2021 YellaWood 500

2021 YellaWood 500
Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 31 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Date October 4, 2021 (2021-10-04)
Location Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama
Course Permanent racing facility
2.66 mi (4.28 km)
Distance 117 laps, 311.22 mi (500.859 km)
Scheduled Distance 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Average speed 130.218 miles per hour (209.566 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Joe Gibbs Racing
Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps 16
Winner
No. 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing
Television in the United States
Network NBCSN
Announcers Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Radio in the United States
Radio MRN
Booth Announcers Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Announcers Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4)

The 2021 YellaWood 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on October 4, 2021, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Originally scheduled for 188 laps on the 2.66 mi (4.28 km) asphalt superspeedway, the race was shortened to 117 laps by rain.[5] It was the 31st race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the fifth race of the Playoffs, and the second race of the Round of 12. The race was postponed from Sunday, October 3 to Monday, October 4, due to rain. Bubba Wallace took his first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was the first time since the development of the 2014 NASCAR Playoffs format that a driver not in either level of playoffs had won a race, and the first non-playoff driver to win a race since the 2013 Talladega playoff race, as well the first win for an African-American driver in the Cup Series since Wendell Scott's win in 1963.

It was the shortest Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, and only the fourth Cup Series race to be shortened at Talladega (the May 1974 race was shortened to 170 laps due to the Energy Crisis, the May 1987 race was shortened to 178 laps by darkness after catch fencing had to be repaired, and the July 1996 race was shortened to 129 laps because of a long rain delay and subsequent darkness). It was the third of five national series races to be shortened in 2021 at Talladega.

  1. ^ "2021 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  2. ^ "Talladega Superspeedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  3. ^ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  4. ^ "Starting Lineup". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "YellaWood 500 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  6. ^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.