Johnson holds off Bowyer by 0.002 seconds for first win of the season
(c) CIA Stock Photo
Jimmie Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds, about a foot, on Sunday to win the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. This also ties the closest finish in NASCAR Sprint Cup history (2003 at Darlington).
“We were just the lucky guy at the end with a good run. We had some big mo on our side, and off we went.” Johnson said.
This was Johnson’s first win of the season and 54th of his Sprint Cup career.
Johnson and teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. laid back most of the day but made their move coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap. They passed Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. With just enough of a push from Earnhardt Jr., Johnson stayed just in front of Clint Bowyer to win.
“I can’t thank Junior enough. He made the decision that my car was faster leading. And the way these things are finishing up, the lead car’s going to get the win.” Johnson said.
Bowyer finished second, Gordon third, Earnhardt Jr. fourth and Kevin Harvick finished fifth.
“With as crazy as it gets in these closing laps, sometimes a third is almost like a victory at these type of race tracks.” Gordon said.
The race had 26 leaders with 88 lead changes, tying the record set in last year’s spring race at Talladega.
Unofficial Race Results
Aaron’s 499, Talladega Superspeedway
April 15, 2011, Race 8 of 36
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Pos. Driver Make Pts.
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1 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 47
2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 44
3 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 42
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 41
5 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 40
6 Carl Edwards Ford 39
7 Greg Biffle Ford 38
8 Mark Martin Chevrolet 37
9 David Gilliland Ford 35
10 Joey Logano Toyota 35
11 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 33
12 Paul Menard Chevrolet 33
13 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 32
14 David Reutimann Toyota 30
15 Regan Smith Chevrolet 30
16 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29
17 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 27
18 Kurt Busch Dodge 27
19 Andy Lally * Ford 25
20 Robby Gordon Dodge 24
21 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 24
22 Casey Mears Toyota 23
23 Denny Hamlin Toyota 21
24 Bobby Labonte Toyota 21
25 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 20
26 Bill Elliott Chevrolet 18
27 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 18
28 Michael Waltrip Toyota 16
29 Travis Kvapil Ford 0
30 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 14
31 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 0
32 Marcos Ambrose Ford 13
33 Brad Keselowski Dodge 12
34 Terry Labonte Ford 10
35 Kyle Busch Toyota 10
36 Matt Kenseth Ford 9
37 Kasey Kahne Toyota 8
38 Brian Vickers Toyota 6
39 David Ragan Ford 6
40 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
41 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
42 Steve Park Chevrolet 0
43 Kevin Conway Toyota 0
Aaron’s 499; Hendrick’s Dueling Duos
In Daytona it was the Daytona Duos, in Talladega it was Dueling Duos that won the race for Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports. With big help from wingman and team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson got the push he needed to win the Aaron’s 499 today.
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[/media-credit]The race started off with Hendrick power that filled the front two rows with pole sitter Jeff Gordon and Johnson on the front row. Mark Martin started third, Earnhardt Jr. fourth. Those positions left Martin pushing Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. pushing Johnson when the green flag flew.
The racing looks to be duos from now on with the aero package and engines that are being used at both of the plate Superspeedways. To be in front of the field, you had to be a two driver team to keep up the speed. The race started off with the Hendrick drivers working together and that’s how they ended the race was in the same position.
Gordon was fighting an illness but it did not seem to slow him down. The team of Martin and Gordon ran mid pack or even back of the pack for the majority of the race while Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. ran the front for a number of laps, but they too joined Gordon and Martin in the back to avoid any incidents during the course of the race.
The two driver method, with drivers that could work with each other, proved to be the essential key today. You could see a team start four to six seconds back and with the draft from the other teams in front of them, sent them like a rocket to suck them forward into the lead.
The strong teams would see 88 lead changes. Hendrick and Richard Childress Racing would be the most dominant teams on the track, while Roush and Gibbs could not yet find the right match to have strong consistent runs during the race.
Clint Bowyer with teammates Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard would advance to the front many times where Bowyer led the most laps with 38. The fans would also see many unusual combinations of Dave Blaney and Kevin Harvick work together several times to run up front as well as Kurt and Kyle Busch.
Regan Smith, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. would hook up with several different drivers during the race. The key though was working within your own teams’ race shop. Gordon and Martin never left each other during the entire race which was the case with Johnson and Earnhardt Jr.
Bowyer worked with Burton for most of the race. Butin the end he would team up with Harvick. They seemed to be making the move for the win at the end but Johnson just had too much of a run. During the race, a team could power away from the field if you did not stay glued to each other on the track. Three to four distinct packs ran the track today. Some would be the front runners that would want to remain in front, the first middle group that would be the drivers who swapped front and rear positions to not overheat the cars.
The third group were those waiting for the big one or waiting for the last laps of the race to make a move. In the back were drivers that really did not have someone to draft with.
The end of the race would be the most exciting as Gordon/Martin passed Edwards/Biffle who were running in front on the last lap. On the back stretch Bowyer and Harvick ran the high line while Gordon/Martin are next to the yellow line. Johnson/Earnhardt power start to close in on the top four as they entered turn three.
By turn three Johnson/Earnhardt shoot to the middle to make something happen, but they cannot move forward. Coming out of turn four Johnson/Earnhardt drop to the yellow line with enough room to grab the inside where Gordon/Martin could not make a move.
In the tri-oval Johnson/Earnhardt start to muscle their way inch by inch to the front. Its three wide two team driving as all six drivers are side by side. It appeared that Johnson’s move past Martin may have been below the line. NASCAR officials said there was no violation.
At the line, by .002 seconds, Johnson wins the race in front of Bowyer. Gordon takes third, Earnhardt fourth, Harvick fifth. Martin was shuffled back to eighth as Edwards and Biffle made a comeback on the outside of Bowyer and Harvick to take sixth and seventh.
Johnson would take home his 54th victory in 335 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This was Johnson’s second win at Talladega and his first for the year.
The 88 lead changes ties an all-time NSCS record set back at this track a year ago.
Carl Edwards is your unofficial points leader by 5 points over Johnson.
Lap-By-Lap coverage
Talladega Tandem, Dega Duo, Two for Two, whatever you call it, that is going to be the big story for the day. The fans saw the most lead changes in the Nationwide race yesterday, I know we will see it happen today.
Hendrick Motorsports heads the first two rows as Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are on the front row with Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rule the second row. The Hendrick drivers have the duo aspect covered for us at the start, we will see how long that holds up.
Lap 14 Johnson with Earnhardt’s pushing takes the lead for the first time today. They have been hooked up for the entire time so far. Lap 16 the two swap for the second time and drop back to 14th and 15th within ten seconds.
Lap 18 Bowyer and Waltrip are on point, Kahne and Vickers , Cassill and Kurt Busch, Burton and Kenseth are the main groups are front.
Lap 21 Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are teamed up. We have a twelve car breakaway at the moment. Lap 22 Kurt Busch has Cassill pushing him to the lead. Vickers and Kahne are teamed up. Waltrip is pushing Bower, Ragan has Menard for his help.
Lap 25 Kyle Busch and Logano are the leaders with Ragan/Menard second.
YELLOW FLAG lap 27 in turn two as Kurt Busch is offset from Cassill which sends him into the team of Kahne and Vickers. One Red Bull car of Vickers heads into the outside wall while the other Red Bull of Kahne heads to the infield while others scatter. With the scattering we see some collateral damage between the duos being nose to tail. All the drivers head to pit road. Bowyer, Waltrip, Burton, Kyle Busch and Menard are the top five. Vickers heads to the garage .
GREEN FLAG lap 32 as Childress teammates of Bowyer and Burton are hooked up take the lead. Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski are teamed up to move up towards the front. Lap 37 a noteworthy move sees Trevor Bayne and Carl Edwards rocketing to the front, but only for a short time as the drivers have to swap for clean air.
Lap 39 Kenseth has help from Ragan with Logano and Kyle Busch close in on the front. Lap 40 Burton pushed by Bowyer, Kenseth by Ragan with a majority of the field teamed up. Kahne is hooked up with a lap down driver of David Gilliland to hold third.
Lap 45 Regan Smith is Menard is in front. Lap 46 Burton and Bowyer are back in front.
Lap 50 your top twenty drivers are Kenseth, Ragan, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Burton, Bowyer, Allmendinger, Reutimann, Biffle, Bayne, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Logano, Ryan Newman, Hamlin and Smith.
Lap 54 Earnhardt and Johnson take the lead. Lap 55 it’s Earnhardt / Johnson versus Biffle / Kenseth for the lead. Lap 57 there are several distinct pack in the field.
Lap 59 Biffle / Bayne run the front with Kenseth / Ragan, Earnhardt / Johnson, Kurt Busch / Keselowski, Bowyer / Burton in tow. Lap 62 the top seven groups are within 1 second of each other. Keselowski / Kurt Busch are two seconds back then it’s another two seconds to the next group of four teams. The front row of Martin and Gordon run 25th and 26th run ten seconds from the second group.
Lap 67 Earnhardt / Johnson are back in front. So far there have been 36 lead changes. We are about 5 laps away from green flag stops. Lap 69 Robby Gordon and Casey Mears come into pit road followed by Edwards and Marcos Ambrose, Juan Palo Montoya and Jamie McMurray.
Lap 71 Logano and Kyle Busch are in. Lap 72 Earnhardt and Johnson are in. Lap 73 Bayne, Biffle, Martin Truex Jr. and another are in. Martin and Jeff Gordon are in. The big thing is with the team pitting it kind of throws off the other team racers near the entrance to pit road, causing the at speed drivers to scatter to the middle of the track. Lap 75 Bowyer and Burton are in for a stop.
Lap 75 your top five groups are Johnson / Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman / Kyle Busch, Bobby Labonte / Truex Jr., Kenseth / Ragan and Smith / Menard. The field is spread out by a huge margin. The top six groups are spread out by four seconds.
Lap 80 David Reutimann and A.J. Allmendinger come up through the ranks where Burton and Bowyer take advantage of their run. To move up and push Johnson / Earnhardt Jr. back to 7th and 8th.
YELLOW FLAG lap 90 in turn three as Kurt Busch is offset into the back of Keselowski to send him into the outside line and the back of Ambrose against the wall. For some weird reason Ragan was locking up his car behind Kenseth then looks like his car burst into flames for a few seconds. Keselowski comes down sideways, just missing Ragan causing him to spin in a reaction to the crash. Kahne has all the action pop up in front of him where he nails one of the cars. Kahne’s car is engulfed in flames as he heads down the apron of turn four.
The field heads to pit road for the third stop of the day. Out of the pits we see Menard, Kurt Busch, Smith, Kyle Busch and Bowyer are the first five back to the track.
GREEN FLAG lap 97 and on the backstretch we see Bowyer and Burton pull to the lead. Lap 98 brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch hop into the lead. Lap 99 Hamlin / Logano are in the mix. Lap 100 new players in the mix are Dave Blaney / Kevin Harvick that move into the lead. Lap 101 Edwards moves into the lead with help from Biffle.
Lap 105 your top twenty drivers are Reutimann, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Edwards, Biffle, Mears, Smith, Menard, Bowyer, Burton, Harvick, Bobby Labonte, Yeley, Terry Labonte, Newman, Kenseth, Truex Jr. and Waltrip. So far there have been 50, yes 50 lead changes so far and we still have 83 laps to go. 2 cautions have been on the track for about 6 laps. The 50 lead changes have been among 22 leaders.
Lap 110 Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch jump back into the lead while Bobby Labonte and Truex Jr. are in the mix. Bill Elliott who started the race has J.J. Yeley driving the car with help from Terry Labonte who is pushing from behind, now join the action in front.
Lap 118 (70 to go) it’s Childress racing versus Gibbs racing for the lead and up in the middle come Blaney and Harvick for the lead. Lap 125 we see a five team race in the front. Two seconds back we see another five pack with a small separation to 21st place Bobby Labonte leading a large pack of drivers that has a mix of teams and singles.
YELLOW FLAG lap 127 for debris. Robby Gordon is the lucky dog. 28 lead lap drivers will head into pit road. Smith, Menard, Bowyer, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Reutimann, Blaney and Harvick are in the top ten. 62 lead changes so far.
GREEN FLAG lap 132 as we see six of the two groups work on each other for the lead. Lap 135 (53 to go) Blaney and Harvick lead Kyle Busch and Logano. Lap 138 Waltrip almost tags Johnson in turn two.
YELLOW FLAG lap 139 as Logano pushes Kyle Busch from behind too hard which sends Busch into Kenseth in the path of Newman, Allmendinger, Reutimann, Hamlin Bobby Labonte and McMurray. All the drivers scatter to avoid the spinning Kyle Busch and Kenseth.
From pit road we see Harvick, Burton, Bowyer, Menard and Kurt Busch in front.
GREEN FLAG lap 144 and 44 to go. By turn three Harvick and Bowyer take off from the field for a few seconds. 41 to go as Menard is offset from Burton which Burton is on the apron and a big, huge save.
39 to go it looks like somebody hit the let’s go switch up front as we see Truex Jr. with help from Reutimann score the front point with Harvick and Bowyer on the outside followed by Burton Menard, Kurt Busch / Logano, Blaney and Smith and three other two driver packs.
35 to go as McMurray / Montoya battle with Blaney / Smith for the lead. 33 to go as Blaney / Smith lead Bowyer / Harvick and Montoya / McMurray with Burton / Menard and Kurt Busch / Logano.
30 to go Bowyer / Harvick lead. 29 to go Truex Jr. / Reutimann challenge for the lead. Martin / Jeff Gordon have moved past Johnson / Earnhardt Jr. into 16th and 17th.
YELLOW FLAG 25 to go for debris. Bowyer and Harvick lead.
GREEN FLAG with 20 to go and into 19 to go Bowyer and Burton have the lead followed by Smith and Menard, Montoya / McMurray who pass Bowyer and Burton.
18 to go Newman / Hamlin make a move to the front and as they do in turn three, Hamlin turns Newman into Montoya where Montoya holds his car in place and the dirt track skills of Newman saves a big wreck. Montoya has major damage to the right side of his car.
YELLOW FLAG and 14 to go as it looks like the front left tire might have let go from Newman’s car coming out of turn two. Another big save by Newman and he does not hit the inside wall. Montoya brings his car to pit road and the tire is so bent in that on the yellow flag lap you can see the tire start to peel away causing a long string of the tire is flapping in the air. No takers to pit road from the front of the field. Newman remains on the lead lap.
GREEN FLAG with 11 to go and the front row starter of Jeff Gordon and wingman Mark Martin had the lead for a moment.
9 to go as Harvick and Bowyer are on the outside with Johnson / Earnhardt in tow.
8 to go Blaney and Kurt Busch followed by Jeff Gordon and Martin, Truex Jr. and Reutimann.
7 to go we have 20 drivers within two seconds of a gap.
6 to go Blaney / Kurt Busch, Truex Jr . / Reutimann, Johnson / Earnhardt Jr.
5 to go it’s big time game on with 5 packs of two drivers led by Edwards and Biffle.
4 to go Edwards / Biffle, Bowyer / Harvick, Earnhardt / Johnson, Jeff Gordon / Martin
2 to go Bowyer and Harvick on the outside of Edwards / Biffle
WHITE FLAG as Gordon / Martin pass Edwards / Biffle. On the back stretch Bowyer and Harvick run the high line while Gordon and Martin are next to the yellow line. Johnson with Earnhardt power start to close in on the top four as they enter turn three.
By turn three Johnson / Earnhardt shoot to the middle to make something happen, but they cannot move forward, so coming out of turn four Johnson / Earnhardt drop to the yellow line with enough room to grab the inside where Gordon / Martin cannot make a move.
In the tri-oval Johnson and Earnhardt start to muscle their way inch by inch to the front. It’s three wide two team driving as all six drivers are side by side. Earnhardt taps the door of Martin and they all keep going.
At the line by 1/1000th of a second, Johnson wins the race in front of Bowyer. Gordon takes third, Earnhardt fourth, Harvick fifth. Martin was shuffled back to eighth as Edwards and Biffle made a comeback on the outside of Bowyer and Harvick to take sixth and seventh.
David Gilliland and Logano round out your top ten.
The race lasted for over three hours. We saw 88 lead changes among 27 drivers. 6 cautions came out.
Talladega’s Spring Homecoming
Even a Tornado didn’t phase Talladega. She stood through the wind and the rain with her ever foreboding presence. She set the example for those that would compete on her legendary high banks over the next two days; the howling wind seemed to echo the secret of success here, as it blew down her straight a ways. Never give up. No Hesitation. No Fear.
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[/media-credit]Although Friday night saw the drivers coach area evacuated to storm shelters at the track, Saturday morning brought Alabama Blue Skies and a day full of racing. The ARCA race would find a long time favorite coming oh so close to victory and losing it by a nose to ARCA rookie Ty Dillion, but Frank Kimmel showed the dominance on the day until the final 1000 yards.
The Cup qualifying would show historical milestone achieved with 1 through 4 starting positions for Hendrick Motorsports. It was only the third time in history that a single team would lock up the top spots to start a race. Owner Pete DePaolo’s cars started 1-5 at Concord, N.C., in 1956; cars owned by Jack Roush claimed the top four spots on the grid at Fontana in 2005, and now Talladega in 2011 with HMS.
Pole sitter Jeff Gordon stated that qualifying was a “snoozer” and that he could have walked faster than he qualified. The field would not break 180 mph in qualifying at NASCAR’s fastest track.
The Nationwide Series race would go off as scheduled on Saturday afternoon. It would be nothing more than a long drawn out wreck fest that would see an unlikely winner in Kyle Busch. Busch’s car which had been severely damaged in a lap 88 on track altercation had very little right rear quarter panel left on it and it was battered at both ends. The car in victory lane looked more like it had survived a short track race than won a super speedway race.
Second place Joey Logano, stated after the race, “I don’t know why we even go to the wind tunnel when we end up with cars that look like this.” Third place Joe Nemecheck laughed and said, “I haven’t been to the wind tunnel in 3 years.”
The race saw some very surprising finishers with Nemecheck and Mike Wallace leading for a short while at the end of the race. Wallace would end up on his roof and landing on all four wheels at the last “green -white -checkered” finish. Wallace said he wasn’t going to quit so he re-fired the car and drove around to an 18th place lead lap finish.
Wallace’s roll over would bring out the final caution on the white flag lap allowing Kyle Busch to win the race at the timing line just past the accident. Busch was leading at the time of the caution and the field by NASCAR rules is frozen by the yellow.
The race was a display of the two car draft and what can happen within it. The race was stopped twice for red flags and major accidents. Including the big one which saw 21 cars involved on lap 88.
The race on Sunday was more of the same with less wrecks. It’s finish was exciting and dynamic with Jimmie Johnson taking the lead half way through the tri -oval with a push from team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr. The finish which was the closest in NASCAR history saw the 48 beat Clint Bowyer by .002 seconds. The 4 pairs of cars wide finish was one of the most exciting in the history of the sport without exception.
Johnson who said he didn’t lift after the start finish line because he didn’t know whether it was the checkered flag lap or not found out he won when team mate Dale Jr came over the radio and said, “Damn I think the 48 won it.” Johnson who gave the checkered flag of the race to team mate Dale Jr whom he worked with all day as a tandem, said Dale didn’t want to take the flag but did so reluctantly on pit road. “We definitely wouldn’t have won the race without Dale.”
Clint Bowyer finished second in the BB&T Chevrolet said, “We did everything we could do. The BB&T Chevrolet, she did everything she could do.” When asked if it was good to be second in the closest finish in NASCAR history Bowyer replied, “Hell, no, that sucks (laughing). It’s never very good to know you made NASCAR history by losing. Sooner or later I need to start making history by winning. (JJ’s) won enough (more laughing).”
Jeff Gordon who finished third stated, “The race is really only about 25 laps long. You spend the rest of the day setting up the finish.” Gordon who ran in the back with team mate Mark Martin for most of the day made his charge to the front with 22 laps to go and was leading on the back stretch of the final lap. He was passed by the tandem of Bowyer and Harvick out of three with Carl Edwards/Greg Biffle coming quickly on the outside setting up the dramatic finish at the line.
The race was not without it’s controversy. This one started and encouraged and in fact fueled by a member of the press. It would seem that it was felt by some that Jimmie Johnson passed Mark Martin below the yellow line in the process of taking the lead. Photo’s from AP photographer, Butch Dill, show the 48 and the 88 with left side tires on the yellow line. Neither car is below the double yellow line but both are on the double yellow line.
In post race media conference Johnson was asked about the situation, He said he was not even aware that they were that close to the yellow line and that he had been told before entering the media center about it. He stated that he had asked NASCAR and been told, “we were clear.” NASCAR Vice President Steve Odonnell stated on Twitter, “Great finish, we don’t see any evidence of 48 gaining a position below yellow, Car needs to be below and tires are not even below, this is not close.”
Interestingly enough the controversy was spurred not by a fellow competitor but by a member of the media. It is interesting that in the unbiased can not applaud or shake hands with a winner world of “professional” journalism that one individual would go to such great lengths to try to discredit the win of a 5 time champion. This rule has been debated ad nauseum since it’s inception. We have seen it’s bad side. We have seen it’s good side. Not once has NASCAR ever hesitated to call the yellow line rule. Not for anyone. So it seems strange that they would be questioned to the extent of searching out photo’s to prove the reporter right.
The real story of Talladega had nothing to do with the finish but in truth the other 350 laps of Surrey racing with cars. Drivers from Jeff Gordon to Dale Jr and Kevin Harvick all expressed their dislike for the new two car draft. Dale Earnhardt Jr went so far as to call it, “crap” . In post race Jimmie Johnson said, “It was fun. But if I had been in a wreck I would probably be bitching and moaning about it.”
The truth is honestly how safe is it to drive 180 mph with 42 other cars while driving blind folded? That is essentially what these guys were doing. You can not legally text and drive due to the dangers of accidents while you do it. But these drivers are trying to change radio channels and talk to different drivers and spotters and drive blind half the time.
When you add in to the mix the instability of the race cars themselves when being pushed down the straightaways and tri ovals you have a disaster waiting to happen.
Constantly we will hear about the 88 lead changes and the closest finish in history, but in truth those statements and results are skewed. There were 88 lead changes between two car tandems so realistically you must actually divide that number by two.
The closest finish in history was very exciting yes. But the finish doesn’t make for a good race in it’s entirety. Frankly, it was a snoozer to borrow Jeff Gordon’s word for the first 320 laps. Cars were strung out in 2 car pairs. And most passing was as the cars switched positions and went backwards because of the lift factor to allow the pass. The pass has to be made to avoid blowing an engine up due to over heating because of the NASCAR grill mandates.
Then lets add the smaller restrictor plate. Frankly, Big Bill built Talladega to be the fastest track in the world. This weekend he would have been looking for a fix because the laps turned at Texas, where the pole speed was 189.820 mph, were in a lot of cases faster than the laps turned at Talladega, The world center of speed, where Jeff Gordon’s pole speed was 178.248 mph.
When we add all these things together, the common denominator is NASCAR. Again it appears that there are attempts to manipulate the competition and then tell us this is better. “You must not be a race fan if that finish didn’t excite you.” The finish did excite me. It was the rest of the race that was the problem.
“How can you not like 43 cars changing positions at 180 mph?” I do like to see cars making passes for position at 180 mph. But these passes are meaningless passes of survival.
Fox TV called it one of the most exciting races in NASCAR history. Really? For the last 22 laps it was pretty good. But it wasn’t as good as Richmond in 1991 when DW and Rusty Wallace raced side by side for the last 32 laps without ever touching one another. That was exciting. It wasn’t the 1998 Daytona 500 when the Intimidator finally won the big one. It wasn’t even as exciting as Bristol in 1991 when Rusty Wallace came from 4 laps down to win from the pole. Yes 4 laps down and there was no lucky dog. That was racing. That was exciting. This is surrey racing with cars. This is a winner who by himself would finish last.
Dale Jarrett said it best, “You can’t really race you have to have a dancing partner.” But this is not prom. These are not young men on shaky knees asking a pretty young girl to dance. These are 43 of the greatest stock car drivers in the world. And they need to be able to see where they are going. NASCAR would never let a blind man race. But they blind good men and ask them to dance in pairs at high speed. This is not racing. This is manipulation and a poor solution to ratings, empty seats and a kit car that the more changes they make to it the worse it becomes. NASCAR can measure a chassis that is off as close to half the thickness of a quarter, but they can’t seem to see where the real problem is. I guess there is truth to the cliché of the blind leading the blind. The problem is the teams, drivers, engineers and fans are not all blind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ **** ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Congratulations to Ty Dillion on his first career ARCA win. Congratulations to the pairing of Kyle Busch/Joey Logano of JGR on their NNS win. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson/Dale Earnhardt Jr on their Sprint Cup Victory for Hendrick Motorsports. Also congratulations to HMS team on making history with their 1 – 4 starting positions for the race. Especially congratulations to the Spotters on the roof who guided two car teams to the best of their ability without being able to remotely control the cars. You may not be driving them, but you did an awesome job of guiding them.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
All Eyes on the Aaron’s 499
NASCAR.com
Finally, it’s time for the Aaron’s 499 from Talladega Superspeedway! This track is exciting, but always tends to leave us with a reminder of how tough it is to win at the Superspeedway tracks. The big key to having a decent finish here, is not necessarily running up front the entire race, but trying to stay out of trouble.
In 2005, Dale Jarrett did just that. It was Dale’s last win as a Cup driver, ending his NASCAR Hall of Fame career victorious in a track that is too tough to tame! No one knows whether the big one will come in the beginning of the race or the end, which is tormenting for some drivers.
The biggest question I have going into the Aaron’s 499, “will this be another Daytona 500?” I think it will. As in most cases, I believe NASCAR will always have the fan’s interest, but at the same time, create a safe working environment for their drivers. NASCAR has once again regulated the restrictor plate size for Talladega, something that will drastically change the racing style here. The new plate is 3 sizes smaller than the old plate, which is less power than the previous races. The ARCA, and Nationwide series now has more power at Talladega, than the Sprint Cup Series, which I personally think is wrong. I want these drivers to remain safe, and they have been safe since the tragedy that took place in Daytona back in 2001, but at the same time, the previous races at Talladega has been pure excitement! I have a feeling that this race will once again be 2 car pair-up’s, and the key to getting to the front is finding that fast car. Will the Ford’s new FR9 engine allow them to push as well as they did in Daytona? This remains as a great question that will probably be answered sometime during Happy Hour.
When picking drivers at the Talladega Superspeedway, you may have better luck drawing names out of a hat. I didn’t do so bad last week, picking Matt Kenseth to win the Samsung Mobile 500. So, here are my picks for the Aaron’s 499:
Fantasy Picks:
Target: Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Carl Edwards
Avoid: Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth (although i’m not sold having him in the “avoid” .. might be a bargain pick)
Analysis: In the last 10 Talladega races, there have been nine different winners. Kenseth hasn’t had a top-10 since 2006, but don’t count him out, he has certainly turned a bunch of heads this year. Kyle Busch leads laps at Talladega, but doesn’t have the finishes to show it.
Bargain: Regan Smith should have won here in 2008 and Brad Keselowski did in 2009. The latter has three top-10 finishes in four starts.
Talladega Sprint Cup Schedule:
Friday 2pm~ Practice
Friday 3:30pm~ Practice
Saturday 11:30am~ Qualifying
Sunday 1pm~ Aaron’s 499
This track has the reputation of having “jaw-dropping” pure excitement, and I wouldn’t bet against that happening again this week.
Next Race: April 30th~ Richmond International Speedway
Until next time~ “Let’s go racin’ boys!”-DW
