TALLADEGA, Ala. — Clint Bowyer topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.
The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 48.653 and a speed of 196.822 mph. Kevin Harvick was second in his SHR Ford with a time of 48.748 and a speed of 196.439 mph followed by Brad Keselowski in third in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 48.905 and a speed of 195.808 mph.
Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 SHR Ford with a time of 48.911 and a speed of 195.784 mph while Joey Logano rounded out the top-five in his No. 22 Penske Ford with a time of 48.918 and a speed of 195.756 mph.
NASCAR travels to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500. The XFINITY races will air Saturday at 1 p.m. and the Cup Series race will be broadcast Sunday at 2 p.m., both on FOX.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson remains the Cup Series points leader while Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. is in second place, 40 points behind Larson. Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski is the defending race winner. Forty-two drivers are on the entry list for the GEICO 500.
Elliott Sadler is the XFINITY Series points leader and will be looking to defend his 2016 win in the Sparks Energy 300.
Please check below for the complete schedule of events. All times are Eastern.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: GEICO 500
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
The Date: Sunday, May 7
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 500.8 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 55),
Stage 2 (Ends on lap 110), Final Stage (Ends on lap 188)
NASCAR XFINITY Series
Next Race: Sparks Energy 300
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
The Date: Saturday, May 6
The Time: 1 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300.58 miles (113 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 25),
Stage 2 (Ends on lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on lap 113)
Friday, May 5
On-Track:
8:30 AM 10:20 AM ARCA FINAL PRACTICE
10:30 AM 11:25 AM NXS 1ST PRACTICE
NOON-12:30 PM NXS PRACTICE
1:30 PM-2:25 PM NXS FINAL PRACTICE
2:30 PM-3:25 PM MENCS PRACTICE
4:30 PM-5:25 PM MENCS FINAL PRACTICE – CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
5:00 PM ARCA RACE (76 LAPS, 202.16 MILES) – POSTPONED TO MAY 6 DUE TO RAIN
Garage Cam:
1 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series
2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Press Conferences:
10 a.m.: Brendan Gaughan and Ben Kennedy
10:15 a.m.: Erik Jones
10:30 a.m.: Brennan Poole and Elliott Sadler
10:45 a.m.: Joey Logano
12:30 p.m.: Ryan Blaney
1:30 p.m.: Kyle Larson
1:50 p.m.: Chase Elliott
3:30 p.m.: Kurt Busch
3:50 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
TBD: Kurt Busch
Saturday, May 6
On-Track:
10:30 AM NXS QUALIFYING (SINGLE VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS)
1:00 PM NXS RACE (113 LAPS, 300.58 MILES)
4:00 PM MENCS QUALIFYING IMPOUND (SINGLE VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS)
5:00 PM ARCA RACE (76 LAPS, 202.16 MILES)
[pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Geico-500-Entry-List-Talladega-May-2017-C1710_PREENTNUM.pdf” title=”Geico 500 Entry List Talladega May 2017 C1710_PREENTNUM”]
Speaking before the media earlier today, Jimmie Johnson says the Driver’s Council has discussed changes desired for the upcoming trip to the “World Center of Racing” next week.
During his media availability at Sonoma Raceway this afternoon, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was asked whether there have been any discussions on making changes to the restrictor plate aerodynamic package ahead of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
“Yeah, I think we had one Driver Council meeting since,” he said. “I don’t remember spending a ton of time talking on it. I know following Talladega there were a lot of suggestions made.”
He also added that he made some suggestions right after last month’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, in which he was caught in a 21-car wreck in turn 1 with 26 laps to go.
“I certainly had some opinions of why passing was as difficult as it was and the energy that it created in the pack and the need to kind of bump-draft and slam-draft and then crash, like that whole process that took place. I know that they don’t want to over-react and we’re going to a different track in Daytona that works a little bit differently than Talladega does. So, I feel comfortable with it. I think, ideally, we would love to have the side draft be less impactful. We’d love to have a push from another car be more beneficial. And with the gear and horsepower reduction, I think that took away some of that offensive opportunity that existed. But, we’ll see how Daytona races and take it from there. I know that there’s another Driver Council meeting down in Daytona. It will probably be top of mind for everybody then.”
The current restrictor plate aero package has been in place with minor changes made to it since the 2013 Daytona 500. For the most part, the only real change to it is usually the size of the holes in the restrictor plates in order to add or reduce horsepower.
NASCAR has announced that the package as it was used at Talladega in May and the Daytona 500 in February will be used next weekend. This is in spite of three cars getting airborne in the most recent race at Talladega.
“The one car that got in the air on its own was the 20 car (Matt Kenseth) and we looked at that,” said NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell earlier today at Sonoma. He added that NASCAR is “satisfied with the race package we have.”
Despite the lack of major changes, Johnson says the drivers still notice the more minor ones.
“They don’t change a ton. There’s some sensitivity change to the dynamics and how it works, but the package is still very similar. You just notice or feel like last time you could clear a car more easily, or I could get up and push somebody a little bit harder and give them a run around a car. So, it’s more subtle things that we notice. Certainly, when you’re in the car after 300 or 400 miles, you can’t complete a pass, the little bump turns into a nudge and into a slam and then we have chaos like we did at Talladega. So, I guess it if gets off to a slow start, you can probably bank on a wild finish.”
TALLADEGA, Ala.– While Tony Stewart was the driver of record for starting the race, relief driver Ty Dillon drove the car to a top-10 finish at Talladega.
After switching out with Stewart under the first caution of the race, the relief driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing survived carnage to finish sixth in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It gave Stewart his first top-10 since the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway in October of 2014.
In what was unofficially his first Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega, Dillon described it as “just wild and crazy.”
“We had a really strong car,” Dillon said. “Fighting from behind, it’s hard to get it up front. I felt like if we could lead a pack at any point, we would have put ourselves up front. Early one, once I first got in the car, we drove right up to into the Top 10 really quick and we had some air on the nose and was able to go. The team built an awesome race car. I just kind of got mired back. I made some mistakes being my first time here racing. But we were able to dodge crashes and survive here, which is the big thing. We made some good moves at the end to get us into to the top six or seven.”
The decision for Stewart to get out of his car after starting the race at Talladega was done at the request of his doctors. Even still, the ever competitive “Smoke” wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect.
“It sucks, to be honest,” Stewart said. “I know why we got to do it, but it sucks. It still sucks that you have to do it but if I hadn’t broke my back at the end of January, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebrae in a dune buggy crash in the desert on January 31. The injury forced him to miss the first eight races of his retirement season. He returned last week to an 18th-place finish at Richmond International Raceway.
He added that this would be the “last time we have to do it and I am back in next week.”
Stewart leaves Talladega 38th in points 71 back of current 30th-place driver Matt DiBenedetto.
TALLADEGA, Ala.– As the field wrecked behind, Brad Keselowski was up front when it mattered and scored the victory at the Alabama roulette wheel.
The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford led 46 laps, the most of anyone, and survived a host of wrecks on his way to winning the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I didn’t have a great frame to see what happened to everyone else,” Keselowski said. “The guys at Team Penske gave me a great Miller Lite Ford and this Fusion was hauling it. One of the best tickets to stay out of the wrecks at Talladega is if you can stay up front, and you’ve got a great shot of not getting wrecked. But this No. 2. Daytona didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. We thought we were gonna be better than that, but we just didn’t show the speed in the 500 and the guys went to work and they brought me a really strong car here for Talladega. I’m so proud of everybody at Team Penske. To be back in Victory Lane with two wins this year, and we feel like we can get a lot more. We’re growing as a team. We made a lot of changes at Team Penske and this feels really good, really good.”
The victory was the 19th of his Sprint Cup Series career, second of 2016 and fourth at Talladega.
Kyle Busch led 12 laps on his way home second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He described what others were doing at the end of the race as “some moves that you made that were just lucky and just trying to get through some of the holes that were there and that were forming and guys bumping and banging each other, pushing all around and everything and trying to get the most out of what we had with our Skittles Camry,” Busch said. “You know, second’s not bad. I think the quota of three cars on their lids today is a little high, but it’s racing.”
Austin Dillon rounded out the podium in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“My car was actually probably dragging; the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) could stick to my back bumper and he gave me a heck of a push all the way through (Turns) 3 and 4 and when he did that, I knew we were going to have a shot at it,” Dillon said. “But as soon as I pulled out, it was kind of a parachute but I had to make a shot at it. I wanted to have a shot at the win. If I would have pushed the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), he might have beaten the No. 2, I don’t know. But hat’s off to these guys. They fought so hard. We pitted 15 times, they said. That’s amazing. The car was killed, and to come home with a third place finish we’ve got to thank the good Lord above.”
Jamie McMurray finished fourth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
“I was really fortunate,” McMurray said. “I was only caught up in one of the wrecks. And I don’t know exactly what happened in the other two. Honestly, I don’t even know what happened in mine. I was so lucky that I got hit in the back and I spun to the bottom, but it didn’t tear-up the front-end. It didn’t tear the splitter up. And I don’t know that my car was faster afterwards, but it didn’t seem to hurt it any.”
Chase Elliott led 27 laps and was the highest finishing rookie as he rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. When asked about what stood out to him in his Cup debut at Talladega, he said, “trying to finish. You can’t have a good day unless you finish. Just trying to focus in on that. Obviously, it got a little wild. For us, we just tried to keep that in mind and make it to the end.”
Ty Dillon, subbing for Tony Stewart, finished sixth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Clint Bowyer earned his second top-10 of the season with a seventh-place finish in his No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was leading with two laps to go before getting shuffled back and finishing eighth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney finished ninth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Trevor Bayne led 22 laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.
The race lasted three hours, 34 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 140.046 mph. There were 37 lead changes among 17 different drivers and 10 cautions for 41 laps.
Kevin Harvick leaves Talladega with a nine-point lead over Kyle Busch in the points standings.
TALLADEGA, Ala.– Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow at Talladega.
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scored the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after posting a time of 49.704 and a speed of 192.661 mph.
“It’s obviously really special,” Elliott said on getting the pole at Talladega. “They were just telling me that on this day 30 years ago I think Dad set the (track) record here. That is pretty special. This has always been a special place to him and certainly great to be here and have the opportunity in Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, Napa Auto Parts to come be a part of this weekend. Like I said in Daytona, this is all team guys. This had nothing to do with me and they have brought a fast car back. This is our same car that we ran at Daytona. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring it home in one piece, they had to fix it, but they did a great job doing that and hopefully, we can just try to be smart, try to cut down on some of the dumb mistakes I made in February and try to give ourselves a shot and be there at the end.”
It’s his second career pole in the Sprint Cup Series and second of 2016.
“I do think racing and trying to stay up front is important,” he said. “It’s obviously much easier said than done, but I think for us having a good pit road selection is very important. I think that becomes a big factor at the end of the day when you come onto pit road with a big group of cars and being able to run down pit road and have that first box is big. Hopefully, that helps, but you’ve got to get to the end of the day for that to matter. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that in February so hopefully, we can do that tomorrow and see how it goes.”
Austin Dillon will start second in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.765 and a speed of 192.424 mph.
“The No. 24 car has won all the poles the last two years at speedways it seems like,” Dillon said. “To be that close to him and we know we can get a little better here and there, but that is just the big pick up. I think we qualified 24th here the last race. Huge pick up for us and we are excited for the race.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.799 and a speed of 192.293 mph.
“We picked up a little bit,” Earnhardt said. “I was just talking with Kasey (Kahne) about our lines and what we did different. We think we saw a little bit out there that makes a difference. We were able to pick up a little bit. It’s hard to move forward in the second round at speedways. Usually, what you’ve got in the first round is what you’ve got in the second round, but we jumped a couple of guys and got a better starting spot.”
Matt Kenseth will start fourth in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 49.828 and a speed of 192.181 mph.
“We seemed to have pretty good speed,” Kenseth said. “We had good speed, but qualifying doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for the race. These guys have been doing a good job and I qualified well at Daytona and qualified well here, so that was encouraging that they got the speed in the car.”
Jimmie Johnson will round out the top-five starters in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.845 and a speed of 192.116 mph.
“The car is really good,” Johnson said. “The race environment is so much different than what we have in practice. We didn’t want to go out in the second (practice session) and risk the race car. We made a few single-car runs in the first just to see where our speed was and to get our tape and our heights right. It’s rare that you come to the race track and find some more speed during the practice session. It’s really done at the shop. We are just trying to minimize our risk and our time on the track.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start sixth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.
“We have a great starting spot,” Stenhouse said. “We have to try to keep our track position all race. I feel like we haven’t done a very good job of that on the speedway races. I think that is a key because you are not going to be able to get track position in the last 30 laps. You have to keep it all race.”
Brad Keselowski will start seventh in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.
“It was a much better effort than we have had here in the past which bodes well,” Keselowski said. “We were really fast in speedweeks for the Unlimited and it didn’t showcase itself in the 500 at all. We qualified terribly and ran terribly all weekend. That was very disappointing. We came here and qualified well in an impound scenario and that feels good.”
Denny Hamlin will start eighth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Carl Edwards will start ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.
“The Toyotas seemed to have some speed, so this is good,” Edwards said. “We actually picked up a little bit of time the second round which is great. Now we’ll just go race.”
Paul Menard will round out the top-10 in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet.
“We had a nice pick up from yesterday,” Menard said. “That is always a good thing. The cars are cooler in qualifying than they are in race practice. When you can pick up from practice to qualifying that is always a good thing. I’m proud of my guys. A good top 10 starting spot and good pit selection.”
Kasey Kahne will start 11th in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.
“Really fast cars and all of us (Hendrick Motorsports) had good speed,” Kahne said. “We slowed down a little bit in the final round, which is surprising, but other than that we were really good.”
Martin Truex Jr. will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.
When asked about his qualifying effort, he said it was “uneventful” in a good way. “Anytime it’s uneventful, it’s good. We’re ready to go racing. I thought everybody picked up, but us, which is kind of interesting, but I don’t know why that is. Other than that, everything is good.”
TALLADEGA, Ala.– Joey Logano topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.
The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 48.785 and a speed of 196.290 mph. Ryan Blaney was second in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 48.798 and a speed of 196.238 mph. Chase Elliott was third in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 48.811 and a speed of 196.185 mph. Danica Patrick was fourth in her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.084 and a speed of 195.094 mph. Brian Scott rounded out the top-five in his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford with a time of 49.107 and a speed of 195.003 mph.
Kasey Kahne was sixth in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was seventh in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Trevor Bayne was eighth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Austin Dillon was ninth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.
Patrick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 192.142 mph. Kahne was second at an average speed of 192.020 mph.
The Sprint Cup Series is back on track tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 p.m. ETwith qualifying for the GEICO 500.
TALLADEGA, Ala.– Tony Stewart said how deep the race goes before the first caution will have no bearing on him getting out and giving way to a substitute driver.
During his media availability as part of a press conference with Danica Patrick, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was asked if he would change his plan and run the entire race should the race go as long caution-free as it did last October.
“I still think the goal is going to be for when the first caution comes out,” Stewart said. “And if it means we go 80 laps or 100 laps or whatever, it’s not likely that the race will go that long without a caution, but if it does, the level of intensity is pretty sanitary at that point. It’s not really ramping-up yet. So, I don’t feel like there’s any danger in that. It’s later in the race when guys are really having to make things happen; that’s the part of the race when we really need to be out of the car. There will be ample time to get that caution to get us out. The good thing is that Talladega is so big that even if it’s 40 laps from the end of the race when Ty gets in it, he’s going to have enough time to do what he needs to do. Hopefully, it will happen sooner than later; and that way he can get into the flow of the race earlier than later and he’ll be fine. Everything that he’s done in our car this year has been awesome. I think he’s done a fantastic job and I think he’ll be fine this weekend as well.”
The plan is that Ty Dillon will hop into the car during the first caution of the race which will allow Stewart to be credited as the starting driver and receive the points from wherever Dillon finishes.
The decision to get out of the car stems from his doctors advising he do so to not risk re-injuring his spine.
Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebrae in a dune buggy wreck back in late January. After sitting out the first eight races, he made his return to competition in an 18th-place finish during last Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He said afterward that he was having so much fun at his favorite track.
TALLADEGA, Ala.– Jamie McMurray topped the chart in the first Sprint Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.
The driver of the No. 1 Jamie McMurray was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 47.943 and a speed of 199.737 mph. Chase Elliott was second in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 47.945 and a speed of 199.729 mph. Kurt Busch was third in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 48.022 and a speed of 199.409 mph. Danica Patrick was fourth in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 48.028 and a speed of 199.384 mph. Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-five in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 48.044 and a speed of 199.317 mph.
Kevin Harvick was sixth in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Casey Mears was seventh in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano was eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Larson was ninth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10 in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet.
Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 195.541 mph. Logano was second at an average speed of 195.169 mph.
The Sprint Cup Series is back on track this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET for final practice.
TALLADEGA, Ala.– “Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are so blue. Sweet home Alabama, Lord, NASCAR’s coming home to you.”
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its first of two trips to the Alabama roulette wheel in Lincoln, Alabama known as Talladega Superspeedway. The 188 lap race on the 2.66-mile (4.28 km) superspeedway will be the 10th race of the 2016 season.
In 1959, Daytona International Speedway opened its doors. Bill France Sr. built the speedway to be NASCAR’s cathedral of speed. Over the years, it’s grown into one of the great cathedrals of auto racing.
But only a year later, France wanted to build a speedway that would be bigger and faster than Daytona. He first attempted to do so with Occoneechee Speedway just outside Hillsborough, North Carolina but gave up after stiff resistance from the local religious authorities. After failing to find land in Raleigh, he then turned to the stretch of land along Interstate 20 between Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama. He eventually acquired what used to be Anniston Air Force Base in Lincoln, Alabama and broke ground on May 23, 1968, on what would become the “Alabama International Motor Speedway.” In 1989, the name of the track was changed to the present-day Talladega Superspeedway.
On paper, Talladega is essentially a larger version of Daytona. It’s 6.4 percent bigger than the “World Center of Racing.” Talladega’s turns are banked at 33 degrees versus 31 degrees at Daytona. The tri-oval at Talladega, however, has a 16.5-degree bank, which is 1.5 degrees lower than the tri-oval at Daytona. The biggest difference is that, while the start/finish line is in the center of the tri-oval at Daytona, the start/finish line at Talladega is actually just past the exit of pit road toward turn 1. After the first Daytona 500, France noticed that while seats in the tri-oval were an easy sell, the seats down toward turn 1 at Daytona were a harder sell. To make selling the seats toward turn 1 at Talladega easier, he decided to put the start/finish line past pit road toward turn 1.
At the end of the day, though, Daytona and Talladega race largely the same. Mastering the draft is key to winning at both tracks.
Now let’s talk about drafting. Drafting is the act of two or more vehicles or moving objects lining up to reduce the effect of drag and to exploit a leading car’s slipstream. This also reduces the energy expenditure which translates into using up less fuel.
Handling, especially in the turns, is affected by cars drafting. The lead car has less rear downforce while the trailing car has less front downforce. A car(s) in between the lead and trailing cars will have less downforce on both ends.
The practice of drafting was first used in the 1960 Daytona 500 by Junior Johnson who discovered that drafting in the wake of others cars helped him overcome the lack of horsepower in his Chevrolet to win the race.
Over the years, more and more drivers began picking up the practice and began exploiting it to their advantage.
No drivers mastered plate racing better than Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Photo: ISC Archives via Getty Images
Drafting in its modern form took hold after the implementation of restrictor plates. At first, it was typically more single-file trains with drivers using slingshot moves to pass the car in front. Since Talladega in October of 2000, the norm started becoming more of the three, four and sometimes five-wide racing we love.
There are three drivers who I consider the masters of restrictor plate racing.
Nobody drove Talladega better than Dale Earnhardt who won 10 races at the Alabama Roulette Wheel (eight of them being during the restrictor plate era). Combined with his three wins at Daytona, he sits second on NASCAR’s all-time list of restrictor plate points-paying race winners. When you take non-points races into account, that number jumps well into the 40s.
Next is the son of the seven-time Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. In his career, he’s amassed 10 restrictor plate wins with six at Talladega and four at Daytona. He once won four consecutive races at Talladega from 2001 to 2003. Ironically, in spite of his prowess on the plate tracks, he went 10 years without winning a plate race. In the last two years, he’s begun to reestablish his place as the pied-piper of Daytona and Talladega. Last year alone, he finished third, first, first and second in the plate races. Given that he’s the odds-on favorite at 6/1 this weekend (Vegas Insider), I’m not the only one who sees his ability in restrictor plate races.
The last driver I consider a master of restrictor-plate racing was Jeff Gordon. With six wins at Talladega and six at Daytona, Gordon retired as the winningest restrictor plate driver in the history of NASCAR. Ironically, with all his wins, Daytona and Talladega were among his bottom-four tracks in terms of average finish. In terms of laps led, it was also middle of the pack among the tracks he raced at. But in terms of running at the finish and lead lap finishes, the plate tracks were among his best.
These three drivers wrote the book on drafting and have raced through the evolution of the draft from slingshot moves to packs of cars running three, four and even five-wide. They’ve also experienced their share of being caught in “The Big One.”
A perfect example of The Big One is this wreck from the 2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500.
As you saw in the video, these guys were getting bunched up in rows of four-wide lines of cars as they raced to the finish. One miscalculation as we saw with Tony Stewart sent him spinning and caused the huge wreck. If you should survive The Big One, you’re that much closer to winning at Talladega.
Talladega isn’t just known for wrecks. It’s also known for amazing finishes. Here’s one of my personal favorites from the 2001 Talladega 500.
The late Bobby Hamilton used the draft to move by race leader Tony Stewart coming to the white flag and drove on to score the victory. If you ever get the chance, look up the race on YouTube and watch it from start to finish. You won’t be disappointed.
Tune into the GEICO 500 Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX or at noon on MRN Radio and SiriusXM (subscription required for the latter). I’m on assignment this weekend, so I’ll be bringing you all the happenings on location in the media center at the Alabama roulette wheel.
