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Gentlemen,
Start Your Engines!
And that’s
about as far as it went on Sunday. A few pace laps later and
the rain began to fall. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to
postpone the race a day.
Will
Farrell, the Grand Marshall for the race is probably used to
second takes, third takes, and any number of takes, after having
filmed several movies. But he wasn’t prepared for “take two” of
the command. On Monday it was done by the crowd, instead.
And what
of the bump draft? The Busch drivers showed that they could do
things the right way, bumping lightly and only on the straight
stretches of track, so that they didn’t cause a massive wreck at
the super speedway. Could the Cup drivers do the same? They
had some help from NASCAR by way of softer bumpers. The “No
Bump Zone” that was enforced at Daytona was also in place at
Talladega, except that this time, the “zone” encompassed the
entire track.
The first
“big” wreck happened only ten laps in, but it wasn’t caused by
bump drafting. It was caused by 5-wide racing into a turn. It
collected ten cars, ending the day early for many of them.
A couple
of cautions came out because of tires going down. A couple of
caution flags flew because of cars spinning out, but those
spin-outs weren’t caused by bump drafting.
Two
cautions near the end of the race was simply because Dale
Eanrhardt Jr’s engine “blew up. Quit Running”, and a dozen or
so laps later, the same thing happened to Bobby Labonte’s car.
But the
bump draft did NOT cause any major wrecks. Or at least not
until the last 20 laps or so. But with the end of the race in
sight, the drivers are naturally going to become much more
aggressive, making the packs tighter, banging against each other
more, and wrecking a few cars.
But things
have moved into the right direction in terms of cars not
slamming into each other throughout the restrictor plate races.
Is it because of the changes NASCAR made to the rules? Or is it
a case of the drivers being “smarter” on the track?
In the
end, Jimmie Johnson won another restrictor plate race, to go
along with his victory at Daytona earlier this year. And Tony
Stewart, after leading a lap early to continue his bonus point
streak and getting caught up in a spin by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
midway through the race, finished in second… for the third
straight time at Talladega.
They both
used the draft the way it should be used, as did several
other cars, be it with light bumping, or by pushing the air
between cars. And the cars that used it the right way ended up
at the front of the pack when they crossed the finish line. |
