Front Row Motorsports isn’t unfamiliar with the front row at superspeedways, but it’s not a place we’ve ever seen Zane Smith before today. Driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang, he was the fastest man at Talladega in both rounds of qualifying, earning his first career pole in his 55th career start. Crew chief Ryan Bergenty was ecstatic and actively celebrating on pit road as his car rocketed to the top of the time charts.

Smith’s previous best start in the Cup Series is only seventh, coming at Atlanta earlier this year. His lap time at Talladega was simply stunning, beating the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Busch by over a tenth (0.132s).

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“I wish I could take a lot of the credit for it, but truthfully, just a really fast FRM Ford,” said Smith. So cool — a pole-sitter in the Cup Series. That’s awesome. Just a huge shoutout to all of these guys. They’ve been doing an awesome job this year. Long race tomorrow, but a great starting spot, so I’m super stoked for this.”

Busch on the front row

Busch was the highest-qualifying Chevrolet, earning his first front row start since winning pole position at Dover one year ago. “That feels pretty good,” said Busch. “Great job by these guys … great start for RCR and our Chevrolet. Austin [Dillon] is right up there too. Looking forward to it. Obviously, it’s good to start up front. Hopefully you can hold that position and keep it up front.

“All about trying to score some stage points and stay out of the melee. You never know where that comes from. Heck, it could even come from behind you and you can be in it. But a solid start to the weekend. Just again proves that the RCR guys, when it comes to the plate racing stuff, we’re on top of that. I feel good about coming to these places, so I appreciate all of the hard work.”

Where the rest of the contenders line up

Joey Logano qualified third, Ryan Preece Ford, and Austin Dillon fifth. Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs filled out the remainder of the top ten.

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Advancing into the final round of qualifying were seven Fords, two Chevrolets, and on Toyota. Gibbs was the lone representative for Toyota and also the last driver to advance, beating teammate Christopher Bell by 0.012s. Joe Gibbs Racing earned pole position in this year’s Daytona 500, but 500 pole-sitter Chase Briscoe was only 17th in Talladega qualifying.

Some other notable names starting deeper in the field include Bubba Wallace in 20th, Brad Keselowski 22nd, Kyle Larson 25th, Tyler Reddick 26th, Chase Elliott 30th, Ross Chastain 32nd, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — the most recent winner at Talladega — only reaching 35th on the grid. The good news for Stenhouse is that he also started outside the top-30 when he won that race last fall.

Single-car qualifying around the 2.66-mile superspeedway was completed without any mechanical issues or on-track incidents.

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer

Jeb Burton had family, friends and team to console after losing Saturday’s Xfinity race under caution.

The result came after minutes of NASCAR reviewing the time of caution when race leader Connor Zilisch got turned and plowed the inside backstretch wall. Burton was three-wide for the lead with Austin Hill and Jesse Love.

And though Burton was confident he was a nose ahead, NASCAR found Hill to be the leader at the caution light, granting him the victory.

Forced to settle for second, Burton was seen chucking his water bottle deep into the infield grass before speaking with father Ward and team.

“The angles I keep seeing, we won the race,” Burton said. “Maybe there is a different angle that I haven’t seen. Before we leave here today, I am definitely going to see proof because what I keep seeing on the TV screens doesn’t look like we lost the race.

“If we lost the race, we lost the race obviously. But I feel like we won. I had the [Nos.] 2 car here and 21 car here and I was ahead of all three of them from my point of view.”

NASCAR displayed the timestamp with the cars frozen in position, seeming to indeed show Hill’s No. 21 slightly ahead of Burton.

With plenty of time to review the evidence ahead, Burton’s gripe also targeting the use of the caution flag. Zilisch’s hit was massive and the yellow as thrown after impact.

“I don’t know why we threw the caution anyway, I don’t get that at all,” he said. “I feel like we should race back unless somebody was flipping or seriously hurt, we should be able to race back.”

Though gritting his teeth, Burton does exit Talladega with a second-place finish for Jordan Anderson Racing, a team with only nine top fives in their history.

The result was also Burton’s first top five since his last win, which came at Talladega in 2023.

“We don’t have a ton of opportunities to win,” he said. “These are the tracks we can win at. My guys did a great job all day, brought us a fast racecar. We did all we could.

“So close. So close. So frustrating.”

Two-time Talladega Xfinity winner Jeb Burton is not ready to accept the results of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race at the superspeedway. While he was battling three-wide for the race lead, officials threw the caution when Connor Zilisch slammed the inside wall. Zilisch himself was later the race only moments prior.

After reviewing the tape, NASCAR determined that Austin Hill was narrowly ahead of Burton at the time of caution, providing multiple angles. However, Burton, who hasn’t won in two years, was openly questioning the final ruling.

“I feel like when the caution flew, I was ahead of the #21 [Hill],” asserted Burton. “Last week at Rockingham, we got pretty screwed by a yellow and it put me back a row. And today, (we) lose the race because of a timing line. But I don’t see the #21 ahead of me at all any of this time. And right there, you can see my nose is in front of the #21.”

Burton agreed that he would like to see some alternate angles because he was completely unsatisfied by the angles provided by NASCAR at the time.

“That angle right there, we’ve won the race and that’s what I saw across my right front,” continued Burton. “I think I got the best view of it, compared to anybody. They need to go look at it. Every angle I keep seeing, we win the race. Just frustrated with that. Maybe they can show us a different angle here.”

As Burton began to talk about his Jordan Anderson Racing team, he couldn’t help but circle back as he stared at the still image showcasing the moment of caution.

“Look at the tire ahead of his tire,” pointed out Burton. “I don’t know what’s so complicated there. So, they need to go look at it. We’re gonna protest if you can protest. Do whatever the hell we can do because I think we won this race.”

It was at this point that Burton began to get emotional, breaking down into tears as he told CW Sports: “We don’t have a lot of chances to win. That’s what is frustrating.” He then walked away, overcome with emotion, wiping the tears from his eyes as he threw a water bottle into the infield.

Photos from Talladega – Race

When Ryan Preece pulled a wheelie and flipped at the Daytona 500 earlier this year, he called for NASCAR to take action to help keep the Next Gen (Gen-7) cars from taking flight. There have been eight occasions where Cup cars have gone completely upside down in the last three years of competition, including five in the last calendar year.

Unfortunately, Preece has the distinction of being the most recent driver to flip a Gen-7 Cup car, and the driver who endured the most violent airborne crash when he barrel-rolled nearly a dozen times at Daytona in the summer of 2023. In a recent interview with Motorsport.com, Preece said how he hopes for a solution “sooner than later” and believes NASCAR will “find a solution that everybody is happy with” in the end.

However, there have been no aero updates between February’s Daytona 500 and this weekend’s Talladega race. Last year, NASCAR was extremely aggressive in combating the issue, especially after Corey Lajoie experienced a blow-over at a non-superspeedway track. However, it didn’t stop the rash of airborne incidents.

And while the status quo remains for Talladega, work is ongoing to counter this issue of airborne stock cars. A recent Goodyear tire test at Michigan was utilized to test some potential updates, but what exactly is NASCAR considering?

Another new anti-flip flap?

Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, an aero specialist who works for NASCAR as the vice president of vehicle performance innovation and aerodynamics, gave some insight into that very topic this week. Speaking to Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte on the Inside The Race podcast, he revealed that NASCAR is creating a new flap, functionally similar to the roof flaps but on the A-post of the vehicles. He indicated that their tests showed that liftoff speed increased by somewhere between 40% and 50%, making it far more difficult for cars to blow over on their own.

He also broke down some of the more infamous flips of recent memory, pointing out how Preece’s car became unstuck from the ground when it transitioned from asphalt to grass in 2023, allowing air to get under the car and lift it. A small lip there also helped to propel the car upwards in a terrifying airborne accident, leading to the removal of grass on Daytona’s backstretch.

Watch: Ryan Preece’s No. 41 flips in closing laps at Daytona; SHR driver climbed from car

He conceded that Preece’s 190mph wheelie in this year’s Daytona 500 was “pretty odd” and didn’t believe there was much they could do in that situation. NASCAR even played around with the idea of removing parts of the floor, but that didn’t seem to help.

However, the most eyebrow-raising flip of the 2024 season came at Michigan when LaJoie went up and over in a simple spin at Michigan — a non-superspeedway track. Jacuzzi explained that environmental factors also played a role in this. While spinning at a 90 degree angle at such a high of speed, a 30mph wind pushed the air speed to above 220mph, making it easy for the car go onto its lid.

As for this new flap on the A-post, it is not yet ready for deployment, but Jacuzzi expects it to be ready for the summer race at Daytona. They are currently running some more tests to make sure it is strong enough.

A source was able to confirm to Motorsport.com that these updates have been in the works even before Preece’s 500 flip, and that the August 23 event at Daytona International Speedway remains the target race.

Photos from Talladega – Qualifying

Last year Kyle Larson was forced to settle for second at Jacksonville Speedway, and he simply wouldn’t allow that to happen again this time around.

It didn’t matter that a tougher road was ahead of him at Friday’s Hy-Vee Perks 40. Larson started on the front row in 2024 and led most of the way before David Gravel snuck by late. This year “Yung Money” lined up back in sixth for the 40-lap World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Feature. But a climb to the front wasn’t going to halt the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Larson methodically picked his way forward aboard the Silva Motorsports No. 57 through a flurry of early restarts. By Lap 8 he was on the podium, and three circuits later he was up to second. A Lap 16 slider on Carson Macedo gave him the top spot, and then he showed everyone why he’s one of the best race car drivers on the planet right now.

The Elk Grove, CA native absolutely checked out in traffic. He sliced through lappers and grew his advantage north of four seconds at times. When the checkered flag flew, Larson had lapped up through 11th place. No runner-up this year.

“For what Kyle Larson likes to do, yes that was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “It was a super challenging racetrack kind of all night. I was just waiting for above the cushion in (Turns) 3 and 4 to get loosened up. It barely did. After cautions I could kind of rip above it in (Turns) 3 and 4 really well and just wanted to stay committed to it just to try to clean it off up there as much as I could before I caught traffic. I felt like that kind of allowed me to get by lappers a little easier because I could have such a run on the frontstretch. Just a great car, great race, all of that.”

Larson’s win was his third in six tries this year with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’s won six of his last nine in World of Outlaws action dating back to last year. The three times he hasn’t he still finished on the podium, making for an average finish of 1.44 over those nine races competing with the best Sprint Car drivers in the world. The 32-year-old has 38 victories in 150 career Feature starts, a remarkable 25.3% winning clip. He became the sixth different winner through six Series visits to Jacksonville.

“It’s always fun to get to race the 57, especially on a small bullring like this,” Larson said. “I hope the fans enjoyed it. I know I did from my seat. Thank you guys for coming out. That was a good one.”

The second spot belonged to Brady Bacon and the TKH Motorsports crew. The Broken Arrow, OK native had speed all night and got by Carson Macedo late to secure his fifth career World of Outlaws podium. “The Macho Man” built some momentum before he goes for a three-peat at Tri-State Speedway on Saturday.

“Carson and I, I feel like we were kind of close to the same,” Bacon said. “I was kind of right on him, so I could kind of try some different stuff in lapped traffic to get the bottom working and figured out especially in (Turns) 1 and 2. I was able to sneak by him, and then I got really backed up in traffic and got a little scared he was going to get me back. Just want to thank Kelly and Lora Hinck for giving us the opportunity to come out here and run some more wing races.”

It was a nice rebound for Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing as they went from their first DNF of 2025 last Saturday at Knoxville to a third place finish at Jacksonville. The Lemoore, CA native led eight laps after taking the top spot from early leader Logan Schuchart but couldn’t quite hold back Larson.

“I don’t know how Kyle does it,” Macedo said with a laugh. “It’s pretty amazing. When I was behind him, pacing him after the restart, which wasn’t very long, he was running above it (the cushion). It looked like he was wall grinding the fence. I just don’t know that I can do that for all 40 laps and hold it all together and still finish these races.”

Logan Schuchart and David Gravel completed the top five.

A 23rd to 13th outing gave Chris Windom his third KSE Racing Hard Charger of the year with Sides Motorsports.

Heat Races went to Carson Macedo (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Sheldon Haudenschild (Real American Beer Heat Two), Bill Balog (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Logan Schuchart (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

David Gravel topped the Toyota Dash and received the SPA Technique #1 Redraw.

Giovanni Scelzi won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Zach Hampton.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their only Indiana stop of 2025 on Saturday, April 26 at Haubstadt’s Tri-State Speedway. Tickets will be available at the gate.

For the complete 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 2. 21H-Brady Bacon[3]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 5. 2-David Gravel[1]; 6. 83-Michael Kofoid[9]; 7. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 8. 2C-Cole Macedo[10]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[12]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 12. 27-Emerson Axsom[13]; 13. 7S-Chris Windom[23]; 14. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 15. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[22]; 16. 11-Parker Price Miller[11]; 17. 16C-Max Guilford[17]; 18. 99-Skylar Gee[16]; 19. 3N-Jake Neuman[18]; 20. 1-Rees Moran[24]; 21. 28M-Conner Morrell[15]; 22. 21-Tanner Holmes[20]; 23. 7A-Will Armitage[14]; 24. 6-Zach Hampton[19]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

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