The starting lineup for Sunday afternoon's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is set to look the exact same as the official starting lineup set by Saturday's qualifying session, as the only NASCAR Cup Series driver "penalized" was already set to start the race at the back anyway.
NY Racing Team's J.J. Yeley, who qualified 39th out of 39 drivers for this 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama, is set to drop "to the rear" after adjustments were made to his No. 44 Chevrolet after qualifying.
As a number of astute NASCAR fans pointed out, the 48-year-old Phoenix, Arizona native is already set to start at the rear of the field, so his penalty doesn't really mean anything.
He’s already at the rear
— TayX Collects (@tayxcollects) April 27, 2025
J.J. Yeley "penalized" at Talladega by dropping zero spots
Typically at a superspeedway, there will be at least a handful of drivers who are forced to drop to the rear after qualifying. Given the equalizer nature of pack racing at these types of tracks, starting position is generally far less important here than it is at other venues, so teams won't hesitate if they think they need to make changes, even if unapproved.
Alas, the only "penalty" today is a zero-place grid drop, as the only driver slated to start on the 20th and final row of the grid is still set to start there after post-qualifying adjustments were made to his car.
This race is set to mark Yeley's fourth start of the season. After failing to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, Yeley has since competed at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Darlington Raceway. He has two DNFs, with his lone finish being a 35th place result at Homestead.
With no actual changes to this afternoon's starting lineup, we won't bother copying and pasting the entire order again.
A full 39-car Talladega starting lineup can be found here.
Tune in to Fox at 3:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the Jack Link's 500 from Talladega Superspeedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV today if you have not already had the chance to do so and don't miss any of the action from the largest oval on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule!