Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Preview

This week’s race is at the Talladega Superspeedway. At 2.66 miles per lap this is the largest speedway on the NASCAR circuit. It seems that the drivers and crews may finally be figuring out the new car as the racing has gotten better since the chase started. Look for this weekend’s race to be pretty good as Talladega regularly lends itself to the “freight train” style racing with the restrictor plates keeping everyone tightly gropuled.

My team this week:

Chaser: Jeff Gordon
I’ve been avoiding Jeff most of the season since he doesn’t seem to have “it” this year, but this week is different. Six wins at Talladega and two in the last three races are hard to beat. If his pit crew can do their job, I think Jeff can get the win this weekend.

Alternate: Denny Hamlin
Denny has 5 races at Talladega, and in his first three he finished 20th or worse. His last two he’s finished 3rd and 4th; a pretty good turn-around. Don’t ask me why, but I think he’s getting how to race here and will contend for the win.

Brian Vickers
Of the drivers I’m choosing this weekend Brian has the worst average finish with 19.2. In eight career races he has 3 DNFs which hurt the average. In four races in 2005 & 2006 he managed three top 10s which tells me he can do it if he keeps out of trouble. With a win, three top 5s and four top 10s at Talladega I think he’s in for a good weekend.

Ryan Newman
Ryan has had a pretty bad year, and fell way short of expectations, but he should to well this weekend. He has three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega and six for his career n 13 races.

Darkhorse: Kurt Busch
It’s hard imagining a past series champion being a dark horse, but Kurt is back in the pack and qualifies as one. In his last four races here he has two top 5s and 3 top 10s. His career average finish of 11.9 is pretty good as well. Look for Kurt to get another top 10 this weekend.