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Dale Earnhardt Jr. is extremely tough to beat on superspeedways and though he'll start from the back of the field, he can't be counted out of making a bid to win Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, writes Johnny Benson of NBCSports.com.

Johnny Benson

Working in Junior’s favor
The 2.66-mile, high-banked track is not a favorite of most drivers and it has a reputation for getting those in the playoff field fearing for their title hopes since the points standings can get scrambled with the racing at this venue being so fast and being done in large part in tight packs out of which multicar wrecks are not uncommon.

But Junior is one of the few who looks forward to competing at Talladega although he will have to come back from trouble in practice to win on Sunday. A motor change will force Junior to start at the back of the field. He blew the engine in the first practice Friday and then in the second he blew his right front tire and that triggered a multicar wreck which included among its victims Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne.

So Junior will be in his backup car but that’s not necessarily bad news for him since that car is the one he drove in Daytona to win the 150-mile qualifying race at the start of the season.

For years while he was driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Junior was ultra tough to beat at the two superspeedways on the Cup circuit -- Talladega and Daytona. When it comes to success at such tracks DEI has an impressive past. But Junior’s new team -- Hendrick Motorsports, which he joined after last season -- is also top-notch when it comes to restrictor-plate racing. The work done by the organization on the engines and the chassis it gives to its drivers at the superspeedways is awfully hard to match.

Junior’s Talladega finale with DEI last fall was spoiled by engine woes but in the spring in his first race at the harrowing track for Hendrick Motorsports he led for 46 laps on his way to finishing 10th.

He has five wins and two runner-up finishes in his last 14 races at the Alabama track. Overall his Talladega Cup racing resume features five wins, seven top-fives and 10 top-10s in 17 starts. Junior’s in eighth place in the Chase, 190 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson so he needs a big day at Talladega.

Other drivers to watch
Along with Junior, Tony Stewart, also must be considered a prime threat to make it to Victory Lane. The two-time Cup champion has never won a Cup event at Talladega, but he has finished second in three of his last seven starts at the superspeedway. Overall at the Alabama track Stewart has a half dozen second-place results. He's led 13 of 19 races for 244 laps.

Johnson like Junior drives for Hendrick Motorsports. The two-time defending Cup champion is coming off a win last week at Kansas and he was the runner-up to a third Hendrick Motorsports driver, Jeff Gordon, at both Talladega races in 2007. This is his 14th Cup start at the Alabama superspeedway, where in addition to a win in 2006 he also has two poles, four top-fives, and five top-10s. He's led 12 of 13 races for 187 laps, and has an average finish of 17.5.

With his win last week Johnson grabbed the lead in the standings. Heading into Talladega the Chase is looking like a three-way battle between Johnson, Carl Edwards (10 points behind) and Greg Biffle (30 points behind). But how the playoff looks coming out of Talladega could be a whole different story.

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Along with Edwards and Biffle, Gordon, sixth in the Chase and 143 points shy of first place, figures to be a top contender. Gordon runs so well at this venue that it would surprise no one if on Sunday he gave us another chapter in the dominant story he has been writing at Talladega throughout his career.

Gordon’s win at Talladega last fall was his sixth restrictor-plate victory since 2004, and his 12th overall (the most of any driver). Gordon's got star power and it seems he never fails to show it on this superspeedway. Over the years he and his team have gotten an iron grip on how to take the checkers at Talladega.

Gordon has six wins at Talladega. He also has 13 top-fives and 16 top-10s. He's led in 25 of his 31 races for over 800 laps at this track, where he has an average finish of 15th. Racing at this venue should give the four-time Cup champion an excellent shot at rising in the Chase standings.

In his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch -- formerly of Hendrick Motorsports -- won the spring event at Talladega. He’s had a rough first three races in the Chase and those poor results have all but erased his title chances but count on him running hard on Sunday to try and pull of a Talladega sweep.