We all remember the Talladega race from last April. We’ve certainly seen frequent playings of Carl Edwards’ last lap crash this week alone. We also watched young Brad Keselowski pull an upset win during the final 100 feet of the race. Keselowski will be returning to the Talladega Sprint Cup race this week in the same car: the #09 Chevrolet owned by James Finch. That makes him a potential dark horse in this race.
Two other rather interesting dark horses could turn out to be Roush Fenway Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and David Ragan. Their teams will be debuting the long awaited, and highly touted, new Ford engine known as the FR9. This project was three years in the making and was designed by premiere NASCAR engine builder Doug Yates and Ford Racing engineer David Simon. This is the first purpose built NASCAR engine to ever come from the Ford Motor Company.
Remember this is Talladega where the totally unexpected can occur within a fraction of a second. That element alone turns virtually the entire 43 car field into potential dark horse winners. That same element could also create a very close and exciting Chase For The Championship during the final month of the season.
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THE VEGAS BREAKDOWN
The Las Vegas based World Sports Exchange, WSE, seems to agree that the winner of Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 is going to be from the list of dark horse teams. Sitting on the top of the odds list are drivers Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr who are rated at a very favorable 7 to 1 odds.
The WSE has also assigned some healthy numbers to Jeff Gordon. The six time Talladega winner comes in at 9 to 1 this week. Right behind him are the trio of Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya at 12 to 1 odds.
Chase points leader Jimmie Johnson is ranked by the WSE at 14 to 1 which is the lowest Las Vegas ranking the three time champion has had all season long. Also in the lower tiers are Mark Martin and Carl Edwards at 16 to l while Ryan Newman is ranked at 18 to 1 this week.
Now for the disclaimer: NASCAR wants us to remind you that these numbers are for entertainment purposes only.They do not neither encourage or condone the placing of wagers on their races.
This is normally the part of the column where I attempt to share a silly little joke with you. Instead I’m going to tell you not to gamble on the results of a Talladega race. It’s just too unpredictable.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Amp Energy 500 is 188 laps around the mammoth 2.66 mile quad oval where the turns are banked at a massive 33 degrees.
The race has 44 pre registered entries meaning one of the teams will have to go home. Nine of the entries are on the go or go home list meaning they are outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points and must earn their starting berth in the race based on their qualifying speeds. If Friday’s qualifying is rained out then driver Regan Smith, and his #78 Furniture Row Motorsports team will be the odd man out.
This could actually become a problem because rain is in for the forecast for the Talladega-Alabama area this weekend. Friday’s forecast calls for 79 degrees with a chance of showers. Rain is also in the forecast for Saturday with a day time high of 72 degrees. Sunday race day calls for partly cloudy skies with a day time high of only 64. That 15 degree temperature drop from Friday to Sunday could possibly impact track conditions which in turn could create a challenge for the crew chiefs who will have to figure out what changes their cars are going to need.
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