

The NASCAR Cup Series will be back to Superspeedway racing this week when the teams travel to Talladega Superspeedway. Eight drivers have made their way to Victory Lane in the first nine races of the 2021 season. There is a good chance that there will be a ninth driver to secure a playoff spot after the race this week. It should be fun to watch. The Geico 500 can be seen Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on FOX.
The narrative around the races on the Superspeedways is that “any driver who starts the race has a good chance to win the race.” That is true, but it does not happen as much as it used too. Four drivers have won all of the races at Talladega in the current aero package. They include: Ryan Blaney (2), Denny Hamlin (1), Joey Logano (1) and Chase Elliott (1). I would not consider any of these driver “long-shots.” I expect one of the favorites to be in Victory Lane again Sunday.
The Driver Rankings for Talladega are NOT a prediction for the finishing order in the Geico 500. I would be stupid to try and predict the finishing order for this race. Instead, the rankings are based on the driver’s average finishing position and driver rating at Talladega last year, average finishing position and driver rating in the current aero package at Talladega and the driver’s average finishing position and driver rating in the current aero package at both Superspeedway tracks.
Here are the Driver Rankings for the Geico 500…
1. Denny Hamlin |
2. Joey Logano |
3. Ryan Blaney |
4. Aric Almirola |
5. Chris Buescher |
6. William Byron |
7. Alex Bowman |
8. Brad Keselowski |
9. Kurt Busch |
10. Ryan Preece |
11. Ryan Newman |
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
13. Chase Elliott |
14. Erik Jones |
15. Tyler Reddick |
16. Kevin Harvick |
17. Bubba Wallace |
18. Austin Dillon |
19. Kyle Busch |
20. Michael McDowell |
21. Kyle Larson |
22. Matt DiBenedetto |
23. Justin Haley |
24. Cole Custer |
25. Corey LaJoie |
26. Martin Truex Jr. |
27. Christopher Bell |
28. Daniel Suarez |
29. Ross Chastain |
30. Chase Briscoe |
31. Kaz Grala |
32. Harrison Burton |
33. Quin Houff |
34. Anthony Alfredo |
35. Cody Ware |
36. Joey Gase |
37. Timmy Hill |
38. B.J. McLeod |
39. James Davison |
40. Josh Bilicki |
* Photos from NASCAR Media
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