3 years agoTyler Reddick looked like he had speed and acceleration to burn during Saturday's qualifying at Talladega. Reddick will start the Sunday race from the 10th position. The No. 8 Chevy of Richard Childress Racing has been fast all year. Now, can Reddick find a way to keep that speed throughout this tough 2.66-mile course? That remains unknown. One thing is for sure. Reddick will battle from start to finish on Sunday. It is partly because of that drive which bodes well for the Chevy on Sunday.--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoBubba Wallace and his No. 23 car again were in the spotlight on Saturday. His ninth-place qualifying run proved he had a little more in the tank to do better even. Wallace let off the throttle in a few places on the 2.66-mile track. It was as if the 23Xi Racing driver knew if something was going on. Wallace was the fifth of five Toyota cars to qualify in the top ten on Saturday. On super speedway tracks, Wallace has four top-five results in his past 13 races. That includes the Fall win on this very track. He tends to avoid collisions here better than most as well. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR. com

3 years agoWilliam Byron begins the Sunday race at Talladega from the eighth spot. The Spring race last year was Byron's best chance to win as he finished second to Brad Keselowski. Again, speed intervals seemed to show that the No. 24 car was one of the fastest in the final stages of the race. Last year, overtime was the equalizer as Keselowski held Byron off. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver could have the car to battle near the top again late on Sunday afternoon. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoDenny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing car start from seventh on Sunday at Talladega. The 2.66-mile track drives every driver crazy at some point. Hamlin is no exception but the No. 11 driver does have three top-five results and a win in his last six attempts on the course. He has even led 8.7% of the laps in the past six races. This shows that his car has the package with the restrictor plate to stay with anyone. He will be one to watch for during the final stage on Sunday. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoOne of the few Toyota cars that was able to maintain speed over entire races at Talladega was Kurt Busch. The elder Busch starts Sunday's Geico 500 from the sixth position. The No. 45 car has never won on the 2.66-mile track. However, Busch has contended a bunch of times during the Spring race since 2015. A string of top-ten results indicates that the Toyota driver may have some staying power closer to the front. With tranquil, warm weather expected on Sunday, Busch will be battling with the Ford's and Chevy's all afternoon. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoKyle Larson topped Hendrick Motorsports Racing in qualifying on Saturday. He will begin Sunday's race from the fifth position. The No. 5 car had been fast in testing and even in qualifying, Larson had some excellent sectors that indicated Larson could be faster than fifth. Last year, the No. 5 car was the victim of a piece of metal in the manifold cover. That will not happen this year. With just two career top-ten results, Larson may need all the tandem drafting his team can muster just to stay close to where he qualified. Track position fade is a realistic scenario during the final stage for Larson. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoDaniel Suarez nailed one of the faster laps on Saturday and finished fourth in qualifying for Talladega on Sunday. The TrackHouse Racing driver and his No. 99 Chevy pulled in an excellent time. Just because a car is fast early at Talladega does not mean the will be fast late. Does TrackHouse with Ross Chastain find a way to stay close to the front on Sunday. Suarez has never contended on the track but the speed draws notice. Ultimately, there is a sense that the Chevy will at least be a factor early during the Geico 500.--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoDaniel Hemric will start the Geico 500 from the third position on Sunday afternoon. The Kaulig Racing driver was the best of the five Chevy drivers in the top ten. The No. 16 car has not raced at the top level here since 2019. That Spring race saw Hemric start and finish in fifth. He was able to keep track position and drive into a top-five result. His speed in the final laps was among the best ten when it came to speed intervals. Without long-run data in the Next-Gen car, Hemric has to be considered someone to watch for Sunday. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoMartin Truex Jr. wound up in P2 or outside Row 1 after Saturday's round of qualifying. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver clocked a lap of just a whisker over 53 seconds. That was a mere 0.081 seconds off from the time of Christopher Bell. As a result, Truex Jr. will start second on Sunday afternoon. Again, previous races indicate that the Truex car should fall off position wise. He has not finished inside the top ten since 2015. There is just this inevitability. Truex Jr. has never ended up better than fifth in his career on the track. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoChristopher Bell got around the 2.66-mile track in a shade under 53 seconds on Saturday. That was good enough to get the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on the pole for Sunday afternoon's race. Bell and his No. 20 car could be a factor on Sunday. Contention is a different story altogether. No Joe Gibbs driver has been a consistent contender other than Denny Hamlin. Anything is possible but the expectation is that Toyota over the longer runs late in the race will lose speed and fade track position-wise. Will it happen? That's the question. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoMartin Truex Jr. has been slow all weekend long with his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing car. This is not just a one-time occurrence. This has been across the board spanning from initial practice sessions right up to Saturday's 15-lap qualifying run. He started in the back of that run and ended there. Truex Jr. was 33rd in the second practice session and 23rd in the first. It seems things have become worse and worse for a driver who normally thrives in these conditions. Truex Jr. led 126 laps at Bristol last year but there is no way he replicates that in this Next-Gen car. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoWhat happened between practice and qualifying for Denny Hamlin? This is where it gets odd for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver because half the team was pretty quick (Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell) and half was much slower (him and Martin Truex Jr.). The second practice session was solid for the No. 11 car and he seemed to stack up well with the other top drivers. The qualifying became a different story as Hamlin never got any momentum in those 15 laps. As a result, he starts 30th on Sunday from Bristol. Hamlin nearly won last year, finishing third. Does he have the late speed on the dirt track to make up track position? That's a big question.--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoBoth Ross Chastain and even Daniel Suarez have had successful Trackhouse Racing cars at Bristol. Suarez had the result last year with a second-place finish but it seems that Chastain has the better performing car this season. Chastain did win at Austin and had a nice run of top-five finishes (four in all). The No. 1 Chevy was fast in the first practice session but slower in the second by almost eight tenths of a second. That is a lot though adjustments can and will be made. Chastain kept a much faster Tyler Reddick at bay for several laps on Saturday and showed some dirt driving mettle. If his car cooperates, Chastain is worth a look for place differential. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoRyan Blaney had quite a few issues with his Team Penske car on Saturday. He could not generate speed and then he lost the grip. Ultimately, he spun out during his run as well. The result of all that mess is qualifying 24th for Sunday's Food City Dirt Race. Is that a bad thing? Blaney did finish eighth last year and had one of the fastest cars (top-ten speed) at the end. If his pit crew can make adjustments to the car which looked tight, then the No .12 Ford makes for a great DFS choice. His car lost barely a third of a second in speed intervals and that is because he let off the gas a bit because of that "tightness" in practice. Keep that in mind for Sunday.--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com

3 years agoWilliam Byron begins his Bristol dirt race from the 19th spot on Sunday night. For what it is worth, Byron managed a sixth-place result last year in spite of not leading a single lap. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing car did not even truly contended but the No. 24 Chevy survived. This lends some credence to a stack the back strategy for DFS. The fourth quickest Hendrick has been the most consistent over the last two years. Byron did not lose much time (a tenth of a second) in his intermediate lap runs. He did not attempt any long (20 or 30-lap) runs but that may not be much of a concern. His place differential potential makes him a good DFS possibility. --Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com