United Rentals 250 Predictions

Austin Hill is the favorite, but Talladega is not his best superspeedway

We can’t dispute Austin Hill’s status as the favorite in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff race.

Seven of Hill’s nine career victories in the Xfinity Series came on so-called “drafting tracks” – three at Daytona and four at Atlanta.

In fact, we picked the driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to win in Atlanta last month, and he came out on top.

But Talladega is significantly different from Daytona and Atlanta, even though all three tracks use NASCAR’s superspeedway competition package. Talladega is longer, smoother and not as delicate to handle.

Hill has never won at Talladega and we don’t think he will be able to pull off a resounding win on Saturday. We also don’t like BetMGM’s slim +300 odds. So we pass by and look elsewhere.

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Rookie Jesse Love has talent and wisdom beyond his years

Austin Hill may not have won an Xfinity race at Talladega, but his rookie teammate Jesse Love did.

Love led 28 laps and won the first stage of the spring race in the 2.66-mile behemoth before taking the checkered flag.

Earlier in the season, Love also appeared to be on his way to victory at another draft track – Atlanta Motor Speedway – before he ran out of fuel.

We think Love will be competitive – and so will Hill, for that matter – but we won’t bet on a rookie winning the season series at Talladega at +700 via BetMGM.

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The playoffs could begin to pave the way for AJ Allmendinger at Talladega

AJ Allmendinger was quick to forget last Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway, where he started 14th and finished 17th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff opener.

That lackluster performance left the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 10th in the playoff standings, 13 points under the cutoff for the next round and with two races remaining before the field is trimmed from 12 to eight.

But Talladega is another matter. Although the thing was once afraid of racing on the massive superspeedway, he has now gotten used to it, as evidenced by his victory in the 2022 playoff race.

We want Allmendinger to win on Saturday at +1300 via betMGM. After that comes the Charlotte Roval, where AJ has won four of the last five Xfinity races.

Given that the learning curve on ovals has accelerated for Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, we’re willing to bet via BetMGM on the New Zealander finishing third or better at +1600 and fifth or better at +800.

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How to watch United Rentals 250

• race: United Rentals 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race

• Location: Talladega Superspeedway

• Time: Saturday, October 5, 4 p.m. ET

• Here’s how to watch: The CW