NASCAR America: Bobby Labonte, Parker Kligerman, Dale Jarrett recall Talladega wins

Parker Kligerman, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte reemember their wins at Talladega Superspeedway ahead of the Sprint Cup weekend. Labonte also breaks down the difference between winning at the speedway in the 90s and today.

NASCAR America: Joey Logano looking for his first win of season at Talladega

Joey Logano was a favorite heading into the season and just because he hasn’t won yet doesn’t mean the team’s panicking. Logano has won two of the last five restrictor plate races and has confidence going into Talladega.

NASCAR’s weekend schedule at Talladega

It’s time for the first visit of the year to the longest track in NASCAR at Talladega Superspeedway. But the Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series will be in action.

The Sprint Cup will hold the GEICO 500 and Xfinity Series teams take part in the Sparks Energy 300.

Here is the weekend schedule for the two series, including TV and radio info.

All times are Eastern.

Friday, April 29

9 a.m. – 8 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open

9:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Xfinity Series Garage open

11:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. – Xfinity Series practice (Fox Sports 1)

1:30 – 2:25 p.m. – Final Xfinity Series practice (FS1)

2:30 – 3:25 p.m. – Sprint Cup practice (FS1, Motor Racing Network)

4:30 – 5:25 p.m. – Final Sprint Cup practice (FS1, MRN)

Saturday, April 30

7 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Sprint Cup and Xfinity garages open

10:30 a.m. – Xfinity Series qualifying; single car/two rounds (FS1)

12:15 p.m. – Xfinity Series driver-crew chief meeting

12:30 p.m. – Sprint Cup qualifying; single car/two rounds (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

2:30 p.m. – Xfinity Series driver introductions

3 p.m. – Sparks Energy 300, 113 laps, 300.58 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXm NASCAR Radio)

Sunday, May 1

8:30 a.m. – Sprint Cup garage opens

11 a.m. – Driver-Crew chief meeting

12:25 p.m. – Driver introductions

1 p.m. – GEICO 500, 188 laps, 500.08 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

#ThrowbackThursday: Talladega, Kurt Busch racing in L.A. and more

Let’s start this week’s edition of #ThrowbackThursday with the most recent winner at Talladega Superspeedway, Joey Logano.

Last October, Logano completed a sweep of the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup when his front bumper narrowly edged Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s when a late caution waved on a restart. Logano and Earnhardt split the season’s restrictor-plate races.

A year before he first raced in the Sprint Cup Series in 2000, Kurt Busch competed in the NASCAR Southwest Series. That circuit took Busch and his competitors to stops that included Irwindale Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Rocky Mountain Raceways in Utah and the streets of Los Angeles.

Kurt Busch won six races that season, including four in a row, to claim the series’ title. In the picture below, shared by Busch, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver pilots his No. 70 Chevrolet in the Ford Los Angeles Street Race 200. The race was one of three run in the streets of the City of Angels.

Roush Yates Engines brings us this next picture, taken at the start of the 1986 Talladega 500. Bill Elliott started from the pole next to Dale Earnhardt. At this point, Earnhardt only had two of his record 10 Talladega wins. The third wouldn’t come until 1990.

Elliott swept the poles at Talladega that season in addition to his pole for the Daytona 500.

Only 14 cars would finish this race, with Earnhardt and Elliott not among them. The race would be won by Bobby Hillin, Jr. The only win of his Sprint Cup career, Hillin is one of 10 drivers to earn their first Sprint Cup win at Talladega.

And here’s a few more pictures to reminisce over.

Brad Keselowski Racing taps Austin Cindric, Theriault for pair of Truck races

Brad Keselowski Racing has announced two different three-driver lineups for upcoming races in the Camping World Truck Series.

In addition to regular drivers Daniel Hemric (No. 19) and Tyler Reddick (No. 29), BKR will field a third truck, the No. 2, at Dover International Speedway on May 13 and Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20.

At Dover, the truck will be piloted by Austin Cindric and at Charlotte by Austin Theriault. Both have a history with BKR.

Cindric, 17, drove two races for the team in 2015, at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. Theriault, 22, has competed in 10 races, the most recent being the season opener at Daytona where he finished 27th following a crash.

In 2015, Theriault drove in eight of the first 18 races before a back injury in a hard crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway sidelined him until the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The May 13 race will be Cindric’s first time to visit Dover in any series.

“A track called the ‘Monster Mile’ shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Cindric said in a press release. “They tell me that the two truck races that I was able to do last year at Martinsville and Phoenix were difficult tracks to figure out, and I believe Dover will be the same. As I haven’t been able to test, I’ve been watching as much video as possible while reaching out to as many people as I can to pick their brain about what it takes to be fast at Dover. I’m just going in with no expectations, trying to absorb as much information as possible and have fun with it.”

Theriault, who has two top fives in his career, will go into Charlotte with a completely different mindset.

“I was really proud of the effort at Daytona and how strong our performance was, and I feel like Charlotte won’t be any different,” Theriault said in the press release. “I’m going there with the expectation to win. I know we will have a strong Ford F-150 race truck at Charlotte and we plan to perform well, just like we did earlier this year at Daytona. At the end of the day, we want to win, and we have all the resources here at BKR to do just that at Charlotte.”

The Camping World Truck Series returns to action next weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Brendan Gaughan honors father’s racing career with Darlington paint scheme

The new use of throwback paint schemes at Darlington Raceway isn’t exclusive to the Sprint Cup Series. Last year, a handful of Xfinity Series teams also paid tribute to the history of NASCAR or their sponsor.Among them was Brendan Gaughan, who will once again have a retro paint scheme for this year’s VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200.MORE: Brendan Gaughan and the “Vegas Rules” that made him who he isGaughan revealed on social media how his No. 62 Chevrolet will look for the Sept. 3 race. The car will pay tribute to the off-road racing career of his father, Michael Gaughan.

NASCAR America: Communication between Kasey Kahne, crew best it’s ever been

Kasey Kahne‘s crew chief Keith Rodden talks about Kahne’s season best finish at Richmond and the momentum he feels the team has going into Talladega.