Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday,
November 1. Race: Amp Energy 500. Site: Talladega Speedway. Track: 2.66-mile
tri-oval superspeedway. Start time: 1:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 188. Miles: 500.
Defending winner: Tony Stewart. Television: ABC. Radio: Motor Racing Network
(MRN)/SIRIUS XM Satellite.
It's Talladega, the "wild-card," the "crap-shoot" in the 10-race Chase, and
points leader Jimmie Johnson is hoping to leave the final restrictor-plate
event of the season unscathed. Johnson finished second last Sunday at
Martinsville and padded his lead to 118 points.
Talladega is the Chase race which the title contenders fear the most, since
the unpredictable can happen there, including the "big one," a major pileup
involving numerous drivers.
Johnson has finished second and ninth in the last two fall races at Talladega,
but finished 30th there in April when he was involved in a 10-car incident
in the closing laps. If Johnson has a good finish at Talladega this weekend,
it should be clear sailing for him the remainder of this season, as he
attempts to win his unprecedented fourth straight Cup championship.
"Talladega, there's no telling, but I feel good with the other tracks after
that as long as we don't have any mechanicals," said Johnson, who is the
sentimental favorite to win this year's title.
Mark Martin finished eighth at Martinsville and remained second in points.
After skipping Talladega as part of his 2007-08 limited Cup schedule, Martin
finished 43rd in his return at the track earlier this year. He was involved in
the first big pileup. The 50-year-old driver doesn't exactly consider
Talladega as one of his favorite tracks.
"No, it's not," Martin said. "But that is why it's time for it to pay. It's my
turn. Why not go there? To me it's my opportunity to really get back into the
running for it. So I plan on going there and driving like I know I am not
going to wreck."
When the series last competed at Talladega, the final lap concluded with Brad
Keselowski, a Nationwide Series regular, crossing the finish line first and
Carl Edwards violently crashing into the catch fence along the frontstretch.
Ryan Newman held the lead on the final restart with four laps to go. Dale
Earnhardt Jr. ran behind Newman's bumper heading into the final lap, but
Edwards, with help from Keselowski, shot past the two front runners.
As they approached the line, Keselowski attempted to pass, but Edwards blocked
as the two drivers made contact. Edwards spun, hit Newman and then sailed into
the fence.
"I did learn something about the end of the race -- block once," said Edwards,
who has yet to win a Cup race this season after leading the series with nine
victories last year. "I probably won't block twice, but I feel good about it.
I think that wreck showed me you can have a pretty good wreck and walk away
from it."
After his crash, Edwards climbed out of his battered car and ran across the
finish line to fictitiously complete his 188th and final lap. He ended up
finishing 24th.
Eight spectators sustained minor injuries when they were struck by debris from
Edwards' car. None of the injuries were life-threatening. Track officials
recently raised the fence along the frontstretch by eight feet as a safety
precaution.
"Hopefully, they made the screens tighter -- the holes in the fence smaller --
and hopefully we don't have anything like that happen again," Edwards added.
Jeff Gordon, currently third in points (-150), leads all active drivers with
six wins at Talladega.
Tony Stewart is the defending race champion. Regan Smith crossed the finish
line first, but NASCAR ruled Smith passed Stewart below the yellow line and
awarded Stewart with the victory. NASCAR rules state that any driver advancing
their position below the yellow line at Talladega or Daytona is out-of-bounds
and therefore considered illegal.
Stewart survived two major wrecks in a race that featured a whopping 64 lead
changes among 28 drivers.
"Everybody kind of crosses their fingers when we go to Talladega because one
mistake or not even a mistake, just two different guys going two different
directions can make it a big deal," Stewart said.
Stewart heads to Talladega fourth in points (-192).
Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Amp
Energy 500.
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