Asterisk Mark Report – Talladega #2 2022

Brad Keselowski – At Talladega, Brad Keselowski is a 6-time winner and last fall he was a factor to win but finished an asterisk mark 24th. With 30 laps to go he was running in 2nd, but then during the final green flag pit cycle just after that he was caught speeding on pit road which led to his poor finish. If he didn’t get that speeding penalty, I have no doubt he would’ve been in the mix to win.

Kevin Harvick – Like Brad Keselowski above, Kevin Harvick likely would’ve been a factor last fall but he too was caught speeding on pit road during the final green flag pit cycle. With 30 laps to go just before he was busted speeding on pit road he was running in 4th. When the checkered flag waved he finished a misleading 29th. In the three Talladega races prior to that, Harvick swept the top ten and had a 7.3 average finish.

Joey Logano – Last fall at Talladega heading into the weekend, Joey Logano was talking about drivers not racing hard and then getting rewarded with a good finish after late attrition. Well guess what, Logano tried that last fall and it didn’t work which led to his 27th. I’m going to call that a “Low Effort” 27th. I’ll note, Logano was involved in an accident on lap 24, but he finished 5th in Stage #1 so I can’t say it really impacted him.