“Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue. Sweet Home Alabama, NASCAR’s coming home to you.”
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into the Alabama roulette wheel that is known simply as Talladega Superspeedway for the 32nd race of the season, the fifth of the Chase and the final race of the Contender Round.
Talladega Superspeedway is a 2.66-mile speedway located in Lincoln, Ala. At 33 degrees in banking in the turns, it’s the steepest banked track on the NASCAR schedule.
Normally, I’d save my race picks for the end of the piece. But because of everything I’ve included in this piece, I was told putting it towards the start on this one would make it flow better.
Race picks
There’s always been the old saying in this sport that any driver can win at Daytona and Talladega. To a large degree, that’s true. I’m sure every driver wakes up on the fourth Sunday of February every year and thinks to him/herself “I can win the Daytona 500!” However, statistics show that, while slightly lower than other tracks, restrictor plate races are typically won by drivers who win at other tracks. In other words, while Talladega gives drivers like Landon Cassill – who finished fourth in this race last year – a significantly greater chance to win, it’s more likely that someone like Joey Logano or Kevin Harvick will win this weekend.
As I mentioned in my piece about why the Contender Round favors Jeff Gordon, the driver of the No. 24 car has more points-paying restrictor plate race wins than any driver in the history of NASCAR. He has 12 plate wins, including six at Talladega and I also feel that, next to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon has been the best plate racer this season. However, he hasn’t won a plate race since sweeping Talladega in 2007. His top-five average is 33.3 percent (15 in 45 starts) and his top-10 average is 42.2 percent (19 in 45 starts). He’s also not finished in the top-10 since finishing runner-up in the 2012 Chase race to Matt Kenseth. Regardless, I believe Jeff Gordon will be up front and competing for the victory in his 92nd and final restrictor plate race of his 23 year career. He’s at 12/1 odds of winning Sunday (Vegas Insider).
Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets the crowd pop everywhere he races, and nowhere is that crowd support bigger and more passionate than in Lincoln, Ala. The fanbase distribution at Talladega on race day is 70 percent June Bug fans and 30 percent everyone else (don’t quote me on that). He has 10 restrictor plate wins to his credit with four at Daytona and six at Talladega. He’s also on a two race plate win streak having won at Talladega in May and Daytona in July. His top-five average is 35.5 percent (11 in 31 starts) and his top-10 average is 48.4 percent (15 in 31 starts). While it had been 10 and a half years between his last win in 2004 and his most recent win in May, he’s the odds on favorite at 9/2 (Vegas Insider).
Other drivers to watch include Jimmie Johnson at 7/1, Matt Kenseth at 10/1, Kevin Harvick at 12/1, defending race winner Brad Keselowski at 15/1, Carl Edwards at 15/1, Denny Hamlin at 15/1, reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano at 15/1, the Busch Brothers each at 15/1, Martin Truex Jr. at 15/1, Ryan Newman at 40/1 (the lowest of the Chase drivers) and 25/1 on any other driver winning.
Barney Hall once said that they don’t race anywhere in the world like they do at Talladega. Well, I think we’re going to see a race for the ages this Sunday with four drivers being “Done in Dega.” With drivers like Kenseth and Earnhardt needing a win to keep their title hopes alive and trouble looming around every turn, you don’t want to miss this.
A brief history
The story of Talladega really begins with the birth of Daytona. Opened in 1959, Daytona International Speedway was a track unlike any that had ever been built prior. Its 31-degree banking allowed for racing at 140 mph and provided fans with unparalleled sightlines. On February 22, 1959, 42,000 fans witnessed Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp drive to a photo finish in the Inaugural 500 Mile International Sweepstakes. It took three days to officially declare Petty the winner of the race that we all know now as the Daytona 500.
Despite all the success, Bill France Sr. wanted to build a track that was bigger and faster than Daytona. He eventually acquired the plot of land that was the location of the former Anniston Air Force Base in Lincoln, Ala. The end result was a 2.66-mile, 33-degree banked superspeedway known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway. In 1989, the name was changed to Talladega Superspeedway.
Not only was Talladega built to be an enlarged Daytona, it also accounted for some of the flaws that plagued Daytona in its infancy. Most notably the location of the start/finish line. France knew that seats in the tri-oval would be an easy sell. What he found out in the early years of Daytona was that the seats closer towards Turn 1 weren’t as easy a sell. He then hypothesized that people would want to buy seats towards Turn 1 if the start/finish line was closer to Turn 1.
Needless to say this over 1,000-foot distance from the center of the tri-oval to the start/finish line in Turn 1 has played a role in a number of the great finishes we’ve seen over the years.
A lap of Talladega
If you’ve ever wanted to know what a lap or 10 around Talladega looked and/or felt like, here’s a video of me doing that.
As you can see, I’m by no means a restrictor plate racer. I just wanted to hug the bottom the whole way around because I was afraid I would hit the wall if I got too close. My fastest lap was roughly 178 mph. That’s roughly a 54 second lap around the Alabama roulette wheel. I was also by myself and running 22 mph slower than these 43 drivers who’ll race at 200 mph just inches apart. I don’t know how on earth a driver learns to race like this, but it’s exciting as hell to watch.
Drafting and plates
To win at Talladega, you must master using another car’s slipstream to reduce the drag on your car and increase your speed. This is a technique known as drafting. When multiple cars are drafting, the greatest aerodynamic resistance is on the lead car. Between the first and last car, the aero resistance is at its weakest. While this makes the car more unstable, especially in the turns, it makes it drive much faster.
During the 1960 Daytona 500, Junior Johnson discovered that his Chevrolet, which couldn’t keep up with anyone else on horsepower, ran faster in the wake of another car and he used this advantage to win the race. Eventually, other drivers began to realize this technique and began applying it. They eventually learned that a line of cars ran faster and use less gas than a car running by itself.
Eventually, the increased speeds and ever growing horsepower led to cars running well over 200 mph. In 1987, Bobby Allison’s Buick LeSabre blew a tire going into the tri-oval, spun around, lifted off the ground and slammed into the catch fence. While the car didn’t enter the grandstands, flying debris did injure a few spectators. After running the other two races at Daytona and Talladega with smaller engines, NASCAR found that they were insufficient for slowing down the cars. Starting in 1988, a restrictor plate – which had been only required if the car was running with a large engine – became mandatory for all cars.
The use of the plates has led to some of the most competitive races in the last 28 years. In 16 of those races, the lead changed over 40 times. In 2010, the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega set a NASCAR record with 88 official lead changes.
The Big One
These cars are racing at 200 mph inches apart in three, four or five wide rows of cars stretching from the front to the rear of the field. One wrong move and that pack of cars can end up in The Big One.
As you saw, the combination of Paul Menard passing to the outside and Kurt Busch getting to the corner of Trevor Bayne got his car aero loose. He overcorrected and hit the wall. Joey Logano slowed to avoid hitting Bayne and got turned by Kasey Kahne. A total of 15-cars were collected in this wreck on the backstretch exiting Turn 2. This wreck also led to one of my favorite radio soundbites. MRN came out of break literally a second before the wreck started. Just as Jeff Striegle was about to start saying “Welcome back to Talladega,” Dave Moody and Mike Bagley cued up at the same time to scream “TROUBLE TURN 2!” If you ever find the radio broadcast for this race, listen to it. It’s pretty hilarious.
“Racing, competing, it’s in my blood. It’s part of me. It’s part of my life.”
So why do we as NASCAR fans love restrictor plate racing? Well, it’s not so simple to answer. But I’ve always believed because there’s nothing like it in the world of motorsports. Just as there’s nothing like racing on the streets on Monaco, driving 200 mph down the Mulsanne Straight of Le Mans, around the 14 mile “Green Hell” that is the Nürburgring, down the Ullman Straight and round Turn 17 of Sebring, thundering through the Eau Rouge of Spa-Francorchamps or the podium celebration at Monza, there’s nothing in the world of racing like running 200 mph side-by-side-by-side on the high banks of Daytona or Talladega. Restrictor plate racing is the hallmark style of racing in NASCAR because there’s no other style of racing like it.
But don’t take my word for it. Just watch the last nine laps of the 2000 Winston 500 with the call from Allen Bestwick, Barney Hall, Joe Moore, Dave Moody and Eli Gold of the Motor Racing Network.
In those final six laps, Dale Earnhardt went from 17th to first to win for the 76th and final time in his career. I am convinced that only The Intimidator could do something like that, especially in the closing laps. I couldn’t even imagine Jeff Gordon pulling this off.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the 2001 EA Sports 500.
I consider this to be among the wildest finishes at a Talladega race.
How to watch
Coverage of the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega kicks off at 2:00 p.m. with Countdown to Green on NBCSN. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte will work the booth. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snyder and Kelli Stavast will work pit road.
The radio broadcast goes live at 1:30 p.m. on MRN and Sirius XM. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace will be in the booth. Dave Moody will be atop a platform next to the Sunoco Tower outside Turn 2 calling the action in Turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley will be on a platform on the inside of the backstretch calling the action when the field is racing down the backstretch. Kyle Rickey will be atop atop a platform next to the other Sunoco Tower outside Turn 4 calling the action in Turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post will be on pit road.
One last note before I wrap this up: If you’re going to the race this weekend like I am, get a scanner to listen to the MRN broadcast. During the commercial breaks, you can hear the guys talk (that could depend on the scanner you purchase or rent so I’d suggest renting a Fanvision set). It’s usually small talk and light-hearted jabs at each other or whomever’s NFL team is playing the worst at the moment. I got to listen to it while I was at Daytona in February and it’s pretty funny at times.
I hope you enjoyed reading this preview. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.
