Sleeper / Darkhorse drivers who could come up big in the Talladega Geico 500

Talladega is the wildest track the series visits. Drivers who you usually wouldn’t consider have fantasy value and are capable of coming home with a good finish. Listed below are 9 drivers who could earn a good result in the Talladega Geico 500 who are normally below the radar.

Austin Dillon – The 2000 fall Talladega race was the last time the Black 3 went to victory lane in the Sprint Cup series. Anything can happen at plate tracks and Austin Dillon has shown promise at these venues. In 2014 on plate tracks he’s scored the 3rd most points and has a 9.7 average finish. This season at Daytona he swept the top ten and at Talladega he finished 15th. Last fall when Dillon drove the #14 car at Talladega he performed very well. On the last lap he was running in 3rd but was wrecked by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Brian Vickers – Brian Vickers is an underrated restrictor plate driver. Historically at Talladega he’s been a hero or zero performer. He has 7 top tens and 7 results of 29th or worse. He only has one middle ground result between those two ends of the spectrum. In 2006 Brian Vickers won his first career race here. In his last two official Talladega races he’s had results of 4th (spring 2014) and 5th (fall 2011).

David Ragan – David Ragan is a restrictor plate track specialist. He has two career wins and both of them have come on this track type. In spring 2013 David Ragan pulled off a shocker and raced his way to victory lane making the last lap pass with help from David Gilliland. This spring he ran relatively well but got caught up in a wreck. In his four Talladega races prior to this spring he had a 4.5 average finish.