Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Talladega Superspeedway

  • The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    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.

  • Breaking News: Only 1 GWC for this Weekend at Talladega

    Breaking News: Only 1 GWC for this Weekend at Talladega

    NASCAR has announced that the number of green-white-checker attempts for Talladega will be reduced to one.

    Starting this weekend, both the Camping World Truck Series Fred’s 250 and Sprint Cup Series CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will be limited to one green-white-checker attempt.

    “Following extensive dialogue with the industry, we have decided to make a procedural change at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice-president and chief racing development officer. “In the event the race goes beyond the advertised distance due to a caution, we will use a single attempt at a green-white-checker finish. We take very seriously the responsibility of balancing exciting finishes and safety. We’re confident that this is a positive direction for both.”

    There had also been discussion of going to single-file restarts at restrictor plate tracks, but NASCAR decided to leave double-file restarts in place.

    NASCAR has utilized green-white-checker finishes since 2004 after the spring Talladega race ended under caution and fans pelted the track with beer cans. It was officially used for the first time in the 2004 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard that was won by Jeff Gordon.

    Since 2005, there have been 43 restrictor plate races. Of those, 23 have had green-white-checker finishes (53.49 percent), which statistically means a plate race is likely to go past the advertised distance.

    These restarts have at times ended in spectacular wrecks. In 2012, Tony Stewart was leading the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega when he came down, got turned by Michael Waltrip and triggered a 25-car pileup.

    The catalyst for this move was the final lap crash back in July at Daytona International Speedway which saw the No. 3 car of Austin Dillon lift off the ground, fly into the catch fence and injure five fans.

    Martin Truex Jr. said he thinks, “it’s a good idea just based on past history of what we’ve seen on green-white-checkereds, as far as really just destroying race cars. I think the chances when you go to Talladega of bringing a car home are slim, but if you have green-white-checkereds there, the chance of not bringing a car home goes up pretty dramatically. I think for the owners and everybody involved, I would be OK to limiting it to one. Hopefully, it doesn’t even come down to one.’’

  • The White-Zone: Don’t Do Single-File Restarts at Talladega

    The White-Zone: Don’t Do Single-File Restarts at Talladega

    “The white-zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload about some possible rule adjustments for Talladega Superspeedway.

    In case you haven’t heard, NASCAR has been talking to teams the last few weeks about possible changes being made to the upcoming race at the Alabama roulette-wheel of Talladega Superspeedway. Some of these changes include doing nothing at all and limiting the number of green-white-checker attempts down to one or two. Personally, limiting the GWC attempts wouldn’t bother me. I’d personally reduce it to two, but I could live with one.

    There’s one possible change, however, that would really bother me. That would be the possibility of going to single-file restarts for Talladega.

    This bothers me because I envision the possibility of teams just racing single-file all race long. I know that’s possible even with double-file restarts. Hell, it happened back in May. However, that was the last 30 laps and the race as a whole had been mostly three-wide racing. With the Contender Round ending at Talladega and 10 drivers needing to survive or win to advance, they would have little incentive to race up front all race long. If you can’t get these top drivers, especially at the top plate races, heading the lines on the bottom, middle or top, everyone might be content to race single-file.

    We’ve been building this race up to a monumental race for the ages. Drivers have been talking for weeks that everything will hinge on Talladega. Grant Lynch, Chairman of Talladega Superspeedway, is probably loving all the free publicity the track is receiving. If we go single-file on the restarts, we’re running the risk of this Talladega race falling flat on its face.

    Now I understand why NASCAR is doing all this. I’m certain the horrific last-lap wreck at Daytona in July was the catalyst for this discussion. I understand that nobody wants to see drivers or fans get injured or killed. The catch fence did its job and kept Austin Dillon’s car from going into the stands. I completely understand that we have to protect the drivers and fans from unnecessary danger. But at the same time, let’s not neuter Talladega, take the one race that would be next to impossible to botch and manage to botch it.

    In conclusion, if NASCAR is going to make changes in order to protect the drivers and fans, let’s not knee-jerk it and ruin the hallmark style of racing that practically sells itself. You don’t have to do much to sell people on Daytona and Talladega. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every race at Daytona and Talladega is going to be the “race of the century,” but eight times out of 10, the restrictor plate races are among the best races of the season. If NASCAR wants to reduce the number of GWC attempts, I’ll be fine with it, but leave the single-file restart idea at the door.

    My plane* is ready to load and I’ll wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. The probability of two whole fingerprints matching is around one in 64-billion.

    *I use the word plane as a metaphor for getting off my soapbox and ending the piece. It’s not an actual plane and I’m not actually about to fly out to “parts unknown” (that’s for those of you who follow pro wrestling).

    The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not reflect the beliefs of SpeedwayMedia.com

  • The White-Zone: Why the Contender Round Favors Jeff Gordon

    The White-Zone: Why the Contender Round Favors Jeff Gordon

    “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading,” and I must unload about why the Contender Round will put the ball in Jeff Gordon’s court.

    The motto for the 24 team in the Challenger Round struck me as simply “survive and advance.” While he had a dominant car at Chicagoland, he was a 10th-place car at best in Loudon and Dover. Now that Gordon has moved on to the Contender Round, he’ll find the track lineup of Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega to his advantage.

    First is the “Beast of the Southeast.”

    Jeff Gordon has a love/hate history with Charlotte Motor Speedway. This was the track where he scored the first of his 92 career wins on May 29, 1994. He’s visited victory lane here five times and has 17 top-fives, 24 top-10s, and nine poles. Gordon has led 787 laps with an average start of 10.7, an average finish of 15.4 and he has completed 93.3 percent of the combined laps in 45 career starts.

    Now with that said, Charlotte is the ultimate hit or miss track for the driver of the No. 24 car. His 10 DNF’s here are his most at any track on the NASCAR schedule. From 2005 to 2007, he suffered five straight DNF’s. In the last five races, those five being the races with the Gen-6 car, he’s finished 35th, seventh, seventh, second and 15th. This gives him an average finish of 13.2, which is higher than his career average of 15.4 at the track. Gordon might have a better run this time around since the Chase race doesn’t require as much chasing the changes as the Coca-Cola 600, but I would say it’s wishful thinking to expect anything but a 10th-place finish.

    Where the odds truly begin to go up for Jeff Gordon is when we make our way out to the heartland and race at Kansas Speedway.

    This has been one of his more friendly tracks. He’s won three times with 11 top-fives and 13 top-10s, led 218 laps with an average start of 13.1, an average finish of 9.9 and has completed 99.2 percent of the combined laps in 19 career starts.

    His top-10 average of 68.4 percent is his eighth best behind Pocono, Phoenix, Homestead, Indianapolis, Sonoma, Martinsville and Kentucky. Gordon’s top-five average of 57.9 percent is his third best behind Sonoma and Martinsville. In his last five races at Kansas, he’s finished 13th, third, first, 14th and fourth. This gives him an average finish of 7, higher than his career average of 9.9 at the track. In May, he ran top-10 most of the race and came home fourth. I think it will be another top-five run for Big Daddy in the heartland.

    While I expect Jeff Gordon to run well at Charlotte and Kansas, what really gives me confidence in his Contender Round run is the Alabama roulette wheel (I really hope that starts catching on) of Talladega Superspeedway.

    Before I go into detail, I’m aware that after Daytona, Gordon said he was glad he only had to do this plate stuff one final time. I’m also not going to say for certain if he’ll just run in the back trying to survive and advance. I do know that, next to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Big Daddy has been the best plate racer this season. He won the pole and dominated the Daytona 500, leading 87 laps before getting caught up in the last-lap wreck on the backstretch. He also won the pole and led 47 laps here back in May where he most likely had the race won until he was busted for speeding when he locked up the brakes getting onto pit road under the sixth caution and restarted the race from the rear of the field. He was unable to work his way back to the front when the field decided to run single-file until two laps remaining. Gordon, again, was caught up in the last-lap wreck and finished 31st. While he didn’t make as much noise in July at Daytona, he did bring the car home to a sixth-place finish before getting caught in the tri-oval melee.

    You also can’t overlook the fact that Gordon has more restrictor-plate points wins than any other driver in the history of NASCAR. Before anyone goes to Wikipedia to try and tell me it’s actually Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator only had 11 points wins in plate races – two of his Talladega wins came before the plates – while Jeff Gordon has 12. I’m not saying that Earnhardt wasn’t the best plate racer in NASCAR history, I’m just saying that Gordon is no slouch when it comes to Daytona and Talladega.

    Granted, he hasn’t won a plate race since sweeping Talladega in 2007. But it’s not a stretch to say he could get one last restrictor plate win. Regardless, it’ll be a thrill to be there in person to see Big Daddy make his final start in the hallmark style of racing in NASCAR. I also think when all is said and done, Jeff Gordon will stand victorious at the Alabama roulette wheel.

    Do you agree with my case? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. A syzygy occurs when three astronomical bodies line up.

  • Talladega Preview – Records, Winning Quotes & Bill Elliott

    Talladega Preview – Records, Winning Quotes & Bill Elliott

    Talladega Superspeedway is known as a track where anyone can win. It is often more about survival than finesse and it’s had it share of underdogs in the winner’s circle.  Drivers such as Richard Brickhouse, Dick Brooks, Lennie Pond and Ron Bouchard visited victory lane at Talladega for their first and only career win in NASCAR’s top series. In 2013, David Ragan gave Front Row Motorsports its first ever Sprint Cup win at Talladega. The only thing predictable about Talladega is its unpredictability.

    However, there are some drivers who have conquered the restrictor-plate track, most notably, Dale Earnhardt, who accumulated 10 victories at Talladega and remains atop the all-time winners list.

    By The Numbers:

    1) Brad Keselowski enters the race as the defending champion. Last season he advanced to the Eliminator Round of the Chase with a win at Talladega in October after taking the lead on a green-white-checkered restart and holding off all challengers. He has made two other trips to victory lane at the track, in 2012 and in 2009, where he led only the last lap to grab his first Cup career win. Keselowski has proven that he knows how to make things happen at Talladega and with one win already under his belt this season, he has nothing to lose.

    2) Jeff Gordon is second on the all-times win list at Talladega with six, the most of any active driver. In addition, he is the all-time restrictor-plate wins leader with 12 and leads all active drivers in top-five finishes, top-10s and laps led at Talladega Superspeedway. (Dale Earnhardt Sr. ranks second with 11).

    Gordon seems to be hitting his stride after a rocky beginning to the season and is currently the only driver to have finished in the top-10 in each of the last six races. The streak has moved him from as low as 36th in the points to his current position of 10th. With a little luck, this could be his chance to secure his spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, although his last win was in 2007.

    3) Kurt Busch is coming off a win at Richmond and sits in seventh place on the Chase Grid. This is even more impressive when you consider that he missed three races this season. Also of note, he ranks fourth in fastest laps run (217) and second in laps led (536)

    Busch is fourth in the driver ratings at Talladega and his confidence is growing each week. Look for him to be a contender as he carries that momentum to Talladega.

    4) Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s five victories at Talladega put him third on the all-time list and are the most for him at any track. He also set a record for most consecutive wins with four from October 2001 to April 2003. Of additional significance, he has led in all but three of the 30 Cup races he has entered at the superspeedway for a total of 832 laps. The only other track where he has led more laps is Martinsville (972 laps).

    Even though his last win was in 2004, Earnhardt’s statistics are still imposing claiming the series-best average running position (14.5), the second-best driver rating (90.7) and the third- most quality passes (4,478).  Plus, he has led laps in 27 of his 30 Talladega starts. Earnhardt is still searching for his first win and there’s no place better than at one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.

    Top 10 Driver Ratings at Talladega Superspeedway:

    95.6 – Kyle Larson
    90.7 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    89.9 – Matt Kenseth
    88.3 – Kurt Busch
    87.5 – Jimmie Johnson
    85.0 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    84.0 – Brian Vickers
    82.9 – Brad Keselowski
    82.2 – Joey Logano
    82.0 – Denny Hamlin

    Winning Quotes:

    Martin Truex Jr. “I’ve been all over the place at Talladega. However, the one place I haven’t been to in the Sprint Cup Series is Talladega’s Victory Lane, and it’s about time that we get there. I am confident that we will have a contending car on Sunday.”

    Jeff Gordon: “Restrictor-plate racing is a white-knuckle experience where we race in big packs while trying to avoid the ‘big one’ – the big wreck that collects a lot of race cars.”

    Dale Earnhardt Jr.: “The guy that’s leading the race really is the guy controlling everything. He can block and he can do whatever he needs to do as far as getting in front of the line that’s coming to be able to get the push to maintain his speed. He can do so much more than everyone else in the field. And that’s just the best place to be.”

    Greg Biffle: “I finished second in this race last year and I’m excited to go back.  Talladega is a good opportunity for us to win a race, its pure speed and we have fast Speedway cars, so I’m looking forward to this weekend.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: “I’m looking forward to Talladega after seeing the speed our cars had at Daytona earlier this season. We need a win to make the Chase and I think that Talladega is great opportunity for us to be able to get that win. If we can stay out of trouble and avoid the notorious ‘big one’, I think we can leave Talladega with a solid finish.”

    Denny Hamlin: Last year at Talladega, we finally got our first plate win, and it was big for our team. It obviously gave us a Chase berth and a lot of momentum. This year, hopefully, we can get another win there to get more bonus points. It’s all about winning for us.”

    A Slice of Talladega History:

    Thirty years ago Bill Elliott experienced one of the greatest comebacks in NASCAR history at Talladega. The year was 1985 and although his car had led 25 laps of the 1985 Winston 500, an unscheduled pit stop to fix a broken oil fitting line left Elliott almost two laps down, a five-mile deficit.

    Elliott did what he did best. He put the pedal to the floor and passed the field twice in less than 100 laps. Back on the lead lap, Elliott raced into victory lane. But the story doesn’t end there.

    R.J. Reynolds had offered the “Winston Million” to any driver that could win three of the sport’s four biggest races; the Daytona 500, Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. Elliott had already won the Daytona 500 and after the victory at Talladega went on to win the Southern 500 at Darlington, earning that “Winston Million.” It catapulted him into the national headlines with a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

    Elliott celebrated the anniversary by re-creating that Talladega win. He strapped into the Ford Thunderbird, put on a helmet, ran five laps and drove to victory lane where he was given a replica trophy. The car hadn’t been cranked since it was put on display at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1986.

    He said being back in the car felt “like a million bucks. I really miss the competitive side of racing week-in and week-out. I ran so many laps around this race track and tested here so many times in my career. It feels like it was yesterday I was racing here.”

    Racing at Talladega Superspeedway is challenging, both physically and mentally. Tune into the Geico 500 Sunday on FOX at 1 p.m. ET to discover who emerges victorious.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

    After a confusing qualifying session set the starting field, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 46th annual Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: Even though it is the season, there were a surprising number of football references when the ‘Dega race was completed, from Brad Keselowski’s ‘Hail Mary’ win to Clint Bowyer’s third place gridiron game plan finish.

    “We had to win the race,” the driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Wicked Apple Ale Ford said. “This would be the football equivalent of scoring two touchdowns with two minutes left in the game. That’s what we did and it’s just an incredible feeling.”

    “The whole time I knew the odds were against us and to pull it off was something I don’t even know how to reflect upon.”

    The driver of the No. 15 Pink Lemonade 5-Hour Energy Toyota was also in the football mode, pronouncing his game plan good.

    “Well, my game plan worked,” Bowyer said. “It’s so hard to strategize around this. You can a little bit, but you still got to bob and weave and take it as it comes.”

    “I was in a pocket where I felt it was safe,” Bowyer continued. “I went from about 25th and drove up to what was going to be third. That caution came out when we were all on pit road.”

    “Still, third place is a good day for us.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth demonstrated his role yet again as one of the most cerebral racers in the sport, using strategy and even his arch enemy from last week’s race, to secure his second place finish. Kenseth also punched his ticket to the next round of Chase competition.

    “That was his (Brad Keselowski’s) only way in I think was to win that thing and I gave Kevin (Harvick) a huge push,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, said after the green-white-checkered finish. “I thought Kevin was going to go right around him and Brad went for the block.”

    “I had to get a finish so instead of going with Kevin I went to the bottom,” Kenseth continued. “I thought maybe I would get a big enough run to get underneath Brad, but I just didn’t quite have the speed to do it.”

    “Like I said, that’s where I felt I had to put my car for my best chance at the best finish. All those guys were pretty quick up there. Got a good restart, got a good run. It’s just how it turned out.”

    Surprising: While there was not a ‘big one’ to be had at Talladega, there were some surprisingly deadly small ones in the Geico 500. Two Chase contenders, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch experienced those small ones that unfortunately played into their lack of advancing to the next round of championship contention.

    Junior was involved in a racing incident with Greg Biffle, finishing 31st in a race that he had to win to move on to compete for NASCAR’s biggest prize.

    “We worked real hard all day long trying to run up front,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I knew we needed to be up front all day long. We got shuffled to the back. I made a move trying to get up front and it didn’t work out. So, we lost a lot of track position and never got it back.”

    “The race is over, it’s time to go home,” the driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet said. “Well, we will just go try to win some more races before the year is out. That is all we have left.”

    Kyle Busch experienced his own heartache in one of the ‘small ones’, which caused major damage to his car, forced him into a 40th place finish, and dashed his Cup hopes yet again.

    “It’s a shame, everyone has been working really hard,” Dave Rogers, crew chief for the No. 18 M&Ms Halloween Toyota, said. “I felt like we got off to a slow start early in the season and we were advancing through the playoffs pretty well with hard work and good decisions and good teamwork.”

    “I thought we were in a decent spot coming into the race and rode around in the back,” Rogers continued. “Kyle got checked up for the wreck and had everything saved up, but he got run over from behind.”

    “There is no safe place in here. The truth is that if you’re out there on the race track at Talladega or Daytona, you have a pretty good chance that you’re going to get in a wreck and today was our day. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

    Not Surprising: The one thing that makes Talladega unique is that even the ‘little’ teams have a chance at an upset victory. And one of them, Landon Cassill, in his No. 40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet, took full advantage, finishing fourth and scoring his highest career finish.

    “We wanted to win this race,” Cassill said. “We came here to win it. My team deserves it. Carsforsale.com deserves it.”

    “We don’t have a lot to work with,” Cassill continued. “But what we do work with, we set out to run good at these four superspeedway races, and we proved that this year.”

    “Fourth place is just amazing.”

    Surprising: After so many races where rookie Kyle Larson not only almost won the race, but also finished as the highest rookie of the race, it was Austin Dillon’s turn to be the rookie star.

    Dillon, in his No. 3 Dow Chevrolet finished 13th, ahead of Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet, who finished 17th.

    Larson is still leading the Sunoco Rookie of the Race points, with 290 to Dillon’s 206, with just four races left to go in the season.

    Not Surprising: He may have secured his place in the next round at Talladega, having squeaked by with just three points to spare, but Jeff Gordon had only one thing in mind at the end of the race.

    “If I never have to come back to Talladega, I’ll be fine with that,” Gordon said. “I’m just mentally drained right now. It’s always tough racing here at Talladega trying to put yourself in position to win. But when you have that much on the line and you know that your championship hopes are right there in that final moment, it’s nerve racking.”

    “I’m proud of this team for the job they did,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said after finishing 24th. “We had a great strategy. Unfortunately the caution hit us at the absolute worst time and put us behind there. We fought hard that last restart. The inside lane just didn’t go anywhere. I was just sitting there going backward and couldn’t do a thing.”

    “I’m just glad we made it.”

    Surprising: Even six-time champions sometimes cannot find a friend or catch a break in the draft. Jimmie Johnson led the most laps in the race at 84 but finished a disappointing 24th, ending his quest for his seventh championship.

    “At the end, I guess on the next-to-last restart – assuming it would be the last restart – I was lined up in fourth,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, said. “I made my move, got to his outside, looked in the mirror and I had no friends.”

    “It’s how plate racing goes,” Johnson continued. “If I knew there was a second green-white-checkered I probably would have stayed in line, but you just don’t know how those things are going to develop.”

    “They gave me a great Lowe’s Chevrolet today and unfortunately we just didn’t get it done.”

    Not Surprising: Terry Labonte, behind the wheel of the No. 32 C&J Energy Services Ford, finished the race in the 33rd spot and completed his 890th and final race at Talladega.

    “After I came here the first time I didn’t know if I’d have the opportunity to come back a second time much less 61 times, but it’s been a lot of fun,” Labonte said. “Of course, you know it’s only about the third time I’ve said this is gonna be my last race, but this is really gonna be the last one.”

    “It’s been fun.”

    Surprising: What happened after the race may just have a critical impact on the Chase. Ryan Newman, who finished fifth, had his car go through post-race inspection only to fail, being too low on both sides at the rear.

    NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said a decision on any penalties would come either on Monday or Tuesday, with the chance for an early appeal by the team if the penalty warrants.

    Not Surprising: Michael Waltrip finished the race in the similar fashion to his finishes on Dancing with the Stars with pro Emma Slater. Waltrip finished 16th in his No. 66 MyAFibStory.com Toyota for the team that bears his name.

    “This was a good day,” Waltrip said. “We got a top-20. I just wasn’t as strong as I hoped. My car wouldn’t draft up as well as I envisioned it.”

    “We kind of struggled.”

    In spite of that Waltrip, @mw55, tweeted the following “I told @EmmaSlaterDance how wonderful @NASCAR fans are. Thanks. Y’all made her weekend very special. Cheers!”

     

     

  • NASCAR is Flirting With Disaster With New Qualifying Format at Talladega

    NASCAR is Flirting With Disaster With New Qualifying Format at Talladega

    So far this season, group qualifying has captured the attention of NASCAR fans. Television ratings are up during qualifying from a year ago and fans in general seem to like the new format. For most weekends qualifying has been really entertaining and fun to watch.

    The exception to that would be qualifying at restrictor plate tracks in the 2014 season. Group qualifying was crazy at both Talladega in April and Daytona in July. The teams employed numerous gimmicks and several different strategies played out during the sessions that caused various issues. After Daytona in July, NASCAR made some changes and as teams prepare for this weekend’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, there will be a new format for qualifying.

    Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president of competition and racing development, explained the reason for the new format, saying, “This revision in national series qualifying at Talladega should be more exciting for our fans. It will feature a more accelerated pace, provide greater opportunity for team strategy to come into play and it should more closely resemble actual racing conditions.”

    Qualifying for the Geico 500 will consist of three rounds. In the first round the field will be split into two groups and each group will have five minutes apiece to qualify. That means the 46 entries for Sunday’s race will be broken up into two 23 car packs during qualifying. The 24 drivers that post the fastest single lap speed from either of the two first round groups will advance to the second round. The remaining drivers’ starting positions will be based on their best speed as posted in the first round of qualifying, in descending order.

    After a 10 minute break, the second round will begin and all times will be reset. The drivers will have five minutes to qualify and the 12 with the fastest single lap speed will advance to the third and final round. The remaining drivers will occupy starting positions 13-24, based on their best speed as posted in the second round of qualifying, in descending order.

    After a five minute break, the final round will begin and all times will be reset. The fastest single lap speed will then determine positions 1-12, in descending order.

    This type of qualifying at Talladega, particularly in round one with 23 cars on the track at one time, is where NASCAR is flirting with disaster.

    Part of the reason why NASCAR made changes to the qualifying format was due to safety. Several drivers were making desperation moves to prevent other drivers from having great laps. Those moves will continue, especially during group two qualifying of round one, as drivers will have a better idea as to who will make the race and who won’t. I predict a lot of blocking and craziness will go on during the second group of first round.

    With that being said is, it worth it? Is having a group qualifying session at the restrictor plate tracks worth tearing up a lot of racecars, just because NASCAR fans want an exciting format? Many team owners will have to face a financial burden just because fans want to be entertained. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racecars cost more than they ever have and a wreck puts that financial burden on the owners, not NASCAR. Not only that but so much of Saturday’s qualifying session will be out of the teams and drivers’ control.

    It’s hard to control how fast you go in the draft and with only five minutes to lay down a fast time, teams will get desperate especially in the second group of round one of qualifying. Teams that are not in the race could make last second efforts to either cut off a driver or cause a huge wreck while trying to get a fast time in qualifying. Some teams may not have a backup and may be forced to go home due to the wreck.

    I have no problem trying to create excitement in qualifying for the plate tracks. Qualifying for these races has always been boring and never caused people to be on the edge of their seats. However, let’s not hurt the teams by doing it. Teams should have some control over their speeds in qualifying and control over whether or not their cars will get torn up in the process.

     

     

  • NASCAR BTS: Chris MacNicol AKA Talladega Tire Man

    NASCAR BTS: Chris MacNicol AKA Talladega Tire Man

    At Talladega this past weekend, one fan, wearing only a Goodyear, received some significant television time during the race broadcast. So, this week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes simply had to focus on Chris MacNicol, the man otherwise known as the Talladega Tire Man.

    MacNicol, surprisingly was not always a rabid, tire-wearing race fan. In fact, the native Floridian moved to Alabama to play baseball in college. One weekend, his baseball buddies suggested they check out the nearby NASCAR race track.

    “A bunch of my teammates said to go to Talladega and I told them, “I’m not going to watch that. That’s silly,” MacNicol said. “But I’ve been to every race since. I always tell people who ask me about the races that it is really that different when you are there at the track.”

    “It give me goose bumps to talk about it now,” MacNicol continued. “Once you stand next to the track and see 43 cars go by at 200 miles per hour, you are hooked. It’s unbelievable.”

    Once MacNicol was hooked on racing, not only did he attend the Talladega races but he also went off to Daytona, which had been on his bucket list. And at Daytona, not Talladega, the Tire Man was actually born.

    “One year, my dad, my brother, my best friend I grew up with and his dad said we were all going to meet at Daytona,” MacNicol said. “So, we met them in Daytona, which was on our bucket list in 2004.”

    “I had just enclosed the carport on my house and that was my man cave, with all my baseball memorabilia and my NASCAR memorabilia,” MacNicol continued. “I was building an end table out of racing tires for the man cave and I had one tire that a friend gave me after he drove at the Richard Petty Driving School. So, we were walking around the infield at Daytona on Saturday after what was then the Busch race and a NASCAR truck pulled by and asked if we wanted to buy a tire.”

    “And, of course, I wanted to buy one for my end table and asked how much,” MacNicol said. “So, for $5 I bought it. I rummaged through the truck trying to find some decent tire and I came across Joe Nemechek’s right front tire that he qualified with. I thought that was cool and so I bought the tire.”

    “We were in Turns One and Two but we were camped in Turns Three and Four, which was a long way,” MacNicol continued. “So, I’m carrying my cooler and my beverage and I’m trying to roll this tire. And I’m spilling my beverage and I’m getting frustrated so I laid the tire down and sat down. I sat on the edge of the tire and my rear end sunk in the middle. And I had this epiphany that if I pulled the tire up on my hips that it would stick.”

    “So, after I pulled it up, it pulled my shorts up too. It took us close to five hours to get back to our campsite because everybody started stopping and taking pictures. Instantly I knew that this would have to happen at Talladega too.”

    “And here we are today.”

    Once the Talladega Tire Man was born, MacNicol’s adventures continued, even to the point of having a brush with the law.

    “One of my dad’s favorite stories to tell is after we finally get back to the campsite at Talladega and I’m standing there in my tire, a Sheriff’s officer came by in the car,” MacNicol said. “It was a lady Sheriff and she just rolled down her window far enough so we could see her eyes. She motions me to come to the car and she said “Please tell me that you’re wearing something underneath that tire.” I told her “Yes, ma’am and do you want to see?” And she said “Nope”, slowly rolled the window back up and drove away.”

    MacNicol found out the hard way after his Daytona tire inauguration, that some modifications had to be made if he was going to be able to continue living out his stint as Tire Man at every Talladega race.

    “I had to make some modifications to the tire,” MacNicol said. “Walking around Daytona, I actually got scars on my legs from where it rubbed me raw. When I pulled it up on my hips, the inner tire bead sat just below my hips so it actually was held up on the upper part of the legs. So, you can imagine walking around for a few days in a tire, it didn’t feel that great.”

    “So, I got the bright idea from my wife’s granddaddy, who always wore these two-inch Dickies suspenders and I thought I could make it to hold the tire up,” MacNicol continued. “The tire has two U-bolts in the front and two in the back that I attach my suspenders to. I also cut out the bottom, but it was still jagged. So, one day I was walking through Home Depot and I saw this nice, cushy pipe insulation and I thought I could put that around the bottom of the tire. And it worked great.”

    The Talladega Tire Man sensation really gained momentum, however, after being featured in a book and also through social media, especially Facebook and Twitter.

    “I was approached in 2010, when NASCAR was really trying to put the race fans first, the business communications director for NASCAR at the time and a writer for the Sporting News contacted me about making the Talladega Tire Man part of a book on race fans,” MacNicol said. “The book was “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”, which was a story all about NASCAR fans, from those like me who go to the race track and act silly to Afghanistan war veterans who have a purple heart and a doctor who climbed Mount Everest and planted a NASCAR flag.”

    “There are some pretty amazing people in that book,” MacNicol continued. “Once that started, we thought that we should get involved with Facebook and Twitter. But we mostly did it because we wanted to share pictures with the fans. And it’s just blossomed from there.”

    What may be most surprising, however, is that the Talladega Tire Man does not charge for pictures or receive any remuneration for his efforts. MacNicol simply does it for the love of racing and the race fans.

    “My only thing is that I do this because I love it,” MacNicol said. “I love racing and I love the fans. I’m not in it for the money. Once it becomes a job, that’s not what I want. That’s not fun anymore. The Tire Man to me is somebody who is out, has passion for racing and is just like everybody else in the stands. I’m no different than anybody else that buys a ticket and comes to the race track.”

    What has surprised MacNicol himself the most as he roams the Talladega infield is the warm reception that he gets each and every race.

    “The most surprising thing is how gracious people are and how friendly people can be,” MacNicol said. “Sometimes when you walk up and there’s a half-naked man there, you may not get the best response.”

    “But everybody is so nice and it’s been that way my entire experience at Talladega,” MacNicol continued. “I’ve made life-long friends and that friendship has just expanded with the Tire Man to an enormous amount of people all over the country. When they showed me on TV on Sunday, we got messages from people in Chicago, Nashville, Charlotte and all over the place.”

    “So, that’s probably the best thing and the most inspiring thing to me to come back and do it every year.”

    Now in his tenth year as the Talladega Tire Man, MacNicol realizes that he may not be able to do this forever. But he has already been thinking ahead and is well prepared for the future.

    “I’m 40 now and pretty soon now, the Tire Man is going to have a little drag in his rear quarter panel,” MacNicol said with a laugh. “But I’ve got three boys, ages 11, 9 and 5, and last year, I made them their own tires.”

    “I didn’t force them to wear them and they have to want to wear them,” MacNicol continued. “I didn’t bring them this past race but they said I had to bring them next race.”

    Simply put, MacNicol wants all race fans to know one thing about the Talladega Tire Man.

    “I just appreciate the opportunity and just love being able to convey a fan’s passion about NASCAR,” MacNicol said. “I am a huge race fan.”

    “And basically I’m just me.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    From the wild knock out qualifying that netted Brian Scott the pole position to the crazy green-white-checkered race finish, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 45th annual Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: It is not often when two champions wreak such havoc in one race, even if it is on an unpredictable superspeedway. But both Brad Keselowski as well as Jimmie Johnson did just that, having uncharacteristically bad days that negatively impacted so many others in the field.

    In fact Keselowski negatively impacted the field twice, once early on in the race while battling Danica Patrick for the lead and then later in the race causing a twelve car pileup that involved several other drivers, including the likes of past champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

    “I just spun out in front of the whole field,” the driver of the white Miller Lite Deuce said. “I don’t know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up.”

    Johnson, after suffering his own damage from the first Keselowski incident, had almost the identical problem as Keselowski, spinning out at almost the same exact spot on the race track and catching others in his wake.

    “I got caught up in the first wreck and that did some damage; and I don’t know what happened when I spun out,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Valspar Chevrolet said. “I just went out in front of everybody. The car just got real loose going into Turn 3 and turned around and collected a bunch of guys, unfortunately.”

    Keselowski finished the race in the 38th position while Johnson finished 23rd and remains winless.

    Not Surprising: In his 300th start and at a superspeedway not a short track, Denny Hamlin made a statement and won his first race of the season, his first race at Talladega, and his first point’s race at a restrictor plate track. Hamlin also all but sealed up a Chase berth, after missing the Chase completely last season for the first time in his career.

    “It feels good to be back in Victory Lane in a points-paying event,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said. “We’ve come a long way. We couldn’t finish 22nd in superspeedway races for the longest time and now it seems like when we go, we know we have the knowledge and car that can win.”

    “It feels good to come to these types of tracks and win.”

    Surprising: Jeff Gordon surprisingly kept his point leads in spite of finishing 39th, as well as breaking his streak of 11 consecutive top-15 finishes. Gordon still leads by three points over Matt Kenseth, who came in just ahead of Gordon in the race, finishing 37th.

    “Oh man, we had a great car,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I could see where the 2 came from the outside lane and came back down to the inside lane, or middle lane, then wiggled and got turned.”

    “It was unfortunate what happened to him early, but more unfortunate what happened to many of us in that incident.”

    Not Surprising: Whether they had a game plan in their heads or not, both Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer scored their best ever finishes of the 2014 season.

    Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Window Film Ford, finished runner up after leading the most laps at 58. Bowyer, driving the No. 15 PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Toyota, finished third, scoring his first top-5 finish of the season.

    “I had a game plan in my head,” Biffle said. “On our speedway program, they did a great job getting the car ready. This was our Daytona 500 car and we wanted to get up there and run with the guys.”

    “I don’t think you ever really have a game plan,” Bowyer said. “But I like the situation I saw with Biffle. You know he was going to pull out and make a move. I had my teammate right behind me and I was looking forward to that opportunity.”

    “After last weekend, we blew three tires and burned the car to the ground,” Bowyer continued. “To get things turned around on a positive note, we finished Talladega without a crash.”

    Biffle posted his sixth top-10 finish in 23 races and Bowyer posted his ninth top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: Risk was not worth the reward for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who elected to ride in the rear in the waning laps to avoid the craziness of the finish. Although Junior led the second-most laps in the race, he finished 26th in his National Guard Chevrolet.

    “We already got a win and like I said, I’ve been in too many late-race wrecks,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I didn’t want to be no part of it. And there were three or four there we dodged pretty good.”

    “So, we’ve got a car in one piece,” Junior continued. “You have to have that track position at the end and we didn’t have it. We didn’t tear up our car and we will go to Daytona and try to manage the strategy.”

    Not Surprising: Talladega makes for friendships formed on the fly and that is exactly what happened between AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

    “I really thought I had messed us up there and that last restart I’ve got to thank Paul Menard,” the driver of the No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet said. “He just kept shoving me all the way up through the inside of guys.”

    “We had a really fast Richmond/Menards/Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Chevrolet all weekend,” Menard said. “It was really good at the end. On the last restart just pushed the hell out of AJ (Allmendinger) and wound up being okay.”

    Surprising: Both David’s, Ragan (defending race winner) and Gilliland, who are traditionally good at plate racing, had a pretty rough day at the race track.

    Gilliland’s engine gave way on his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, while Ragan was involved in a very hard hit during one of the race’s many wrecks.

    “I thought my car was good,” Gilliland said. “We got in that accident and I don’t know if the motor got a little warm when we opened up the duct work, but it just wasn’t our day.”

    “It looked like someone got turned in the middle or the bottom lane and we were just kind of minding our own business up top and all I saw was some cars coming up toward us,” Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 34 KFC Ford, said. “There was nothing you could do.”

    “It’s just a shame that when somebody makes a mistake it takes out a bunch of race cars.”

    Not Surprising:   Young Kyle Larson was the highest finishing rookie…again, this time bringing his car home not only in one piece but in the ninth position. This was the fifth top-10 finish for the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and he sits in the 13th position in the point standings.

    “I spent most of the day just — well, pretty much all day just trying not to make any spectacular moves to put myself in a bad spot to get in a wreck,” Larson said. “Just wanted to stay out of trouble. We’ve been making up a lot of points throughout the year after Daytona, and to come back to another superspeedway, I was really nervous.”

    “Glad to get a good finish and stay up there in points.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick had one major complaint about her race at Talladega. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet was, well, just plain hot.

    “It was a hot day here in Talladega,” Patrick said after finishing 22nd. “I dropped back to get some clean air. Heating was definitely an issue. It really limited me to the bottom lane.”

    “I was getting hot a lot,” Patrick continued. “I think you saw that from a lot of cars.”

    Not Surprising: There were many drivers that were not only happy to have ‘Dega in the rear view mirror but were also glad for a good, safe finish to the race.

    “It was crazy, but everybody did a really good job,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “The racing was pretty good. It was really intense, but safe I thought relative to what we’ve seen in the past.”

    “I expected a few of the big wrecks and tried to avoid those and did exactly that,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford said. “We didn’t end up on our roof, so it was a solid day and we’ll go on.”

    NASCAR next visits Kansas Speedway for some Saturday night racing under the lights in the 5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

     

  • Bittersweet Outcome For Greg Biffle at Talladega Superspeedway

    Bittersweet Outcome For Greg Biffle at Talladega Superspeedway

    Greg Biffle reassured his presence in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after finishing second in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon. However, he’s still scratching his head on what could have been had his crew advised him that there was debris spread across the start/finish line.

    “When I got back around (to the frontstretch), I was wondering why nobody told me that there was half of a car laying in the track,” Biffle explained following the runner-up finish, “and that we probably weren’t going to race back so go ahead and try and pass (Denny Hamlin) now, but that’s a lot to happen in a short amount of time.”

    Biffle, 43, was also baffled at the timing of NASCAR’s decision to throw the caution. He was led to believe once the machines roared through the first two corners that they’d be able to conclude the race under green flag conditions but obviously that wasn’t the result.

    “We were about halfway down the back stretch I guess and I thought when I saw the smoke that (it) was (time) to make a decision to go or not, then I decided to wait,” Biffle further expressed. “I figured once we got in the middle of one and two (that) the caution wasn’t going to come out. I figured, okay, we’re good all the way back.”

    He led a season-high 58 laps of the 188 scheduled after beginning the famed race in the 35th starting position, yet, he was still craving more, respectively.

    “I just wish I was where (Hamlin) was on that final restart,” Biffle explained about the final few circuits. “But it was pretty satisfying to finish — once the outside lane got a push there towards the end and I got shuffled back to about third row and we were three wide, I was nervous that I wasn’t going to (finish). But I was extremely happy with second.”

    Nevertheless, this becomes Biffle’s season-best finish, bettering his fifth place showing at Darlington Raceway last month, and an ideal time nonetheless.

    “I mean, it’s sort of bittersweet for us,” Biffle added. “We’ve run a little bit better in the last couple weeks, and I wasn’t sure how we were going to run here. I was extremely happy with the speed my car had on Friday and then today all day. We’ve still got some work to do, but it sure would have been nice to get a win toward the Chase, but we’ve got some great racetracks coming up, as well. It would have been nice (though).”

    Now, Biffle heads to Kansas Speedway, a track he’s scored triumphs at on two prior occasions and this time, due to the Chase format, he’s willing to risk everything to visit victory lane.

    “I’d be super excited to win there to start with, but to be a guy to win — first guy to win three (at Kansas) would be pretty neat,” Biffle expressed about Kansas next weekend. “I love that racetrack. It’s a lot of fun to race on, puts on a good race.”

    Biffle will continue seeking a victory and eventual Chase berth, and now, after a runner-up finish, momentum and confidence could prove to be a ‘funny thing’ in upcoming races for the former NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series champion.