NASCAR at Talladega: Start time, lineup, TV schedule and more for GEICO 500
TALLADEGA, Ala. — It's NASCAR race day at Talladega Superspeedway, and we've got some essential information you need to get ready for today's GEICO 500 Sprint Cup Series race.
START TIME: Sr. Airman James Sottile from Maxwell Air Force Base will instruct drivers to start their engines at 1:07 p.m. Eastern time today (12:07 local), followed by the green flag at 1:19 p.m. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the race, turn on your TV at 1:19 p.m.
RACE DISTANCE: The GEICO 500 is 188 laps around the giant 2.67-mile Talladega oval for a total of 500 miles.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: The 313th U.S. Army Band will perform the national anthem prior to today's race.
TV/RADIO SCHEDULE: FOX will broadcast today's race and has a pre-race show beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will call the race on the radio.
WEATHER: The National Weather Service is calling for a beautiful Alabama spring day, with sunny skies and a high in the low 80s.
LAST TIME: Denny Hamlin captured his only victory of 2014 in last year's Talladega spring race. Then, in October, Brad Keselowski had one of the great clutch performances in recent years to win a cutoff race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and advance to the next round.
STARTING LINEUP: Not that it matters much, but Jeff Gordon is on the pole for today's race. At ever-changing Talladega, no starting position will likely stay the same for long.
Here's the starting lineup for today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega:
- Jeff Gordon
- Kasey Kahne
- Ryan Blaney
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Matt Kenseth
- David Ragan
- Clint Bowyer
- Casey Mears
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- Austin Dillon
- Brad Keselowski
- Brian Scott
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Newman
- Kurt Busch
- Greg Biffle
- Joey Logano
- Carl Edwards
- Michael Waltrip
- Kevin Harvick
- Danica Patrick
- Trevor Bayne
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Landon Cassill
- AJ Allmendinger
- Bobby Labonte
- Brendan Gaughan
- Josh Wise
- Justin Allgaier
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Alex Bowman
- Chris Buescher
- David Gilliland
- Michael Annett
- Cole Whitt
- JJ Yeley
- Matt DiBenedetto
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PHOTOS: 2015 Sprint Cup Series race winners