Talladega 2 Post Qualifying Fantasy NASCAR Predictions
As the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continues this weekend, we get the last race that has a real chance of changing the championship landscape. The restrictor plate races open up the door for pretty much anyone in the field to take home the win, and we’ve seen three different winners on this track type in 2018: Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, and Erik Jones. Obviously only one of those guys (Logano) is still in championship contention. Now the question is, will we see a new plate track winner in the final restrictor plate race of 2018, or will one of those aforementioned guys grab a second checkered flag? We’ll find out soon enough, as the 1000Bulbs.com 500 goes green on Sunday afternoon.
The full starting lineup for the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega can be found by clicking here. As mentioned before, practice speeds don’t mean a whole lot at a track like Talladega, but if you’d like to see how this weekend’s lone practice session went down, you can here: Speeds – Notes.
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Final Top 25 Rankings for Talladega 2
1. Brad Keselowski – Starts 18th – DraftKings Price: $11,100 – FanDuel Price: $13,000
Brad Keselowski is the defending winner of this race and is one of the best racers here at Talladega Superspeedway. Over 19 career starts at this track, Kez has accumulated five wins along with 11 total top 10s and an overall average finish of 15.1, which is 6th-best among active drivers. As far as his average finish on the restrictor plate tracks this season, Brad has been one of the worst in the series (33.7) but he’s in the top half when it comes to percentage of laps ran in the top 15. If he can avoid the wrecks here on Sunday afternoon, the #2 Ford should definitely end up near the front when the checkered flag waves.
2. Joey Logano – Starts 20th – DraftKings Price: $10,700 – FanDuel Price: $12,500
Brad Keselowski is probably the best driver here at Talladega Superspeedway, but his teammate, Joey Logano, is a close second. Not only did Logano win here back in April, but he’s also gone to victory lane in three of the last six Talladega races overall and also has a 4th-place finish in last year’s fall race to go along with those wins. Additionally, the #22 Ford has been one of (if not the) strongest on the plate tracks this season, with 24.3 laps led per race (2nd-best), a 98.9 average driver rating (best), and a 15.7 average running position (8th-best). Logano is definitely a contender for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 trophy.
3. Kurt Busch – Starts 1st – DraftKings Price: $9,800 – FanDuel Price: $11,400
Momentum-wise, Kurt Busch remains red hot despite going pretty much under the radar every single week. He finished 5th at Dover last weekend, which gives the #41 team back-to-back top 5s as well as 10 single-digit finishes in the last 12 Cup Series races overall. Yes, you read that right. As far as Talladega goes, Kurt has finished 12th or better in seven of the last eight races here, and five of those were single-digit results. He finished 2nd here at Talladega back in April and has a good shot at taking a big leap toward the Round of 8 with a good finish this weekend.
