October 8, 2008
By Chuck Abrams
What a race, with something for everyone. You got to see Jimmie Johnson fall so far behind it looked like his day was done. Then you got to see him get caught up and run with the leaders with the help of the ultimate insult, the Lucky Dog.
There were plenty of lead changes, a few blown tires, a couple versions of the 'Big One' and a green-white-checkers finish with plenty of controversy.
Unfortunately, not many of the top drivers were left in the race after the big wreck -- caused by Carl Edwards slam drafting Greg Biffle through a turn. We wound up with Tony Stewart racing against Paul Menard, Regan Smith and David Ragan for the win. Who???
Exactly.
Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer made the top ten but were never a threat to win, through most of the day. Kyle Busch had an up and down day, mostly down, but managed a 15th place finish. But the rest of the Chasers and better cars, including pole sitter Travis Kvapil, were sent packing through blown tires of one of two major wrecks.
A full race would have been really interesting had Dale Jr., Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth and others who were running up front most of the day not been taken out through no fault of their own. But that is what makes Talladega such a crapshoot. In the end, it was not one of Carl Edwards’ so-called “idiots” that caused the problems on Sunday. It was Carl himself and a few ill-timed blown tires. For the most part, this was a very well behaved, exciting race.
The restrictor plate package combined with the new car design causes the age-old bump drafting to turn into slam drafting. Only the very best of the drivers can make this trick work, and even a few of them run out of talent at some point. This Sunday we were treated to the best and worst of slam drafting. This type of racing will continue until someone gets hurt.
NASCAR claims that it will police the type of driving to ensure safety but obviously that is not happening. Aggressive driving and inexperience will one day cause an accident of such magnitude that NASCAR will be forced to retool its current restrictor plate racing package.
But in the meantime, congrats to Smoke for his return to Victory Lane at a track that he has never won at. It will be his last trip as a JGR employee and the last for quite a while -- as he starts his new team in 2009.
And congrats to Regan Smith for trying to pull off the upset win of his young life. He took what he thought was the appropriate action in passing Smoke only to find out that the rules were not necessarily the rules. Wow, what a shocker. NASCAR rules that change?
With just a six remaining races, Jimmie Johnson looks like the guy to beat. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle can easily rebound but it will mean they need to outpoint Johnson significantly in the remaining races. Burton and Bowyer took major leaps forward but only through the misfortune of the other drivers that were in front of them.
Mathematically, Harvick stands an outside chance but I think everyone else is done for the year. Not to say they can’t win a race, but their chances of coming from that far back, without one of the front runners having Kyle Busch-like luck, are slim and none.
In my humble opinion.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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