Adding to the difficulty factor when it comes to picking a winner at Talladega is the fact that Monday’s race will be the first Cup Series event under a new rules package aimed at improving safety. The rule changes include lessons learned from NASCAR’s investigation into Ryan Newman’s terrifying crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in February. And because NASCAR is keeping teams away from the track as much as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no practice session ahead of Monday’s race at Talladega with this new package. MORE: Full starting lineup for NASCAR race at Talladega The key rule changes for Talladega are the elimination of aero ducts in the front of cars and a reduction in the size of the throttle body (from 59/64” to 57/64”). The latter should slow the cars down by an estimate of one second per lap. “As drivers, we’ll figure it out pretty quick, how the runs are and how the handling is (with the new package),” said Joey Logano, speaking with Sporting News this week on behalf of Panini America. “But don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of questions. It takes drag off the car, but it adds downforce to the car. The car should handle really well, but does that bring the pack even closer? A lot of unknowns.” Below are the complete Vegas odds to win Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega, plus our top three picks of drivers who could end up taking the checkered flag. NASCAR race odds to win at Homestead Chase Elliott is the favorite for Monday’s Geico 500 with good reason. He won this race last year, and he holds the best career driver rating at Talladega among those in the field. His average running position of 10.791 is the best in the Cup Series at Talladega. Courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook, below are the complete odds to win Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega. Driver Odds to win Homestead race Chase Elliott +850 Brad Keselowski +900 Joey Logano +900 Denny Hamlin +1000 Kevin Harvick +1100 Kyle Busch +1100 Martin Truex Jr. +1100 Ryan Blaney +1100 Kurt Busch +1600 Alex Bowman +2200 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +2200 Aric Almirola +2600 Clint Bowyer +2600 Jimmie Johnson +2600 Tyler Reddick +2600 William Byron +2900 Austin Dillon +4000 Bubba Wallace +4000 Erik Jones +4000 Matt DiBenedetto +4000 Ryan Newman +4500 Chris Buescher +5000 Christopher Bell +5000 Matt Kenseth +5000 Brendan Gaughan +6500 Cole Custer +6500 John Hunter Nemechek +6500 Michael McDowell +6500 Ryan Preece +6500 Ty Dillon +6500 Brennan Poole +17000 Corey LaJoie +17000 Daniel Suarez +17000 BJ McLeod +20000 JJ Yeley +20000 Joey Gase +20000 Quin Houff +20000 Timmy Hill +20000 While Elliott is the favorite, the teammates of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are close behind in the odds because Team Penske (and Ford in general) has been so dominant at Talladega of late. When Elliott won the spring race at Talladega last year, it marked the first time a non-Ford had won at the 2.5-mile track since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015. Fords had won seven straight Cup Series races at Talladega, and five of those victories came from Penske drivers. Below are the top 10 career driver ratings at Talladega among those in Monday’s field, starting with Elliott and Logano. Chase Elliott, 94.1 Joey Logano, 90.6 Kurt Busch, 90.4 Brad Keselowski, 89.3 Ryan Blaney, 89.0 Matt Kenseth, 86.9 Jimmie Johnson, 86.4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 84.4 Denny Hamlin, 82.8 Kyle Busch, 82.2 Keselowski leads all active drivers with five career Cup Series wins at Talladega, followed by Logano with three. Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson have two Talladega wins each. For whatever reason second place statistically is a more proficient starting position than the pole at Talladega. It has produced more race winners (20) in the Cup Series than any other starting position. A total of 14 pole sitters at Talladega have won the race. Denny Hamlin will start Monday’s race second next to pole sitter Martin Truex Jr. Below is the breakdown of wins from varying starting positions in the history of Cup racing at Talladega. Starting position Winning % Wins 1st 13. 86 percent 14 Front row 33.66 percent 34 Top 5 54.46 percent 55 Top 10 71.29 percent 72 Outside top 20 7.92 percent 8 The top 10 starters for Monday’s race at Talladega are as follows: 1. Martin Truex Jr., 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Kyle Busch, 4. Jimmie Johnson, 5. Kevin Harvick, 6. Brad Kselowski, 7. Kurt Busch, 8. Alex Bowman, 9. Joey Logano, 10. Clint Bowyer MORE: Updated NASCAR schedule for 2020 NASCAR at Talladega expert picks (All NASCAR loop data stats are from 2005 through present.) 1. Joey Logano Career stats at Talladega: Three wins, eight top fives, 10 top 10s Average finish of 16.182 (sixth-best) Average running position of 14.079 (fifth-best) Driver rating of 90.6 (second-best) 86 fastest laps run (ninth-best) 2,673 laps in top 15; 63.8 percent (seventh-most) 5,306 quality passes (eighth-most) Consider this our obligatory Team Penske/Ford pick. Ford has won 11 of the last 15 Talladega Cup Series races (73.3 percent), and Team Penske specifically has won sven of the last 11 (63.6 percent). Keselowski has the most wins at Talladega, but Logano has the best driver rating at the track. Their teammate Ryan Blaney won the fall Talladega race last year. 2. Kurt Busch Career stats at Talladega: Eight top fives, 20 top 10s Average finish of 16.167 (fifth-best) Average running position of 13.566 (third-best) Driver rating of 90.4 (third-best) 98 fastest laps run (seventh-best) 3,829 laps in top 15; 67.1 percent (series-most) 7,931 quality passes (series-most) Busch has never won at Talladega, but he tends to run well at superspeedways. Combine that with the fact that the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing team has shown speed in 2020, and Busch is a good upset pick for Monday’s race. 3. Chase Elliott Career stats at Talladega: One win, three top fives, four top 10s Average finish of 13.250 (second-best) Average running position of 10.791 (series-best) Driver rating of 94.1 (series-best) 30 fastest laps run (24th-best) 1,119 laps in top 15; 73.8 percent (16th-most) 1,910 quality passes (18th-most) Hendrick Motorsports (and Chevy in general) has been stronger in 2020 than it was last season, when Elliott won at Talladega for his first career superspeedway victory. That’s a good sign for the driver who statistically is the best in the field at this particular track.

Ubaidurrehman

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes it is impossible for the Reds, who are closing in on their first Premier League title in 30 years, to emulate Manchester United’s two decades of dominance.

Klopp’s side is 22 points clear atop the table as it travels to Goodison Park for Sunday’s Merseyside derby against rival Everton.

Not since 1990 has Liverpool won a league trophy, but the club is set to be crowned English champion for the 19th time, one behind rival United’s record.

United dominated under legendary boss Alex Ferguson, winning 13 Premier League titles between 1992 and 2013.

“I don’t think it is possible to dominate anymore, to be honest,” said Klopp, whose Reds claimed the Champions League trophy last season. “United had a pretty good combination, with an exceptional manager with a super eye for players and fantastic timing for how long you need a player in the team.

“The replacements he got were always exceptional — and there was the money, too. The combination for United was really good. We must have done something right, obviously, until now. But we have to do these things — and probably even more — to stay successful.

“And believe me, the others will not stop. United will strike back and Chelsea are on the front foot in the transfer market while no one else has done anything because the times are so uncertain.

“And when I saw Manchester City beat Arsenal (3-0 on Wednesday), I asked, how is it possible we have 22 more points than them?”

Klopp, meanwhile, hit out at United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I was not worried for one second that the ­government could cost us the title because I was worried about the numbers who were dying – and I’m still worried,” he said.

“I didn’t vote for this ­government,” Klopp added. “This government was the choice of other people. And the problem I had was that I got the news from England and the news from Germany. If aliens looked at us both from the outside, they would think we came from two different planets.

“From a personal point of view, I don’t understand why we started wearing face masks in closed areas on June 15 when five or six weeks ago all the other countries were doing it.”

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc globally, with more than 42,500 deaths in the UK and at least 303,000 confirmed cases. The coronavirus crisis also suspended the 2019-20 Premier League season in March before the campaign restarted last week.

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