Reported Talladega schedule shift could have major implications on NASCAR's title chase

Based on Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, the two.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway may play host to a race within the Spherical of 8 in 2025, probably making the annual fall date on the Alabama observe the third-to-last race of the season. 

With Talladega being the one drafting observe that can seem within the 2025 NASCAR playoffs, the best way drivers strategy their championship hunt will now need to be modified. Because the inception of NASCAR’s elimination fashion playoff format in 2014, Talladega has been firmly located within the Spherical of 12. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, it served because the cutoff race for the second spherical of the playoffs earlier than shifting to the center race of the spherical in 2017. The race has held its present place because the thirty first race of the season from 2017 till the current day. 

Superspeedways corresponding to Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega are seen as wild card races as a result of intense pack racing and excessive probability of crashes that may wipe out the sector straight away. The drafting aspect of those races additionally serves as an equalizer for smaller groups with much less assets, in addition to underdog drivers seeking to steal a win. 

If Talladega does transfer into the Spherical of 8 as Bianchi reviews, it should definitely make Talladega’s second race of the yr must-see TV, because the fixed menace of the ‘Huge One’, underdog tales and intensifying postseason strain will be sure you have all the area on edge. 

Talladega is already recognized to be a wild venue, however making it the third-to-last race of the season may make subsequent yr’s version of the observe’s playoff race essentially the most intense iteration so far.