Most of Chase field needs boost at Talladega

The Alabama 500 on Sunday at Talladega SuperSpeedway’s monstrous 2.66-mile layout is the final race in the Round of 12 and the sixth during the 10-race Sprint Cup Chase.

Two drivers have qualified for the Round of 8 by virtue of winning, and three others have a relatively safe points margin. But for the other seven drivers, there’s reason to worry.

Talladega might offer the most exciting racing in the series because everything is huge, such as the speeds at 200 mph. The track is the longest, has the steepest banking (33 degrees) and the wrecks are spectacular 10- to 15-car pileups. The cars are bunched side by side, sometimes four wide, and because of the restrictor plates, most drivers have a legitimate shot to win.

For betting purposes, those traits aren’t attractive. There’s too much randomness. There’s nothing worse than losing your bet with the best car because of another driver’s mistake.

For plate races, I cut my weekly NASCAR bankroll by 50 percent, and rarely will I play matchups. I’ll spread wagers on six to seven drivers to win and hope my highest return on investment cashes. It takes a lot of luck and little skill to cash.

Picking those drivers is like a lottery. It’s that random. I don’t have relevant practices to analyze, so it’s basically going by a history of drivers in plate races.

Talladega is the final of four plate races this season. Denny Hamlin (10-1) started the season by winning the nonpoints Sprint Unlimited, then won the Daytona 500 a week later. Brad Keselowski (11-2) won the past two plate races, at Talladega in May and Daytona in July. Kyle Busch (121) has finished third or better in all three points-paying plate races.

Hamlin felt the Talladega wrath in May with a 31st-place finish. Keselowski is a four-time winner at the beastly track, including his first career win as part of a part-time underfunded team. Those two are the favorites for obvious reasons, but you can’t be faulted for taking a long shot, especially with Roush Fenway drivers Trevor Bayne (60-1), Greg Biffle (50-1) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (50-1).

NOTE — Martin Truex Jr. turned a lap of 193.423 mph to win the pole position Saturday. The run came after NASCAR confiscated a bolt from his Toyota, but Truex said he was not worried about ramifications to his Furniture Row Racing team. Keselowski qualified second and Matt Kenseth third.