Pit Picks – Talladega (Amp Energy 500)
The fall race at Talladega has the possibility of playing a big role in determining who comes out on top in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, or more likely, who doesn’t. The 2.66 mile track, where the cars run very fast in big bunches, has been known to extinguish the championship hopes of Chase drivers. It’s a race where drivers have to pick their friends wisely, and spotters have to be on their game to try and avoid The Big One…the wreck that happens at almost every Talladega race that collects cars by the double digits. The more a driver runs up front, the less likely they are to be caught up in it…or so the theory goes. On to the picks…
The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)
Group 1 – Jimmie Johnson(3) & Jeff Gordon(4)
Jimmie Johnson is flat out on a roll, with 3 wins and an average finish of 2nd over his past 5 races. That said, his performance this season in plate races isn’t spectacular, so he’s not a gauranteed start. He has won a race and a pole here before, and a streak like he’s on is hard to ignore. His teammate at Hendrick Motorsport, Jeff Gordon is probably the next best option. He has 6 victories at the track and has been finishing much better as of late, averaging a 10th place finish since the start of September. If you don’t have any starts left for Gordon or Johnson, Kevin Harvick is another solid option.
Group 2 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.(3), Kasey Kahne(2), Ryan Newman(2), David Ragan(5)
There are 4 races each season you can pencil Dale Jr in, and be confident you made the right pick. Both races at Talladega and Daytona. Junior has won at the Alabama track 5 times in the last 8 years, including a stretch of 4 in a row earlier this decade. At least one of Newman and Kahne end up on my squad almost every week, usually in hopes of picking up bonus points for qualifying. One of them should also see the starting line up this week as well, as they’re both 2 for 3 on top 10s on the restrictor plate tracks. Of the remaining drivers in this group, I feel most comfortable with Ragan in this spot. I most likely wont be starting him here, so Elliott Sadler might be a good option as well. He has started from the pole at Talladega on 3 occasions.
Group 3 – David Reutimann(6), Brian Vickers(2)
Reutimann continues to put together solid finishes for a group 3 driver. He hasn’t finished outside the top 20 in 5 races, and has fared relatively well at the super-speedways with that Toyota horsepower. A consistant top 20 out of your bottom tier driver will keep you in contention in your pool. Vickers hasn’t run as well of late, averaging a 25th place finish over the past 5 races, but he’s on this weeks roster thanks to 5th, 11th and 12th place runs on the big tracks this season. That, and he knows what it’s like to be in Victory Lane at Talladega.
Good luck on your picks this week, and enjoy the action. Hopefully your picks don’t go up in a crumpled heap when The Big One happens.
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