NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: YellaWood 500 at Talladega

  

Last week, Tyler Reddick and the No.45 team let the field know that there's still a lot of fight in the team that dropped off the radar since the spring. The win was Reddick's sixth of the season, his first win since the April 19th Kansas race, and his first victory at Phoenix Raceway. And it was his 14th Cup Series career victory. 

Coupled with Kyle Larson's dismal 34th-place finish, scoring only three points, the driver Chase standings got a whole lot tighter. Reddick sits in seventh place in the driver's standings, 56 points behind the leader Kyle Larson, who holds a mere five-point lead over Christopher Bell. Rounding out the top six are Chase Briscoe in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth, Ryan Blaney in fifth, and Joey Logano in sixth. 

While Talladega can be a crap shoot, there are definitely drivers who have a knack at drafting and are particularly good at Talladega. While I expect Chase drivers to try to gobble up as many stage and bonus points as possible on Sunday, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see two or three non-Chasers vying for the race win. 

This Week's Pick Strategy:  Interestingly enough, Talladega rewards both patient and aggressive drivers. The real trick is knowing when to implement which strategy. This week, I'll go heavy on veteran drivers who carefully weigh risk versus reward, add in one or two drivers who are known for their patience, and add an equal number of those drivers who throw caution to the wind, but who have the fewest DNFs here. I will then consult an old priest and a young priest and call it a day! Good luck with your roster.

Active NASCAR Cup Drivers with Most Top 10s (Last 5 Years):
By Race  2022-2025 (4 races)
Denny Hamlin - 3

All with 2 - William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Erik Jones

 

By Track   2022-2026 (9 races)
Both with 5 - William Byron and Chase Elliott
All with 4 - Todd Gilliland, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones

Active NASCAR Cup Drivers with Most Top 5s (Last 5 Years):

By Race  2022-2025 (4 races)
All with 2 - William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin

 

By Track  2022-2026 (9 races)

All with 3 - William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski

All with 2 - Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher

Fewest DNFs Among Active Drivers in Their NASCAR Cup Series Careers at Talladega
0 DNFs - John Hunter Nemechek (7 starts), Shane van Gisbergen (5 starts), Austin Hill (2 starts) and Connor Zilisch (1 start).
1 DNF - Chase Briscoe (11 starts), Austin Cindric (9 starts), Ty Dillon (15 starts), Todd Gilliland (9 starts), Riley Herbst (5 starts), Carson Hocevar (6 starts), Zane Smith (6 starts) and Cody Ware (12 starts).

2 DNFs - Ross Chastain (15 starts), Noah Gragson (8 starts) and Tyler Reddick (13 starts).
SOURCE: Driveraverages.com

 

Last Year's Race Pole Winner:  Michael McDowell

 

Last Year's Race Winner:  Chase Briscoe

 

The Likely Suspects: My Talladega go-tos include Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones.

  

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is Ryan Blaney. My next picks are Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Shane van Gisbergen. I will complete my team with Carson Hocevar and Todd Gilliland.

 

My Final Four: Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski and Carson Hocevar.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Todd Gilliland. Talladega is his third-best track on the circuit. In the seven races at Talladega since 2023, Gilliland has earned one Top 5, three Top 10s, six Top 20s, and led 13 laps, earning him an average driver rating of 82.5, which ties him with William Byron at the top of leaderboard among active Cup Series drivers. In this race last year, Gilliland finished second and scored a career-best runner-up finish. Wouldn't it be fun to see that No. 34 Ford team celebrating in Victory Lane this week?

Points to Ponder:

• The outside front row (second starting position) is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (21) than any other starting position at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Cup Series (18.4%). The most recent driver to win from the second starting position was Chase Briscoe in 2025.
• Brad Keselowski leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in wins at Talladega Superspeedway with six victories (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021) in 35 starts – a winning percentage of 18.1%. He also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in runner-up finishes here with three and in Top 5s with 12. 
• Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Top 10s at Talladega with 17 each. 
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Talladega Superspeedway with 14 victories, followed by Richard Childress Racing with 13, and Team Penske with 12.
• 12 of the 55 NASCAR Cup Series race winners at Talladega Superspeedway are active this weekend. They are Brad Keselowski with 6; Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano each with 3; Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin with two each; and Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace, and with one each. 
• Austin Cindric (nine starts) leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in average starting position at Talladega Superspeedway with a 9.444.
• Joey Logano leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in laps led at Talladega with 571 in 35 starts.

If you are playing Driver Group Game, remember to make your initial picks by Saturday, October 24th at 1 p.m. ET and your final picks by 2 p.m. ET on race day, Sunday, October 18th.

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 19 years. She launched NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat or executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.