Talladega, Alabama is the place to be this weekend. On Sunday, the NASCAR drivers will take over the city to compete in the 2023 Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The race will start at 3 p.m. ET and air on Fox as well as the Fox Sports App.
Denny Hamlin has a chance to earn his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season after earning pole position on Saturday morning. He has had success at the track, winning there in 2014 and 2020 as well as earning a top-five finish at the Yellawood 500 in October 2022. This is the first time Hamlin has earned pole at Talladega in his 18-year, career.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“I was well aware I’d never gotten a speedway pole,” Hamlin said after winning pole, per NASCAR.com. “I don’t know that there is one [advantage], honestly” Hamlin continued. “If I had qualified 18th I’d have been just as optimistic. Although, I will say qualifying on the pole means my car is very capable and will be fast leading. I haven’t been fast in the Next Gen era while leading on superspeedways so certainly that gives me the confidence we should be able to lead the pack quickly, which will make it harder for them to pass us.”
Hamlin is a co-owner of 23XI Racing, a team that features Bubbal Wallace who won at Talladega in 2021. Coming off a top-10 finish in Martinsville, Wallace is confident he can earn his first win of the 2023 season on Sunday. “Speedway stuff, we’ve been able to build up a decent-sized resume for the speedways and other tracks, you know, we’re still building on that,” Wallace said, per NASCAR.com. “Mile-and-a-halfs, we felt like we were pretty good at last year. Short tracks and road courses we needed a lot of work on. But, you know, a new track, new weekend, it’s a new opportunity, right? So you just go out and try to execute the best that you can.”
Hamlin and Wallace will compete against each other on the track, but Hamlin also wants his driver to perform well. “Listen, as a car owner, I would say, ‘Man, you’re about to go a lap down in a track-position race, you better fight everything you can,’ ” Hamlin said. “Now, as a driver, I’m like, ‘Get the hell out of my way. I’m the leader. Like, I’m trying to make up some ground here.’ So that’s one where, while I may be, like, perturbed in the moment, in the bigger picture, I’m like, ‘Well, this is what I would expect him to do.’ So that’s how it gets separated.”
