The key to winning at the Talladega Superspeedway is simple – stay out front to avoid the 'Big One' and have enough left to fight off challengers at the finish.
But the three, four and sometimes even five-wide, flat-out racing at the 2.66-mile Alabama tri-oval doesn’t make it easy. Add 33-degree banked turns and restrictor plate-enabled packs on NASCAR’s biggest track and it often becomes something of a lottery.
A restrictor plate is a device bolted between a car’s carburettor and engine intake manifold that reduces horsepower by limiting the amount of fuel mixture reaching the combustion chamber. Used at Daytona and Talladega, the restrictor plates keep the cars bunched up in tight formations where one miscue can lead to disaster. And make no mistake, it’s really a question of when — not if — the 'Big One' happens.
Drivers who manage to avoid trouble and lead into the run to the checkered flag have little guarantee they will even make it to the finish in Sunday's Amp Energy 500, especially in today’s lower downforce Car of Tomorrow (CoT).
“I think with this car [the CoT] — the way it sucks up, the way it passes — it’s very difficult to lead and it’s very easy for second place to get a run on first. And first will be going to block if it’s the last lap coming to the checkered flag,” Red Bull Toyota driver Brian Vickers said.
“I don’t know that you necessarily have to expect that the leaders are going to be wrecked, or that anyone is going to be wrecked for that matter. It’s really up to the drivers. The car has given them the opportunity to put themselves in this position, so you can definitely look to the car as to why it’s different now than it was prior to the CoT.”
Vickers knows all about how a leader can get wrecked at Talladega. In a last-lap incident in the 2006 UAW- Ford 500, Vickers nudged then teammate Jimmie Johnson just as the No. 48 driver pulled next to the left rear quarter panel of leader Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Johnson veered into Earnhardt, taking both out of the race and allowing Vickers to cruise to his first career Cup win. That accident caused Vickers a pile of grief, as he incurred the wrath of the 'Junior Nation' — the name given to the legion of fans that follow Earnhardt Jr.
Three years later, Vickers feels that although the restrictor plate does take a big element of the racing out of the drivers’ control, staying out of trouble still rests with the guys in the cockpits because “ultimately, it’s still in the drivers’ hands.”
'A lot of things can happen that are out of your control.' – Brian Vickers
For this visit to Alabama, NASCAR mandated smaller holes in the restrictor plates after a spectacular accident involving Carl Edwards in the first race at Talladega in April. The wreck saw the No. 99 career into the catch fence and spray debris into the crowd. Seven fans were injured. The smaller openings in the plate should reduce horsepower by about 10 and speeds by about five miles per hour. The top qualifying speed in April was slightly over 188 mph.
Vickers heads to the Amp Energy 500 after a solid performance last weekend which netted an 11th place finish at Martinsville, and he hopes to keep the momentum going after his best race so far in the six Chase for the Cup starts.
In Martinsville, Vickers was as high as fifth before a late stop for tyres dropped him down the field, before he climbed back to 11th. It was a welcome result after four tough races where the best he could do was an 18th-place finish. He started the Chase with an 11th in New Hampshire before the wheels came off.
Vickers is currently 12th in the Chase standings, 91 points behind 11th and 117 points adrift of 10th.
Although Talladega may be unpredictable at best, it has played out in Vickers’s favor before. In addition to the 2006 win, he’s got four top-10s in his past eight visits. On the other side of the ledger, he also has three finishes of 35th or worse. And considering Vickers’ luck so far in the Chase, things could go either way on Sunday.
“The track’s treated me well and treated this team well,” Vickers said. “We’re excited to go back, but it’s still Talladega. You can’t let your guard down. A lot of things can happen there that are out of your control. You just do your part the best you can and hope the rest of it avoids you.”
Teammate Scott Speed returns to the track where he finished seventh in his stock car debut two years ago in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Series. Earlier this season, Speed started eighth at the Superspeedway and then went on to record his best Cup finish so far, crossing the line fifth.
Speed is coming off a 31st last weekend in Martinsville, which cost him ground in the race to 35th in owner points. With four races to go, another good finish in Talladega would go a long way to closing the 118-point gap that lies between him and a guaranteed grid spot in the first five races of 2010.
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