Talladega Cup Race Thread

[Jonesi]

46 cars on Entry List, 3 will DNQ, No Change to Top 35.
Top 35:
24 JEFF GORDON
48 JIMMIE JOHNSON
2 KURT BUSCH
14 TONY STEWART
11 DENNY HAMLIN
33 CLINT BOWYER
18 KYLE BUSCH
99 CARL EDWARDS
00 DAVID REUTIMANN
9 KASEY KAHNE
--
31 JEFF BURTON
17 MATT KENSETH
5 MARK MARTIN
16 GREG BIFFLE
42 JUAN P MONTOYA
29 KEVIN HARVICK
39 RYAN NEWMAN
83 BRIAN VICKERS
88 DALE EARNHARDT JR
12 DAVID STREMME
--
1 MARTIN TRUEX JR
07 CASEY MEARS
44 AJ ALLMENDINGER
26 JAMIE McMURRAY
55 MICHAEL WALTRIP
47 MARCOS AMBROSE
43 REED SORENSON
96 BOBBY LABONTE
19 ELLIOTT SADLER
6 DAVID RAGAN
--
77 SAM HORNISH JR
98 PAUL MENARD
20 JOEY L0GANO
34 JOHN ANDRETTI
7 ROBBY GORDON

GOGH
71 DAVID GILLILAND
82 SCOTT SPEED
78 REGAN SMITH
36 SCOTT RIGGS
87 JOE NEMECHEK
66 DAVE BLANEY
41 JEREMY MAYFIELD
09 BRAD KESELOWSKI
13 MAX PAPIS
64 GEOFF BODINE
50 ERIC McCLURE

[Jonesi]

#64 withdrawn, McDowell in #66 (Blaney had family commitment)

[e2mtt]

Brutal big one. ouch. Harvick, Gordon, Martin all done.

[e2mtt]

Another big one. 9 to go. Robby Gordon's life just got saved by safer-barrier. That was the worst kind of crash ever, where a car gets redirected head-on into a wall.

[call_me_andrew]

There goes my theory. The COT will hit the catchfence at Talladega.

I did like the Talladega Nights finish though.

[harvick#1]

once again, another Hendrick win :mark:

Newman needs a new pair of underwear after that, it looked like a bomb went off after the Edwards and Newman hit

[muggle not]

Good driving by kesleowski at the end. Blocking got it comeuppance.

Kenseth was about to drop out of the top 12 in points so he took out a third of the field.

[71minus2]

Wow! What a finish. The 99 got some serious altitude!
Fingers crossed nobody got hurt in the crowd, looked like a lot of debris went their way.

[e2mtt]

Good driving by kesleowski at the end. Blocking got it comeuppance.
...

I'd say over-aggressive blocking caused both Kyle Busch & Carl Edwards to take themselves out.

[muggle not]

I'd say over-aggressive blocking caused both Kyle Busch & Carl Edwards to take themselves out.
I agree. It is about time that the agressive blocking got put in its place.

[harvick#1]

I agree. It is about time that the agressive blocking got put in its place.

Nascar has never had the balls to penalize (unless its non-household names), they talk the talk, but can't walk the walk

[jeffmr2]

I thought Jeff Burton spinning Kyle Busch out at the front of pack was a real stupid piece of driving,although admitedly Kyle's blocking was a little over zealous at times.
I just have to mention also that i had £1 on Brad to win the race at 200-1 how cool is that !!!

On a more serious note i hope there werent any injuries in the crowd,ive heard from elswehere some people were stretchered away to the medical centre.

[call_me_andrew]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AvvGvUAxPtor97iDpaVF57nov7YF?slug=ap-nascar-fansinjured&prov=ap&type=lgns

[e2mtt]

Nascar has never had the balls to penalize (unless its non-household names), they talk the talk, but can't walk the walk

The last thing needed is more rules & penalties to be handed out at random. Let them race.

[RaceFanStan]

Another big one. 9 to go. Robby Gordon's life just got saved by safer-barrier. That was the worst kind of crash ever, where a car gets redirected head-on into a wall.
Yes, that straight-on hit into the wall looked terrible, it is the worst way to impact the wall.
I expected they would carry Robby Gordon off but thankfully the safer-barrier did it's job. :D :up:

[RaceFanStan]

I agree. It is about time that the agressive blocking got put in its place.
I think blocking should be STOPPED !!!

from another thread :

People don't want to talk about the real issue involved.
The yellow line rule is fine, the real issue is BLOCKING !!!
NASCAR needs to outlaw blocking & penalize drivers that perform it.
Drivers blocking has gotten out of hand & it is time NASCAR does something about it IMO.
IT'S CALLED RACING, blocking a driver from passing is NOT racing, it's stupid. http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/tongue-anim.gif

[harvick#1]

Talladega is not racing, its a demo derby worse than Bristol. the last one that shot Robby to the infield wall was a farce. Johnson told the media the right thing cause there were 2 idiots that didn't believe their race was over yet so they were doing bonzai moves and caused a big wreck, if Robby's hit was 100 feet later, he could be in critical condition right now.

the way the cars run today, the closing rate is so fast unlike the old cars where breakaways did happen

if they want to race at Dega and Daytona, fine, but drop the banking to 15-20 degrees so they have to left off the gas.

[71minus2]

Talladega is not racing, its a demo derby worse than Bristol.........if they want to race at Dega and Daytona, fine, but drop the banking to 15-20 degrees so they have to left off the gas.

The last few Bristol races have been a lot tamer with the new banking. However, reprofiling a race track 2 2/3 mile round would cost a load of money, which i doubt the track owners could afford.

I watched the race and the whole pack was trying to wreck from lap 1 thru to the end. Edwards flip and fence destroying crash was due to racing hard with the knowledge that these cars are safe - Michael McDowell proving this beyond doubt last year.

The fact remains that restricter plates gives too much of a level playing field and promotes pack racing. What is needed is an aero device which creates both drag and turbulent air, enough to reduce pack racing but not so much that it prevents it outright.

What happened yesterday at the end of the race was a rare and freak accident. Its very easy to have a knee-jerk reaction and spoil what is, generally, a safe sport. Like F1 did after Senna's death.

[Alexamateo]

Lots of good comments, I'd like to add a couple of thoughts.

It's hard to predict every scenario, and I think Carl's car would have come down alright and just hit the wall like normal, but it was launched by Newman's. Being the last lap, everybody was keeping their foot in it also was a contributing factor.

Speaking of Newman, when I first saw the accident, I was more worried about him being injured or killed by a part of Carls car intruding the cockpit than I was anybody else. It was scary the way the car hit the windshield.

Something being lost in the shuffle here is that a James Finch owned car won a race. This is as close as we're going to get to an independent/part-timer winning this day and age. In case anybody forgets, this is one of the infamous "start and park" cars of a few years ago, that caused an outrage when Joe Ruttman started a race at Rockingham and they didn't even have a pit crew.

Brad Keselowski only led one lap, and it's also the only lap he has led in Cup.

It was also one of the purest, unbridled joy victory lane celebrations I have seen in a long time. Congratulations Brad! You deserve it!

[71minus2]

The final lap crash was shown on the news here in the UK. Not a massive story but it's the first time for a long time NASCAR has been shown.

[willracefan]

we will never hear the end of it now since junior's prodigy won. it was a fluke win on a rp track. mike wallace has gotten top tens in that car. i dont think bk will translate well in cup.

[call_me_andrew]

The fact remains that restricter plates gives too much of a level playing field and promotes pack racing. What is needed is an aero device which creates both drag and turbulent air, enough to reduce pack racing but not so much that it prevents it outright.

Any aero device that makes downforce will make drag, and drag=turbulent air.

Even if the cars didn't have aero devices, they still have enough mechanical grip to drive around the track without lifting.

Even in the first Daytona 500, drivers noticed that with the steep banking, they never had to lift. That was 50 years ago.

I think the best solution would be to go with a tire that's been grooved à la F1. If taking away aero won't solve the problem, we'll take away mechanical grip.