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Uncle Max: Talladega Weekend Picks



Weekly picks from Spade Racing’s writer/webmaster/janitor Mike Mackler’s uncle.

Good news, everybody—well, at least good news for me—I’m seeing someone!  We’ve been dating here and there for the past two months but I wanted to keep it on the down-low until we were “officially exclusive”.  We met online but it turns out she works in an office only a block away from where I work, which works out great for us.
Speaking of which, me and the new lucky lady are going to be taking our first real vacation together—totally by accident!  I always take off a week in October to get one last chance to “recharge the batteries” before the holiday rush, and had booked five days at a resort.  Turns out she had done the same thing at the same place for almost the same days!  So we might be flying in about a day apart, but we’ll be soaking up some sun together south of the old border.

Anyways, here’s my picks for the upcoming race weekend at Charlotte (total wins in parenthesis):

Truck Series Fred’s 250 (5 wins)—Matt Crafton—the wily vet beats out the next generation.

Cup Series Alabama 500:  FAVORITE (5 wins)—Jamie McMurray—the winless streak ends with #1 in first.  NEXT FAVORITE (2 wins)—Ricky Stenhouse Jr.—his third plate win propels him past Jimmy Spencer.  DARK HORSE*—Clint Bowyer—the 14 crew states their case to be the rebound team of 2018 a little early.

*—NOTE—during the Cup Playoffs, a Dark Horse must be a driver who is out of championship contention.