1000Bulbs.com 500

Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL
Sunday October 14, 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC
2.66 Mile Tri-Oval
Weather: Sunny, 79°F

Previous Five Winners and Pole Sitters

Race	Race Winner	Pole Sitter
Spring 2018	Joey Logano	Jamie McMurray
Fall 2017	Brad Keselowski	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Spring 2017	Rickey Stenhouse Jr.	Rickey Stenhouse Jr.
Fall 2016	Joey Logano	Martin Truex Jr.
Spring 2016	Brad Keselowski	Chase Elliott

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Alabama this Sunday with the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. A total of 41 cars are scheduled to enter the event. The second elimination round of the playoffs are in full swing and the race winner is guaranteed to move into the next round. Who can avoid "The Big One" and capture the checkered flag at the longest track on the NASCAR circuit?

The Favorite

Restrictor-plate racing at speeds in excess of 200 mph with the ability to go four-wide makes for a very volatile race. It's not if "The Big One" is coming, but when. The field is so wide open at Talladega that picking a winning driver is like picking winning lottery numbers. Literally every single driver in the field has a chance to win this race with a little help from Lady Luck.

However, if you look at the past five race winners you'll notice a pattern developing: they all drove Fords. That's why Brad Keselowski is the favorite this week, he is the best plate race driver in a Ford.

Penske Racing has won four out of the last five Talladega races and Keselowski was responsible for two of them. Overall Keselowski has five career wins here and one win at the other restrictor-plate track in Daytona. Those six restrictor-plate victories lead all active drivers. He also has a knack for avoiding trouble with only three DNFs in nineteen career starts, a solid record for restrictor-plate tracks. At Talladega, you not only have to have speed, you have to be able to keep the car clean. Keselowski has been doing that better than anyone.

Finding a drafting partner is also a key to success at Talladega. Nobody can make it to the front without a little help and Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano will be in the mix as well. It's hard to predict a winner in this type of race, but the smart money will be on the Fords.

Other Drivers to Watch

Keselowski's Penske Racing Teammate Joey Logano won this race in the spring, giving him three wins in the last six Talladega races. In the past Logano was a boom or bust option here until Team Penske hired TJ Majors to be his spotter. Majors previously was the spotter for Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose biggest strength was plate track racing. Majors is certainly an asset in keeping Logano out of the "Big One" and if he can hook up with Keselowski the duo can quickly move to the front of the field. If they can stick together for most of the race they will have the best chance to go to victory lane again. Talladega is a lottery, but four out of five wins is hard to dismiss.

Ryan Blaney joined Keselowski and Logano at Penske Racing this year. The young driver has not shown a lot of patience on the restrictor-plate tracks so far in his career and that has hurt him. Yet if he calms down and hooks up for the draft with one of his teammates he can rocket to the front. Team Penske has won four out of the last five Talladega races, so Blaney will have the equipment to compete for the win.

Rickey Stenhouse Jr. only has two wins in his Cup Series career, but they have both come on restrictor-plate tracks. He cut into the recent Penske Racing monopoly at Talladega by winning the spring race here last year and had a strong fifth place finish in this year's spring race. He will be a marked man however in this event after causing two big wrecks at the last restrictor-plate race in Daytona. The speed should be there, but he won't be getting help from anyone in the field.

Kevin Harvick is known as "The Closer" in NASCAR circles for his ability to remain patient early in the race and bring the heat as the race winds down. This driving attitude serves him well at Talladega since he is often able to avoid the "Big One". His Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has shown the speed necessary all season to be able to roar to the front when the time is right. He will also have an extra advantage with two strong teammates available for drafting. Aric Almirola has four straight top-ten finishes here and Kurt Busch finished second in the spring race. This race could very well come down to a battle of the Fords between Penske and Stewart-Haas.

Denny Hamlin has been a contender at Talladega throughout his career. He has led laps in his last nine starts here and won it all in the spring 2014 race. Hamlin is the last Toyota driver to take the checkered flag at Talladega. He has momentum after finishing runner-up at Dover last week and he'll have the motivation too. Still winless on the season, Hamlin has won at least one Cup Series race in each of his previous twelve full-time seasons. He won't let that streak end without a fight.

"Last weekend was a step in the right direction for our FedEx team, and I’m already excited to get back on track so we can hopefully keep our momentum going," said Hamlin. "Obviously anything can happen at a track like Talladega, but our goal is to stay strong and put ourselves in a position where we can contend for a win."

Chase Elliott took home a third place finish in the spring race and has one serious advantage over the rest of the drivers still in the playoff hunt: His win at Dover last week guarantees he will advance to the field of eight. Elliott has shown speed at the restrictor-plate tracks by winning poles at Talladega and Daytona. Now that the pressure is off, he won't be afraid to push the accelerator down in an attempt to gain even more bonus points for the playoffs.

"I think it's nice to be able to know you're going to move on, but you can't get complacent in the fact that you are moving on," said Elliott. "You can't let those points just sit out there and not try to go get them because those bonus points you get for winning or winning a stage, that's huge, and you need as many as you can get. One or two points could be the difference in you making the Round of 4 or not. Just knowing that we don’t have to worry about Talladega, so excited to be able to win the first one of three and get to enjoy it all a little bit more. We are going to keep the hammer down and see what we can do."

News Around the Track

Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that Chad Knaus will no longer be the crew chief for the No. 48 racing team of Jimmie Johnson after the 2018 season. Knaus will instead move over to serve as crew chief for the No. 24 racing team of William Byron next year. Kevin Meendering has been hired to be Johnson's crew chief in 2019.

"It's no secret that Chad and Jimmie have experienced their ups and downs over the years," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. "All three of us agree it's finally time for new challenges and that a change will benefit them and the organization."

Johnson and Knaus have been paired together since Johnson's rookie season in 2002, the seventeen year partnership between driver and crew chief is the longest active streak in NASCAR.

The duo have been one of the most successful pairings in NASCAR Cup Series history. Together they have won 81 races and captured a record tying seven Cup Series Championships. Yet the team has struggled for the last year and a half, Johnson has gone 53 races without a victory. He was able to qualify for the playoffs this season based on points, but was eliminated in the first round.

No matter what the reasons are for the change, it is certainly the end of an era for Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR.