Front Runners – 2023 YellaWood 500, Talladega Superspeedway

2023 YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway

Front Runners highlights the drivers that lead laps, run fast laps, and run inside the top 10, 5, & 3 the most at correlated track types.

This week the Cup Series makes its second visit of the year to Talladega. This will be the fourth and final true drafting race of 2023. As seen below, Ford has dominated these races, but only has a single drafting win in 2023.

A couple of interesting trends or notes that I think folks should be aware of:

  • Only one driver has completed every possible lap at Talladega and Daytona in 2022 and 2023, the name will surprise many, as he isn’t normally considered a strong drafter. The driver? Martin Truex Jr.
  • Don’t Sleep On: Aric Almiorla. Aric has been nothing short of dominant at drafting this year (as well as last). He has a series best average running position of 8.35, which is over three full positions better than the runner up in that category. The runner up? The aforementioned Martin Truex Jr. at 11.95.

The charts below are sorted by percentage of laps led by default. There are also a few more columns that you can choose to display but for ease of display those columns are hidden by default. Also included as the final column is the drivers average running position across all laps completed as the tracks in the data set.

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at Daytona and Talladega in the Gen 7 car

wdt_ID Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos
208 Ryan Blaney Ford 7 4 520 42.48 3 355 29.00 2 266 21.73 0 143 11.68 17 1.62 1,224 94.23 14.87
209 Brad Keselowski Ford 7 3 502 42.94 2 305 26.09 1 207 17.71 0 108 9.24 35 3.34 1,169 89.99 15.97
210 Chase Briscoe Ford 7 3 277 25.30 2 134 12.24 1 104 9.50 0 73 6.67 28 2.67 1,095 84.30 19.89
211 Erik Jones Chevrolet 7 3 550 46.49 0 315 26.63 0 186 15.72 0 76 6.42 24 2.29 1,183 91.07 12.49
212 Denny Hamlin Toyota 7 1 541 47.21 1 241 21.03 0 161 14.05 0 68 5.93 15 1.43 1,146 88.22 14.34
213 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 7 3 406 36.58 2 213 19.19 1 136 12.25 1 64 5.77 22 2.10 1,110 85.45 14.92
214 Aric Almirola Ford 7 2 584 45.77 2 390 30.56 1 279 21.87 0 66 5.17 21 2.01 1,276 98.23 12.25
215 Bubba Wallace Toyota 7 1 495 38.19 1 290 22.38 1 177 13.66 0 67 5.17 46 4.39 1,296 99.77 14.87
216 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 7 4 579 48.98 2 260 22.00 1 174 14.72 1 61 5.16 20 1.91 1,182 90.99 11.05
217 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 7 1 552 48.85 1 292 25.84 0 183 16.19 0 48 4.25 20 1.91 1,130 86.99 12.12
218 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 7 5 540 41.60 2 253 19.49 2 159 12.25 1 55 4.24 38 3.63 1,298 99.92 13.73
219 William Byron Chevrolet 6 2 376 36.22 0 225 21.68 0 141 13.58 0 41 3.95 25 2.39 1,038 79.91 12.68
220 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 7 2 624 48.04 1 293 22.56 0 158 12.16 0 51 3.93 30 2.87 1,299 100.00 14.00
221 Joey Logano Ford 7 2 484 40.54 2 294 24.62 1 190 15.91 0 41 3.43 29 2.77 1,194 91.92 13.84
222 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 7 3 293 24.85 0 160 13.57 0 93 7.89 0 40 3.39 25 2.39 1,179 90.76 17.98
223 Harrison Burton Ford 7 0 231 26.61 0 121 13.94 0 86 9.91 0 29 3.34 8 0.76 868 66.82 16.65
224 Chris Buescher Ford 7 3 467 40.82 3 274 23.95 2 176 15.38 1 36 3.15 24 2.29 1,144 88.07 15.14
225 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 6 3 280 25.43 1 147 13.35 0 91 8.27 0 31 2.82 24 2.29 1,101 84.76 17.83
226 Austin Cindric Ford 7 3 468 38.08 2 229 18.63 2 136 11.07 1 33 2.69 17 1.62 1,229 94.61 14.91
227 Christopher Bell Toyota 7 2 419 37.44 1 202 18.05 1 141 12.60 0 28 2.50 5 0.48 1,119 86.14 15.25
228 Tyler Reddick Toyota 7 1 206 20.66 1 77 7.72 1 51 5.12 0 24 2.41 15 1.43 997 76.75 18.35
229 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 7 1 326 29.40 1 130 11.72 1 66 5.95 1 25 2.25 49 4.68 1,109 85.37 17.06
230 Kevin Harvick Ford 7 2 611 48.26 0 370 29.23 0 142 11.22 0 26 2.05 21 2.01 1,266 97.46 12.59
231 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 3 1 96 16.93 0 27 4.76 0 15 2.65 0 9 1.59 20 1.91 567 43.65 22.36
232 Ryan Preece Ford 3 0 210 40.00 0 130 24.76 0 86 16.38 0 6 1.14 12 1.15 525 40.42 14.90
233 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 7 2 168 14.37 2 45 3.85 2 35 2.99 1 12 1.03 23 2.20 1,169 89.99 20.48
234 Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 7 1 136 12.01 0 34 3.00 0 15 1.33 0 8 0.71 29 2.77 1,132 87.14 22.05
235 Justin Haley Chevrolet 7 0 237 18.76 0 80 6.33 0 27 2.14 0 8 0.63 25 2.39 1,263 97.23 20.18
236 Ty Gibbs Toyota 5 0 163 24.01 0 85 12.52 0 45 6.63 0 4 0.59 12 1.15 679 52.27 19.07
237 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 7 1 34 2.69 0 10 0.79 0 7 0.55 0 5 0.40 25 2.39 1,264 97.31 30.74
238 Michael McDowell Ford 7 3 305 24.82 1 113 9.19 1 22 1.79 0 2 0.16 42 4.01 1,229 94.61 20.70
239 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 7 0 157 15.73 0 17 1.70 0 8 0.80 0 1 0.10 35 3.34 998 76.83 19.99
240 Todd Gilliland Ford 7 2 283 24.35 0 107 9.21 0 41 3.53 0 1 0.09 22 2.10 1,162 89.45 19.38
241 Chandler Smith Chevrolet 1 0 35 21.47 0 3 1.84 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 4 0.38 163 12.55 22.86
242 Riley Herbst Ford 3 1 23 4.58 0 10 1.99 0 5 1.00 0 0 0.00 13 1.24 502 38.65 26.30
243 JJ Yeley Ford 3 0 13 2.39 0 6 1.10 0 2 0.37 0 0 0.00 10 0.96 543 41.80 27.49
244 Brennan Poole Ford 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 4 0.38 93 7.16 35.56
Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos

* Carson Hocevar has not yet started a race at Talladega or Daytona in the Cup Series, so he is omitted from these charts.

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at Daytona and Talladega in 2023

wdt_ID Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos
243 Chase Briscoe Ford 3 1 149 27.90 1 113 21.16 0 103 19.29 0 73 13.67 12 2.60 534 93.52 19.77
244 Ryan Blaney Ford 3 2 198 39.44 1 126 25.10 1 90 17.93 0 52 10.36 7 1.52 502 87.92 15.42
245 Brad Keselowski Ford 3 2 235 41.23 2 141 24.74 1 102 17.89 0 50 8.77 21 4.55 570 99.82 16.13
246 Bubba Wallace Toyota 3 0 234 41.12 0 136 23.90 0 71 12.48 0 40 7.03 10 2.16 569 99.65 15.79
247 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 3 0 334 58.49 0 152 26.62 0 104 18.21 0 36 6.30 11 2.38 571 100.00 11.95
248 Chris Buescher Ford 3 3 230 40.28 3 142 24.87 2 81 14.19 1 34 5.95 11 2.38 571 100.00 14.29
249 Aric Almirola Ford 3 1 386 67.72 1 295 51.75 1 201 35.26 0 30 5.26 5 1.08 570 99.82 8.35
250 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 3 1 168 29.42 0 80 14.01 0 49 8.58 0 28 4.90 10 2.16 571 100.00 16.89
251 Harrison Burton Ford 3 0 140 25.32 0 75 13.56 0 56 10.13 0 26 4.70 4 0.87 553 96.85 18.29
252 Kevin Harvick Ford 3 1 290 50.79 0 197 34.50 0 99 17.34 0 26 4.55 6 1.30 571 100.00 11.98
253 Joey Logano Ford 3 2 285 50.00 2 171 30.00 1 95 16.67 0 25 4.39 8 1.73 570 99.82 12.48
254 Denny Hamlin Toyota 3 0 255 44.74 0 111 19.47 0 70 12.28 0 25 4.39 8 1.73 570 99.82 15.55
255 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3 1 206 43.19 1 69 14.47 0 49 10.27 0 20 4.19 7 1.52 477 83.54 12.10
256 Christopher Bell Toyota 3 2 192 33.63 1 91 15.94 1 60 10.51 0 20 3.50 4 0.87 571 100.00 15.16
257 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 3 2 133 23.29 1 89 15.59 0 63 11.03 0 20 3.50 7 1.52 571 100.00 18.49
258 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 3 2 181 31.75 1 81 14.21 1 51 8.95 1 14 2.46 15 3.25 570 99.82 15.56
259 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 3 1 105 20.83 1 33 6.55 1 21 4.17 1 10 1.98 26 5.63 504 88.27 20.92
260 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 3 1 96 16.93 0 27 4.76 0 15 2.65 0 9 1.59 20 4.33 567 99.30 22.36
261 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 3 2 118 20.67 0 50 8.76 0 28 4.90 0 8 1.40 11 2.38 571 100.00 19.72
262 Ryan Preece Ford 3 0 210 40.00 0 130 24.76 0 86 16.38 0 6 1.14 12 2.60 525 91.94 14.90
263 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3 0 216 38.57 0 104 18.57 0 53 9.46 0 6 1.07 7 1.52 560 98.07 15.07
264 Ty Gibbs Toyota 3 0 162 32.53 0 85 17.07 0 45 9.04 0 4 0.80 10 2.16 498 87.22 15.88
265 Erik Jones Chevrolet 3 1 83 17.36 0 36 7.53 0 18 3.77 0 3 0.63 12 2.60 478 83.71 18.98
266 William Byron Chevrolet 3 2 140 24.96 0 52 9.27 0 16 2.85 0 2 0.36 13 2.81 561 98.25 16.73
267 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 3 0 1 0.18 0 1 0.18 0 1 0.18 0 1 0.18 11 2.38 563 98.60 32.53
268 Austin Cindric Ford 3 0 223 44.51 0 63 12.57 0 9 1.80 0 0 0.00 3 0.65 501 87.74 13.68
269 Chandler Smith Chevrolet 1 0 35 21.47 0 3 1.84 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 4 0.87 163 28.55 22.86
270 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 3 0 72 18.70 0 12 3.12 0 7 1.82 0 0 0.00 17 3.68 385 67.43 21.39
271 Michael McDowell Ford 3 0 88 15.71 0 38 6.79 0 6 1.07 0 0 0.00 19 4.11 560 98.07 23.97
272 Justin Haley Chevrolet 3 0 86 15.30 0 30 5.34 0 7 1.25 0 0 0.00 15 3.25 562 98.42 20.28
273 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 3 0 68 15.28 0 17 3.82 0 8 1.80 0 0 0.00 7 1.52 445 77.93 20.99
274 Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 3 1 81 14.19 0 10 1.75 0 2 0.35 0 0 0.00 16 3.46 571 100.00 22.63
275 Tyler Reddick Toyota 3 0 66 13.87 0 19 3.99 0 4 0.84 0 0 0.00 3 0.65 476 83.36 22.61
276 Todd Gilliland Ford 3 1 33 6.17 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 15 3.25 535 93.70 24.86
277 Riley Herbst Ford 3 1 23 4.58 0 10 1.99 0 5 1.00 0 0 0.00 13 2.81 502 87.92 26.30
278 JJ Yeley Ford 2 0 13 3.62 0 6 1.67 0 2 0.56 0 0 0.00 8 1.73 359 62.87 27.05
279 Brennan Poole Ford 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 4 0.87 93 16.29 35.56
Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos

Thanks for checking out the Front Runners! Let’s WIN THE RACE!

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Greg Matherne

Director of Betting Content, WIN THE RACE. NASCAR DFS & Betting.