“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload on the idiotic decision to scale back to one green-white-checker attempt…again.
Now I know y’all heard me make this rant just two days ago, but if NASCAR can do two takes of “one attempt,” then so can I. Now I do wish I had waited until today to start talking on the matter because I have more evidence to support my claim.
First we have the “waving off” of the first attempt despite the fact that Joey Logano had taken the restart. NASCAR’s reasoning on this was that Logano had not passed the start/finish line before the caution flew so it “didn’t count.” In other words, similar to what IndyCar does when the race control doesn’t like the restart. Now I understand NASCAR’s explanation on the issue. Maybe this was a rule that had always been in place and never needed to be used. But what I don’t understand is why this was never brought up when we spent a whole month arguing over restarts. My understanding has always been that once the green flag flies, the race is back under green.
I wasn’t the only person who didn’t understand this. Others in the NASCAR media didn’t get it either.
If accelerating out of the restart zone is not an attempt I don't know what is
Now we move to the “second attempt” at the “first attempt” at the green-white-checker finish where Trevor Bayne got out of line, Kevin Harvick made contact with him and the “Big One” happened. This brought out the caution that ended the race and Logano was declared the winner. Being in the stands for the race yesterday, myself and everyone around me had the expression of “that’s how we’re ending this?!”
I think Pete Pistone put it best with this tweet.
You couldn't have written up a more disastrous way for this race to end – impossible
I hope NASCAR was satisfied with the change because it was a giant fiasco. You’d have to go a long way to screw up a Daytona or Talladega race and NASCAR did just that. They made the idiotic decision to reduce the number of green-white-checker attempts and ended up with this fiasco.
I truly, truly hope that NASCAR comes to their senses and goes back to the three attempts by the time we’re back in Daytona for Speedweeks. They should be embarrassed that it ended this way.
My plane is about to take off so I must get moving. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
*The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not represent the views of Speedway Media.
Brad Keselowski topped the charts in the final practice session. The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 48.752 and a speed of 196.423 mph.
Ryan Blaney placed in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in second place with a time of 48.772 and a speed of 196.342 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr., the May race winner, showed in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 49.178 and a speed of 194.721 mph, and was third-fastest.
Tony Stewart came in fourth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.208 and a speed of 194.603 mph as HMS driver Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five with a time of 49.320 and a speed of 194.161 mph.
Kevin Harvick took his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet to sixth followed by teammate Kurt Busch who posted in seventh in his No. 41 Chevrolet. Danica Patrick finished her No. 10 SHR Chevrolet in eighth. Jimmie Johnson timed his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in at ninth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-10 in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Joey Logano was the lowest Chase driver in 19th. In fact, just five Chase drivers took part in the final practice session. Only 30 of the 45 drivers who are entered into the race took part in the final session.
Earnhardt ran the fastest 10 lap average (he was also the only one to run 10 consecutive laps).
Greg Biffle is off to a fast start this weekend after topping the chart in the first practice session. The driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was the fastest in the session with a time of 47.597 and a speed of 201.189 mph.
Danica Patrick brought her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet to second with a time of 47.731 and a speed of 200.624 mph. Justin Allgaier finished third in his No. 51 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 47.743 and a speed of 200.574 mph. Clint Bowyer timed in at fourth in his No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota with a time of 47.786 and a speed of 200.393 mph. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 47.791 and a speed of 200.372 mph.
A.J. Allmendinger brought his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet to sixth. Trevor Bayne finished his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in seventh. Casey Mears placed his Germain Racing Chevrolet in eighth. David Ragan finished his No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota in ninth. Paul Menard rounded out the top-10 in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
None of the Chase drivers placed higher than 13th.
Matt Kenseth finished 13th. Denny Hamlin finished 15th. Carl Edwards finished 16th. Jeff Gordon finished 17th. Kevin Harvick finished 18th. Brad Keselowski finished 19th. Joey Logano finished 21st. Kyle Busch finished 22nd. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 23rd. Kurt Busch finished 24th. Martin Truex Jr. finished 31st. Ryan Newman rounded out the Chase drivers in 32nd.
“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.
In case you missed it, the chairman of NASCAR called Logano’s move at Kansas “quintessential NASCAR.”
Monday, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France joined Dave Moody on Sirius XM Speedway to comment on the late race incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.
“That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said. Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position … and there was contact.”
While Logano didn’t need the win to rest easy at Talladega, his win at Kansas Speedway prevented any of his 11 competitors from not having to sweat it at the Alabama roulette wheel. It especially puts Kenseth in a bind with him now a 40/1 pick to win the title (Vegas Insider) and realistically must win Sunday to move onto the Eliminator Round.
France also touched on that saying Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to late in that race to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”
You read that right. The chairman of NASCAR just said that Logano made a brilliant move in putting Kenseth in this dilemma.
“You have to give them a lot of credit,” France added. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”
Kenseth probably won’t see eye to eye with France on this being “quintessential NASCAR” as he said that Logano “just chose to spin me out because he wanted to be in the top groove instead of going left and trying to race me for the win the way a man should do it really.”
During his visit to the channel, France also addressed the fans who’ve said that they can’t watch races on cable because either FOX Sports 1 and/or NBCSN is not offered by their provider or it’s out of their financial means. He said there’s nothing NASCAR can directly do, but he said that the best thing for those fans to do is to call, write, email etc. their respective cable/satellite providers and request that they put FS1 and/or NBCSN on a more affordable tier.
