What's in a name? Why 'Dave' can win at Talladega

This Sunday, NASCAR's drivers will race at the famous Talladega Superspeedway—the largest track they'll see all year. At 2.66 miles in length, speeds are enormous, and could reach 250 miles per hour if the cars were left unaltered.

As a way of keeping speeds at a safe level, NASCAR artificially reduces the speed of each car to around 200 miles per hour, causing all cars—good and bad—to race at the same speed. This "restrictor plate" racing creates a bumper-car like gridlock of race cars around the track. When one car spins out, it usually means several others are crashing out with it.

As a result of big crashes and the unique style of racing at Talladega, drivers with normally mediocre results can actually steal a win.

These unique characteristics have spawned a novel theory. In 2013, former NASCAR crew chief Josh Browne theorized about the "Talladega Daves" —drivers who are typically just not that good at other tracks, but can actually get decent results at Talladega. As it happens, they have names like David Ragan, David Gilliland, David Reutimann, David Stremme, and Dave Blaney. See the pattern?