Talladega looms large, both compared to anything in its immediate surroundings and in terms of length of track. The 2.66-mile lap is the longest circuit in the Cup series and its 34 degrees of banking is also the most of any track out there. This all adds up to speeds over 200 mph and because of that, the engines are restricted in the amount of horsepower they can produce to the point that every car on the track will be in one big pack for a lot of the race. That style of racing creates chaos on the track with what’s known colloquially as “The Big One” in which 10 or more cars will be involved in one wreck.

As Dan and I said on the podcast this week (listen here), everyone in the field is in play this week as anything can happen. The Playbook will offer the drivers who have the best histories at this track recently and in this style of driving. No matter what happens in tech inspection it won’t change the rankings since, again, anything can happen on the track. Check out the Track Breakdown for more strategy notes and facts to know about the race as well.

Average Points By Starting Spots

These charts show the average points by starting spots over the last five races at Talladega regardless of who’s started in those spots in those races. It’s meant as a tool to see strategy for this race rather than a hard-and-fast rule that those spots will always score those points.

Stacks

{{stack.team.name}} {{player.name}}
DraftKings {{player.fantasy.price.value[8]}}-
Fanduel {{player.fantasy.price.value[6]}}-