Talladega Race a Winner

April 30, 2007

By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

As restrictor plate races go, some are good and lately, most have been rather tame, and have even been called boring by some. But the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday was anything but tame or boring.

Let’s start with qualifying. Stewart is sitting up in the pole position most of the day when it is time for the go-or-go-homers to qualify. Most of the cars ran really well relegating truly the slowest of the cars to going home. Joe Nemecheck and Ken Schrader went out and set blistering laps down with Joe stealing the pole and Schrader not far behind in third. It was great to see those two back up front and running well. Even good ol’ boy Sterling Marlin made the race.

In many races so far this year you would be hard pressed to find your favorite driver anywhere on the screen if he is not in the lead or involved in a wreck. Not so on Sunday, where the drivers were changing positions quickly and often and the cars were packed together so densely that at times it was hard to see some of the cars.

Only a handful of times did the leaders get really strung out and with driver like Johnson, Busch, Newman, Gordon and others having issues, the cameras were forced to follow them around, thus giving more time to the rest of the gang.

It seemed like the drivers were being very careful and not cause a wreck and even managed to avoid each other at times when it looked like a wreck was imminent. Carl Edwards appeared to be running way too much camber and kept blowing tires and hitting the wall, but avoided causing a wreck each time.

Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray tangled near the end of the race -- and somehow avoided spinning each other out and causing a major wreck. That was two of the best saves of the year so far in my opinion.

Only at the end of the race as things got tight did drivers run out of room and start bouncing around. Unfortunately, the first big wreck took out several of the top contenders including Tony Stewart, who looked well on his way to winning the Cup race -- as well as winning the Nationwide Series race on Saturday.

Instead, teammate Kyle Busch came from a lap down to win. The Gibbs Racing Toyota’s looked to be the class of the field once again. They have three excellent drivers but also seem to have found crucial extra horsepower.

In what I hope is going to be a new found drafting scheme, two car drafts seemed to have the ability to pass and grab the lead. You no longer need large car packs strung together to get the lead, which really enhances the racing and viewing experience. I don’t know if it is the new car or what, but that was some exciting racing. While I hate the car and the racing so far on the 1.5-mile tracks, it seemed racy and stable at Talladega.

Juan Pablo Montoya keeps getting closer to his first oval win. With 2 more restrictor plate races and 2 road courses yet to come, he just might be able to string together enough top fives and a couple of wins to get into the Chase. And speaking of the Chase, Jeff Gordon is still outside the top twelve and his frustration is starting to show. But Gordon is an ace on the road courses and restrictor plate races as well, so don’t count him out of it yet.

And before we all get on the Montoya/Mears/Kvapil/Ragan bandwagon, it was Talladega folks. Restrictor plate racing is an unusual and unique form of racing so keep that in mind.

We get back to the real racing this weekend under the lights at Richmond.

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.

Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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