Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.

The race: The Amp Energy 500

The specs: 188 laps around a 2.66-mile track, for 500 miles.

The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports. Also, I'll be on the ground all raceday morning, so follow me on Twitter to see what I'm seeing. 

Defending champ: Tony Stewart. You recall, this is the famous yellow-line race, where Smoke was "forced" below the yellow line by Regan Smith on the final lap but still claimed the title.

The standings leaders: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin (-118), Jeff Gordon (-165)

The history: The largest and most steeply banked track in NASCAR, Talladega is also the home of some of the most spectacular speeds -- and wrecks -- in the sport. Rusty Wallace holds the speed record at 216.309 mph, set in June 2004. Talladega got a track only because local religious leaders in Hillsborough, North Carolina opposed the development of the track. So sorry, Hillsborough.

Back in the springtime: A couple of Big Ones seemed like they'd give us all the carnage we needed ... and then came the Keselowski/Edwards wall-scrub. One of the most horrific wrecks in NASCAR history was thankfully almost completely injury-free, but it set off a whole new round of discussion of whether Talladega was too dangerous to continue at its current style.

The appropriate video: From 2006 -- Brian Vickers gets into Jimmie Johnson, who gets into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just imagine what would happen if this same scene played itself out this weekend:

Guy with the most to gain: Dale Earnhardt Jr. This is his chance to rehab his image for 2009, to close out the season with a strong performance and give Junior Nation reason to hope for 2010. This is his best track, so if he runs well here, all is (almost) forgiven. If not ...

Guys with the most to lose: Jimmie Johnson. One Big One at the wrong time, and Johnson's lead dwindles -- or, potentially, vanishes -- and that fourth championship becomes that much tougher to grab.

Our pick to win: Stewart. He's due for a strong Chase race, and he's on familiar territory here. And Regan Smith isn't likely to cause trouble two years in a row. 

All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!