Author: Jeff Gutowski

I’m not going to blame any of the drivers for what happened after the race last weekend at Charlotte. All I am going to say is that the pressure is building with drivers championship hopes on the line and if you thought last weekend was intense just wait and see what happens this weekend at Talladega.

The third and final Chase race in the Contender round will be run at Talladega Superspeedway on a restrictor plate track. The only two drivers who are safely into the next round are Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. None of the other ten drivers still in the Chase are guaranteed to move on to the Eliminator round. Some of these drivers are desperate to win this race, and that combined with a restrictor plate race is going to make for some very interesting racing.

GEICO 500

Talladega Superspeedway is a 2.66-mile tri-oval track with a lot of banking in the corners. This is the reason NASCAR requires restrictor plates on the cars to slow them down or they would be running between 225 and 230 miles per hour, which they deemed too dangerous. Because of the restrictor plates, the drivers all end up in one big bunch, and the close quarters racing often ends up in “The Big One”. Now, put this together with desperate drivers who need to win to move on to the Eliminator round and you are going to see some fireworks to be sure.

Matt Kenseth: I am picking Matt to win this race and move on to the next round. Matt has lead more laps than any other driver at Talladega over the past two season by a big margin and won one of those races. He is always calm during the early stages of races and knows how to draft. He doesn’t have any enemies on the track and all of the other drivers trust him and will draft with him. This is what it takes to win this type of race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale needs to win this race to guarantee himself a spot in the Eliminator round. If he doesn’t win I think he needs to finish in the top five to have a chance to advance. With that said, Dale has lead the second most laps of any driver at Talladega over the past two seasons and finished second in this race last year.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is another driver who almost has to win this race to keep his hopes of defending the Sprint Cup championship. Jimmie is just behind Junior in laps lead here over the past couple of years and should have a car capable of winning this race and qualifying him for the next round.

Kyle Busch: Kyle hasn’t lead a lot of laps over the past few races here, but he has finished in the top five in three of his last five starts at this track. Once again, Kyle needs to be patient during the early part of the race and just stay out of trouble. He doesn’t need to win this race, all he needs to do is stay clear of confrontations and huge wrecks and he will advance.

Greg Biffle: Greg was eliminated from the Chase in the first round and hasn’t had very good handling cars lately. However, he has been very good at Talladega lately, finishing in the top six in three of his last five starts. This team really has nothing to lose and will be a car that others who need to be up front will want to draft with come Sunday.

Clint Bowyer: Another driver who failed to make the Chase this season, Clint has been superb at Talladega over the last five years. During that ten race stretch, Clint has won two races, had four top five finishes, and seven top ten finishes. This is the consistency other drivers are looking at when trying to find someone to draft with and get them to the front of the field.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff knows that all he needs to do is stay out of trouble early in the race and come away with a good finishing position to move to the next Chase round. I have a feeling you are going to see a large group of drivers who are not desperate for a win this weekend hanging out in their own pack behind the main pack early in the race and making their move late in the race. Jeff could be one of these drivers.

David Ragan: David won the spring race here last season and has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts here. This tells me that even though his team doesn’t have the money or the resources that the big name teams have, they are very competitive in this type of race. Another plus of using David this weekend is that he has nothing to lose and can just run his race.

Kasey Kahne: Kasey always seems to be very good here early in the race and then something happens to him either in the pits or on the track late in the race. This team is very capable of winning this race and should be able to run with the leaders for the entire race if they so choose. Having a clean pit stop and great restart late in the race will be key to this teams chances of winning.

Brad Keselowski: Brad might not have a lot of friends on the track this weekend, which could hurt his chances of winning this race, but he does have a teammate. That teammate is Joey Logano, who we all know is already qualified for the Eliminator round and will be there to help Brad win this race. If they can find each other on the track, Joey will be the driver that can push Brad to a victory.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TALLLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Matt Kenseth
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Greg Biffle
• David Ragan
• Aric Almirola
• Brian Vickers

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Michael Waltrip
• Danica Patrick

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Matt Kenseth
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Kyle Busch

Dark Horse: David Ragan

Stay Away From: Brad Keselowski

Joey Logano won his fifth race of the season, his second of the Chase, and will move on to the Eliminator Round now. Three of the Chase drivers took a major hit in the point standings as they were involved in incidents on the track which took them out of contention in Kansas. These drivers now have their work cut out for them, but they can win one of the next two races and become automatically qualified for the next round. Also, Talladega is going to be a wildcard race and other drivers might get caught up in the ‘Big One’ and take a hit in points in the final race of this segment.

This week the series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is another 1.5 mile quad oval track. We will have to wait and see if their will be tire issues once again this weekend. I am sure that they will bring a different tire than the one they used at Kansas last weekend. Another thing about this race is that it is going to be 500-miles, so engines will be stressed a bit more and we might see a few drivers lose an engine during the race.

BANK OF AMERICA 500

Kevin Harvick: I am going to pick Kevin to have his luck change for the better this week and he will win this race. He has been fast all season long and could very well win another pole. He finished second in the spring race here and won the spring race in 2013. All they need is for everything to fall into place for him and he will visit victory lane and move on to the next round.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is one of the drivers that took a big hit in the standings when he was involved in a wreck early in the race at Kansas. He won the spring race here and has won seven races altogether at Charlotte. This team always runs well here and they know their best chance of moving on to the third round is to win one of the next two races and this is the place that they have the better shot at getting that win.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff has been fast all season and has won five races here during his career. He has also finished in the top ten in over half of his starts at this track and should be able to do that again. Jeff started on the pole in this race last season and has finished seventh in his last two starts here.

Matt Kenseth: Matt has two wins at this track during his career and is another driver who has finished in the top ten in over half of his career starts at Charlotte. I really think this team is going to win a race this season and this could be the week that happens. He is so consistent that if he stays out of trouble he will be able to move on to the next round by virtue of his points.

Joey Logano: Joey has yet to win a race at this track, but he has never finished worse than twenty-third here. He has finished in the top ten in six of his eleven starts at Charlotte and now that he has a win in this round he can take a few chances and try to win another race. It must be a great feeling to not have to worry about the next two races and where you finish in those races.

Kasey Kahne: Kasey has four wins at this track and is another driver who has finished in the top ten in over half of his starts here. This is the type of track that Kasey really runs well at. The problem with this team is that they make too many mistakes on pit road, or can’t keep up with the adjustments to the car as the track changes during the race. They need to be flawless to pick up another win this weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale had a fast car last week at Kansas until he blew a tire and hit the wall, which has put him in a hole. He will be good enough the next two weeks to get back into the top eight, but I’m sure they would just like to win one of the next two races and build some momentum as we get closer to the end of the season.

Carl Edwards: Carl has never won a points race at Charlotte in his career, but he has finished in the top ten in almost two-thirds of the races he has run here. They have struggled on the intermediate tracks most of the season and didn’t look real good last week at Kansas, but still managed to come away with a top five finish. If they can find a little more speed they will stay in contention for the championship.

Brad Keselowski: Brad is another driver that blew a tire and hit the wall at Kansas last weekend. Now they need to make something happen so they can qualify for the third round of the Chase. They have been fast all year and Brad has won a race at Charlotte in his ten starts here. I think this team qualifies in the top five this week and runs up front most of the race next Saturday night.

Kyle Busch: Kyle had a good finish at Kansas last week and he always runs well at Charlotte. He just needs to stay focused and not get frustrated early in a 500-mile race. He needs to trust that his crew chief will make the correct adjustments to make the car better as the race progresses and put him in contention late in the race.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kevin Harvick
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Joey Logano
• Brad Keselowski
• Carl Edwards
• Jamie McMurray

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Trevor Bayne
• Austin Dillon

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Kyle Larson

Stay Away From: Kurt Busch

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on winning the first race of the Chase and qualifying for the second round. Aric Almirola took the biggest hit after losing an engine while running in the top ten late in the race. Aric will have his work cut out for him now if he wants to make it to the next round. I think that he is going to have to win one of the next two races to move on.

The series will head back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the Sylvania 300. NHIS is a flat, slightly longer than one-mile oval speedway. Brad won the race here earlier this season and this team looks like they are on a roll right now with back-to-back wins. However, it is early in the Chase and there are still two more races in the first segment and then three more segments after that, so anything can happen yet.

SYLVANIA 300

Brad Keselowski: I have to pick Brad to win his third straight race this weekend and pad his point lead. Brad is always good on these short, flat tracks and like I said, this team is hitting on all cylinders right now. Brad has also finished in the top eleven in his last six starts at this track, which tells me he has something figured out here.

Matt Kenseth: Matt won this race last season and this team looks like it is getting close to visiting victory lane once again. Even though they haven’t won yet this season, this team still believes that they can start winning races during the Chase and win a championship. I think they will be in contention at the end of this race and if they have everything go their way they can make it to the winners circle.

Jimmie Johnson: This is another team that seems to be getting better every week and is ready to win another race. Jimmie has won three races at this track and has finished in the top ten in four of his last five starts here. Jimmie and Chad Knaus communicate better than any other team in the series and Chad knows what changes to make to give Jimmie the car he wants to drive.

Jeff Gordon: Jeff had another outstanding run last week at Chicagoland and seems to run even better on the short tracks this year. Jeff will be in contention the whole race once again and would like to get a win to automatically qualify for the next round. I think they will make the next round without a win, but a win gives you the additional points, which will start playing a larger role the further we get into the Chase.

Kevin Harvick: Let’s not forget about Kevin. This team has been fast all season and has had a great handling car to go along with that speed. However, this team has struggled at this track over their last twelve races here. In that time they have only lead one lap and they won their only race here back in 2006. This might be a race where they don’t try to win if they don’t have a good car in practice, but instead they will just try and stay out of trouble and on the lead lap. They will advance with points if they can avoid an accident.

Denny Hamlin: Denny won this race two seasons ago and this team looks better and better every week. He has finished in the top ten in eleven of his seventeen career starts and seven of those finishes were top five’s including two wins. I think you are going to have to win at least one race during the Chase to win the championship and this is one of the tracks that this team has on their calendar to compete for the win at.

Joey Logano: Joey struggled for much of the race last weekend at Chicago ,but he fought all day long and came away with a top five finish as he finished fourth as he blew an engine just as he crossed the finish line. The main thing for the teams that are running the Doug Yates engines are figuring why Joey and Aric Almirola both lost their engines late in the race. Mechanical failures will take you out of championship contention in a hurry.

Ryan Newman: Ryan had a good car last week at Chicago until he blew a tire and then had to fight back the rest of the race. He did a great job of that and salvaged a fifteenth place finish. Now this team heads to one of their best tracks. Ryan has won three races at this track and has finished in the top ten an outstanding sixteen times in only twenty-five starts. This is a driver you definitely want on your team this weekend.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has finished second in the last three races at Loudon. This team needs to get back to their winning ways, which will go a long way towards making their driver happy once again. Kyle needs to learn to control his emotions a little better and fight through adversity, which is what a driver needs to do if he is going to win a championship in this new format.

Clint Bowyer: Clint has won two races at this track during his career and almost pulled off a win at Richmond two weeks ago on a similar track. Even though they are not in the Chase that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try to win races the rest of the season. Clint is my dark horse this week.

YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Yahoo Driver Group A

• Kyle Busch
• Jimmie Johnson

Yahoo Driver Group B

• Brad Keselowski
• Ryan Newman
• Denny Hamlin
• Brian Vickers

Yahoo Driver Group C

• Austin Dillon
• Kyle Larson

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Brad Keselowski
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin/li>
4. Ryan Newman
5. Jimmie Johnson

Dark Horse: Clint Bowyer

Stay Away From: Joey Logano