starting as far back as 30th.

2. Finish Positions (Red Line):

The driver finished races in positions 10, 8, 14, 20, 11, and 9.
The finishing positions show a trend of consistent improvement during the race, finishing better than their starting position in almost every race.

3. Comparative Insights:

The driver consistently improved from their starting position, such as moving up from 25th to 14th or 21st to 11th.
Even when starting as far back as 30th, the driver made significant gains to finish 20th, showcasing strong race performance.
This pattern indicates a driver who is capable of gaining positions during the race, often finishing much higher than where they began.

Visual Example

This sparkline helps to quickly visualize the driver's performance trends over multiple races, showing how their starting and finishing positions compare and highlighting the pattern of consistent finishes outperforming start positions.

TLDR: When you see a driver with a negative slope (to the left of the 0), they're getting better over time, which could lead to higher points or better bets. Drivers with a positive slope are trending downward, so they may be less reliable choices.

The length of the bars you see on the chart corresponds to a value called the 'slope'. The slope is the result of a calculation called linear regression, which analyzes past data points (in this case, 'finish' or 'start' positions) to identify a trend.

While the slope helps illustrate whether a driver is generally improving or declining over time, it does not specifically predict the next value but rather shows the overall direction of the trend based on previous positions.

The slope on these charts represents the trend in starting or finishing positions the driver has in the races competed in at Talladega Superspeedway over the previous six seasons.

NEGATIVE SLOPE: Indicates improvement, meaning the driver is generally starting or finishing in better (lower) positions over time.
POSITIVE SLOPE: Indicates decline, meaning the driver is starting or finishing in worse (higher) positions over time.

Interpreting the Bars

Bars to the Left of 0 (Negative Slope): These drivers are improving. For example, a driver with a slope of -7 is showing significant improvement, starting or finishing much better than before.

Bars to the Right of 0 (Positive Slope): These drivers are declining. A positive slope suggests the driver is either qualifying or finishing worse compared to their previous performances.

Fantasy NASCAR, DFS, and Sports Betting

Fantasy NASCAR : Favor drivers with a negative slope (improving trend) for your lineups. They are trending toward better finishes, which likely means more points.
DFS NASCAR : Focus on drivers with an improving trend, especially those who start further back but finish strong. They offer value picks and upside in points.
Sports Betting : Bet on drivers with improving finishing trends (negative slope). They have momentum, making them solid picks for top placements or even wins.