For the fans complaining about the lack of cautions and wrecks in recent races, this weekend’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway should satisfy their craving for the time being. If you follow my weekly Preview articles, you probably know that I switch them up a lot when the Sprint Cup Series stops at a restrictor plate track. These races are too unpredictable and I feel like it’s somewhat of a waste of time putting together a list of my full top 15 rankings. This week I’m going to focus on the Yahoo! Auto Racing game in particular, with who to pick and who not to pick in each group.

During The Last Race At Talladega…It was Clint Bowyer grabbing the win (his second at the track) and his third top 2 finish in as many races at Talladega. He passed his team mate, Jeff Burton, coming off of turn four and beat him to the line (video here–you should probably mute it). Dave Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 5.

Practice Schedule…First off, practice and qualifying mean absolutely nothing at these tracks. For the drivers, it’s all about avoiding problems and, in the end, timing to determine whether or not you will be in position to win. There are two practice sessions on Friday (2:00 pm and 3:30 pm) followed by qualifying on Saturday, which is set to start around noon. The green flag on this year’s Aaron’s 499 is set to wave around noon on Sunday. All times are in EST.

Yahoo! A Group:

Who To Consider Picking:

Brad Keselowski – The Blue Deuce is a near lock for my roster this weekend. He’s pretty much the only A-list driver that I know for a fact I won’t need to use 9 times this season, and to add to that he’s pretty good here. In six starts, BK has recorded four top 10 finishes and won this race in 2009 while driving for Phoenix Racing.

Kevin Harvick – There is one number that I love about Happy Harvick at Talladega: zero. That’s how many DNFs he has here in twenty-two career starts. I also like his three top 5s in the last four races here. I have the full nine starts left with Harvick so chances are he will make my roster this weekend.

Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards – We’re looking at qualifying bonus points with the Fords this week, as it was Edwards and The Biff who took the front row in this year’s Daytona 500. I wouldn’t suggest starting either of them, but as you probably remember Kenseth won in Daytona and Carl finished 8th.

Not Worth Wasting A Start:

Basically the normal guys that there is a possibly that you may start them the full nine times this season: Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, and Tony Stewart. You could also throw in the two Roushkateers I mentioned above.

Yahoo! B Group:

Who To Consider Picking:

Kurt Busch – As I mentioned before, Brad Keselowski won with Phoenix Racing in 2009 and now that Kurt and his team have gelled a little bit this season, I think he could actually challenge for the win if he stays out of trouble. Whenever James Finch puts a car in a super speedway event, it’s going to be fast no matter who’s behind the wheel. With Busch–who is a very good plate track driver–it is just an added bonus. Landon Cassill finished 16th in this car last season at Talladega.

Jamie McMurray – As of now, the only shot Jamie Mac has at making my roster this season is at Talladega and Daytona. I thought we were going to see a bounce back out of this team in 2012, but it’s just not happening. The 2010 Daytona 500 winner has five top 5s to his name here at Talladega and won the fall event in 2009. He had a top 10-top 15 car for more than a third of this year’s Daytona 500.

Clint Bowyer – If you’re down to five or six starts with Bowyer, you may want to leave him off this weekend, but I’m sitting with eight more so I’m good to go. History means nothing at this track but you can’t look past a guy that has finished 1st or 2nd in each of the last three events here. Bowyer has finished worse than 12th just once in the past nine races here which tells me one thing: he knows how to avoid wrecks.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – This is one major dilemma that I will personally go through this weekend: should I put Junior on my roster? The guy is red hot and we all know what he can do on the plate tracks. I only have five starts left with him, though. If you have seven or more go ahead and put him on there.

Joey Logano – He’s disappointing pretty much everywhere else, but Logano could be a nice pick this weekend. He finished 9th at Daytona in February and finished in the top 10 at Talladega more often than not (four times in six races).

Not Worth Wasting A Start:

With Greg Biffle, I would like to hear any argument as to why you would have him on your roster this weekend except for possible qualifying points. If you start him, I’m sorry but that’s just not smart. I have eight starts left with Ryan Newman but I’m not using him simply because he hates this track and hasn’t finished better than 23rd in the last five events at Talladega. Kasey Kahne is starting to get things turned around so you will probably want to save the rest of his starts for sometime later in the year. I’m sitting at eight with him, though, so he might make my team.

Yahoo! C Group:

Note: I’m generally not real big on “start saving,” but I think in this year’s C group it is essential, and the people on the “avoid list” below really shouldn’t be on anyone’s rosters.

Who To Consider Picking:

Michael Waltrip – Heck, why not? He may have wrecked himself out of the Daytona 500, but Mikey’s taking over Mark Martin’s #55 Toyota this weekend. This car has been speedy all season and finished 10th in the season-opening race in Florida. Waltrip finished 9th in the fall race at Talladega last season and has finished in the top 20 in over half of his fifty-one career starts here.

Trevor Bayne - I can’t find a schedule for him that says exactly how many Sprint Cup races he’s running this season, so I’m going to use Trevor when I can. We all know that the #21 Ford has some power under the hood so you may be able to grab some qualifying bonus points out of him. He started 4th here last fall en route to a solid 15th-place finish.

Dave Blaney - If he can avoid trouble, Blaney could be a real good pick for Sunday. Not only did he finish 3rd here last fall, but he wound up 15th in this year’s season-opening Daytona 500.

Not Worth Wasting A Start:

The two obvious names here are Aric Almirola and Bobby Labonte. I’m sure everyone plans on using both of them the full 9 times this season, so there’s no point in wasting a start on a wildcard race like this. I’d also like to throw into the mix Casey Mears. We’re going to need another starter on intermediate tracks later in the season and that is where this #13 team has been at their best this year.