05/08/2026
Talladega doesn’t feel real.
Looking back at Talladega as one of seven race weekends packed into eight weeks, flashes of Daytona were still firmly stuck in my head. Returning to a superspeedway after the health scare I experienced at the Daytona 500 felt like a sink-or-swim situation for me, especially knowing The Racing Expert were counting on me to deliver images for editorial coverage much like I was supposed to do at Daytona.
Then came another unexpected opportunity.
An added sticker on my credential became the “Golden Ticket” for roof access.
The last time I had roof access at a major speedway was 1998 while shooting for Circle Track Magazine at Bristol. And honestly? There may not be a better view in motorsports than standing on the roof at Talladega watching the entire place come alive.
Thank you to TRE for trusting me with returning to the big track!
Talladega itself felt completely unhinged in the best possible way.
The crowds.
The noise.
The atmosphere.
Cleetus McFarland bringing an entirely different energy into the garage area.
And everywhere you looked, the sport felt bigger than life all over again.
But buried underneath all the chaos was one of the grittiest drives of the weekend.
The City Garage Motorsports team rolled into Talladega with Logan Misuraca behind the wheel of the renumbered No. 34 for the Alabama Manufactured Housing 200. Practice speed immediately showed Logan and the team had something capable of running toward the front, but because the field was set by owner's points, Logan was starting 31st on the grid.
That didn’t last long.
By the end of lap one, Logan was already four-wide, making moves through traffic. Over and over throughout the race, the team battled back from adversity, including a cut tire under caution that dropped them off the lead lap with only a handful of laps remaining.
Instead of fading, Logan charged right back through the field.
Thirteen passes in three laps put the team back into Lucky Dog position before a late caution returned them to the lead lap. What followed was one final Talladega-style moment as Logan drove from the back of the pack to 17th in a one-lap shootout to the finish.
The finishing order won’t fully explain how impressive that drive really was.
But that’s Talladega, too.
Victory Lane at Talladega is sacred ground.
Everyone saw Carson Hocevar’s winning celebration after the NASCAR Cup Series race. For me, it immediately became one of the top three Victory Lane celebrations I’ve ever witnessed in NASCAR history.
Dale Earnhardt finally winning the Daytona 500 will always stand alone historically, even though I wasn’t there to witness it in person. But Carson’s celebration officially moved another personal favorite down the list, Kevin and Keelan Harvick celebrating together after Kevin won the 2019 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
And somehow… Talladega still had one more twist left.
Corey Day won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, rolled into Victory Lane, climbed out, celebrated, and completed the photo session…
only for the entire celebration to be redone because most of the crew had not made it to Victory Lane yet.
So Corey climbed back into the car and recreated the entire moment all over again.
Because, of course, that happened at Talladega.
One of the crazier details? Former Philadelphia Eagles star and future Hall of Famer Jason Kelce was part of the winning Corey Day team, serving as the official gas can catch man.
That sentence sounds made up.
It wasn’t.
That’s Talladega!
Cleetus Bristol City Logan Carson Kevin Philadelphia Jason
