No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. says Sunday’s restrictor-plate race at Talladega Superspeedway could be the most pivotal race in the 2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Last week’s sixth-place finish at Dover moved Truex to eighth place, 42 points out of first, after three of 10 Chase races. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver and his 11 Chase competitors know the high-speed, pack racing at Talladega is an easy way to quickly gain or lose points.
One of the main attractions at this year’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 Weekend is the return of the Miller Lite Infield Track Bar. Open until 2 a.m. Friday through Sunday, the bar serves up the coldest beer at the track and is a huge hub of excitement among race fans all weekend long. Over the years the bar has become the place to party and watch college football on Saturday.
This Week's Zaxby's Toyota Tundra ... John Wes Townley will pilot RAB Racing Chassis No. 46 in Saturday's Coca Cola 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. This chassis last saw action at Daytona International Speedway in the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250, where Travis Kvapil brought home a fourth-place finish.
Richard Childress began his driving career at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969 and leads team owners for the most all-time victories at the storied Ala. race track with 12 wins, including three of the last five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events. Dale Earnhardt visited Victory Lane nine times while Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer swept the 2010 events at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Bowyer added to the Welcome, N.C.-based organization's total by claiming RCR's 100th Sprint Cup Series win when NASCAR's senior series visited the facility in October 2011. In 137 starts, RCR has four pole awards, 37 top-five, 58 top-10 finishes and has led 1,789 laps of competition.
Kyle Busch returned to Dover (Del.) International Speedway Saturday making his 17th start as the owner-driver of his first-year No. 54 NASCAR Nationwide Series team. From a seventh-place starting spot, the Monster Energy crew and driver battled a rain worn race surface, cool track conditions and the car's loose handling, to register a fifth-place finish. The result was the team's 11th top-five grab of the season and Busch's seventh top-five finish of his career in the Nationwide Series at Dover.
Mix it up at the front of the pack? Race three-and-four wide in the middle of the pack? Try to avoid the "big one" by running behind the main pack? Jeff Gordon does not know which strategy to employ in Sunday's Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500. Nor does he know which one works best.
Gwaltney Foods, producer of quality bacon, franks, lunchmeats, sausage and hams, will wrap Aric Almirola's No. 43 Ford with its signature red and yellow colors for the October 7, 2012 race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 Weekend is only days away and with it comes a list of pre-race dignitaries that includes respected executives and stars of television and film.
Miguel Paludo and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) head to NASCAR's biggest track for this weekend's Coca-Cola 250 powered by fred's on Saturday afternoon. Paludo has one previous start at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, where he finished 18th in 2010. In the series' only other superspeedway stop on the schedule in 2012, Daytona International Speedway, Paludo became the first Brazilian to win an NCWTS pole. Paludo led for much of the race before a huge crash relegated him to a 30th-place finish.
