Give me Justin Haley at Talladega. He's a good superspeedway guy, in the No. 16 Ram for Kaulig Racing.
The Love's RV Stop 225, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, starts Friday at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.
This is the last race I think that group could win, and the whole company knows this is it. It's been a struggle for the Ram trucks, but better than some would probably suspect.
Ram came back to NASCAR this season after 13 years away, with Kaulig running five trucks. Haley's best finish is fourth, at Bristol in September, the best for Kaulig all year. He has six top-10 finishes and is 13th in points, outside the 10-driver Chase, the series playoff. At Daytona in February he led a race-high 20 laps and ran out of fuel on the final restart, according to the team.
Haley has five NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Talladega, with two wins and never a finish outside the top 10, Kaulig says. NASCAR's race-week preview says he won one of them from the pole, in 2020. In two Truck Series starts there, his best is fourth, in 2018.
I'm not picking Tony Stewart, but Tony Stewart is in the race. Shout out, Smoke. The three-time Cup Series champion is in Kaulig's No. 25 Ram, his second race this season. He finished 36th at Daytona.
The picks on The Grand National Show, with pit reporter Chris Wilner and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio host Davey Segal:
| Panelist | Talladega pick |
|---|---|
| Mamba Smith | Justin Haley, No. 16 |
| Chris Wilner | Kaden Honeycutt, No. 11 |
| Davey Segal | Ben Rhodes, No. 99 |
Honeycutt leads Layne Riggs by 39 points in the Chase standings.