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Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography
Racing

NASCAR Saturday forecast, schedule at Talladega Superspeedway

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Two of the national NASCAR series are on track Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway as stock car racing returns to the biggest oval on the schedule.

The Xfinity Series teams will qualify and race at the 2.66-mile Alabama track while continuing the opening round of the playoffs. Cup Series teams will qualify in preparation for Sunday's playoff race.

The Saturday schedule does not include any practice sessions. This is intentional. NASCAR does not have any practice sessions before qualifying at drafting-style tracks. This includes Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, and Talladega Superspeedway.

The Daytona 500 has practice but only after the Cup Series teams qualify and take part in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel exhibition races that set the starting lineup.

Both series have already competed at Talladega this season. Jesse Love won the spring Xfinity race. This was his first career national series win, and it was one that put him into the playoffs.

Tyler Reddick, the regular-season champion, won the spring Cup race at Talladega. He capitalized on a late crash involving Michael McDowell and beat Brad Keselowski to the line. Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Alex Bowman all finished top five.

This race weekend marks the second event of the Round of 12 for both series. No playoff drivers won last weekend at Kansas.

Talladega Superspeedway Saturday forecast and schedule

Saturday forecast: Partly cloudy skies. A high of 83 degrees and a 5% chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity race.

Saturday, Oct. 5 (Eastern Time)

  • 9:30 a.m. -- Xfinity Series garage hours
  • 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. -- Cup Series garage hours
  • 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. -- Xfinity Series qualifying (USA Network, Streaming on NBC Sports app)
  • 1:30 - 3 p.m. -- Cup qualifying (USA Network, Streaming on NBC Sports app, radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
  • 4 p.m. -- Xfinity Series race (94 laps, 250.04 miles. CW, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)