It’s NASCAR race day at Talladega Superspeedway, and we’ve got some essential information you need to get ready for Sunday's 1000Bulbs.com 500, the second race of the Round of 12 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs: START TIME: Kim Pederson, CEO of 1000Bulbs.com, will instruct drivers to start their engines at 1:53 p.m. ET (12:53 p.m. local), followed by the green flag at 2:05 p.m. ET (1:05 p.m.) local. RACE DISTANCE: The 1000Bulbs.com 500 is 188 laps around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. That's 500.08 miles. RACE STAGES: After a successful run last season, NASCAR will once again be dividing races into stages and handing out points. Here are the segments for tonight's Cup race: Stage 1: 55 laps, Stage 2: 55 laps, Stage 3: 78 laps. PLAYOFFS: Today's race is the fifth of 10 playoff races and the second of the three-race second round, which concludes next weekend at Kansas Speedway. Twelve drivers advanced from the first round and remain in contention for the championship. NATIONAL ANTHEM: The 313th United States Army Band out of Birmingham, Ala., will perform the national anthem at 1:47 p.m. ET (12:47 p.m. local), followed by a flyover by four F-18s from The World-Famous Fighting Blacklions of VFA-213 of the U.S. Navy. TV RADIO SCHEDULE: The race will be broadcast on NBC starting at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. local), with a pre-show beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. local). Radio calls can be found on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio. LIVE STREAMING: NBCSports.com will live-stream the race for those who sign in with their cable/satellite provider's credentials. PREVIEW:Playoff drivers face daunting challenge at volatile Talladega ELLIOTT:Not sweating Talladega playoff race TALLADEGA:Inside NASCAR's wildest and biggest infield party WEATHER: Ideal conditions. The Weather Channel is calling for sunny skies with temperatures in the low 80s with no chance of rain. LAST TIME: Team Penske's Joey Logano led 70 laps, including the final 42, to earn his third career Cup win at Talladega. And one year ago in the playoff race, teammate Brad Keselowski passed Ryan Newman on the final lap to score his fifth Talladega Cup Series win. LINEUP: Kurt Busch led a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the top qualifying spots on Saturday for Stewart-Haas Racing, taking his fifth pole of the season. Clint Bowyer will start alongside Busch, while Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola will start on row 2. Here's the starting lineup for today's 1000Bulbs.com 500 (car number in parentheses): 1. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford 2. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford 3. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford 4. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford 5. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet 6. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet 7. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet 8. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet 9. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota 10. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota 11. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota 12. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford 13. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota 14. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford 15. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota 16. (38) David Ragan, Ford 17. (43) Darrell Wallace Jr., Chevrolet 18. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford 19. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford 20. (22) Joey Logano, Ford 21. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet 22. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet 23. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet 24. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford 25. (95) Regan Smith, Chevrolet 26. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet 27. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford 28. (62) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet 29. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet 30. (21) Paul Menard, Ford 31. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet 32. (23) JJ Yeley, Ford 33. (7) DJ Kennington, Chevrolet 34. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet 35. (96) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota 36. (15) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet 37. (00) Joey Gase, Chevrolet 38. (99) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet 39. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet 40. (72) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet Follow Horrow on Twitter @EllenJHorrow<doc-sep>Kurt Busch will lead the field to green for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). There was just one practice session this weekend, giving players a bit of a puzzle to solve when it comes to setting their lineups. We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you make roster decisions. PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the playoff game works Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2. Also, your garage play can only be swapped for a driver of similar classification. (A playoff garage driver can only be swapped for a playoff driver in your lineup; a non-playoff garage driver can only be swapped for a non-playoff driver in your lineup.) Cars to the rear: No. 42 — Unapproved adjustments Pat DeCola’s Fantasy Live lineup for race-day at Talladega: Playoff driver 1: Joey Logano Playoff driver 2: Brad Keselowski Non-playoff driver 1: Denny Hamlin Non-playoff driver 2: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Garage: Chase Elliott MORE: Fantasy analysis for Talladega | Driver stats | 10-lap averages | Lineup Analysis: The Fantasy Live Playoff Game is in Week 5! These five drivers made up my original lineup and I am sticking with them. The thing is — with Talladega, anything goes and you just try to play the odds. So, while Kevin Harvick was fastest in the weekend’s lone practice session, SHR dominated qualifying and it’ll be fast on Sunday, the group doesn’t have as much of a rapport drafting with each other as the Team Penske drivers. Fastest car or not, no driver or stable can be considered fantasy locks because one minor slip-up and everything changes in the blink of an eye. I kept that in mind when setting my lineup, with the thinking that Logano and Keselowski have seen the most success most recently at the track and we know the Penske teammates work well together. Hopefully they’ll just keep it going, right? Logano and Keselowski have won six of the past eight ‘Dega races and I feel as comfortable with them pacing my lineup as one can be when it comes to NASCAR’s biggest wild card. Sure, stacking them might increase the risk of losing both in a tandem wreck, but it’s the playoffs and you have to take some risks. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t — right, Jimmie? WATCH: Letarte: Don’t stack teammates | Setting your lineup at unpredictable track | Non-playoff picks For the non-playoff plays, I expect both Hamlin and Stenhouse Jr. in many lineups (same with the playoff Penske duo above), but it’s for good reason. Both of them had their seasons end much earlier than they would have liked, both have something to prove in these final six races and both have arguably their best shots to make a statement at this particular track. Hamlin won at Talladega in 2014 after starting 34th and has led at least a lap in every single race there since that win. Needless to say, he always finds his way to the front, a trait that can reap benefits in NASCAR Fantasy Live. Like Hamlin, Stenhouse also has a recent Talladega win on his resume (Spring 2017), and has managed to see the front of the field at the track since the very beginning of his career, something that can’t be said about most venues for him. The Roush Fenway Racing driver has led laps in all but two of his 10 starts at the Alabama track. I threw Elliott in the garage, thinking he’s the only driver who doesn’t have to sweat on Sunday because he’s already locked into the Round of 8. It’ll allow him to be aggressive, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver has already shown an ability to lead laps at ‘Dega (and finished third in the spring.) For the bonus picks, I’m taking the pole-winner Busch for Stage 1 and 2 with Logano for the win. The spring race’s winner has been humming along all season since his lone 2018 victory and now feels like the time he’ll strike.<doc-sep>Kevin Harvick led a handful of Fords atop the leaderboard for Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway when he guided his No. 4 around the 2.66-mile track at 204.227 mph. RELATED: Practice results Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola was second-fastest after his No. 10 Ford went 203.957 mph, while another teammate, Clint Bowyer, was fourth at 202.431 mph. Joey Logano broke up the SHR contingent with the third-fastest time in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford at 202.478 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five in the 75-minute practice session when his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford went 202.388 mph. Practice holds for the final 15 minutes included: No. 18 Kyle Busch, No. 19 Daniel Suarez, No. 38 David Ragan (all late to pre-race inspection); No. 41 Kurt Busch, No. 78 Martin Truex Jr. (both failed pre-race inspection twice); No. 2 Brad Keselowski, No. 7 DJ Kennington and No. 99 Landon Cassill (missed mandatory spotters meeting.) Additionally, the No. 43 of Bubba Wallace served a 30-minute practice hold for failing pre-race inspection twice. The Monster Energy Series returns to the track at 4:35 p.m. ET for Busch Pole Qualifying (NBCSN/NBC Sports App).<doc-sep>TALLADEGA, Ala. – Racing for just the fourth time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season, Timothy Peters fought off a block from Noah Gragson on the final lap of the Fr8Auctions 250 at Talladega Superspeedway to become the first three-time winner in the series at the 2.66-mile track. Driving in the last of his three events for GMS Racing, Peters started a move to the outside of Gragson’s Toyota on the backstretch. When Gragson moved up to block, Peters stayed in the gas, and Gragson’s No. 18 Tundra spun across the nose of Peters’ Chevrolet into the outside wall. RELATED: Full results | Talladega photos NASCAR called a caution for the wreck, freezing the field with Peters in the lead. For Gragson, there was the consolation of moving into the Round of 6 of the NCWTS Playoffs. Matt Crafton did likewise, despite being collected in a 10-car wreck on Lap 59 of 94 and finishing 26th. Gragson and Crafton join Round of 8 winners Justin Haley and Grant Enfinger, along with Brett Moffitt and Johnny Sauter, in the Round of 6. RELATED: Round of 6 set Despite a sixth-place result, Stewart Friesen was eliminated from the playoffs, as was Ben Rhodes, who ran 16th, one lap down, after his No. 41 Ford sustained damaged in the same wreck that sidelined Crafton. But it was Peters who emerged from the last-lap chaos with the victory. “Everybody’s wanting to win,” Peters said, who triumphed for the 11th time in his career and the first time since 2015. “Everybody’s wanting to block. I wanted to win, too, because this is my last go-around on the three-race stint. So, at the end of the day, I was going for it. “These guys right here (the No. 25 GMS Chevrolet team) worked their butts off. It just feels so good, so good. … Man, I love this place, and it’s so cool to be a three-time winner. But this is not about me. It’s about the team. This team put together this truck back at the shop, and I was just the lucky one who got to drive it today.” WATCH: Gilliland takes wild ride | Moffitt’s Talladega trouble Myatt Snider finished a career-best second, followed by pole winner David Gilliland, Haley and Wendell Chavous, who scored his only top five in 50 starts. With his playoff hopes on the line, Crafton had to sweat out the final 30 laps after exiting the race in the aftermath of the afternoon’s largest wreck. But Rhodes couldn’t recover the lap he lost because of the accident, and Friesen couldn’t challenge for the victory because his engine was down on power. WATCH: ‘Big One’ takes out playoff contenders “I saw some people getting turned up in front of me, and I got hooked in the right-rear,” Crafton said of the wreck that put his playoff chances in jeopardy. “The next thing I knew I was facing the fence and hit head-on. … “That’s Talladega for you. It’s all out of your hands from when we drop the green. I mean, when you’re racing and people are side-by-side bouncing off each other like that. We did everything we could do the first two segments and let her fly from there.” Crafton, a two-time series champion, was fourth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2, collecting 16 points that proved crucial to his advancement into the Round of 6. Crafton finished the Round of 8 four points ahead of Rhodes and six ahead of Friesen. Sauter also sustained heavy damage in the Lap 59 wreck, but by then the regular-season champion had collected 17 stage points, enough to lock him into the next round.<doc-sep>
TALLADEGA, Ala. – All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars were amply endowed with speed for Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway. Kurt Busch was just glad he got the pick of the litter. “Four Stewart-Haas Fords — I’m really happy that I got the fast one,” Busch quipped after winning the pole for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and leading an SHR sweep of the top four starting spots for the second race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12. RELATED: Qualifying results | Lineup, team rosters The Busch Pole Award was Busch’s fifth of the season and the 27th of his career. What’s more, his final-round lap at 195.804 mph (48.906 seconds) ended a quest dating to his first race in the Cup series in 2000. “We’re on the pole!” Busch said. “This is my first restrictor-plate pole ever. Ever! It took me almost 20 years. I got one!” Busch beat teammate Clint Bowyer (195.301 mph) for the top starting spot by .126 seconds, a huge margin relative to the rest of the top 12. Kevin Harvick (195.186 mph) qualified third, followed by Aric Almirola (194.571 mph). “With Stewart-Haas cars 1-2-3-4 at this race in the playoffs, it really sets the tone,” Busch said. “Now we’ve got to execute on Sunday.” The time trials, however, were a tale of two organizations, not just one. Behind the four SHR entries were all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, with last week’s Dover winner, Chase Elliott, leading the way into the fifth starting position. Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman and William Byron were close behind. “With all four guys in the top 12, it’s a strong showing for us,” said Byron, whose lap time of 49.420 seconds (193.768 mph) was identical to Bowman’s. “That should be good for Sunday. Qualifying doesn’t reflect totally on how things will shake out Sunday and how you are going to race. But it should be fine. “With the four of us together at the start, we have an opportunity to stay in front of some of the possible situations, but you don’t control much out there, and everything gets so shuffled during the race, it’s hard to know. But I feel good about where we are right now. We’ll see what happens.” All four SHR drivers are competing for the series championship. Elliott and Bowman are still title contenders for Hendrick. Playoff driver Kyle Busch qualified ninth in the fastest Toyota, with reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. claiming the 11th starting position. “You always want to make the second round, and you hope you can do a little better,” said Truex, who has never won a restrictor-plate race. “We thought we picked up some speed, and we gained one spot, beat the 17 (12th place qualifier Ricky Stenhouse Jr.). “Better than none, and we’ll go get them tomorrow.” The remaining four playoff drivers qualified as follows: Brad Keselowski 18th, Ryan Blaney 19th, Joey Logano 20th and Kyle Larson 34th. With the playoff field set to be cut from 12 drivers to eight on Oct. 21 at Kansas Speedway, Bowyer and Almirola currently are tied for ninth in the standings, 10 points below the cut line. The No. 72 Chevrolet driven by Corey LaJoie failed post-qualifying inspection and will go to the rear on Sunday.