Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Welcome to the land of dreamers, where seemingly anyone can win Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway — and possibly make NASCAR's playoff in the process.

'Dega's spring race has never meant so much. Restrictor-plate races such as those at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway create opportunity for surprise winners, and NASCAR's new Chase for the Sprint Cup qualifying rules mean those underdogs could find themselves with a postseason berth.

Any full-time driver who wins a race and makes the top 30 in points will earn one of the 16 spots in the 10-race playoff this fall. For the drivers who are long shots at most other tracks, Talladega represents hope.

"That would just be surreal to have (a win) happen, but there's no doubt it's a possibility," said Josh Wise, who is 36th in the standings. "I dream about it every day. I was dreaming about it today for an hour while I was riding my bike."

"You can't not think about it," said rookie Justin Allgaier, 28th in the standings. "Can you imagine a single-car operation like what we have (at HScott Motorsports), to win the race and make the Chase? That would be exactly why this rule was put in place."

For inspiration, the underdogs look to David Ragan, who won last year's spring race and would have made the Chase had the new rule been in place. This season, despite sitting 31st in points for Front Row Motorsports, Ragan knows a repeat is possible.

"As a smaller team, we don't have the resources and fast-enough race cars at the high-downforce 1.5-mile and 2-mile racetracks, so we have to look at the superspeedways, the road courses and maybe Martinsville or Bristol to give us a little bit more of a level playing field," Ragan said. "Certainly, with the new Chase format, it does give us some extra hope we could be in the postseason."

Talladega is the great equalizer, Ragan said. Handling is not an issue at the high-banked 2.66-mile track, and drafting with a large pack of cars negates the half-second speed advantage bigger teams enjoy at the non-plate tracks.

But, Ragan added, his team is careful not to get wrapped up in thinking about the Chase. The focus is primarily on the race itself, he said. If he wins again, he said, "We'll worry about the Chase and all the extra stuff on Monday."

It's not just the drivers who are dreaming big. Last month, the rapidly growing Dogecoin community on Reddit recognized Wise as an underfunded racer with talent. So despite not knowing much about racing, the community came up with enough of the digital currency to sponsor his No. 98 Phil Parsons Racing car — $55,000 worth. That same group raised $30,000 to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics in Sochi.

At Talladega, Wise said, "Anything can happen." Allgaier added, "Anybody can win it." But just because it's possible doesn't mean it would be easy.

Brad Keselowski, a former underdog victor here, says the race isn't like a lottery because the winner always makes a great move.

"It's still difficult to win," Ragan said. "If it were just super easy, Jimmie Johnson could win every restrictor-plate race."