DEGA BABY.
It’s gonna be a wild one at Talladega this afternoon, and we got sunshine in the forecast so no worry about rain cutting the day short.
Bubba Wallace will look to defend his title (he won the fall race last year), as other favorites like Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin will look to take the checked flag at the longest oval in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The Next-Gen cars will make their debut at the 33 degree banks of Talladega Superspeedway, one of the most exciting tracks on the circuit. And 6-time Talladega winner Brad Keselowski will look to earn a spot in the playoffs.
After last week’s wild finish that saw Chase Briscoe take out Tyler Reddick on the final turn (I picked Reddick to win by the way), opening the door for Kyle Busch to “back into a win,” I expect the same kind of fireworks this week as well.
So without further ado… let’s get to the odds, picks and predictions for this week in NASCAR:
Geico 500 Odds:
Ryan Blaney +1200
Joey Logano +1200
Bubba Wallace +1200
Denny Hamlin +1400
Brad Keselowski +1400
Kyle Larson +1600
Kyle Busch +1600
Christopher Bell +1600
Chase Elliott +1600
William Byron +1800
Martin Truex Jr. +1800
Kevin Harvick +1800
Chase Briscoe +1800
Austin Cindric +1800
Tyler Reddick +2000
Kurt Busch +2000
Alex Bowman +2000
Ross Chastain +2500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +3000
Daniel Hemric +3000
Daniel Suarez +3000
Chris Buescher +3000
Austin Dillon +3000
Aric Almirola +3000
Michael McDowell +4000
Harrison Burton +5000
Cole Custer +5000
Justin Haley +6000
Erik Jones +7000
Ty Dillon +9000
Todd Gilliland +10000
Noah Gragson +15000
David Ragan +20000
Corey Lajoie +20000
Landon Cassill +50000
Greg Biffle +50000
J.J. Yeley +100000
Cody Ware +100000
B.J. McLeod +100000
Predictions:
It’s Talladega, anything can happen.
While superspeedways may be the most exciting races for the fans, they might be the most nerve-racking for the drivers. At those high speeds, your day can be ended pretty easily through no fault of your own.
However, I’m sticking with the Penske boys today, taking Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano to all finish top 10. I think Chase Briscoe continues to race well, as does Tyler Reddick, and I think we could see veterans like Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick in the mix.
Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. figure to be dark horse contenders.
Bubba Wallace and Brad Keselowski won at Talladega last year, but I’m not seeing a repeat, I could also see Kyle Busch struggling today.
Picks:
Here’s what we’re going with for the Geico 500:
Winner: Ryan Blaney
Top 3: Joey Logano
Top 5: Chase Briscoe
Top 10: Austin Cindric
LET’S GO.
