Talladega 2 Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions – CampingWorld 500

11. Kyle Busch – Starts 16th – Yahoo! A Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 11th

This is just the season for Kyle Busch to overcome some major challenges. First was getting into the Chase after missing the first part of the season due to his leg injuries, which Rowdy passed with flying colors. Then he needed a great run at Dover to make it to the second round of Chase. No problems there, as Kyle ended up 2nd. And then we were at Kansas last weekend, a track that Rowdy hates and one where he has such a bad average finish that you would think he runs in mid-tier equipment. The #18 Toyota came home with a top 5 finish last week and enters Talladega just 6 points behind the cutoff spot for the next round of NASCAR’s playoffs. So, once again, Busch is going to be tested on Sunday…and I think he’ll pass. Rowdy is hit or miss at most tracks and Talladega is no exception. Over his last six starts here, Kyle has three top 5s to his credit, but also two finishes of 37th or worse. He didn’t race here back in May but Busch did run the second Daytona race this season and came home 17th. Rowdy is going to be pretty aggressive here on Sunday afternoon and that’s exactly what he needs to do if he wants to keep his championship hopes alive.

12. Martin Truex, Jr. – Starts 43rd – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 10th

Two drivers lead the way in terms of average finish (with 12.8) at Talladega since the start of the 2013 season (five total races). One isn’t that surprising, and that’s Clint Bowyer. But the other probably isn’t a driver you think of right away: Martin Truex, Jr. Going into Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500, Truex is in the cutoff spot in terms of making it to the next round of the Chase, so this #78 team needs a solid run to stay in it. Martin ran 5th in the first race here back in May and is looking to back that up to remain in the championship hunt. He’ll have some work to do, though, because in qualifying he went below the yellow line and his time was disallowed. Therefore, Truex will have to start from the back. This makes him a great pick in leagues that reward points for passing, such as NASCAR.com and DraftKings. Martin also finished 8th in this year’s Daytona 500, so it’s not like he’s been performing terribly at these plate races in 2015. Overall, Truex has three top 10s in the last five Talladega races and has finished 13th or better in eight of his last eleven starts here.

13. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – Starts 17th – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: 14th

I like restrictor plate track races because it gives me the opportunity to write about guys like Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Here’s a team that struggles to make the top 20 every week, but when we get to a track like Daytona or Talladega, he’s one of the first guys I think about. Why? Because, for whatever reason, he’s consistent here. In Stenhouse’s young Sprint Cup career here at Talladega–he has made four starts here–he has an average finish of 13th with a career-best result of 3rd that came in this event two years ago. Ricky hasn’t had as much success over at Daytona, but he does have five top 20s in seven starts at that track, so that has to be worth something. The frustrating part–from a fantasy perspective anyway–about the #17 team is that their strategy is to camp out in the back of the field until the end of the race. I personally like my fantasy team to be aggressive and stay toward the front, but that could just be me. Roush-Fenway Racing has turned things up in the second half of the season and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has finished 13th or better in each of the last four Sprint Cup races (seriously!). There are a lot of things to like about this #17 Ford this weekend at Stenhouse’s 2nd-best track on the Sprint Cup circuit.

14. Ryan Blaney – Starts 9th – Yahoo! C Group
Pre-Practice Rank: NR

This will be the third Sprint Cup start in a row for young Ryan Blaney and you have to be somewhat excited to see what this kid will be able to do on Sunday in the CampingWorld.com 500. Blaney posted a solid top 10 finish at Kansas last weekend and that followed a nice 14th-place run at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. Now we’re at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ryan came home 4th back in May after starting 3rd. This time around he will start in 9th. We all know that reliability is a factor when it comes to this #21 Wood Brothers Ford, both in terms of equipment and team members. I’m not going to sit here and predict any mechanical issues so we’ll ignore that part, but the fact that this will be the third straight Cup race for this team has to get rid of some of the nervousness surrounding that situation. If Ryan Blaney can stay out of trouble here on Sunday, I don’t see why it would be that crazy to think that he could come home with another top 10 in his young Sprint Cup career.

15. Sam Hornish, Jr. – Starts 21st – Yahoo! B Group
Pre-Practice Rank: NR

These plate track races are so unpredictable, why don’t we talk about some of the drivers that rarely get mentioned from a week-to-week basis? This is a week where it’s okay to throw a hail mary in your fantasy league anyway, so you’re going to need to think about guys like Sam Hornish, Jr. This #9 team has actually been running pretty well as of late, as they have posted three finishes inside the top 20 in the last four Sprint Cup races. When you consider the fact that Hornish has an average result of 24th in Sprint Cup action this season, that’s pretty good. And on the restrictor plate tracks he’s actually been pretty good in 2015; in the season-opening Daytona 500, Sam came home with a solid 12th-place finish, and he followed that up with a 6th-place run here at Talladega in May–one of his three top 10s notched in 2015 thus far. The Richard Petty Motorsports Fords have always had decent speed on the plate tracks, so it’s not out of this world to think that Hornish might be able to grab a top 15 here on Sunday in the CampingWorld.com 500.

The Next Ten:

16. Carl Edwards
17. Kasey Kahne
18. Jamie McMurray
19. Paul Menard
20. Greg Biffle
21. Austin Dillon
22. Casey Mears
23. Aric Almirola
24. Danica Patrick
25. Trevor Bayne