RFK Racing trio leads 88 laps before Talladega wrecks
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 27, 2026
RFK Racing strategy
RFK Racing put three cars at the front of the YellaWood 500 field at Talladega and turned stage one into a fuel-saving showcase. Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher committed to the plan early, and the approach opened a big gap on the rest of the pack. The three drivers pulled away by as much as 40 seconds and nearly lapped the field in Stage 1. Buescher took the stage win ahead of Preece and Keselowski, and the trio controlled the opening portion of the race in a way that forced everyone else to react to them instead of the other way around. Their pace and patience produced a dominant stretch that stood out in a race built around drafting and position changes. Keselowski, Buescher and Preece combined to lead 88 laps, a strong total that matched the kind of front-running control teams usually want at Talladega but seldom get to hold for long. The run also put RFK Racing in a position with all three cars working from the same strategy. That kind of team-wide command is hard to build at any track. At Talladega, it came with the added challenge of managing fuel and track position while the field behind them looked for a way to close the gap. The opening stage showed how much control a coordinated plan can create when multiple cars commit to it together. It also showed how quickly a race can change once one team forces the rest of the garage to chase its pace instead of racing its own plan. For much of Stage 1, RFK Racing set the terms, not the field.
Preece postrace view
Preece said after the race that the tactic would not work again because every team in the garage would respond and shut it down. He pointed to the way the opening stage played out as proof that the advantage would only last once before the rest of the field adjusted. Preece also said NASCAR should bring back incentives for leading laps, arguing that drivers have little reason to race hard early under the current setup and would rather focus on position at the end of each stage. His comments framed the team’s strategy as both a race-day success and a sign of the broader choices drivers face when stage racing rewards late position more than early aggression. RFK Racing’s trio controlled the race early, but the later wrecks changed the shape of the race. Keselowski and Buescher were later collected in multi-car wrecks in stages two and three. Preece avoided both incidents and finished 13th. Keselowski and Buescher helped build the dominant opening run, but the crashes in the later stages undercut what had looked like a day built around RFK Racing speed and discipline. Preece’s postrace remarks showed that he saw the opening strategy as a one-time opportunity rather than a repeatable formula.
