NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series will be in Talladega, Ala., this Sunday for the running of the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Other than Daytona, this track has become synonymous with stock car racing and is easily is one of the most popular stops on the Sprint Cup circuit.

The following is a look at a few drivers that should be a major factor in Sunday’s race along with their current odds to win. The Aaron’s 499 is set to get underway at 1 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on FOX.

The Favorite

Kevin Harvick is coming off a disappointing 19th-place finish at Richmond last week to drop to seventh in the Sprint Cup standings with 313 points, but he comes into this race in top form with five other Top-10 finishes this season. This current form along with his past performance in this race, which includes a victory in 2010 and fifth-place finish last year, are the primary reasons that he is a 7/1 favorite to win on Sunday. Harvick has only taken the checkered flag once at Talladega, but he does have five other Top-5 finishes and an average finishing position of 15.1 here.

The Contenders

It has been well over three years since NASCAR fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won a Sprint Cup point race, but with seven Top-10 finishes in nine races this season he is this week’s second-favorite at 8/1 to end this slump with a win as a track he knows very well. The No.88 car has actually posted four Top-5 finishes this year, including a second-place finish last week, to vault to second in the standings with 333 points, which is just five points out of the lead. Dale Jr. has five career victories and four other Top-5 finishes at Talladega. He finished fourth in last year’s race after starting fourth.

After a blazing finish to the 2011 season to claim last year’s Sprint Cup Championship, Tony Stewart started this season with two victories in the first five races. He has cooled off a bit since then, but the No.14 car is still in eighth-place in the standings with 307 points. While his current form and uncanny ability to find victory lane is what makes his 9/1 odds to win Sunday’s race so attractive, Stewart also has had some success at Talladega over the course of his long and illustrious career. His last Top-10 finish was in 2011’s fall race to add to 12 other Top-10s at this track. The only drain on the value is the fact he has only won here once before.

Kyle Busch got off to a very quiet start with just one Top-5 finish in the first eight races, but that all changed with a thrilling victory last Saturday night in Richmond. He has been opened at 10/1 to make it two in a row, but his past performance at Talladega drains some of the value out of these odds. Busch did win this race in 2008, but since then the No.18 car has just one Top-10 finish in its last six races. Overall, he has an average finishing position of 24.9 at this track.

The Longshot

Denny Hamlin is a moderate longshot to win this week at 16/1. However, there is a tremendous amount of value in these odds considering his current form. The No.11 car has already posted two victories this season to go along with two other Top-5 finishes. He is just nine points behind current leader Greg Biffle in the standings with a total of 329 points. Recently, Hamlin has also had a solid run at Talladega with five Top-10 finishes in his last eight races. He finished 23rd in last year’s race but rallied with an eighth-place finish in the fall race here.

Prediction

After several close calls, this is the week it all comes together for the No.88 car as Junior finally gets that enormous monkey off his back with a sixth career victory at Talladega.

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