It’s Talladega Week!
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Alabama this Sunday for the heavily-anticipated GEICO 500 at the world-renowned Talladega Superspeedway.
It will mark the 10th race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season and one no NASCAR fan or bettor should miss.
Let’s check the latest news, stats, reports, and NASCAR odds for GEICO 500. We’ve plenty of predictions for you to consider.
Tightly Contested Race
According to the Nascar betting for this weekend, the 2022 GEICO 500 will be tightly contested at the top, with little to separate the main favorites in Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliot, and Kyle Larson.
Does that mean that all five have about the same chance to win? Technically yes, but that doesn’t make them all great sport betting options.
Of the five, Blaney leads the way as the main favorite, which makes a lot of sense. The Ford driver has had quite a season, finishing inside the top-10 in five of his last six starts.
Moreover, he has finished inside the top-5 in Martinsville (4th) and Bristol (5th), adding to his solid performances at Richmond (7th) and COTA (6th). Blaney has yet to win a race this season, but he came close three times, so it’s only a matter of time before he does.
Last season, Blaney placed ninth at Talladega, which isn’t spectacular, but he has two fourth-place finishes from 2020 and 2015, when he made his debut here. Blaney is the man to watch with such figures, but so is Logano.
Logano is – like Blaney – still searching for his first win of the season, but if there is a race where the 31-year-old could finally grab his first W, it’s Talladega. Despite his lack of victories in 2022, the online sports betting sites have Logano priced as one of the favorites, and you can’t argue that he has a legitimate chance to win.
Last weekend, Logano finished third in the Food City Dirt Race, has three top-5s this season (two in the last two races), and has already won at Talladega in 2018.
“We’ll take that”, said Logano after last weekend’s race.
And even though a third-place finish is an admirable result, Logano will surely want to push himself at Talladega, where he has delivered before.
Brad Keselowski Looking To Repeat
One of the drivers that will be getting a lot of attention for the 2022 GEICO 500 is Brad Keselowski, who won at Talladega last season, adding to his success in 2012 and 2016.
It’s also worth noting that Keselowski is the most successful driver at Talladega with six wins across 26 races, which includes nine top-5s, and 13 top-10s, meaning that Keselowski finished half of his races at Talladega inside the top-10 and one third inside the top-5.
With such figures, it’s hard to ignore Keselowski as one of the drivers that can impress, granted his results this year hardly inspire any confidence. His best finish of the year came at Daytona, where Keselowski placed ninth.
Since then, he has managed just four top-15s and has placed outside of the top-20 three times (Fontana, Las Vegas, and Phoenix). We have seen some improvement from him of late, with an 11th-place finish at Bristol, but realistically, Keselowski has yet to come close to winning a race this term.
2022 GEICO Information
- Race: 2022 GEICO 500
- Location: Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Alabama
- Day/Time: Sunday, April 24th, 2 p.m. ET
- Streaming: NBCSports.com
2022 GEICO 500 Betting Lines
| ODDS TO WIN GEICO 500 | MONEYLINE |
| Ryan Blaney | +1000 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1000 |
| Joey Logano | +1000 |
| Bubba Wallace | +1400 |
| Chase Elliott | +1400 |
| Austin Cindric | +1400 |
| Brad Keselowski | +1400 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1400 |
| Kyle Busch | +1600 |
| Kyle Larson | +1600 |
| Kevin Harvick | +1800 |
| Aric Almirola | +1800 |
| Alex Bowman | +1800 |
| William Byron | +2000 |
| Tyler Reddick | +2200 |
| Kurt Busch | +2500 |
| Chris Buescher | +2500 |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | +2500 |
| Austin Dillon | +2500 |
| Christopher Bell | +2800 |
| Ross Chastain | +2800 |
| Michael McDowell | +3300 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | +3300 |
| Cole Custer | +4000 |
| Harrison Burton | +5000 |
| Daniel Suarez | +6600 |
| Justin Haley | +6600 |
| Erik Jones | +6600 |
| Ty Dillon | +8000 |
| Daniel Hemric | +10000 |
| Todd Gilliland | +10000 |
| David Ragan | +10000 |
| Corey Lajoie | +12500 |
| Noah Gragson | +15000 |
| Landon Cassill | +25000 |
| Greg Biffle | +30000 |
| JJ Yeley | +40000 |
| BJ McLeod | +40000 |
| Cody Ware | +40000 |
2022 GEICO 500 Prediction
Blaney is the current betting favorite to win the 2022 GEICO 500, and if you’re looking to bet on Nascar on a driver that is most likely to cross the finish line first, he might be the guy. Blaney has had a strong season so far and has proven time and time again that he can be a threat.
Admittedly, he has yet to win a NASCAR Cup Series race this season, but if his past showing are any indication, it’s only a matter of time before he does. With a fourth and fifth place finishes at Martinsville and Bristol, Blaney has seemingly found his stride ahead of Talladega, where he has looked good in the past.
His average finish on the track isn’t that good, mainly due to his 39th, 18th, and 15th place finished in 2017-2019, but Blaney has managed a 1st and ninth across the last two. Keselowski is another driver that might be worth a bet, even on the top-5 betting markets.
He has yet to deliver this season, and many started to doubt him, but this only helps with our pick. He has a solid record at Talladega and won here in 2021.
Yes, his best result of the 2022 season was a ninth-place finish at Daytona, but if we look back to 2021, Keselowski had not finished better than 11th across the four races leading into Talladega, and he still won.
His season form is something to consider, but if his past results here are any indication, Keselowski is an entirely different beast on Talladega.
Pick: Ryan Blaney to win (+1000)
Pick: Brad Keselowski to win (+1400)
