TALLADEGA, Ala. — With clear skies above Talladega Superspeedway, eschewing several hours' worth of previous rain, the Geico 500 got underway Sunday afternoon.
Michael McDowell earned the pole position after winning the qualifier. Chevy and Toyota are the two brands dominating the top 10, but McDowell's ford is on the outside looking in in terms of points, and he feels the pressure, telling FOX54's Simon Williams on Saturday, "[Sunday] is a must-win. But if it doesn't happen, I'm not panicked. I think we have speed still.
But off the main track, North Alabama has a strong presence at Sunday's race, which was kicked off with a rousing performance of the National Anthem by Redstone Arsenal's own 313th U.S. Army Band.
Athens native Josh Appleby sits on the pit crew for Trackhouse Racing, keeping watch over Daniel Suárez and his #99 Chevy. He says the rain hasn't affected their approach to today, more than wiping down some gear a couple extra times.
"We kind of go on with business as usual," Appleby said. "It's not going to affect our day much at all. I think we always tend to run up front and run well. The real key is honestly just going to be being there at the end."
Talladega has seen wet conditions, dry conditions, and hot-blooded, high-speed drama this weekend.
Nineteen-year-old rookie Jesse Love won the first NASCAR Xfinity Series race of his career in a crash-marred, double-overtime finish at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.
Love held off Brennan Poole, who pulled alongside roaring into the trioval, and took the checkered flag 0.141 seconds ahead of Riley Herbst. Anthony Alfredo and Leland Honeyman claimed the next two spots, Poole faded to fifth, and one last crash sent Joey Gase spinning behind the frontrunners.
“Let's go playoff racing!” Love screamed over the radio.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.