NASCAR Cup Series

Friends could be beneficial come Sunday at Talladega

Published Oct. 17, 2014 2:00 p.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

This is going to be a very wild race this weekend.

Four cars will be eliminated from the Chase Sunday afternoon when the checkered flag falls. I was looking at the entries for the race and it looks like Ford is coming loaded for bear. They've got Ryan Blaney scheduled to be in this race along with Trevor Bayne in the Wood Brothers car. They could either end up helping Carl Edwards or maybe even the Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski, as he needs help to qualify for the third round. So, instead of one teammate on Sunday, Brad may find himself with a couple extra and at a place like Talladega, well that's never a bad thing.

We need to remember that Brad has won at Talladega before, so that plus all this potentially extra help he might bode well for fans of the No. 2 car who want to see Brad continue his march for a second championship.

In that same vein, Stewart-Haas Racing now becomes a bigger ally to Hendrick Motorsports maybe more so than ever before because Kevin Harvick from SHR has already secured a spot in the third round, so that gives the Hendrick teams in need of help four additional teammates. That's not to say the four Hendrick cars will need any help because we all know how well they run there, but at least they know they are there if the situation arises. We literally could see all four SHR drivers pushing the four Hendrick drivers forward if need be.

So there are an enormous amount of storylines to follow Sunday because don't forget that despite the Chase going on, there's all those other piranhas out there on the track that simply want to win a race this season. Guys like Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer are very hungry to win plus they are both very good at Talladega, so look for those two coming into play Sunday.

It's going to be really interesting. This may be one of those races that everyone is over-anticipating but honestly, it's Talladega Superspeedway and it's known for over-delivering. I'm just telling you know, get ready for those final 20 laps because trust me, all hell's gonna break loose.

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