NASCAR Pick’em Contest for Talladega

One of the more popular ways that some people play fantasy racing is by entering a NASCAR Pick’ems Contest. Players select one driver for each race, but you can only select a driver one or two times during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. I will be providing my picks each week to help out members who play these types of games.

Pick Drive 1 Time			Pick Driver 2 Times
Race	Driver	Finish	Race	Driver	Finish
Daytona	Jamie McMurray	28^th	Daytona	Jamie McMurray	28^th
Atlanta	Chase Elliott	5^th	Atlanta	Chase Elliott	5^th
Las Vegas	Kasey Kahne	12^th	Las Vegas	Brad Keselowski	5^th
Phoenix	Ryan Blaney	23^rd	Phoenix	Joey Logano	31^st
Auto Club	Kyle Larson	1^st	Auto Club	Kyle Larson	1^st
Martinsville	Ryan Newman	8^th	Martinsville	Denny Hamlin	30^th
Texas	Clint Bowyer	11^th	Texas	Brad Keselowski	6^th
Bristol	Erik Jones	17^th	Bristol	Kyle Busch	35^th
Richmond	Kyle Busch	16^th	Richmond	Clint Bowyer	15^th
Talladega	Aric Almirola	4^th	Talladega	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	1^st
Kansas	Joey Logano	37^th	Kansas	Ryan Blaney	4^th
Charlotte	Martin Truex Jr.	3^rd	Charlotte	Martin Truex Jr.	3^rd
Dover	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	39^th	Dover	Matt Kenseth	13^th
Pocono	Kurt Busch	4^th	Pocono	Kurt Busch	4^th
Michigan	Denny Hamlin	4^th	Michigan	Denny Hamlin	4^th
Sonoma	Chris Buescher	19^th	Sonoma	AJ Allmendinger	35^th
Daytona	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	32^nd	Daytona	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	32^nd
Kentucky	Brad Keselowski	39^th	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	5^th
Loudon	Matt Kenseth	4^th	Loudon	Matt Kenseth	4^th
Indianapolis	Paul Menard	16^th	Indianapolis	Kevin Harvick	6^th
Pocono	Danica Patrick	15^th	Pocono	Ryan Blaney	30^th
Watkins Glen	AJ Allmendinger	9^th	Watkins Glen	AJ Allmendinger	9^th
Michigan	Daniel Suarez	37^th	Michigan	Chase Elliott	8^th
Bristol	Matt Dibenedetto	26^th	Bristol	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	14^th
Darlington	Trevor Bayne	35^th	Darlington	Matt Kenseth	6^th
Richmond	David Ragan	27^th	Richmond	Kurt Busch	3^rd
Chicago	Michael McDowell	30^th	Chicago	Austin Dillon	16^th
Loudon	Landon Cassill	25^th	Loudon	Jamie McMurray	16^th
Dover	Ty Dillon	22^nd	Dover	Jimmie Johnson	3^rd
Charlotte	Austin Dillon	16^th	Charlotte	Clint Bowyer	27^th
Talladega	Brendan Gaughan	?	Talladega	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	?

I am quickly running out of drivers for the 1 and Done game. The Drivers I have left include: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Cole Whitt, Corey LaJoie, Reed Sorenson, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Gray Gaulding, Derrike Cope and B.J. McLeod. That does not leave me a lot to work with. This is my first year playing this game. I have plans for Johnson (Martinsville) and Harvick (Phoenix), but the rest of the races may be ugly.

Brendan Gaughan is an experienced driver who usually performs well on the restrictor-plate tracks. He finished 11^th in the Daytona 500 and 7^th in the Coke Zero 400. He also finished 26^th at Talladega in May. That is an average finishing position of 14.6 on the plate tracks this year. I think you have to give him a chance this week.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be my pick in the games you can select a driver twice. He has the most wins, most laps led and most top-10 finishes at this track. It is no secret that he wants to win this race before he retires. I expect the No. 88 team to put a lot of work into this car this week.

Good luck this week!

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