NASCAR’s legendary Superspeedway venue lived up to its reputation as the ‘largest’ and ‘most unpredictable’ track at the YellaWood 500 by unleashing the ‘Big One’ in stages two and three; however, it couldn’t deliver on the promise of being the ‘fastest,’ as stage one got off to a shockingly slow and frustrating start. The No. 38 driver, Zane Smith, was amongst the many who left the weekend disappointed as NASCAR’s new stage lengths and rules took away the drama and chaos of full-throttle racing.

“Yeah, I’m not totally sure, but yeah, it was certainly unique. You know, we were running incredibly slow. I mean, quarter throttle at most for the guys that were in the back half plus. So yeah, I mean, just super slow. And then, you know, you saw Brad there at one point go wide open for a set of corners and drive to the lead. And, you know, just I feel like how it is and what you got to do and just trying to set yourself up for later,” said Smith in conversation with Steven Taranto.

He added, “And, you know, with that, it was a frustrating day, to say the least, for myself. I mean, I was in the fuel-saving game for the majority of the day, and then once we pitted, I felt like I had a smooth pit stop, rolled out, and there was like a group of about like four or five cars, then there was a group of about maybe ten, and I was leading that group of ten. And maybe raced for like five laps, if that, and blew a right rear tire out of nowhere playing into Turn 1. And fortunately, I saved it, but with that, obviously, I had to roll back pretty slow.”

Coming off the back of an eventful Phoenix race with a $50,000 fine for ramming into Carson Hocevar on the post-race cool-down lap, Smith arrived in Talladega hoping to add valuable points to his 2026 season. He sits 26th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings and has not been in title contention this year.

The 27-year-old’s Talladega race saw him finish 19th after starting from 31st position. And although the Front Row Motorsports racer managed to survive the ‘Big One’ in stages two and three, he couldn’t capitalise on his fuel-saving strategy as the flat tire ended his hopes of fighting the pack ahead in the final few laps of stage one.

The No. 38 driver revealed, “And, yeah, I was about two laps down, I want to say, and was never able to take the wave with the stage lengths and where everyone was with their fuel load and whatnot. And so, yeah, certainly super frustrating. So a boring day, honestly, for me, but which is kind of rare for any super speedway race. But I guess you could say we salvaged something out of it with a 19th place finish, but I wish we got to pit.”

But Zane Smith was not the only driver unhappy with the new rules and stage length changes unveiled by NASCAR.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver and title contender Denny Hamlin remarked on his radio and said, “This is like it’s the Richard Petty Driver’s Experience at a race.”

Team Penske racer Ryan Blaney, who was involved in the multi-car pileup at the later stages of the race, stated, “We’re going to be running a minute lap time before too long here.”

How NASCAR’s rule changes for Talladega were overlooked by teams

The chaos churning ‘Dega race was much talked about for reasons beyond the racetrack. While garages unanimously decided to run the fuel-saving strategy defying NASCAR’s rule changes, the RFK Racing trio (Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, and Chris Buescher) decided to break away from the bluffing field to deliver a remarkable full-throttle stint in the first stage of the race. The trio lapped the entire field, extending their lead to 40 seconds, and eventually secured the top-3 finish for RFK Racing in stage one.

And while the ‘Big One’ became the highlight of the YellaWood 500, Kyle Larson’s equally controversial first win at the Superspeedway was highly debated by fans who were quick to call out NASCAR over its post-race inspection that overruled Chevrolet drivers manipulating the race to help Larson secure the win. NASCAR revealed all drivers were at full throttle, and none of them sacrificed positions to help the No. 5 driver win.

While Kyle Larson extended his championship lead to 73 points with the help of his Chevy brigade, title contenders like Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Briscoe were out of the race. Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Denny Hamlin had to salvage whatever they could from the chaotic race, with the Team Penske drivers taking the big blow despite their strong form and performance.