Can Bubba Wallace win Talladega again? Photo via: Wiki Commons
The time has finally come, it’s Talladega weekend. There is a lot to say about this racetack, it’s by far the most unpredictable on the schedule. We will see plenty of lead changes and three and four-wide racing. There is a good chance that during the second stage, the race will calm down, and we see more single file racing as the drivers try and save their equipment. The biggest key to the race will be to avoid the accidents and to know when to make the move for the win.
Last week's Bristol Dirt race featured one of the most memorable finishes in recent memory as Kyle Busch was able to steal the victory. In the final laps, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick battled it out all the way to the white flag. Going into the last turn, it looked like Reddick was en route to his first win until Briscoe threw a hail marry and drove it in as deep as he could. Because of this, he spun out and collected Reddick. As this was happening, Kyle Busch came from third place to capture his 60th career victory. This victory was sort of ironic considering Busch's comment about Alex Bowman “backing into victories” but in the end, a win is a win. The win was Rowdy’s first in 29 races. This could very well be the catalyst to a great season for the two-time champion.
One driver who deserves some praise this season has been Ty Dillon. After a one-year hiatus from full-time competition in the Cup Series, Dillon has really been impressive considering this is a brand-new team. He currently has a 19.6 finishing average and has the most quality passes in the field. Last week, he scored his first top ten since October 2020 when he finished third at Talladega. It’s clear that this team has speed, and now they are going to a track where Ty is really good, overall he has a 10.5 average finish on superspeedways. He should be a good sleeper pick for Sunday.
Another driver to watch for this week is defending Talladega winner Bubba Wallace. This has been a frustrating season for Wallace and this 23 team. They have had numerous issues compound on top of each other. Last week, it was an engine issue that plagued this team. In the last six races, Wallace has had an abysmal 23.8 average finish. Luckily, superspeedways are where he shines. In the last three superspeedway races, Wallace has finished no worse than 2nd. He will have full support from his Toyota teammates, and he’s shown that he knows when to make the move and avoid the big one. This could be the turning point if he can get a good run. Look for Wallace to be a contender.
The driver I have winning this weekend is Ryan Blaney. This season, no one has been more consistent than him. In the last six races, his average finish has been 7.2, he also leads the points as well with the most stage points scored. Despite all this, Blaney has yet to win this season, but if there’s any place he can do it, Talladega is at the top of the list. He’s got two victories at this track, and he's won both on last-lap passes. When the race is on the line, there is no one I trust more than Blaney. Look for him to get his first win of 2022 to begin what could be a championship-caliber campaign.
Sengun has 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets beat the Grizzlies
Jan 10, 2025, 2:32 pm
Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Everyone, that is, except the man himself.
“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”
But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.
“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”
Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.
“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.
Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.
He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.
His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.
“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”
He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”
“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”
Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.
“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”
Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.
His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.
“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”
Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.
“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”
And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.
“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.
“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”