Trivia Fantasy Series Round 10/Talladega

With Richmond behind us, there are officially 10 races left in Segment 1. We visit Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron's 499 this Round. With races dubbed as "crap shoots" and "wreck-fests", it should come as no surprise that this 2.6-mile behemoth is one of the more popular tracks on the circuit. In fact, last year when Iris86 was hosting, I picked Dave Blaney and David Gilliland for the race, and I wound up winning the entire Round! If that is any indicator for this year, it should let you know that 1). Trivia points are extremely important, and 2) nobody can make any so-called "underdog" picks.

Before I give you the points, here are the answers to the Trivia questions from last week:

1. With tracks such as Martinsville and Richmond within the state, and Bristol, Charlotte, and Atlanta within a few hours, Virginia is right in the heart of NASCAR country. How many active NASCAR Cup Series drivers call this state home? A: 2. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.
2. RIR has gone through 3 reconfigurations throughout its 59-year history. What length was the track in all three configurations? A: .500, .542, .750
3. Richmond is one of the most illustrious and famous tracks on the Cup schedule. Having been a regular stop since 1953, there have been a total of 111 Cup races run here. How many other tracks have held at least 100 races in NASCAR’s top division? A: 6. Atlanta (104), Bristol (103), Charlotte (106),  Darlington (108), Daytona (130), and Martinsville (127).

Now, for last week's standings:

Rank/Name:              Trivia Points:              Fantasy Points:          Total Points

KSNASCAR24 won his 2nd Round of the season, posting a season-high thus far 109 points! Congrats!Coming just behind him, tied for 2nd are Rowdyfan56 and GabyFischer, with Rowdy getting the tiebreaker. Another tie took place for 4th place, as Corey NB and Mid_Night both scored 97 points. Corey took the tiebreaker on that one, before overall points leader 14Smoke finished 6th. Noahs4Smoke had great picks despite not submitting Trivia answers, while HBK29, Randomness, and 48fan1995 round out the top 10. Moritz rode an underdog pick to 11th while William Pray completes the top dozen. Raceboy, Me, and JrsBeard completed the list of 15 players who competed.

As you can see, we had some extremely high scores at Richmond, with the top 3 players above 100 points, and the top six over 90. This was due to the fact that the top 9 players all chose Kyle Busch or Denny Hamlin. Nobody had terrible picks, unless of course you chose Jeff Gordon. There were a few players who went out on a limb and it struck them fairly  hard, like Moritz and William Pray. But for the most part everyone had good picks. On top of that, 11 of the 12 players who submitted answers got all three questions right. (In case you're wondering, Raceboy only submitted answers to 2 out of the 3 questions.)

Now for the overall points standings:

1. 14Smoke, 733
2. Rowdyfan56, 713       2     (+1)
3. Randomness, 710      1     (-1)
4. GabyFischer, 705       1
5. Raceboy, 667             1
6. Duhhub (Me), 618
7. Corey NB, 610            1
8. KSNASCAR24, 597      2     (+3)
9. HBK29, 594                      (-1)
10. 48fan1995, 563          1
11. Moritz, 547                      (+1)
12. William Pray, 536              (+1)
13. Mid_Night, 531                 (+1)
14. Snusser, 493                     (-5)
15. Noahs4Smoke, 492
16. Kelly Blue, 301
17. JrsBeard, 132

     

14Smoke continues her run as points leader, opening up a 20-point lead over new 2nd-place Rowdyfan56. Randomness drops a position, but is still just 23 points away from the lead. GabyFischer is also very close, before a 38-point dropoff to 5th place Raceboy. I'm running 6th, but Corey NB is right on my tail! Richmond winner KSNASCAR24 is the biggest mover this week, gaining 3 positions to move up to 8th. HBK29 and 48fan1995 round out the top 10, before a tightly packed Moritz, William Pray, and Mid_Night are all going for 11th. Snusser, who didn't submit her answers for the 3rd consecutive week, falls another 5 positions. Noahs4Smoke is just 1 point behind her, with Kelly Blue and JrsBeard rounding out the field.

Now for this week's race, the Aaron's 499 at Talladega. The deadline to submit your answers is 1:00pm on Sunday, May 6. Here are your Trivia questions.

1. Talladega Superspeedway is well-known for its close and often wreck-filled finishes. In fact, last year the spring race here tied the NASCAR record for closest finish ever in the Cup Series, at 0.002 seconds. Prior to that, what was the closest finish at ‘Dega in the Cup Series?
2. This 2.5-mile oval has been the site of many first-time NASCAR Sprint Cup winners, 10 to be exact. More than a few have gone on to little success in NASCAR’s top division. How many of those 10 never won another race in what is now the Cup Series?
3. Among the things that make Talladega unique are the restrictor plates that have been run here ever since 1988. While Bill Elliot’s famous 212-mph qualifying run in 1987 is the official record, he was running without the plate. What is the qualifying record here for the Cup Series after the restrictor plate was implemented?

Fantasy: Pick the drivers you think will finish 1st and 2nd in the Aaron's 499.