The People’s Choice – Talladega

There will be no need to update this post later; we already know who’s starting for the People’s Pitstop. The qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway is over, and you won’t believe how the Internet’s favorite fantasy NASCAR team did.
A List: This poll ended in a dead heat between Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. The start goes to Johnson, who qualified 2nd, or 18 places ahead of Edwards.
B List: The people who vote on this poll clearly knew that Talladega is a restrictor plate track. They gave the win in this poll to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has a strong history on such tracks. Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman tied for second, and Mark Martin squeaked his way into the fourth spot. But there was no squeaking when it came time to qualify. Martin (3rd) and Earnhardt (4th) earned the starting spots over Bowyer (10th) and Newman (23rd).
C List: Even the drivers from the fantasy equivalent of the discount rack found their way to the front of the pack. Paul Menard and David Ragan tied for the top spot in this poll, again. And Menard qualifed 5th, or two spots ahead of Ragan.
If you’ve been paying attention, you know that we got bonus points from Johnson (5), Martin (3) and Earnhardt (1). And this is definitely the first time in People’s Pitstop history that all our starters come from the top five.
We will be back tomorrow with another set of predictions. In the meantime, we have a poll about the fact that NASCAR makes its drivers wear plates for this race. Jeff Gordon, who won the pole, made his thoughts clear. Now it’s your turn. Feel free to vote now.
Here are the lineup poll results.