The Alabama 500 at Talladega Super Speedway will be the last race of the second round of the Chase. It is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 23rd at 2:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on the NBC Network.
Penske Racing’s Brad Keselowski was the winner of this race earlier this spring. Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. starts from the pole position from his qualifying efforts on Saturday.
Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson get the luxury of relaxing a bit this weekend. If the “big one” collects these two racers, they still will advance because of their victories in the first two races of round two. After an unimpressive qualifying effort, Harvick will start out of the 22nd spot and Johnson a little further forward in 17th.
Martin Truex Jr. came to Talladega for the Alabama 500 with one thing on his mind, win and your in. The driver of the #78 Toyota has proven it by starting out front when the race’s green flag is waved.
Martin Truex Jr. posted speeds that were outside of the top ten in the two practice rounds, but made up for it in qualifying. Las Vegas has him slated at an agreeable 12/1 to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
Currently, Brad Keselowski is in the 11th spot of the Sprint Cup Chase standings. The only way the crafty driver can advance is to find his way into Victory Lane on Sunday. Fortunately, Keselowski has had a lot of success at this super speedway, including a victory here in the spring. Odds-guru’s have him as the race favorite, coming in at 8/1 to drive to glory in the Alabama 500.
As of now, Kyle “Rowdy” Busch sits in fourth place in the current standings with 3072 points. Therefore, there is a great chance that the Joe Gibbs Racing’s driver will advance to the Round of 8 in this year’s Chase.
Furthermore, Kyle Busch has placed eighth or better in the first five races in this year’s Chase. He also finished second in the spring race at Talladega in May. Line-setters have him as at 10/1 to win his first race at Talladega since 2008.
Denny Hamlin has fallen to 10th in the Chase point standings and also has to win the Alabama 500 to move on to the Round of 8. The #11 Fed Ex driver finished 31st here in the spring race and has a 20.0 average at this track.
Nevertheless, Hamlin did win the Daytona 500, which is the other super speedway on the schedule. The Joe Gibbs Racing speedster qualified in the 11th position for the start of the event and Vegas has him notched at 10/1 to win it all on Sunday.
Rookie phenom Chase Elliott’s back is against the wall for the Alabama 500 on Sunday. The prodigal son is currently in 12th place of the Chase standings. As a result, Elliott sits 25 points back of making it to the next round and is fresh off a disappointing 31st place result at Kansas Speedway.
All is not lost for fans of the #24 Chevrolet, he sat on the pole for this race earlier this year and found himself out front for 29 laps. Unfortunately, that was Elliott’s only Sprint Cup Series race here. The good news is, he brought that speed back for the Alabama 500. The feisty rookie starts behind Brad Keselowski in the fourth spot. Elliott commented on the super speedway he will be racing on this weekend.
“The best place to be at Talladega, as everybody knows, is to try to be out front,” Elliott said. “That is hard to sustain for a long period of time in those races, but we’ve seen guys who have gotten good at it over the past few years.”
“They make it happen and are able to control a race really well. I do think there is an art to it. There are obviously a lot of things you can’t control and running as close as we do there, that is a big factor, but I do think there is something that you can do better than others rather than just riding around and hoping for the best.” said Elliott.
The Hun’s Fantasy Pick:
A: Martin Truex Jr.
B: Denny Hamlin Brad Keselowski Chase Elliott
C: Alex Bowman
