Micah Roberts' Top-10 Finish Prediction: 2023 Geico 500 at Talladega

The 10th race of the NASCAR Cup season takes us to the biggest, baddest track on the planet. It’s time for the eagerly anticipated Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway’s monstrous 2.66-mile high-banked layout. It’s the size of the track that makes the racing an edge-of-your-seat moment throughout as the cars reach 200 mph, bumper to bumper, for 188 laps. There’s eventually going to be a spectacular wreck that takes out 10 to 15 cars. It may take 50 laps, 100 laps, or 180 laps, but it’s eventually it’s going to happen and you just hope everyone is alright and also that the big wreck didn’t take out your driver.

Check out my full top-20 Finish Prediction and more insight on Sportsline.com

Here’s a look at what I’m thinking will unfold in Sunday’s Geico 500 with odds courtesy of Caesars sportsbooks:

1 #9 Chase Elliott (12/1) - He’s the NASCAR fan's favorite driver and the fanbase at Talladega takes that notion even higher. When he takes the lead at Talladega, everyone stands and the decibel level of the fans is louder than the cars at 200 mph. I want to see that a few times on Sunday in his second race back after breaking his tibia snowboarding. He’s a two-time winner at Talladega with five top-fives and 1983 laps led in 14 starts. His 14th-place average finish on the volatile 2.66-mile layout is top among active drivers.

2 #6 Brad Keselowski (14/1) - He led the most laps in each of the last two Daytona 500s. And Talladega is where he has has six of his seven superspeedway wins. He won his first career Cup race at Talladega as a part-time driver on a part-time team in 2009.

3 #1 Ross Chastain (15/1) - He led one lap at Talladega in this race last season, the last lap, and grabbed his second Cup victory of his season and career. He was fourth in the fall race and then ninth at the Daytona 500 in February.

4 #12 Ryan Blaney (10/1) - He has three superspeedway wins, eight top-fives, and 13 top-10s in 33 Cup starts. His three wins all came recently within his last 14 races on superspeedways.

5 #11 Denny Hamlin (11/1) - He’s led laps in 12 of his last 13 superspeedway races. He knows how to get up front better than most because he understands how to maneuver through the wind and propel himself faster using the other car's speed.

6 #22 Joey Logano (10/1) - Team Penske knows how to build cars to get around this track and Logano comes off a runner-up in the Daytona 500. His two Talladega wins came in 2016 and 2018 and he is one of the best at holding the lead against two separate lines of cars chasing him.

7 #47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr (22/1) - He’s got three Cup wins and all three have come on superspeedways, one of them at Talladega. He was runner-up in the fall 2020 Talladega race.

8 #23 Bubba Wallace (20/1) - He’s led laps in nine of his last 10 starts on superspeedway races which includes getting his first Cup win at Talladega in the fall of 2021 and he’s been runner-up twice at Daytona.

9 #17 Chris Buescher (22/1) - He was fourth place in February’s Daytona 500 after leading 32 laps. He was in the mix when it matters most.

10 #14 Chase Briscoe (30/1) - He was 10th last fall at Talladega and his best superspeedway performance was third at last season's Daytona 500.